Pink shorts for Varsity Cup

University rugby competition will experiment with 23-man squads as well as pink shorts for cancer awareness

The FNB Varsity Cup has never been scared of experimentation - and this year will see the introduction of 23-man playing squads for the first time in South African rugby history and pink shorts.

The various top-flight club competitions in England, France and Italy have already made use of eight-man benches, in a bid to stamp out uncontested scrums, and the Varsity Cup will now be trialing this in conjunction with SA Rugby to see if it has a future in this country.

André Watson, South African Rugby’s manager of referees, said that a survey will be conducted with players and coaches during and after the tournament.

“Video clips will also be used to establish a full database to evaluate this experiment properly,” said Watson.

“Funnily enough, uncontested scrums are quite rare in top-level rugby in South Africa, but there is no doubt that having that extra player on the bench will block out the possibility of uncontested scrums completely.”

Maties head coach Chean Roux, who has guided his team to successive Varsity Cup triumphs in 2008 and 2009, looks forward to this experiment in 2010.

“In last year’s WP Super League, we were forced into uncontested scrums on five occasions — nobody wants that; as a coach, player or a fan; so hopefully this will help stamp out any possibility of uncontested scrums.

“I always pick five forwards on the bench. I will still be choosing five forwards on the bench, but now I can also include an extra back — so it’s a great concept as far as I’m concerned. It also throws up some interesting possibilities as far as tactics are concerned, so it should make for an exciting ruling in more ways than one.”

The Varsity Cup will this year also see players in pink shorts.

Varsity Cup will be launching a big cancer awareness drive in 2010, with the introduction of the ’Pink Shorts’ campaign in this year’s tournament.

This new campaign will see the four official Varsity Cup Man of the Matches from the previous week wear a special pair of pink shorts in the next round of matches — all in the name of cancer awareness and to help raise funds in the continued fight against cancer.

Supporters at the grounds and television viewers at home can make donations via a special SMS. Each SMS sent will cost R5 and all proceeds will go towards a Varsity Cup Trust, which will be donated to rugby players affected by cancer. Bigger donations can also be made via the SMS lines — but will be calculated in terms of R5 units.

Any rugby player in South Africa affected by cancer will be eligible to receive money from this Varsity Cup Trust, but will have to apply via the official Varsity Cup website in order to do so.