Club rugby will step back into the television spotlight next month when two of the country’s biggest derbies will be broadcast live during the second edition of the Cell C Community Cup, which kicks off on 8 March.

SuperSport

New ground will be broken at Bosman Stadium on Thursday 20 March when last year’s bronze medallists, G5 Metals Brakpan face arch-rivals Kaufela Boksburg in an eagerly-anticipated Pool C match that will be televised on SuperSport 1 & HD (kick-off 6:00pm). The East Rand derby will represent the first time open-club rugby has occupied a prime-time TV slot on a weeknight.

This follows confirmation that this year’s opening match, between defending champions Gap Management Despatch and their Eastern Province rivals Spring Rose, will be broadcast live from the WJ de Wet Stadium in Despatch on Saturday 8 March (kick-off 2:30pm).

And the Cell C Community Cup Easter Championship play-offs, to be hosted at Outeniqua Park in George from 17-21 April, will once again be broadcast in its entirety – thereby bringing to 14 the number of live matches in the 2014 edition of SARU’s flagship tournament for non-university clubs. Additionally, a second six-part season of the popular Cell C Community Cup television magazine show, “Working-Class Heroes”, will be broadcast in a new timeslot, starting on Thursday 13 March at 19h00 on SuperSport 1 & HD.

“Club rugby is slowly but surely reclaiming the territory it has lost in recent years and we are very happy in particular to see the growth in TV exposure compared to last year,” said SARU CEO Jurie Roux. “Apart from the 14 lives games, SuperSport will be covering each of the 40 pool matches for the magazine show, which means all 20 competing clubs will have a great platform to showcase themselves, both on and off the field.

“The popularity and reach of the Cell C Community Cup is growing rapidly and on that note we will also be making a number of other exciting announcements before the 2014 tournament kicks off in two weeks’ time.”

The Cell C Community Cup begins on 8 March with eight pool matches taking place across the length and breadth of the country.

“No other tournament that SARU runs covers literally as much ground, or has the opportunity to leave its mark on so many geographically and culturally diverse communities,” said Roux. “In the pool stages alone, clubs will be travelling nearly 25 000km, which is an average of over 600km per match. It’s a tough tournament but club rugby players have never lacked an appetite for a challenge.”

The two highest-placed clubs in each of the four Pools will qualify for the Easter Championships.

The Cell C Community Cup 2014 fixtures:

POOL STAGES (all kick-off times 4:00pm unless otherwise indicated):

Round 1 – Saturday 8 March:

Match 1 (Pool A) – Gap Management Despatch vs Spring Rose (WJ de Wet Stadium, Despatch, 2:30pm – TV)
Match 2 (Pool A) – Mossel Bay Barbarians vs Bridgton (D’Almeida Stadium, Mossel Bay)
Match 3 (Pool B) – Roodepoort vs Bloemfontein Crusaders (Rand Leases Sports Ground, Roodepoort)
Match 4 (Pool B) – Jonsson College Rovers vs E-Car Welkom (KP3, Kings Park, Durban, 1:00pm)
Match 5 (Pool C) – BB Truck Noordelikes vs Kaufela Boksburg (Noordelikes Rugby Club, Polokwane, 4:30pm)
Match 6 (Pool C) – Roses United vs G5 Metals Brakpan (Pelican Park, Wellington)
Match 7 (Pool D) – Shumba Ferros vs Wesbank (Puma Stadium, Emalahleni/Witbank, 3:30pm)
Match 8 (Pool D) – Rustenburg Impala vs Sishen (Rustenburg Impala Rugby Club, Rustenburg)
Byes: Kempston Old Selbornians, Eagle Towing Rovers, Centurion, Hamiltons.

Round 2 – Saturday 15 March:

Match 9 (Pool A) – Bridgton vs Gap Management Despatch (Bridgton Sports Grounds, Oudtshoorn)
Match 10 (Pool A) – Spring Rose vs Kempston Old Selbornians (New Brighton Oval, Port Elizabeth, 3:30pm)
Match 11 (Pool B) – E-Car Welkom vs Roodepoort (Griffons Rugby Stadium ‘B’ field, Welkom)
Match 12 (Pool B) – Bloemfontein Crusaders vs Eagle Towing Rovers (Clive Solomon Stadium, Heidedal)
Match 13 (Pool C) – Kaufela Boksburg vs Roses United (Prince George Park, Boksburg)
Match 14 (Pool C) – Centurion vs BB Truck Noordelikes (Centurion Rugby Club, Centurion)
Match 15 (Pool D) – Hamiltons vs Sishen (Stephan Oval, Green Point, Cape Town)
Match 16 (Pool D) – Shumba Ferros vs Rustenburg Impala (Puma Stadium, Emalahleni/Witbank, 3:30pm) Byes: Mossel Bay Barbarians, Jonsson College Rovers, G5 Metals Brakpan, Wesbank.

