The Guinness Pro14 have today confirmed the planned Rainbow cup which would have seen the 12 European based sides pitted against four South African ex-Super Rugby Provinces Vodacom Blue Bulls, Cell C Sharks, DHL Stormers and Emirates Golden Lions.
In a statement released this morning, Pro14 organisers said the South African based teams were “not granted permission to travel in time”.
The statement also revealed the tournament organisers had explored basing the South African teams at one of 12 venues in Europe and had even considered basing them in the ‘Middle East’ but ultimately none of these options have worked out largely due to South Africa’s high number of COVID cases leaving them on the UK’s ‘Red List’.
Pro14 stress the restructuring of this years Rainbow Cup will have no bearing on the relationship between the Pro14 and SA Rugby moving forward, with the four sides expected to be announced as joining the league on a full-time basis for the start of the 2021/22 season. In the statement, Pro14 said; “more details on plans and league structure for the ground-breaking 2021/22 season onwards will be made public shortly”.
The Rainbow Cup will now take part as two separate tournaments, the Northern’ and ‘Southern’ tournaments. The Northern tournament will be called the Guinness Pro 14 Rainbow Cup and will see the Pro14 teams battle it out whereas ‘The Rainbow Cup SA’ will be contested between the South African teams.
Players in both tournaments will have lots to play for with players in the Northern tournament competing for a spot on Warren Gatland’s Lions tour to South Africa, with the squad due to be announced on May 6th. On the other hand, the South African teams will be looking to pick up some much needed match sharpness for when they welcome the Lions in July. Some will also be looking to gain a test match spot for the Springboks.
The four Rainbow Cup SA sides who are due to join the Pro14 next year to create the Pro16, replacing the two South African teams; Toyota Cheetahs and Southern Kings who have played in the league since 2017.
The Rainbow Cup will feature a number of new controversial rule trials; a red card replacement, a ‘Captains Challenge’ and a goal-line drop out which aim at making the game more appealing to viewers. The red card replacement has been the worst received, allowing a player who is shown a red card to be replaced after 20 minutes which some people worry may jeopardise player safety.
Welsh Regions will kick off their Rainbow Cup this weekend with Ospreys hosting Cardiff on Saturday and Scarlets away to Dragons on Sunday.