For the first time ever, the Limpopo Province will participate in the Vodacom Cup as a fully-fledged team, with six rugby players from Makhado (Louis Trichardt) forming part of this team.

They are Nollie and Wickus Davel, Ludwig Gossmann, Ruan Muller, Wiehann Uys and JJ de Lange. Their team will be based in Polokwane.

The Vodacom Cup competition will kick off in the second week of March this year. Limpopo, which is a sub-union of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, has been granted a place in the tournament to help foster rugby in South Africa’s far north.

The Limpopo team will join the 14 provincial unions, as well as the returning Pampas XV from Argentina, in the tournament. The tournament will conclude in mid-May.

The Polokwane-based team will play in the North Section of the Vodacom Cup, along with the Vodacom Blue Bulls, MTN Golden Lions, Griffons, Leopards, Ford Pumas, Valke and GWK Griquas, the runners-up in 2012.

The team is scheduled for a friendly match against the Lions on 9 February at Polokwane’s Pieter Mokaba stadium. Afterwards, the team will play their mother body Vodacom Blue Bulls, also in Polokwane, on Saturday, 20 April.

The South Section contains defending champions DHL Western Province, as well as Border Bulldogs, Regent Boland Kavaliers, Eastern Province Kings, Toyota Free State XV, the Sharks XV, South Western Districts and the Pampas XV from Argentina.

Teams will each play seven group matches within their own section. Thereafter, the top four teams from each section will progress to the quarterfinal round, which will be contested across the two sections.