A new Currie Cup champion will be crowned in Kimberley on Saturday afternoon when the Griquas host the Pumas in arguably one of the most unexpected finals in the history of the competition.
The two finalists, who finished third and fourth on the standings following a mad scramble for positions in the last few weeks of the round robin stages, both had to travel for their semi-finals.
But Griquas underlined their good current form by beating the defending champions Bulls in Pretoria and the Pumas upsetting the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last weekend.
Griquas VS Pumas
The Griquas not only ended the Bulls’ recent strangle-hold on the competition but they also progressed to their first Currie Cup final since 1970 which was also the last time they lifted the famous gold trophy.
After their semi-final win at Loftus, Griquas coach Pieter Bergh said: “For so many years, Griquas have talked about 1970. I have been involved with Griquas as an assistant coach from 2012 to 2018, and every year in that time, we never made a semi-final, with good teams, very good Griquas teams.”
The hosts will probably take some form of confidence into the final having beaten the team from Mpumalanga twice already this year by 41-20 in the third round in Kimberley in February and by 45-44 after a cliffhanger in Nelspruit in round 14 two weekends ago.
And last year, the Pumas won at home (26-22) and drew in the Northern Cape (13-13), while their only encounter in the COVID-affected 2020-season ended in a 22-17 home win for the Lowvelders.
