Darryn Fortuin nailed a 77th minute long-range penalty goal to give Northam Platinum Rhinos a nail-biting 22-20 victory over C. Steinweg College Rovers in a nail-biting 2026 Pick n Pay Gold Cup Final at KP3 at Hollywoodbets Kings Park in Durban on Sunday afternoon.
Fortuin’s clutch kick handed Rhinos their first national title, a full decade after their 2016 tournament debut ended winless. For Rovers, who staged a great comeback to lead 20-19 with just three minutes left on the clock, Sunday’s defeat was their fourth in a final since the advent of the Gold Cup era in 2013.
However, both sides must take credit for producing one of the best finals in many years, played in front of a capacity crowd.
The match brought the curtain down on a tournament that will be remembered as a watershed event in the annals of club rugby in South Africa, coming on the back of data showing an almost 14% increase in participation numbers at club level across the country between 2024 and 2025.
South Africa now boasts almost 120,000 registered club players across 15 provincial unions.
The country’s pre-eminent knockout championship for non-university clubs – which was sponsored by the national retail chain for the second time – was also supported by Northam Platinum, whose commitment to community aligns with the grassroots spirit of the Pick n Pay Gold Cup.
Rhinos’ victory also gave them a rare treble, having won the pre-season Sibanye League for northern-union clubs, and the Golden Lions’ Grand Challenge.
From Wellington to White River, Kathu to Kariega and Saldanha to Setaria, the 2026 Gold Cup will also be remembered for high-quality rugby on the field – 12 of the 31 matches played were settled by one score or less, with four of those decided by a single point amidst nail-biting drama.
Off the field, large crowds – as epitomised in Durban for the Final – watched on while there was also a notable and growing presence in the online space, where the official Gold Cup Facebook and Instagram pages have collectively had three million views over the past month.
Off the field, the high popular Gold Cup Trophy Tours, which started last year with visits to Pick n Pay stores in Robertson, Kariega, Thabazimbi and Claremont, went from strength to strength in 2026, with fans as far afield as Wellington, White River, Brakpan, Pacaltsdorp, Saldanha and Durban being able to get their photos taken with the iconic gold trophy.
In Sunday’s final, played in front of an estimated 3,000 fans, Rhinos got off to the perfect start, racing to a 14-0 lead inside 10 minutes thanks to a penalty try and a touchdown to hooker Khwezi Mkhafu, converted by Fortuin.
Rovers however absorbed the early pressure and a try on 20 minutes from tighthead prop Rogers Zondi, followed by a 27th minute penalty goal from fullback JP du Preez, made it a four-point game.
Mkhafu’s second try on the stroke of half-time gave the men from Limpopo a 19-8 lead at the break, but any thoughts that Rovers would capitulate were put to bed when tries from replacement Morné Joubert and flanker Conrad Botha looked to have swung the momentum decisively in the home team’s favour.
Scrumhalf Tian Meyer’s conversion of Botha’s score gave the Durbanites a 20-19 lead heading into the last 10 minutes. It looked to be enough to hand the 127-year-old club their first national crown since 2012, but Fortuin stepped up in the dying moments for his date with destiny, slotting the biggest kick of his life in a swirling wind to send the large contingent of travelling fans into ecstatics and give Rhinos captain and No 8, Chaney Willemse, the perfect send-off in what was probably the 33-year-old’s final match before retiring.
Scorers:
- Steinweg College Rovers 20 (8) – Tries: Rogers Zondi, Morné Joubert, Conrad Botha. Conversion: Tian Meyer. Penalty goal: JP du Preez.
- Northam Platinum Rhinos 22 (19) – Tries: Penalty try, Khwezi Mkhafu (2). Conversion: Darryn Fortuin. Penalty goal: Fortuin.
Pick n Pay Gold Cup Champions – 2013-2026:
2013 – Despatch (EP)
2014 – Rustenburg Impala (Leopards)
2015 – Durbanville-Bellville (WP)
2016 – Rustenburg Impala (Leopards)
2017 – False Bay (WP)
2018 – no tournament as Gold Cup transitioned from post-season to pre-season timeslot
2019 – Rustenburg Impala (Leopards)
2020-22 – did not take place due to Covid
2023 – Sanlam Naka Bulls (Bulls)
2024 – Sanlam Naka Bulls (Bulls)
2025 – Sanlam Naka Bulls (Bulls)
2026 – Northam Platinum Rhinos (Limpopo)
About the Pick n Pay Gold Cup:
The Pick n Pay Gold Cup’s roots can be traced back to 1975, when the University of Stellenbosch’s Maties beat Durban Collegians in the first-ever National Club Championship final. Today, 31 years into the professional era, the Gold Cup remains South Africa’s premiere national club tournament, with the objective of growing to serve as an aspirational platform for every single one of the country’s 1,197 clubs and their 118,000 registered players.
It will also be the fourth time the tournament is staged since a three-year, pandemic-enforced hiatus that appeared to threaten the future of the community game as a whole. The Gold Cup however returned in 2023, reinventing itself as a 32-team FA Cup-style knockout event, replacing the pre-2020 Rugby World Cup-style pool format that provided a national platform to only half the current number of participating clubs.
It will also be the second time that the tournament will be sponsored by Pick n Pay, the national retail chain’s investment into community rugby forming part of a four-year agreement with SA Rugby that includes becoming Tier-1 sponsors of the four-time Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks; the back-to-back sevens world champion Blitzboks; and the back-to-back Junior World Championship-winning Junior Springboks; as well as all other national teams.
The success of the Gold Cup is also thanks in no small part to the support of Northam Platinum, whose commitment to community aligns with the grassroots spirit of the Pick n Pay Gold Cup.
whipsaw
In case of windy conditions during a match, the umpires may decide to have the bails removed to avoid having them blown off. They may also be replaced by heavier bails to keep them secure on the stumps. Although the bails may not be present, they are assumed to still be on the stump. It will then be up to the umpires to decide if the wicket had been broken or not.
Venious
Jonah Lomu, a former New Zealand rugby player, is considered one of the greatest wingers in rugby history. Despite being diagnosed with a kidney disorder, he scored 37 tries in 63 tests for the All Blacks between 1994 and 2002.