“There is an added element of excitement in the air now that the fixtures are announced,” says Bulls Daisies head coach Hayden Groepes as the 2025 SA Rugby Women’s Premier Division fixtures were announced.
The 2025 edition of the competition begins much earlier than usual during a landmark year for women’s rugby, which will see broadcaster SuperSport show live at least one match in every round of the truncated season as the globe prepares for the tenth edition of the Women’s Rugby World Cup, where the Springbok Women will be making their 5th appearance in August and September, in England.
The Bulls Daisies, champions in 2023 and 2024, will travel to Nelson Mandela Bay for their opening round clash against the EP Queens, while the Border Ladies host the Sharks Women, Sanlam Boland Dames take on the Golden Lions Women, and the runners-up in the last two seasons, DHL Western Province, face off against the Free State Women.
The country’s top eight provincial women’s teams will play the competition over a single round with the final, to be contested by the two top teams on the log after the league phase, scheduled for Saturday, 28 March.
Daisies mentor, Groepes adds: “We have been hard at work for the last couple of weeks, motivated ahead of what will be a big year for everybody involved. There is the ambition and goal of going for the third-straight championship and also a healthy amount of competition from the ladies who will want to do well to give themselves the best chance possible to be in line to represent their country at a World Cup,”
Groepes concludes: “We have not been shy in our alignment and team goals, and have welcomed some new faces who have injected a great balance of energy. So, we cannot wait for the season to kick off, it will be great.”
SA Rugby adjusted the calendar to provide the best high-performance flight path towards the World Cup with the early start and finish of the tournament set to assist the Springbok Women in preparing for the game’s showpiece event, where they will face Brazil, Italy and France in their pool matches.
The team will ramp up their preparations after the domestic competition with a to Europe in April followed by the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup as part of next year’s international schedule.
“It’s great to have the fixtures out as that will greatly assist the teams to start preparing for the competition, which will be an important guideline for us in selection as well,” said Swys de Bruin, performance coach of the Springbok Women.
“We will be looking closely at each team to see if there are any players to be added to our group, while the established players are also getting valuable game time and will arrive in camp with good match fitness and conditioning.
“We want to thank SA Rugby and all the unions for their willingness to move the tournament this early, as it will boost our preparations for the Rugby World Cup.”