Pienaar: 'We're taking Mondays back!'

The fixtures for the 2009 Varsity Cup have been announced; with 1995 World Cup-winning Springbok skipper Francois Pienaar declaring his intentions ahead of the second edition of this fantastic tournament by saying: "We're taking Mondays back!"

Pienaar, the driving force behind a very successful inaugural FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International was speaking after it was confirmed that the opening day in 2009 would see a repeat of the dramatic 2008 Varsity Cup Final; with UCT once again taking on champions, the Maties.

The University of Free State (Shimlas) and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) will officially kick-off the 2009 FNB Varsity Cup at the Groote Schuur Rugby Fields in Cape Town on Monday, February 2 at 2.45pm, before the Ikeys-Maties match at 4.45pm.

Two other matches will take place on the first day - in fact, all 31 matches in the 2009 FNB Varsity Cup will be played on Monday nights. All four matches on Day One will be televised, live on SuperSport, with a total of 19 matches (including the play-offs) set to be televised in 2009. That means a minimum of two matches will be televised, live every Monday evening.

"We're taking Mondays back!" declared Pienaar.

"We did it last year already, but not all the games were played on Mondays," he explained.

"But, moving forward, we don't want to compete with anything else anymore.

"Our extensive research has shown that the public want to watch 'Monday-night football'; the students are back at their universities after weekends away and they want to grab an ice-cold beer and watch their teams play some entertaining rugby on Monday nights."

The 2009 Varsity Cup will be played over a compact, two-month period, with all teams hosting at least three home matches - excluding the semi-finals and final which take place at the end of March.

Aside from the exciting start to the tournament, adding even more spice is the final round of league matches; which sees a repeat of both of last year's semi-finals - as UCT take on Pukke and Tuks take on Maties. However, this time around, the visiting teams will be the Maties and UCT, who hosted the extraordinary semi-final clashes earlier this year.

"There is plenty of excitement ahead of the 2009 tournament, but at the same time we're also a bit nervous due to the successful start we made this past season," said Pienaar.

"People were a bit unsure what to expect this year but, now, after a great start to the Varsity Cup, there is a massive sense of anticipation out there," he added.

"People I meet on the street come up to me asking me about next year - it puts pressure on us, the organisers, players and coaches, but it's good pressure.

"It's our responsibility to deliver on the brand that we promised this past season and I have no doubt that the Varsity Cup can be as good as it was in 2008. However, it won't simply be as good, it will be better!"

The same eight universities that performed so well in the first-ever Varsity Cup will once again turn out in 2009, with NMMU having successfully repelled the challenge of Fort Hare University, in a series of play-off matches, to remain in the Varsity Cup next year.

The eight competing universities will therefore be the University of Stellenbosch (Maties), the University of Pretoria (Tuks), the University of Cape Town (UCT), the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), the North West University (NWU-PUKKE), the University of Free State (Shimlas) and the University of Johannesburg (UJ).

Said Pienaar: "The Varsity Cup has shown that there is plenty of talent in our country. Take Mat Turner, from UCT, for instance. He began 2008 as a Varsity Cup player; he is now playing against some of the best players in Europe as a Premiership player in England.

"I believe we are fortunate to have some fantastic coaches in the Varsity Cup - we witnessed some exciting rugby in 2008. If the coaches embrace that same approach in 2009 we could be in for one helluva ride!"

The 2009 Varsity Cup fixtures:

Monday, February 2:

Shimlas v NMMU, Groote Schuur Rugby Field - 2.45pm (TV)

UCT v Maties, Groote Schuur Rugby Field - 4.45pm (TV)

UJ v TUT, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds - 4.45pm (TV)

Pukke v Tuks, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds - 6.45pm (TV)

Monday, February 9:

TUT v UCT, TUT Stadium - 4.45pm (TV)

NMMU v Tuks, Xerox NMMU Stadium, South Campus - 6.45pm

Shimlas v Pukke, Shimla Park - 6.45pm (TV)

Maties v UJ, Danie Craven Stadium - 7.30pm

Monday, February 16:

UCT v UJ, Groote Schuur Rugby Field - 4.45pm (TV)

Tuks v TUT, LC de Villiers Stadium - 6.45pm (TV)

Shimlas v Maties, Shimla Park - 6.45pm

Pukke v NMMU, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds - 6.45pm

Monday, February 23:

UJ v Shimlas, UJ Stadium - 4.45pm (TV)

Tuks v UCT, LC de Villiers Stadium - 6.45pm

NMMU v TUT, Xerox NMMU Stadium, South Campus - 6.45pm

Maties v Pukke, Danie Craven Stadium - 6.45pm (TV)

Monday, March 2:

Shimlas v Tuks, Shimla Park - 4.45pm (TV)

TUT v Maties, TUT Stadium - 6.45pm

UJ v Pukke, UJ Stadium - 6.45pm

NMMU v UCT, Xerox NMMU Stadium, South Campus - 6.45pm (TV)

Monday, March 9:

Maties v NMMU, Danie Craven Stadium - 4.45pm (TV)

TUT v Pukke, TUT Stadium - 6.45pm

UCT v Shimlas, Groote Schuur Rugby Field - 6.45pm

UJ v Tuks, UJ Stadium - 6.45pm (TV)

Monday, March 16:

Pukke v UCT, Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds - 4.45pm (TV)

NMMU v UJ, Xerox NMMU Stadium, South Campus - 6.45pm

TUT v Shimlas, TUT Stadium - 6.45pm

Tuks v Maties, LC de Villiers Stadium - 6.45pm (TV)

Monday, March 23:

Semi-finals: TBC

Monday, March 30:

Final: TBC