The tournament (also known as the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International for sponsorship reasons) was the sixth season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-university rugby union competition featuring eight South African universities.
The tournament was won by UP Tuks for the second consecutive season; they beat Maties 44–5 in the final played on 8 April 2013.
No team was relegated to the second-tier Varsity Shield competition for 2014.
The winners of these semi-finals played each other in the final, at the home venue of the higher-placed team.
[1] The following teams took part in the 2013 Varsity Cup competition: The final league standings for the 2013 Varsity Cup were:[2] The top four teams qualify to the semi-finals.