After no tournament in 2020, a bio-bubble in 2021 and limited spectators in 2022, it’s finally time for action in front of full-capacity stadiums when the 2023 FNB Varsity Shield kicks-off on 16 February.
Twenty-eight matches will be played over seven rounds on Thursday evenings to determine who will advance to the playoffs.
Defending champions the FNB UFH Blues, who beat FNB CPUT 28-27 in the dying minutes of last year’s final, will take on FNB WSU All Blacks in the first match of the opening round on 16 February at the Davidson stadium in Alice in the Eastern Cape. SuperSport will broadcast the game live at 7pm. For the rest of the tournament, the channel will broadcast one featured game from each round live every Thursday.
There are eight teams in the 2023 tournament this year with former two-time champions FNB UWC and FNB Madibaz joining the competition after being relegated from the FNB Varsity Cup. The other teams are FNB CPUT, FNB UKZN Impi, FNB Rhodes and FNB TUT Vikings.
FNB, Steers and Suzuki will be bringing their loyal sponsorship to the Varsity Shield where the stars of tomorrow are born, the most recent being Kurt-Lee Arendse who made his Springbok debut against Wales in July last year and at the time said “I never thought I would be selected for the Springboks so early in my career, so I am very grateful for the opportunity”.
Other notable Springboks that began their careers in the FNB Varsity Shield include Trevor Nyakane, Curwin Bosch, S’bu Nkosi and Herschel Jantjies.
Fixtures for the 2023 FNB Varsity Shield is HERE.
Ticketing details will be released soon.
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