Clubs Gun for Final Four

The Pick n Pay Gold Cup reaches its business end this weekend with four quarter-finals – two of them televised live on SuperSport – determining which clubs reach the final four of the ‘FA Cup’ of South African club rugby.

This year’s tournament, which signals a bold new era for club rugby on the back of significant growth in the community game, is also supported by Northam Platinum, whose commitment to community aligns with the grassroots spirit of the Pick n Pay Gold Cup.

Pick n Pay’s title partnership with the Gold Cup is part of a four-year agreement that includes becoming Tier-1 sponsors of the four-time world champion and back-to-back Castle Rugby Championship-winning Springboks.

With this year’s knockout championship for non-university clubs having been split into North and South sections – with the respective winners meeting in the Grand Final on 25 October – this weekend’s matches are effectively semi-finals for the four teams remaining on either side of the draw.

In the North section, defending champions Naka Bulls, who have scored 154 points and conceded just 27 in their opening two matches, will host Northam Wolves in the nation’s capital on Saturday afternoon.

Wolves, one of two Northam Platinum mining clubs in the last eight, emerged as tournament dark horses by beating Raiders 53-50 in the Round of 16, and they will be looking to end the formidable Bulls’ quest for what would be an historic hat-trick of Pick n Pay Gold Cup titles.

The winners of the Naka Bulls and Northam Wolves clash will advance to the semi-finals, where they will face either 2024 runners-up Northam Rhinos or Pretoria Harlequins, whose quarter-final from Bushveld Park in Setaria will be televised live on SuperSport (channel 210) at 16h55.

For television viewers, the Rhinos v Harlequins clash will be preceded by a mouthwatering first quarter-final in the South section, from Brookside in Cape Town, between Western Province champions Villager and Gardens of Kariega. SuperSport will cross over live at 14h55 (channel 210).

Villager, who are hunting their first national title since legendary Springbok captain and 1995 Rugby World Cup-winning manager, Morné du Plessis, lifted the Cup in 1980, will face a stiff test of their title credentials from Gardens, who have established themselves as one the pre-eminent clubs in the Eastern Cape over the past few years.

The winner of this clash will be able to find out who their semi-final opponents will be the following day over Sunday lunch, when the last quarter-final, between Robertson and College Rovers, kicks off at 13h00 at the Van Zyl Sports Grounds in the Boland town.

The stakes couldn’t be higher for both sides: Robertson, on the back of the Boland Cavaliers’ giant-killing performances in the Currie Cup, will be looking to become the first Boland team ever to reach the semi-finals of the Gold Cup.

Durban’s Rovers, the 2010 and 2012 national club champions and the most dominant club in KZN rugby for the past 10 years, will want to finally put more than a decade of disappointment behind them by finally lifting the only Cup that has eluded them in their 126-year history.

“We have now reached the sharp end of the tournament and, as any Springbok fan knows from our 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign, the quarter-final stage takes things to a whole new level of intensity and drama,” said SA Rugby CEO, Rian Oberholzer. “We are now well and truly at the performance end of club rugby, where all eight clubs know just what it takes to lift trophies and win these types of do-or-die matches.

“The Gold Cup this year has been reinvigorated by Pick n Pay’s and Northam Platinum’s support and the presence of two giant corporates, each leaders in their respective industries, has elevated the status of the competition in the eyes of players, coaches and fans. This is only the first year of what we hope will be a long association with our partners, but already the buzz and excitement augurs well for the future,” Oberholzer added.

“As I’ve previously mentioned, eight years ago, Grant Williams was playing for College Rovers in the Gold Cup. Now he’s a World Cup-winning Springbok superstar. I’m sure this will serve as inspiration to the 184 players preparing for action in this weekend’s quarter-finals. There is no reason why they too cannot reach their own potential via this wonderful platform.”

The respective winners of the two North quarter-finals will meet in the first semi-final next weekend, with the respective winners of the two South last-eight clashes meeting in the second semi-final.

Hosting rights for both matches will go to the team that recorded the largest points differential registered in their quarter-final match.

Pick n Pay Gold Cup – Quarter-Final Fixtures

Saturday 4 October:

North section:

Naka Bulls v Northam Wolves (Naka Bulls Rugby Club, Pretoria, 16:00)

Northam Rhinos v Harlequins (Setaria Recreation Club, Setaria, 16:55 – live on SS channel 210)

South section:

Villager v Gardens (Brookside, Cape Town, 14:55 – live on SS channel 210)

Sunday 5 October:

South section:

Robertson v College Rovers (Van Zyl Street Sports Grounds, Robertson, 13:00)