Prince William Cup

Prince William Cup

Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	2007
Number of teams	2
Country	South Africa  Wales
Holders	South Africa (2023)
Most titles	South Africa (9 titles)

The Prince William Cup was created in 2007 by the Welsh Rugby Union and celebrates 100 years of rugby union history between Wales and South Africa. It is named after the Vice Royal Patron of the WRU, the Prince of Wales, who presented the cup, at the inaugural match, held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 24 November 2007.

Trophy

The trophy was chosen by Prince William, from three different designs presented by specialist jewellers. Mari Thomas from Llanelli and Nicola Palterman from Neath won the commission to create the cup.^[1] The pair, who have exhibited their jewellery around the world from London to New York City, claim the creation of the 55 cm high, 1.5 mm gauge trophy as their biggest and most elaborate creation to date. The Prince William Cup is inspired by the landscapes of South Africa and Wales.^[1] The trophy is silver lined with 23 carat gold plate and is cone shaped tapering from 16 cm at the rim to 8 cm at its base.^[2] The trophy is the ninth of its type in world rugby and was presented to the winner of the first clash by Prince William himself.^[3]

Controversy

The naming of the cup after Prince William has caused controversy in Wales. Opponents to the name called on the WRU to rename the trophy in honour of Welsh international rugby star Ray Gravell, who died on 31 October 2007.^[4] During a tribute to Gravell at the inaugural match the stadium announcer asked the crowd to remember Ray as 'gwir dywysog Cymru', a true prince of Wales. Gravell's funeral was attended by over 10,000 people, including Rhodri Morgan, First Minister of Wales. Following The Cambrian, calling for the cup to be renamed in tribute to Gravell, it was raised in the National Assembly for Wales^[5] by Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Jenkins, although the Welsh Government stated it has no view nor responsibility over the issue.^[6] Amongst MPs, Labour MP Paul Flynn and Plaid's Adam Price MP also called for the WRU to honour Ray Gravell, as did an online petition.^[4][7]

Matches

Details	P	South Africa	Wales	D	South Africa points	Wales points
South Africa	6	5	1	0	193	126
Wales	11	6	4	0	216	199
Neutral venue	1	0	1	0	20	22
Overall	18	12	6	0	429	347

Results

• ST – Summer Test
• AI – Autumn International

Year	Date	Venue	Home	Score	Away	Trophy winner
2007	24 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	12–34	South Africa
2008	7 June	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein	South Africa	43–17	Wales
	14 June	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria		37–21
2008	8 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	15–20	South Africa
2010	5 June	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	31–34	South Africa
2010	13 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	25–29	South Africa
2013	9 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	15–24	South Africa
2014	7 June	Kings Park Stadium, Durban	South Africa	38–16	Wales
	14 June	Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit		31–30
2014	29 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	12–6	South Africa
2016	26 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	27–13	South Africa
2017	2 December	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	24–22	South Africa
2018	2 June	RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.	South Africa	20–22	Wales
2018	24 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	20–11	South Africa
2021	6 November	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Wales	18–23	South Africa
2022	2 July	Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria	South Africa	32–29	Wales
	9 July	Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein		12–13
	16 July	DHL Stadium, Cape Town		30–14

See also

• History of rugby union matches between South Africa and Wales

References