Naka Bulls to renew rivalry with SK Walmers in Gold Cup

The 10th Pick n Pay Gold Cup will begin on 26 September with defending champions Naka Bulls drawn to face wildcard entrants Schotsche Kloof Walmers, as South Africa’s national club rugby line-up was confirmed.

SA Rugby announced the 32-team field on Thursday for the competition, regarded as the FA Cup of South African community rugby. SK Walmers, who are based in Cape Town’s Bo-Kaap and play at the historic Green Point Track, secured the final place after an impressive domestic campaign.

Known as ‘SK’, Walmers finished in the top five of the Western Province Super League A, behind former national club champions Villager, Durbanville-Bellville and Hamilton. They are unbeaten in their past 12 matches and have not lost since April.

Their recent run includes victories over FNB Varsity Cup champions Maties and UCT, as well as former Gold Cup winners Hamiltons and False Bay. Those results came under head coach Sentle Lohoko, who also served as an assistant coach to the Stormers XXIII in the Carling Currie Cup.

The fixture will renew a rivalry that began earlier this year. Naka Bulls beat Walmers 28-24 in a closely contested match at the Saldanha Super 8 Easter tournament on the West Coast in April, before going on to win the Cup. Walmers claimed the Plate competition.

This time, SK Walmers will travel from the shadow of Table Mountain to the Pretoria Moot to meet the three-time defending champions.

The tournament field includes six current or former national club champions. Alongside Naka Bulls are 2025 finalists Villager, 2015 champions Durbanville-Bellville, College Rovers and Crusaders from KwaZulu-Natal, and Johannesburg club Pirates.

“The 2025 Pick n Pay Gold Cup was a tremendous success,” said SA Rugby CEO, Rian Oberholzer.

“Fans across the country bought into the vibe, our social media pages had almost two million views and we intend to build on that foundation this year.

“We have already resumed our highly popular Gold Cup Trophy Tour roadshow, with the first stop of 2026 being a visit to the Cape Winelands last weekend, where the public were able to see the iconic Gold Cup up close at Pick n Pay Wellington and thereafter at Gold Cup side Roses United Rugby Club.

“The role that the Gold Cup’s new partners, Pick n Pay and Northam Platinum, have played in the tournament’s revival cannot be overstated. They have bought in to what we are trying to achieve in the community rugby space and we look forward to taking things up another level when the teams get down to battle at the end of the month,” Oberholzer added.

Several established clubs will return to the competition. Pacaltsdorp Evergreens of George, regular SWD championship contenders who reached the quarter-finals of the inaugural Gold Cup in 2013, are included alongside Garden Route rivals Groot-Brakrivier.

Other notable entries are 2025 semi-finalists Rhinos of Limpopo, Sishen of Griquas, White River of the Pumas, East London Police of Border and last year’s quarter-finalists Gardens of Kariega from Eastern Province.

Bethlehem Oud-Skoliere, a major force in Eastern Free State community rugby for decades, will make their Gold Cup debut. Randfontein of the Lions and Grizzlies of the Bulls are also entering the tournament for the first time.

The competition’s history stretches back to 1975, when Maties beat Durban Collegians in the first National Club Championship final. The Gold Cup is now South Africa’s leading national club tournament, with the ambition of providing an aspirational platform for all 1,197 clubs and 118,000 registered players across the country.

This will be the fourth staging since the competition returned in 2023 following a three-year absence caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The break had raised concerns about the future of community rugby.

On its return, the Gold Cup changed from a pre-2020 Rugby World Cup-style pool format to a 32-team, single-elimination competition. The previous system offered a national platform to only half as many clubs.

Those concerns were eased in 2025, when record attendances and unprecedented social-media engagement accompanied Naka Bulls’ third successive title. They secured the hat-trick in a memorable final in Cape Town.

The Round of 32 will feature two clubs from each of the 15 provincial unions, along with defending champions Naka Bulls and wildcard side SK Walmers. The draw and complete fixture list will be released later.

Pick n Pay is sponsoring the Gold Cup for a second year as part of a four-year agreement with SA Rugby. That partnership also makes the retailer a Tier-1 sponsor of the four-time Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks, the back-to-back sevens world champions Blitzboks, the back-to-back World Rugby Under-20 champions Junior Springboks and all other national teams.

Northam Platinum is also supporting the tournament, with its community focus aligning with the grassroots character of the Gold Cup.

2026 Gold Cup line-up

Gauteng

– Blue Bulls: Naka Bulls, Grizzlies, Centurion – Golden Lions: Randfontein, Pirates – Valke: Vereeniging, Brakpan

Limpopo

– Limpopo: Rhinos, Louis Trichardt

North West

– Leopards: Wolves, Warriors

Mpumalanga

– Pumas: White River, Nelspruit

Free State

– Free State: Red Oak Bloemfontein Police, Bloemfontein Collegians – Griffons: Welkom, Bethlehem Oud-Skoliere

Northern Cape

– Griquas: Sishen, Kimberley

KwaZulu-Natal

– KZN: College Rovers, Crusaders

Eastern Cape

– Border: East London Police, Young Leopards – Eastern Province: Gardens, PE Harlequins

Western Cape

– Boland: Saldanha, Roses United – SWD: Groot-Brakrivier, Pacaltsdorp Evergreens – WP: Villager, Durbanville-Bellville

Wildcard

– Schotsche Kloof Walmers (WP)

Previous Pick n Pay Gold Cup champions

– 2013: Despatch (EP) – 2014: Rustenburg Impala (Leopards) – 2015: Durbanville-Bellville (WP) – 2016: Rustenburg Impala (Leopards) – 2017: False Bay (WP) – 2018: No tournament, as the Gold Cup moved from a post-season to a pre-season slot – 2019: Rustenburg Impala (Leopards) – 2020-2022: Tournament not held because of Covid-19 – 2023-2025: Naka Bulls (Bulls)