Old Georgian’s make a historic trip Down South this weekend for their opening Gold Cup rugby tournament date against White River in Mpumalanga.

This is the first time a Zimbabwe side will take part in a South African competition since the turn of the millennium and Old Georginas will have the honor of making Zimbabwe proud.

Excieted as they might be, the Dragons know that it is not going to be a walk in the park as captain Kingsley Lang told SportsZone.

“There is a lot of planning, dedication, team structuring and believing in each other as a team that we invested in for us to qualify. I do not want to be unrealistic but it is going to be very hard and challenging for us in the Gold Cup.

“We have been training outside our normal or usual Tuesday and Thursday night sessions, fitness is something we are taking seriously and there are a lot of small things we have been doing right because cumulatively these small things done correctly add up to something huge and positive,” said Lang.

Unbeaten this season, the Dragons of Groombridge deserved a chance in the tournament given the way they presented themselves, their work ethic and their investment seems to have finally paid off.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Five more sleeps till <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoldCupRugby?src=hash">#GoldCupRugby</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LoveRugby?src=hash">#LoveRugby</a> <a href="https://t.co/DhJ79xy7YV">https://t.co/DhJ79xy7YV</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PUMASouthAfrica">@PUMASouthAfrica</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Springboks">@Springboks</a> <a href="https://t.co/m7cQsr3wda">pic.twitter.com/m7cQsr3wda</a></p>&mdash; SA Rugby Gold Cup (@GoldCupRugby) <a href="https://twitter.com/GoldCupRugby/status/772746259857809408">September 5, 2016</a></blockquote>

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Zimbabwe’s representatives will start by travelling to Mpumalanga where they face White River Rugby Club in the opening round on September 10 but will only be back in action on September 24, a week after taking a bye.

This is when they will host DirectAxis False Bay at the Police Grounds before their second home game against SA Home Loans Durban Collegians at their favourit hunting ground Old Georgians Sports Club.

Grant Mitchell and his charged will then travel to Brakpan for their final round robin game against Siyaya Brakpan at  Bosman Stadium, and only the top two from each group will progress to the last eight.

Old Georgians have a number of players that have donned the senior national rugby side’s jersey in both the XVs and Sevens and loose forward Lang is one of them.

“At the beginning of the season coach (Grant Mitchell) asked us what we wanted and we told him we are all about the Gold Cup and he got the team plan laid for us with the view of making it for the South African competition.

“We had to change our attitude and like what Grant always says we have to act professional because “acting professional costs nothing”.

“With each passing week and each game we were building towards our main goal of doing well in the GoldCup. We do not want to be there just for this year, but our wish is to be there as well in 2017 and the years to come,” added Lang.

Full fixtures (all matches 15h30 unless otherwise indicated):

Round 1 (Sat 10 September):

OneLogix United Bulk Worcester Villagers v Tiger Wheel & Tyre Welkom Rovers (Boland Park, Worcester, 14h45)

Durbanville-Bellville v Mike Pendock Motors Old Selbornians (Durbell Rugby Club, Cape Town)

Pirates v FNB Wanderers Windhoek (Pirates Rugby Club, Johannesburg)

Northam Platinum Rhinos v Rustenburg Impala (Northam Rugby Club, Limpopo)

DirectAxis False Bay v SA Home Loans Durban Collegians (Philip Herbstein Field, Constantia, Cape Town)

White River v Old Georgians Harare (White River Rugby Club, Mpumalanga)

Belaz Sishen v Pretoria Police (Sivos Stadium, Kathu)

Don’s Pawn Shop PE Police v Bloemfontein Police (Kemsley Park, Port Elizabeth)

Round 2 (Sat 17 September):

Tiger Wheel & Tyre Welkom Rovers v Durbanville-Bellville (Rovers Rugby Club, Welkom)

Your Communications College Rovers v OneLogix United Bulk Worcester Villagers (venue & time TBC)

