The Western Province Rugby Union wants to persuade the South African Rugby Union to hand Newlands the Springboks / All Blacks Rugby Championship Test next year.
This comes after SANZAR on Monday issued a release revealing that the Springboks will tackle the All Blacks at a South African venue to be decided on Saturday, 25 July.
It will be part of a curtailed, single-round Rugby Championship for the first time since its inception in 2012, a situation brought about by the priority given to next year’s World Cup in England and Wales from September.
The Boks play both the defending champion All Blacks and Argentina (Saturday, 8 August) at home, with their only overseas obligation being against Australia in Brisbane (Saturday, 18 July).
WP president Thelo Wakefield said that they will send a letter to SARU president Oregan Hoskins to consider handing the All Blacks Test to Newlands.
Sport24
Wakefield said they will ask SARU’s executive council to give the matter some serious thought because the “Cape’s people deserve it”.
Newlands last hosted a Springboks / All Blacks Test in 2008, when the All Blacks won 19-0.
It’s no secret that the All Blacks have a big support base in Cape Town and tensions have often reached boiling point between the respective fans when Kiwi teams visit Newlands.
It could be given as a reason why SARU has been reluctant in recent times to bring the All Blacks to the Mother City.
However, Wakefield dismissed the notion that the Boks won’t be well supported.
“The support for the Boks here is overwhelming. We saw recently how the crowd backed the Boks in their game against the Wallabies. It will be the same against the All Blacks.”
The 2015 Rugby Championship schedule:
Round 1:
- Friday 17 July: New Zealand vs Argentina – AMI Stadium, Christchurch
- Saturday 18 July: Australia vs South Africa – Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Round 2:
- Saturday 25 July: South Africa vs New Zealand – Venue TBA
- Saturday 25 July: Argentina vs Australia – Venue TBA
Round 3:
- Saturday 8 August: Australia vs New Zealand – ANZ Stadium, Sydney
- Saturday 8 August: South Africa vs Argentina – Venue TBA
Additional week (not for competition points):
- Saturday 15 August: New Zealand vs Australia – Eden Park, Auckland
- Saturday 15 August: Argentina vs South Africa – Venue TBA
I can just imagine all the “boo’s” at Newlands…
Now they want the Cape Crusaders to join the boo’ing as well?
@ MacroBlouBul:
Interestingly enough, in today’s Pretoria News a fellow wrote in to talk about the boorish behavior at Ellis Park.
He mentions people disrespecting the New Zealand anthem, shouting and drowning out the Haka and booing when the AB’s kicked at goal.
He further goes on to say that with the upbringing of those supporters one can understand why certain people rather support the visiting teams.
I suppose at every stadium there are always some that manage to spoil the experience for others.
@ MacroBlouBul:
@ nortie:
Sorry, I actually meant to say “no comment” 🙄
Played the AB’s in 2005 at Newlands. Tackled them pap that day.
Bakkies rattled Carter.
A Test at Newlands.
Great.
Always a great venue.
Sonny Bill loves Cape Town.
Cape Town loves Sonny Bill.
@ cane:
Indeed.
Everybody loves Cape Town .. it’s a much nicer place than Wellington NZ for example… better beaches, prettier women, weather, better wine, brilliant mountain, etc..etc
And the landing at CT International Airport is even on the windiest day still not nearly as scary as at Wellington on a fair day 🙂
@ robzim:
Right Robert……………………………. its settled then.
Cape Town it is.
I’ll leave up to you to advise the SARU.
😉
@ nortie:
its a fine balance. booi g oposition kickers for example is poor… drowning out the haka loomed and sounded pretty awesome. its a home game, if they want to intimidate us with their haka tendancies. we must give it straight back at them
and its unlikely they will get the game even with Thelo’s jannie jammergat whinging… Newlands saw 2 games this year. and there is only one game next year in SA.
@ MacroBlouBul:
Some purists still enjoy the Haka, and even myself, I would be irritated if I had to pay a lot of money for a test and all I hear is Ole Ole Ole.
But that’s just me, other spectators and viewers don’t like or appreciate it and will differ.
Irony is that those of us who lived during the isolation period would have given just about anything to see the All Blacks, including the Haka, therefor we are grateful for these tests and the opportunity to see it live, so maybe it’s a generation thing.
@ MacroBlouBul:
No one wants to intimidate you Macro.
Quite the opposite.
The Haka honours you.
It should galvanise your Team as much as it lifts Ours.
@ cane:
dont get me a wrong I love the haka and what it represents to the sport. and it must be something special to face it… but to have 60 000 people chant “bokke bokke” during the haka gives me goosebumps.
12… it really lifts the atmosphere of a BOK VS AB game
and its unlikely they will get the game even with Thelo’s jannie jammergat whinging… Newlands saw 2 games this year. and there is only one game next year in SA.. When was the last time bloem hosted a test match?
The AB’s is the number one rugby team in the world and also by far the most popular rugby team in the world so obviously every union in SA and the world wants to host them and offer the local supporters the opportunity to see them.
Since the last time they played in CT they have played 4x in JHB, 1x in Bloem, I time in Durban and 1 time in PE. Johannesburg can most certainly not get another opportunity to host them..Bloem/Durban and PE had opportunities since the last time they visited CT…. Pretoria is very near to JHB…
Therefore CT deserves to get the AB test next year.
My guess is that Pretoria will get it though.
Stadiums that hosted test matches:
2014:
RC—
Jhb
CT
Loftus
June Int—
PE
Nelspruit
Dbn
2013
RC—
Jhb
CT
Jhb(FNB)
June Int—
PTA
Nelspruit
Dbn
2012
RC—
Jhb(FNB)
PTA
CT
June Int—
PE
jhb(FNB)
Dbn
The last RC(Tri Nations) game in Durban was 2011.
The last game in bloem was Australia 2010.
I Honestly don’t see why CT deserves this game over anyone else other than Jhb.
I never realised that Bloem last hosted a Test in 2010 – are they in the process of losing their Test centre status?
@ Angostura:
they were supposed to host one of the all blacks test, could have been 2012?… it got moved to jhb
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