Border women aim to make history

Border aim to claim the title for the first time and underline their rising status as the powerhouse of the women's game.

We have 45 women's clubs in the Border and the next highest number is 17 in Eastern Province, Ndumiso Memane, the coach of Border told www.sarugby.co.za.

We have focused on our youth development and we have seen the benefits as we have blended youth and experience to get where we are. Some of the other provinces have struggled as their older players have moved on.

This is the sixth time the championships have been held and they had been dominated by the Blue Bulls who won the first four titles between 2003 and 2006 and Eastern Province who finally toppled the women from Pretoria to win last year's title.

EP repeated that feat in last weekend's semifinals, beating the Bulls 24-20 in Pretoria, while Border claimed their place with a hard-fought, 15-8 victory over Western Province in East London.

Border have earned this season's favourites tag as well as home field advantage by sweeping past all-comers, including EP (17-0), in an unbeaten campaign.

I think we selected well by bringing in some young, hungry players to go with some of our more experienced players, said Memane.

The breakthrough came for me against the Sharks in Durban. They have a very good pack of forwards especially at the rucks and breakdowns but we matched them and won 24-0.

There is a lot of passion and enthusiasm for women's rugby in Border and we're very glad that we have a chance to lift the Cup to prove it.

The match will be preceded by the B Section final between the Golden Lions and Boland (kickoff 2pm).