Half the teams in the North Section of the Vodacom Cup kicked the season off with a full house of five log points, but in the South the Sharks XV are on their own at the top of the log. Defending Vodacom Cup champions, DHL Western Province, found the going tough in their opening match of the season as they fought back to draw with a spirited Regent Boland Cavaliers team in Ceres.

The log jam in the north was thanks to bonus-point wins on Saturday afternoon for the Steval Pumas, Down Touch Griffons, MTN Golden Lions and the Vodacom Blue Bulls.

All eyes will be on Polokwane on Saturday afternoon when the Assupol Limpopo Blue Bulls make their Vodacom Cup debut, while DHL Western Province will kick off their defence of the title in Ceres.

Limpopo, which is a sub-union of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, has been granted a place in the tournament in its own rights to help grow the game in the most northern province of South Africa. They join the 14 provincial unions, as well as the returning Pampas XV from Argentina in the tournament, which concludes in mid-May.

The Vodacom Bulls lead the South African Conference in Vodacom Super Rugby, while The Sharks won a tough tussle in Durban against the DHL Stormers. The team from Pretoria had to dig deep to beat the Western Force by 36-26 at Loftus Versfeld and despite a scrappy performance, they still bagged a try-scoring bonus point – their first ever against the team from Perth – on the eve of their tour to Australasia.

In Durban, The Sharks edged the DHL Stormers by 12-6 in a match where no tries were scored and the score board read 0-0 at half-time.

The Australian Women’s Sevens will start their title defence as World Champions against South Africa, China and Ireland at Rugby World Cup Sevens in Moscow this June. The pools for the women’s fixture of Rugby World Cup Sevens was held in the host city overnight, with the defending champions Australia being drawn as top seed in Pool B.

The Australian women made history in Dubai in 2009 when they defeated New Zealand 15-10 in nail-biting fashion to claim the first-ever women’s Rugby World Cup Sevens title.