Super 14 put on ice to give quarter-finalists welcome breather

Teams chasing glory in the EC Super 14 regional club rugby tournament have been given an unexpected week off to recharge their run-down batteries before resuming battle.

In a surprise move on Monday, organisers said they had decided to give the quarter-finalists a breather to regroup ahead of tough showdowns on March 14.

The matches had been scheduled to take place on Saturday at venues throughout the Eastern Cape.

Teams will now have a few extra days on the training pitch to fine-tune their plans ahead of tough sudden-death showdowns.

It will also give players suffering from niggles picked up in the opening three rounds an opportunity to regain peak fitness.

Though officials have yet to confirm the quarter-final pairings, it seems a repeat of the thrilling 2025 Super 14 club final is on the cards.

According to the pre-tournament format for deciding the quarter-finalists, it looks like Progress will host Fort Beaufort United in an eagerly awaited showdown in Kariega.

This became apparent when organisers released the combined top four logs for EP and Border, which saw Progress top the EP group with 14 points and EL Police end top of the Border group with 15 points.

The combined logs between the two groups of four teams in each province (all sides played three matches) are:

EP conference:

Progress 14
Brumbies 10
Trying Stars 10
Star of Hope 8

Border conference:

EL Police 15
Young Leopards 14
Swallows 11
FB United 7

The formula used to decide the quarter-final pairings is:

Border 1 vs EP 4
Border 2 vs EP 3
EP 1 vs Border 4
EP 2 vs Border 3

The expected quarter-final programme (home teams first) is:

EL Police vs Star of Hope
Young Leopards vs Trying Stars
Progress vs FB United
Brumbies vs Swallows

Progress, who are gunning for a notable double, have shown solid form in the opening rounds.

“I feel Progress has the firepower needed to defend our title in 2026, and fans can expect a brand of rugby where we want to have structure and build our game,” Progress coach Shaun “Trok” Oliver said.

“We will also allow our young players to enjoy themselves.

“Everyone must pull through, and we will take it one game at a time.”

Progress powered its way into the playoffs with a runaway 54-13 win over Hankey Villagers at Londt Park on Saturday.

Saturday’s victory left Progress unbeaten after three rounds, after earlier wins over Trying Stars and Park in the pool stage.

Progress was favoured to emerge as EP’s top team after Gardens, Harlequins and Kruisfontein United opted to withdraw from the tournament.

List of Super 14 champions:

2009 Gardens (EP), 2010 World Cup break, 2011 Police (EP), 2012 Despatch (EP), 2013 Harlequins (EP), 2014 Gardens (EP), 2015 EL Police (Border), 2016 Gardens (EP), 2017 Gardens (EP), 2018 Swallows (Border), 2019 EL Police (Border), 2020 tournament not played, 2021 Progress (EP), 2022 Progress (EP), 2023 EL Police (Border), 2024 EL Police (Border), 2025 Progress (EP).