User:Leanair/sandbox

Introduction
 DHL Western Province is a South African provincial rugby union team, based in Newlands, Cape Town, that participates in the annual Currie Cup and Vodacom Cup tournaments. Founded in 1883 it was the first rugby union formed in South Africa and the team has won multiple titles, a record of 32 Currie Cup titles including the inaugural competition, the Vodacom Cup, the Absa Nite Series, and the Lion Cup.

The team is known by the nicknames "Die Streeptruie" (The Striped Jerseys in Afrikaans), "Province" and Afrikaans speaking supporters also refer to the team by its abbreviation, "W.P." (pronounced: "vee pee"["ee" as in "beer"]).

Western Province are the current Vodacom Cup Champions, having defeated the Griquas in 2012 by 20 points to 18. Western Province are the only South African Team besides the Blue Bulls to have appeared in every final of every competition in South African rugby. ( The Vodacom Cup, The Lion Cup, The Absa Nite Series, The Currie Cup and the Super Rugby Competitions (as the Stormers).

Western Province currently combines with Boland Cavaliers to compete as the Stormers in the Super Rugby competition.

History
The club was established in 1883. The club claimed their first Currie Cup title in 1889; they repeated this success just three years later, winning the title again in 1892. Western Province continued to dominate the Currie Cup throughout the 1890s, winning the competition in 1894, 1895, 1897 and 1898. This success continued into the early 1900s, as they won in 1904, 1906 and 1908. The competition still being contested irregularly at this stage, was next won by the Western Province in 1914. They won a further seven times over the next two decades – four times in the 1920s and again three times in the 1930s, sharing two with Border. When the first Currie Cup championship was introduced in 1939, Western Province featured in the final, but lost to Transvaal 17–6 in Cape Town.

After losing the final in 1946 to Northern Transvaal, Western Province won their first final in 1947. The Currie Cup became an annual competition in 1969 and Western Province made it to the final that year, though they lost to Northern Transvaal. The team had to wait another seven seasons before making another final appearance, which they lost against the Orange Free State (recently renamed as the Free State Cheetahs) in Bloemfontein. Three years later they won the Currie Cup, sharing with Northern Transvaal at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town. The next year Province again lost in the final to Northern Transvaal. Northern Transvaal became Western Province's biggest rival during this time. During South Africa's sporting isolation (brought about as a result of the country's apartheid policy) this rivalry took centre stage and became the climax of the Currie Cup season. The teams met in another six championship finals until the 1990s. In the 1980s Western Province experienced what many described as their "golden years", winning the title outright for five years in a row. This feat is yet to be equaled. (Northern Transvaal had achieved this before but their third victory in the winning streak was shared with Western Province) After drawing 16 all with Northern Transvaal in the 1989 final, their next final appearance would be in 1995, when they were defeated by the Natal Sharks in Durban. They won the Currie Cup in 1997, defeating the Free State Cheetahs, but the following season they lost to the Blue Bulls (Northern Transvaal). Western Province won the championship twice in 2000 and 2001, defeating the Sharks on both occasions. , they have yet to reclaim the title. 2010 However saw the return of the club as they managed to make both the Super Rugby and Currie Cup finals losing on both occasions. in 2012 the club ended a 11 year trophy drought by winning the Vodacom Cup.

Name
The Name of the club comes simply from the province they compete. however,In the 1990s many teams changed their names as a result of pressure by the new ANC government. Previously many teams were named after the provinces they were based in and seeing as these provinces no longer existed, the names were no longer valid. Some teams simply added some form of animal or mascot name (e.g. Boland became the Boland Cavaliers) whereas others had to change their entire name. Transvaal for example had to change their name to the Golden Lions. Northern Transvaal were also renamed the Blue Bulls although this was less of a problem for their supporters as this had been the team's nickname for many years. Western Province is the only union that has never changed its name or added anything to it.

Stadium


The Western Province Rugby Football Union is based at Newlands Stadium. Newlands is commonly referred to as the home of South African rugby. The first official matches played at Newlands were in 1890. The ground has been continually developed over the past century, entirely due to the efforts of the Western Province Rugby Football Union and its administrators. Since the advent of professional rugby, the stadium has taken on various names due to sponsorship of the Western Province side, but is today simply named Newlands, a decision made by former sponsors Investec. Vodacom has since taken over sponsorship of the team and stadium, but chose not to rename the stadium. This decision proved very popular among the faithful supporters who deeply respect the traditions associated with W.P. rugby and Newlands itself. Newlands normally draws the largest average crowds of any stadium in the Super Rugby competition. In 2002 the Stormers welcomed their millionth spectator through the gates. The ground was bought in 1888, and currently has a capacity of 50,900. Currently Western Province have one of the highest supporter bases in South Africa, with the Stormers averaging crowds of 45,000 at home Super rugby games and Western Province averaging crowds of 31,000 in the Currie Cup competition.

Major honours
Absa Nite Series (1) 1997

Currie Cup (32) (4 Shared): 1889, 1892, 1894, 1895, 1897, 1898, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1914, 1920, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1932 (shared), 1934 (shared), 1936, 1947, 1954, 1959, 1964, 1966, 1979 (shared), 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1989 (shared), 1997, 2000, 2001.

Runners up (10) 1939 1946 1950 1969 1976 1980 1988 1995 1998 2010

Lion Cup (3) 1984, 1988, 1989.

South African Super Rugby Conference Winners (2) 2011 2012

Vodacom Cup (1) 2012

Other honours

 * ABSA U19 Cup (1) 2010
 * ABSA U21 Cup (1) 2010
 * ABSA Woman's Cup (1) 2010
 * Amateur Cup (1) 2010
 * Choice Cup (1) 2011
 * Craven Week u13 (1) 2010
 * Grant Khomo Week (1) 2010
 * LSEN Week (1) 2010
 * Neo Africa Tri Series (2) 2010 2011
 * SARU Sub Union Tournament (1) 2010

2012 Squad
The squad for the 2012 Currie Cup Premier Division has been named as follows:

Denotes team captain, ‡ denotes players that have been called into the South Africa national rugby union team for the 2012 Rugby Championship and not yet included in the 2012 Currie Cup squad and denotes players that are unavailable indefinitely due to injury  and not yet included in the 2012 Currie Cup squad.

In for 2012

 * 🇿🇦 Deon Carstens (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Saracens)
 * 🇿🇦 JP du Plessis (from )
 * 🇿🇦 Burton Francis (from Golden Lions)
 * 🇿🇦 Joe Pietersen (from 🇫🇷 Bayonne )
 * 🇨🇦 Jebb Sinclair (from 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London Irish)
 * 🇿🇦 Gerhard van den Heever (from )

Out for 2012

 * Wicus Blaauw (🇫🇷Biarritz)
 * Paul Bosch (🇫🇷 Montpellier)
 * Lionel Cronjé ( Blue Bulls)
 * JJ Engelbrecht ( Blue Bulls)
 * Nick Fenton-Wells (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Saracens)
 * Adriaan Fondse (🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Newcastle Falcons)
 * Conrad Jantjes (🇫🇷Biarritz)
 * 🇳🇦 Rohan Kitshoff (🇫🇷 Bordeaux)
 * Pieter Louw (released)
 * JD Moller (released)
 * Danie Poolman (🇮🇪 Connacht)
 * Quinn Roux (🇮🇪 Leinster)
 * Johann Sadie ( Blue Bulls)
 * Tim Whitehead ( Sharks)

In for 2013

 * Ruan Botha (from )

Out for 2013

 * Demetri Catrakilis (to )