Round 3 – Thursday 20 March:

Match 22 (Pool C) – G5 Metals Brakpan vs Kaufela Boksburg (Bosman Stadium, Brakpan, 6:00pm – live on SS1 & HD)

Round 3 – Saturday 22 March:

Match 17 (Pool A) – Kempston Old Selbornians vs Bridgton (Kempston Park, East London)
Match 18 (Pool A) – Gap Management Despatch vs Mossel Bay Barbarians (WJ de Wet Stadium, Despatch)
Match 19 (Pool B) – Bloemfontein Crusaders vs Jonsson College Rovers (Clive Solomon Stadium, Heidedal)
Match 20 (Pool B) – Eagle Towing Rovers vs Roodepoort (Rovers Rugby Club, Welkom, 4:30pm)
Match 21 (Pool C) – Roses United vs Centurion (Pelican Park, Wellington)
Match 23 (Pool D) – Sishen vs Shumba Ferros (Sivos Rugby Stadium, Kathu)
Match 24 (Pool D) – Wesbank vs Hamiltons (Wesbank Sports Grounds, Malmesbury)
Byes: Spring Rose, E-Car Welkom, BB Truck Noordelikes, Rustenburg Impala.

Round 4 – Saturday 29 March:

Match 25 (Pool A) – Mossel Bay Barbarians vs Kempston Old Selbornians (D’Almeida Stadium, Mossel Bay)
Match 26 (Pool A) – Bridgton vs Spring Rose (Bridgton Sports Grounds, Oudtshoorn)
Match 27 (Pool B) – Eagle Towing Rovers vs E-Car Welkom (Rovers Rugby Club, Welkom, 5:00pm)
Match 28 (Pool B) – Roodepoort vs Jonsson College Rovers (Rand Leases Sports Ground, Roodepoort)
Match 29 (Pool C) – G5 Metals Brakpan vs BB Truck Noordelikes (Bosman Stadium, Brakpan, 6:00pm)
Match 30 (Pool C) – Kaufela Boksburg vs Centurion (Prince George Park, Boksburg)
Match 31 (Pool D) – Wesbank vs Rustenburg Impala (Wesbank Sports Grounds, Malmesbury)
Match 32 (Pool D) – Hamiltons vs Shumba Ferros (Stephan Oval, Green Point, Cape Town)
Byes: Gap Management Despatch, Bloemfontein Crusaders, Roses United, Sishen.

Round 5 – Saturday 5 April:

Match 33 (Pool A) – Spring Rose vs Mossel Bay Barbarians (New Brighton Oval, Port Elizabeth, 3:30pm)
Match 34 (Pool A) – Kempston Old Selbornians v Gap Management Despatch (Kempston Park, East London)
Match 35 (Pool B) – Jonsson College Rovers vs Eagle Towing Rovers (KP3, Kings Park, Durban, 3:00pm)
Match 36 (Pool B) – E-Car Welkom vs Bloemfontein Crusaders (Griffons Rugby Stadium ‘B’ field, Welkom)
Match 37 (Pool C) – Centurion vs G5 Metals Brakpan (Centurion Rugby Club, Centurion)
Match 38 (Pool C) – BB Truck Noordelikes vs Roses United (Noordelikes Rugby Club, Polokwane, 4:30pm)
Match 39 (Pool D) – Rustenburg Impala vs Hamiltons (Rustenburg Impala Rugby Club, Rustenburg)
Match 40 (Pool D) – Sishen vs Wesbank (Sivos Rugby Stadium, Kathu)
Byes: Bridgton, Roodepoort, Kaufela Boksburg, Shumba Ferros.

Easter Championship Play-offs – Outeniqua Park, George (all matches live on SuperSport. K/o times tbc):

Day 1 – Thursday 17 April:

Match 41 (Cup QF1) – Winner Pool C vs Runner-up Pool D
Match 42 (Cup QF2) – Winner Pool B vs Runner-up Pool A
Match 43 (Cup QF3) – Winner Pool D vs Runner-up Pool C
Match 44 (Cup QF4) – Winner Pool A vs Runner-up Pool B

Day 2 – Saturday 19 April:

Match 45 (Losers’ match 1) – Loser Match 41 (QF1) vs Loser Match 42 (QF2)
Match 46 (Losers’ match 2) – Loser Match 43 (QF3) vs Loser Match 44 (QF4)
Match 47 (Cup SF1) – Winner Match 41 (QF1) vs Winner Match 42 (QF2)
Match 48 (Cup SF2) – Winner Match 43 (QF3) vs Winner Match 44 (QF4)
Day 3 – Easter Monday, 21 April:

Match 49 (7th/8th Place Play-off) – Loser Match 45 vs Loser Match 46
Match 50 (5h/6th Place Play-off) – Winner Match 45 vs Winner Match 46
Match 51 (3rd/4th Place Play-off) – Loser Match 47 (SF1) vs Loser Match 48 (SF2)
Match 52 (Cup Final) – Winner Match 47 (SF1) vs Winner Match 48 (SF2)