Opposition on the prowl for Pumas
THE Pumas start their Currie Cup title defence this weekend and they will find no shortage of highly motivated opposition, who will all be desperate to hold aloft the coveted trophy in June, standing in their way in an expanded eight-team tournament.
The Pumas and Griquas shocked the South African rugby fraternity by rightly contesting the final last season in Kimberley, and it was Jimmy Stonehouse’s charges who eventually triumphed to claim the Currie Cup for the first time in their history.
On Sunday, they will face the Bulls, who won the tournament consecutively in 2021 and 2020, at Loftus Versfeld.
The Pretoria-based side have not enjoyed the rub of the green this month, compounded by a recent loss to the Lions in the United Rugby Championship.
The Currie Cup will take on a degree of importance for them then, as it could return some much-needed positive vibes and confidence back into the greater squad.
It certainly seemed to have that impact in the two championship years previously, as head coach Jake White and his management team, along with the buy-in of players, used their Currie Cup form to contest finals in the Rainbow Cup and URC.
The same can be said of the Lions, who face Western Province on Saturday. The Joburgers’ recent record in the Currie Cup is unflattering at best.
In the last campaign, out of 12 matches they won two games, while the season before they only had a 50% win record during the regular season.
During the 2022 season, the union split their URC and Currie Cup squads, and it had an extremely negative outcome on their results.
That will not be the case this year, with coach Mzwahke Nkosi able to call on the seasoned campaigners participating in the URC and Challenge Cup.
Moreover, the Lions are in dire need of some silverware, and capturing the Currie Cup for a 12th time will go a long way to solidifying their insistence that their young group of players are on the right track and the future of the union.
Their opponents on Saturday, Western Province, will have a degree of consistency in their campaign after confirming on Monday that the URC management team, led by John Dobson, will be take charge in the tournament.
“What we promised the Currie Cup team was to create a real sense of belonging in the bigger squad we need (for URC) and I don’t think it’s right for us to outsource them to other coaches,” Dobson explained of the decision.
The team with the most on the line, however, are the Free State Cheetahs.
The Bloemfontein-based team have enjoyed a paucity of regular professional rugby in recent years.
They were handed a lifeline when invited to play in the Challenge Cup this season, but that too has come with unwanted financial implications and stresses, with reports suggesting that hosting those games cost them R400 000 a pop in Parma.
According to coach Hawies Fourie: “We were kicked out of the PRO14 in September 2020 ... by January 2021 we had lost 23 players and 15 were of top quality.”
The Cheetahs have become something of a forgotten union in SA rugby.
They will want to remind administrators, supporters and pundits that they remain a force with a good showing this year in the Currie Cup.
They kick-off the competition on Friday against last season’s runners-up Griquas.
In the other match this weekend, the Griffons start their journey in the Premier Division with a trip to Durban to face the Sharks. The Durbanites might not be completely focussed on the Currie Cup – their Americanbacked owners have bigger ambitions in the URC and Champions Cup, so the newly promoted Welkom-based team could catch them unawares. Currie Cup first round fixtures Friday: Griquas v FS Cheetahs, 4pm Saturday: Sharks v Griffons, 1.30pm; Lions v WP, 3.30pm
Sunday: Bulls v Pumas, 1pm