Limpopo Blue Bulls (known as the ''Assupol Limpopo Blue Bulls'' for sponsorship reasons) are a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team that are a sub-union of the

Blue Bulls Rugby Union The Blue Bulls Rugby Union, previously Northern Transvaal Rugby Union, is the governing body for rugby union in Pretoria, two neighboring municipalities in Gauteng Province, and all of Limpopo Province, in South Africa. The union's headquarters and ...

and are therefore represented by the

Blue Bulls The Blue Bulls (known for sponsorship reasons as the Vodacom Blue Bulls) is a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union and are based at Loftus Versfe ...

in the annual

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

and

Vodacom Cup The Vodacom Cup was an annual rugby union competition in South Africa. Annual Vodacom Cup competitions were played between its inaugural season in 1998 and 2015 and was contested between February and May each year. The Vodacom Cup was the succes ...

tournaments. They play out of

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Province ...

at the

Peter Mokaba Stadium The Peter Mokaba Stadium is a football and rugby union stadium in Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg), South Africa, that was used for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It has a capacity of 45,500 but for the purposes of the 2010 FIFA World Cup the seating cap ...

and draw players from the entire

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

province in South Africa. Between 2013 and 2015, the Limpopo Blue Bulls played as a separate team in the

competition. Despite their first team not participating in first class rugby since 2015, they still have youth teams that participate in competitions such as the Under-21 and Under-19 Provincial Championships and in the

Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The tou ...

and Grant Khomo Week tournaments. They also have a women's team who compete in the South African Rugby Women's First Division.

History

Far North (1968–1995)

In 1967, the Far North Rugby Union was formed. They were based in Pietersburg (now Polokwane) and participated in domestic South African competitions between 1968 and 1995, when the advent of professionalism in South African rugby union saw the number of provincial unions reduced to 14. Far North merged with to become the .

Vodacom Cup (2013–2015)

They played as an independent team in the

, starting in the

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

season. It was a very disappointing season, with the Limpopo Blue Bulls breaking several unwanted records, including the biggest ever first class loss recorded in South African rugby history, when they lost 161–3 to the on 27 April 2013. They also conceded 100 points or more in their matches against the (113–3), (124–5), (154–0) and (110–0). They slightly improved in their second season in the competition, conceding nearly 200 points less in their seven matches. However, they still lost all of their matches and conceded 100 points or more in two of their matches — against the and against their parent union side, the . The Limpopo Blue Bulls took a different approach in the build-up to the

2015 Vodacom Cup The 2015 Vodacom Cup was contested from 6 March to 30 May 2015. The tournament was the 18th edition of the Vodacom Cup, an annual domestic South African rugby union competition, and was played between the fourteen provincial teams in South Africa ...

. In 2013 and 2014, they selected the best players from across the

province – excluding the players of the best club in the region, Noordelikes, who competed in the SARU Community Cup at the same time as the

competition – for 2015, they decided to train in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

and also employ the help of some club players from the region, most notably Oostelike Eagles, who contributed 17 players to their 2015 training squad. Their record in 2015 was once again much-improved; they only conceded 50 points or more in two matches – a 52–0 defeat to the and an 83–13 defeat to the . They scored more than twice the number of points they scored in 2014 and conceded half the number of points. They also earned their first log points when they lost their match against the by less than seven points – going down 17–24 in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

– and gained their first log point for scoring four tries in a match in their final game of the season, a 27–38 defeat to the .

Records

Limpopo Blue Bulls records:

Vodacom Cup

The Limpopo Blue Bulls' all-time record in the

since their entry into the competition in 2013 is:

References

{{Rugby union in South Africa Rugby union teams in South Africa Blue Bulls Rugby Union