This year’s Club Champs takes place at Maties from Saturday 18 to Friday 24 September and, in addition to Hammies and Noordelike, will feature the country’s 14 provincial champions in a 16-team first-round draw.

Defending champs Hamiltons, of Western Province, will begin the defence of their title against Limpopo champions, Noordelike, in the main match on the opening day of the 2010 tournament.
Hammies’ heroics in the 2009 final, when they beat Pukke 36-34 at Loftus Versfeld, sees them seeded first after SARU’s competitions committee decided for the first time this year to automatically invite the defending champions – even if they had not won their respective provincial title.
Pukke, as perennial Leopards champions, are seeded second, with last year’s losing semifinalists College Rovers (for a fifth consecutive year) and Springs, third and fourth respectively.

The 13 teams confirmed so far are Kimberley Police (Griqualand West), Springs (Valke), Noordelike (Limpopo), Bethlehem Oud Skoliere (Griffons), Hamilton (WP), UJ (Golden Lions), Tuks (Blue Bulls), Mossel Bay Barbarians (SWD), College Rovers (KZN), Middelburg (Mpumalanga), Maties (WP), Shimlas (Free State) and Pukke (Leopards).

The full draw for the first round, with provincial seedings, is:

1 Hamiltons vs 16 Noordelike (Match A)
2 Pukke vs 15 Middelburg (B)
3 College Rovers vs 14 Bethlehem Oud Skoliere (C)
4 Springs vs 13 Mossel Bay Barbarians (D)
5 Maties vs 12 Kimberley Police (E)
6 UJ vs 11 Tukkies (F)
7 Boland vs 10 Shimlas (G)
8 Border vs 9 EP (H)

The eight first-round winners will qualify for the Premier quarter-finals on Monday 20 September. The eight losers will battle it out for the Plate, with semi-finals in both divisions taking place on Wednesday 22 September. The Premier and Plate finals will take place at the Danie Craven Stadium on the Heritage Day public holiday, with kickoff times to be confirmed.

The draw for the quarter-finals is as follows:

Premier:
Winner A vs Winner H            (Match I)
Winner B vs Winner G            (J)
Winner C vs Winner F            (K)
Winner D vs Winner E            (L)

Plate:
Loser A vs Loser H                 (Match M)
Loser B vs Loser G                 (N)
Loser C vs Loser F                 (O)
Loser D vs Loser E                 (P)

The semi-final draw is as follows:

Premier:
Winner I vs Winner L
Winner J vs Winner K

Plate:
Winner M vs Winner P
Winner N vs Winner O

So there is no chance of an all Cape final given that Maties and Hammies would meet in a semi final if they were to win their first two games of the tournament …

Good week to be out at Maties though. That Friday the final is being played on, is National Braaiday .