Pacaltsdorp Evergreens v Rustenburg Impala (Pacaltsdorp Sports Ground, George)

Pirates v Northam Platinum Rhinos (Pirates Rugby Club, Johannesburg)

SA Home Loans Durban Collegians v White River (Growth-Point Kings Park Stadium, Durban, 13h00)

Siyaya Brakpan v DirectAxis False Bay (Bosman Stadium, Brakpan)

Pretoria Police v Don’s Pawn Shop PE Police (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, Fri 16 September, 16h45)

East London Police v Belaz Sishen (Police Park, East London)

Round 3 (Sat 24 September):

Mike Pendock Motors Old Selbornians v OneLogix United Bulk Worcester Villagers (Mike Pendock Motors Park, East London)

Tiger Wheel & Tyre Welkom Rovers v Your Communications College Rovers – Rovers Rugby Club, Welkom

FNB Wanderers Windhoek v Northam Platinum Rhinos (Wanderers Club, Windhoek)

Pacaltsdorp Evergreens v Pirates (Pacaltsdorp Sports Ground, George)

Old Georgians v DirectAxis False Bay (Police Grounds, Harare)

SA Home Loans Durban Collegians v Siyaya Brakpan – KP 10, Kings Park, Durban

Don’s Pawn Shop PE Police v East London Police – Kemsley Park, Port Elizabeth

Bloemfontein Police v Pretoria Police (Bobbies Park, Bloemfontein)

Round 4 (Sat 1 October):

Your Communications College Rovers v Mike Pendock Motors Old Selbornians (KP3, Kings Park, Durban)

OneLogix United Bulk Worcester Villagers v Durbanville-Bellville (Boland Park, Worcester)

Northam Platinum Rhinos v Pacaltsdorp Evergreens (Northam Rugby Club, Limpopo)

Rustenburg Impala v FNB Wanderers Windhoek (Impala Rugby Club, Rustenburg)

White River v Siyaya Brakpan – White River Rugby Club

Old Georgians v SA Home Loans Durban Collegians (OGSC, Harare)

East London Police v Bloemfontein Police (Police Park, East London)

Belaz Sishen v Don’s Pawn Shop PE Police (Sivos Stadium, Kathu)

Round 5 (Sat 8 October):

Durbanville-Bellville v Your Communications College Rovers – Durbell Rugby Club, Cape Town

Mike Pendock Motors Old Selbornians v Tiger Wheel & Tyre Welkom Rovers (Mike Pendock Motors Park, East London)

Rustenburg Impala v Pirates (Impala Rugby Club, Rustenburg)

FNB Wanderers Windhoek v Pacaltsdorp Evergreens (Wanderers Club, Windhoek)

Siyaya Brakpan v Old Georgians Harare – Bosman Stadium, Brakpan

DirectAxis False Bay v White River (Philip Herbstein Field, Constantia, Cape Town)

Bloemfontein Police v Belaz Sishen (Bobbies Park, Bloemfontein)

Pretoria Police v East London Police – Police Rugby Club, Pretoria

Quarter-finals (Sat 15 October – Pool winners host all matches):

Winner Pool C v Runner-up Pool D

Winner Pool B v Runner-up Pool A

Winner Pool D v Runner-up Pool C

Winner Pool A v Runner-up Pool B

Semi-finals* (Sat 22 October):

Winner Quarter-final 1 v Winner Quarter-final 2

Winner Quarter-final 3 v Winner Quarter-final 4

* For each semi-final, the team with the most log points in the pool stages shall host the match. If both both teams have equal log points, Section 2, Clause 1 of SA Rugby’s General Competition Rules shall apply to determine home-ground advantage.

Final* (Sat 29 October):

Winner Semi-final 1 v Winner Semi-final 2

* The team with the most log points in the pool stages shall host the final. If both both teams have equal log points, Section 2, Clause 1 of SA Rugby’s General Competition Rules shall apply to determine home-ground advantage.