Entrance to the Roodepoort Gold Cup game this weekend will be free for everyone

Roodepoort Rugby Club will be playing its first SSG Gold Cup fixture against the Rustenburg Impalas this Saturday, 9 March, at Ruimsig Stadium, and will be charging no entry fee for supporters.

The club managed to qualify for the 2019 Gold Cup after they finished the 2018 Pirates Grand Challenge as the top-placed open club within the Golden Lions Rugby Union. Poorte came close to bagging the overall title as well, but narrowly lost out to North West University in the final. The club’s outstanding effort in the 2018 season was a complete turnaround of its fortunes in the 2017 season, when it narrowly avoid relegation.

Poorte will be hoping to carry its 2018 form into the Gold Cup this year, with the club gaining a horde of new players and coaches from all over the country. The club has since been dealt a good hand by Saru at the draw for the Gold Cup’s group stages, which took place on Tuesday, 5 February. The draw saw the placing of the 16 amateur open clubs from around the country that will be taking part this year, into four different pools consisting of four clubs each.

Roodepoort was placed in Pool D, alongside two-time Gold Cup winners Rustenburg Impalas and Springs (Falcons Rugby Union) and Swallows (Border Rugby Union) who will both be making their second appearances in the tournament. Their first Pool D encounter is set to take place at 3pm on Saturday at Ruimsig Stadium. Poorte has had a good start to the year with some very very solid performances in the pre-season matches they’ve played to date.

The club is set to announce its 30-man Gold Cup squad tomorrow, and is looking forward to putting on a show for the home fans on Saturday. So, if you are a rugby fan seeking your fix of entertaining, high-octane rugby, then you best head on down to Ruimsig this Saturday to make sure you catch all of the action in Roodepoort’s return to the country’s premier amateur club rugby tournament.