UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND, JOHANNESBURG

Rugby Club 2012

Practice:	Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays 18h00 -20h00
Venue:	Rugby Stadium (East Campus)
Contacts:	Chairperson: Mike Charnas - 082 410 2891 Sports Officer: Quintin van Rooyen - 011 717 9417 or quintin.vanrooyen@wits.ac.za

FNB Wits, participants in the heavily contested inaugural 2011 FNB Varsity Shield presented by Steinhoff International, will once again get the Varsity Rugby season underway when they take on FNB Central University of Technology (CUT) in a much anticipated opener to be held in Bloemfontein on Monday, January 30. This game will be televised live on Supersport from 16h00. The Witsies were unlucky to lose to second placed CUT, who were victorious in the 2011 Varsity Shield Final.

FNB Wits has been hard at work to ensure automatic progression into the 2013 Varsity Cup ahead of CUT, University of the Western Cape, University of KwaZulu-Natal and Fort Hare University, the other participants in the Varsity Shield. New players to look out for in 2012 include centre, Bronson Lange, scrumhalf, Thapelo Thupe, prop, Oliver Rochet and openside flanker, Thato Mavundla.

In 2012 the Varsity Shield games are expected to draw bigger crowds to the East Campus Rugby Stadium for Wits home games. The Varsity Shield will again consist of a double round of league fixtures, with teams playing on a home-and-away basis. The top two teams will progress to the final. The champions - winners of the final – will automatically progress into the 2013 Varsity Cup, whereas the losing Varsity Shield finalists will play a promotion/relegation match against the seventh-placed Varsity Cup team on 9 April 2012.

Date	Opponents	Venue	Time
Mon, 30 January	Central University of Technology	Bloemfontein	17h00
Thurs, 2 February	University of Fort Hare	Wits	19h00
Mon, 6 February	University of the Western Cape	Wits	19h00
Mon, 20 February	University of Kwa-Zulu Natal	Pietermaritzburg	19h00
Mon, 27 February	FNB Central University of Technology	Wits	19h00
Mon, 5 March	University of Fort Hare	Alice	19h00
Mon, 12 March	University of Kwa-Zulu Natal	Wits	19h00
Mon, 19 March	University of the Western Cape	Cape Town	16h45
Mon, 2 April	FINALS	FINALS	TBC

We are calling on everyone on campus to come support our Wits Rugby team at their home games.

In 2011 the Wits Rugby Club had a total of six teams (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, U21 and U19) competing in the Pirates Grand Challenge (PGC) and five teams in the Predators League (1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, U21 and U19). Of note our 2^nd, U21 and U19 teams came second in the PGC in their respective division, with all three teams managing fourth positions in the Predators League. This year we will have the same number of teams affiliated in both the PGC and Predators Leagues. The first round starts on the weekend of 25 April 2012 with the finals contested in September. Club practices started Tuesday, 17

January 2012.

In the Steinhoff Interfaculty Championship, the Steinhoff Engineers wrested back the Steinhoff Wits Interfaculty rugby title from arch rivals the Steinhoff Humanities Titans after they won 20-0 in a physical encounter on 7 September 2011. This Interfaculty League was contested over two rounds, with a total of 64 matches played. All the interfaculty teams had kit sponsored by Steinhoff and FNB.

The 2012 Steinhoff Interfaculty Championship will commence on Wednesday, 14 March. The same teams that competed in the 2011 Championship will once again compete in the league in 2012. These are: Steinhoff Commerce, Steinhoff Engineers, Steinhoff Humanities, Steinhoff Knockando, Steinhoff Masakhane, Steinhoff Men’s Res, Steinhoff SHA, Steinhoff SAUJS, Steinhoff Monash and Steinhoff Medics. Come down to the Wits Rugby Stadium on Wednesdays and support your team.

Starting from Tuesday, 17 January 2011 team practices will take place every Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 18h00 at the East Campus Rugby fields.

For more information, contact Andrew Royle (Club Manager) on 082 557 1951 (andrew.royle@wits.ac.za) or
Quintin van Rooyen (Sports Officer) on 073 030 8369 (quintin.vanrooyen@wits.ac.za).

Rugby Club 2012

Wits University