DHL Stormers to face Zebre Parma in Stellenbosch

The DHL Stormers’ Vodacom United Rugby Championship match against Zebre Parma on Sunday March 13 will be played at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.

Due to a clash with the Cape Town Cycle Tour, which finishes near the DHL Stadium precinct on the same day and will see a number of roads in the area closed, the venue of this match has had to change.

This match was originally meant to take place in November last year, but was rescheduled to the impact of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, which saw Zebre Parma leave South Africa before the fixture could be fulfilled. Sunday, March 13 is the only date that this match can take place due to the fact that Zebre Parma play Ospreys in Wales seven days before.

This will be the DHL Stormers’ first-ever competitive match in Stellenbosch, with kick-off against the Italian side set for 18h05 on March 13.

A joint statement issued by the WP Rugby Administrator and DHL Stadium CEO clarified that while every effort was made to host this fixture at DHL Stadium, it was simply not possible due to the clash.

“While both WP Rugby and the team at DHL Stadium tried to look at various options for staging the event at DHL Stadium on the re-scheduled date, unfortunately this was not possible due to the stadium’s event calendar having a pre-existing booking,” the statement read.