A bumper women’s rugby season kicks off unusually early in January next year as all eyes turn towards the Rugby World Cup in England in August and September.
The Bulls Daisies begin the defence of their Women’s Premier Division crown at the end of the first month of 2025 as SA Rugby adjusted the calendar to provide the best high-performance flight path towards the World Cup.
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 at the completion of the league phase, scheduled for Saturday, 28 March.
The early start and finish of the tournament will assist the Springbok Women in their preparations 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.”
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.
Fixtures for the Women’s First Division, which was won this season by the SWD Eagirls, will be confirmed in due course.
In another boost to the profile of the tournament, SA Rugby’s broadcasting partner, SuperSport, is looking to broadcast at least one of the matches in every round as well as the final.
Women’s Premier Division 2025 fixtures (home sides named first, venues and kick-off times to be confirmed)
Round 1 (weekend of 25 January)
Border Ladies vs Sharks Women
EP Queens v Bulls Daisies
Sanlam Boland Dames vs Golden Lions Women
DHL Western Province vs Free State Women
Round 2 (weekend of 1 February)
Border Ladies vs Golden Lions Women
Bulls Daisies vs DHL Western Province
Sharks Women v Free State Women
Sanlam Boland Dames vs EP Queens
Round 3 (weekend of 8 February)
Sharks Women vs EP Queens
Sanlam Boland Dames vs Bulls Daisies
DHL Western Province vs Border Ladies
Free State Women vs Golden Lions Women
Round 4 (weekend of 15 February)
Border Ladies vs Sanlam Boland Dames
Bulls Daisies vs Sharks Women
EP Queens vs Free State Women
Golden Lions Women vs DHL Western Province
Round 5 (weekend of 1 March)
Bulls Daisies vs Border Ladies
EP Queens vs Golden Lions Women
Sharks Women vs DHL Western Province
Free State Women vs Sanlam Boland Dames
Round 6 (weekend of 8 March)
Sanlam Boland Dames vs Sharks Women
DHL Western Province vs EP Queens
Golden Lions Women vs Bulls Daisies
Free State Women vs Border Ladies
Round 8 (weekend of 21 March)
Border Ladies vs EP Queens
Bulls Daisies vs Free State Women
DHL Western Province vs Sanlam Boland Dames
Golden Lions Women vs Sharks Women