Having already been crowned champions of two prestigious women’s rugby tournaments earlier this season, the Harlequins women’s rugby team believes they are ready to put the cherry on top by concluding the season with a victory at the national Betway Women’s Club Championship.

This championship is being hosted from 19 to 26 September at the Alberton Rugby Club in southern Johannesburg, and the country’s best women’s club teams which are not affiliated with a tertiary institution, will be participating in the action.

The development and expansion of women’s rugby has been a priority at Harlequins for years, and the club’s comprehensive women’s rugby program has yielded good results over the past six seasons.

Harlequins’ women’s team secured their fourth title this year as champions of the Blue Bulls’ top club league for women. They also won this title for three consecutive years between 2021 and 2023.

Earlier this year, the Quins women also became the first winners of the Sibanye-Stillwater Inter-Provincial Club Tournament for women. Club teams from five different provinces participate in this tournament.

The extent to which female players are developed at Harlequins, and the quality of the players representing the club, is reflected in the fact that 22 of their 25 players participating in the national Betway Women’s Club Championship already have experience at provincial-level. Several of them have turned out for the Blue Bulls’ Daisies, while others have also played in the colours of the Lions and the Falcons.

After the team concluded their on-field preparations for the national tournament last week, a special capping ceremony was held in the clubhouse on Thursday evening. During this ceremony new players set to represent the club at the national tournament for the first time were officially inducted, while the entire squad’s tournament kit was presented.

Harlequins is known as a club with long-standing traditions, and this capping ceremony is no exception. In keeping with an old club custom, players are officially inducted by the club president. The event involves a ritual similar to the knighting ceremony in England, where each player is individually “capped” with a ceremonial sword while kneeling before the president and team management. Although some players were initially a little apprehensive about the sword ritual, most “newbies” found the ceremony great fun as they were loudly cheered on by their teammates.

The president of the Blue Bulls Rugby Union, Willem Strauss, was also present and wished the players well for their campaign at the national tournament. He also announced that the union had made a substantial cash contribution to the team to cover their costs for the tournament.

Dino Swanepoel, the team’s head coach, believes his squad has a good chance of bringing the trophy back to Pretoria. He stated that the team can draw on the experience gained at the same tournament last year, and he also believes their growth over the past season has been remarkable enough for them to make their mark at this national level.

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