The best sidesteps, ball-handling skills and offloads will be on show at the 2023 edition of the Hot Summer of Touch series this weekend.
The vuurwarm beach touch-rugby festival launched two decades ago, in 2001, and gave rise to stars like Stormers player Damian Willemse.
It kicks off on Sunday in Kleinmond and then heads to Cape Town at Camps Bay next Sunday.
Gerome Vermeulen, chairperson of the Western and Southern Cape Beach Touch Association, reckons the event will be bigger and better than previous years.
He says: “This year we have got no restriction in terms of Covid or anything and we expect the guys to be out here and enjoy themselves. People want to be out on the beach and want to have fun.”
On 16 December, the series moves to Strand Beach, on 20 December to Macassar, on 23 December in Struisbaai and on 26 December they will be in Stilbaai.
Gerome says: “We have got two grass venues, Struisbaai and Hartenbos, but all the others are on the beach and a lot of the guys like to step, jump in the air and manoeuvre themselves around the guys.”
The final two events take place on 28 and 30 December in Hartenbos and Mossel Bay’s Diaz Beach.
The series has produced stars like Springbok utility back Willemse, with Gerome adding: “He is one of the biggest guys that comes from the Strand that played touch rugby and he ended up being one of the most brilliant Springboks.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za