The Carling Currie Cup will kick off in January 2022 with a seven-team Premier Division, following an online meeting of the General Council of the South African Rugby Union.
The Council rejected a proposal from Eastern Province that they be incorporated into the top-flight immediately. However, Council approved a motion that the top South African team in the First Division be automatically promoted to the Premier Division at the end of the 2022 Carling Currie Cup season, creating an eight-team Premier Division.
In addition, the promoted team will be entrenched for two seasons (until the end of the 2024 Carling Currie Cup season) when the bottom team in the Premier Division will be automatically relegated in favour of the top South African team in the First Division, which will also be entrenched for two seasons before promotion/relegation at the end of the 2026 season.
The 2022 competition will kick off on the weekend of 14/15 January. The unusual kick off has been prompted by the realignment of the South African domestic rugby calendar to dovetail with the northern hemisphere season following the expanded entry of four teams into the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
The change means that the Carling Currie Cup final will be played on 25 June, which will mark the end of the season for senior professional players appearing in the Carling Currie Cup and the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.
Carling Currie Cup Premier Division 2022(all fixtures are subject to change; venues and kick-off times to be confirmed)
Friday/Saturday 14/15 January
DHL Western Province vs Sigma Lions
Toyota Cheetahs vs Tafel Lager Griquas
New Nation Pumas vs Vodacom Bulls
Wednesday 19 January
DHL Western Province vs Vodacom Bulls
Cell C Sharks vs Tafel Lager Griquas
Sigma Lions vs New Nation Pumas
Wednesday 2 February
Cell C Sharks vs DHL Western Province
Vodacom Bulls vs Toyota Cheetahs
Tafel Lager Griquas vs New Nation Pumas
Friday/Saturday 18/19 February
Sigma Lions vs Cell C Sharks
Tafel Lager Griquas vs DHL Western Province
New Nation Pumas vs Toyota Cheetahs
Friday/Saturday 4/5 March
Toyota Cheetahs vs Sigma Lions
Tafel Lager Griquas vs Vodacom Bulls
New Nation Pumas vs Cell C Sharks
Wednesday 16 March
Vodacom Bulls vs Cell C Sharks
Toyota Cheetahs vs DHL Western Province
Tafel Lager Griquas vs Sigma Lions
Wednesday 23 March
DHL Western Province vs New Nation Pumas
Cell C Sharks vs Toyota Cheetahs
Sigma Lions vs Vodacom Bulls
Wednesday 6 April
Vodacom Bulls vs DHL Western Province
Tafel Lager Griquas vs Cell C Sharks
New Nation Pumas vs Sigma Lions
Friday/Saturday 15/16 April
DHL Western Province vs Toyota Cheetahs
Cell C Sharks vs Vodacom Bulls
Sigma Lions vs Tafel Lager Griquas
Friday/Saturday 6/7 May
Cell C Sharks vs New Nation Pumas
Sigma Lions vs Toyota Cheetahs
Vodacom Bulls vs Tafel Lager Griquas
Friday/Saturday 13/14 May
Vodacom Bulls vs Sigma Lions
Toyota Cheetahs vs Cell C Sharks
New Nation Pumas vs DHL Western Province
Friday/Saturday 27/28 May
Sigma Lions vs DHL Western Province
Vodacom Bulls vs New Nation Pumas
Tafel Lager Griquas vs Toyota Cheetahs
Friday/Saturday 3/4 June
DHL Western Province vs Tafel Lager Griquas
Cell C Sharks vs Sigma Lions
Toyota Cheetahs vs New Nation Pumas
Friday/Saturday 10/11 June
DHL Western Province vs Cell C Sharks
Toyota Cheetahs vs Vodacom Bulls
New Nation Pumas vs Tafel Lager Griquas
18 June
Carling Currie Cup Semi-Finals
25 June
Carling Currie Cup Final
2 July
Carling Champions Match
South Africa’s oldest and premier provincial competition was won for a second consecutive season by the Vodacom Bulls in 2021. The men from Pretoria also won the 2020 competition, which was contested from October 2020 to January 2021 during a season disrupted by COVID-19, their first title since 2009.
In 2021 they again beat the Durban-based Cell C Sharks in a home final in Pretoria as both teams underlined their class in the local domestic competition.
The other teams in the competition for 2021 were 2019 champions, the Toyota Cheetahs (from Bloemfontein), as well as DHL Western Province (Cape Town), Sigma Lions (Johannesburg), New Nation Pumas (Nelspruit) and Tafel Lager Griquas (Kimberley).
