Mouth-watering 2019 for DHL Stormers

6 years ago News

The DHL Stormers will host the Emirates Lions, Jaguares, Brumbies, Vodacom Bulls, Crusaders, Highlanders, Sunwolves and Cell C Sharks at DHL Newlands in their 2019 Vodacom Super Rugby campaign.

SANZAAR has announced the tournament dates for the 2019 Vodacom Super Rugby competition, which will run uninterrupted from the first fixture on February 15 until the Final on July 6.

As there will be no June inbound international matches in 2019 – due to Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan later in the year – Vodacom Super Rugby will run uninterrupted for 21 weeks. Plus, there will be a uniform start to the tournament in Round One with a full round of seven matches to kick things off.

The DHL Stormers will play eight home matches, against the Emirates Lions, Jaguares, Brumbies, Vodacom Bulls, Crusaders, Highlanders, Sunwolves and Cell C Sharks.

Their campaign will kick off on Saturday, February 16 when they face the Vodacom Bulls away, with their tour of Australasia coming in week five, just after their first bye. That tour will see the DHL Stormers face the Hurricanes, Blues, Reds and Rebels.

The tournament’s 15-team, three-Conference format remains the same. Each team plays 16 regular season conference matches that include eight matches within their own Conference (home and away) and four matches against teams from each of the other Conferences (home or away). Each team also has two byes. This is a total of 120 matches in the regular season that will be followed by a seven-match, eight-team finals series.

The Finals series will also remain unchanged with each of the three Conference winners qualifying for and hosting a quarterfinal. The team with the most tournament points that is not a Conference winner, regardless of Conference, will host the fourth quarterfinal. This Wildcard team will be joined in the quarterfinals by the next best four Wildcard teams based on tournament points and regardless of Conference.

The released schedule confirms all tournament match dates and kick-off times. However, the match venues will be announced later in the year once teams have determined where their home matches will be allocated.

DHL Stormers 2019 fixtures and dates

Saturday, February 16
v Vodacom Bulls (away)

Saturday, February 23
v Emirates Lions (home)

Saturday, March 2
v Cell C Sharks (away)

Friday, March 15
v Jaguares (home)

Saturday, March 23
v Hurricanes (away)

Saturday, March 30
v Blues (away)

Friday, April 5
v Reds (away)

Friday, April 12
v Rebels (away)

Saturday, April 20
v Brumbies (home)

Saturday, April 27
v Vodacom Bulls (home)

Saturday, May 4
v Jaguares (away)