Gardens Rugby Football Club were crowned EPRU Grand Challenge Cup champions after beating Uitenhage rivals Progress 18-17 in the final played at the WJ de Wet Stadium in Despatch on Saturday.
Gardens, who produced a superb fightback after trailing by 14 points at one stage, reclaimed the cup they won in 2016 by beating the defending champions Progress.
It was an epic battle but in the end there could only be one winner.
And it was a last-gasp drop goal that sent Gardens’ fans into wild celebrations. Gardens opened the scoring with a penalty but Progress levelled with one of their own.
Progress then scored two converted tries to make the score 17-3.
Gardens responded with more penalties to bring the halftime score to 17-12 in favour of Progress.
Last year’s champions dominated possession and did most of the attacking but Gardens’ defence proved impenetrable in the second half.
Gardens then landed a further penalty to put the match on a knife edge in the last quarter with Progress leading 17-15.
Gardens kicked that all-important drop goal in the last minute to snatch victory in dramatic fashion.
They will now represent EPRU in the Gold Cup, a national community tournament.