Kick-off times for Rainbow Cup openers confirmed

Time may yet prove that the pandemic will be too much of an obstacle to the Rainbow Cup organisers but for now the tournament is definitely still on.

While there were reports at the weekend that the tournament that will be the forerunner to South Africa’s entry into the PRO16 had already been cancelled due to Covid challenges, and some local franchise bosses showed their faith in the newspapers by passing that information on to their players, the official statement announcing that the competition has been cancelled has not been forthcoming.

Instead, in what can be seen as a strong statement of intent, the organisers on Tuesday announced the kick-off times for the first part of the competition, thus vindicating the alternative narrative, which is that they are working with the overseas governments to find a way to make the tournament still happen.

The first three weeks are of course from a South African viewpoint the easy ones. The first part of the competition is scheduled to be a derby phase, so obviously with no overseas travel scheduled for that period, it means overseas travel restrictions are not an obstacle. What the organisers are effectively doing is buying themselves time to do whatever they can to set up the overseas leg of the South African challenge, which is also scheduled to be a three-week phase from the end of May into June.

The local teams will have a three-week break building up to their scheduled overseas commitments due to the deciding stages of the Cup competitions in Europe, the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup, being played over those weeks. That would conveniently provide a gap for the South African franchises to comply with overseas Covid related quarantine requirements should the tournament still be full steam ahead at that point.

Right now though what is relevant is that at this point it is full steam ahead, with the Sharks visiting Cape Town for the opening match next Friday night, 23 April, for a 7 pm kick-off at the Cape Town Stadium. The Bulls host the Lions the next day at 4pm.

Confirmed Rainbow Cup fixtures and kick-off times (home teams first)

Friday 23rd April

DHL Stormers v Cell C Sharks 19.00
Ulster v Connacht 20.15
Edinburgh v Zebre 21.15

Saturday 24 April

Benetton v Glasgow Warriors  14.00
Vodacom Bulls v Emirates Lions 16.00
Ospreys v Cardiff Blues 17.15 (deferred coverage 20.35)
Leinster v Munster 19.35 (deferred coverage 21.45)

Sunday 25 April

Dragons v Scarlets 13.00 (deferred coverage 16.00)

Friday 30 April

Cell C Sharks v Emirates Lions 19.00

Saturday 1 May

DHL Stormers v Vodacom Bulls 16.00

Friday 7 May

Zebre v Benetton 19.00
Munster v Ulster 20.15 (deferred coverage 22.30)
Glasgow Warriors v Edinburgh 20.15

Saturday 8 May

Emirates Lions v DHL Stormers 16.00
Vodacom Bulls v Cell C Sharks 18.15Connacht v Leinster 19.35
Scarlets v Ospreys 19.35 (deferred coverage to be confirmed)

Sunday 9 May

Cardiff Blues v Dragons 13.00

Friday 14 May

Munster v Connacht 18.00 (deferred coverage 20.30)
Leinster v Ulster 21.15

Saturday 15 May

Scarlets v Cardiff Blues 16.00
Benetton v Zebre 18.15
Edinburgh v Glasgow Warriors 20.35