Two of Border rugby’s top sides, East London Police and Young Leopards, will embark on another journey to change the fortunes of the region in the first round of the Gold Cup this weekend.
Police will host Durbanville-Bellville at Police Park, while Leopards travel to Brookside in Cape Town to face Villager on Saturday.
The region’s teams have struggled over the past three seasons in the biggest and most demanding club rugby competition in SA.
They have mostly been knocked out in either the first or second round.
Police have represented Border in the past three years.
There has been much expectation for them to do well in the competition because of their Eastern Cape club dominance, but they have found it hard to keep up with teams from other provinces, especially from the Western Cape.
Durbanville-Bellville are no slouches in the Gold Cup and will be another mountain to climb for Police.
They were the winners of the national competition in 2015 and went on to produce Garth April, who later played for the Sharks and for the SA A team.
Villager will also be no walkovers. In 2025, they reached the final of the Gold Cup, where they eventually lost to Naka Bulle.
Police president Bonga Mntunjani has continually bemoaned the level of competition in the Border league as their downfall at national level.
He has stressed that clubs from other unions have more rigid and superior club structures, hence they are always hard to beat.
The furthest any Border team has ever gone in the competition is the semifinals, achieved by Swallows and Old Selbornians.
There are a number of intriguing fixtures this weekend, both in the north and south sections.
Defending champions Naka Bulls, who recently lost their Blue Bulls Carlton Cup crown to Tukkies, will need to be at their very best when they face wildcards SK Walmers of Western Province.
Perennial title contenders Northam Rhinos will be hoping that 2026 is finally their year. The platinum miners will kick off their campaign against Mpumalanga champions Nelspruit.
In other action, all eyes will be on the West Coast where Boland champions Saldanha will host Pacaltsdorp Evergreens in front of what is expected to be a capacity crowd, while the same can be said for the Garden Route, where Groot-Brakrivier will welcome Roses United of Wellington to their very own “House of Pain”.