In a dramatic Currie Cup Premier Division final the Toyota Cheetahs dethroned the defending champions, Airlink Pumas 25-17 in a hard-fought battle in Bloemfontein. The Toyota Cheetahs won the Currie Cup for the first time since 2014.
With both sides not willing to give an inch the Toyota Cheetahs were only able to open a two-score lead after fifty minutes of play, whereafter no points were scored in this arm wrestle between two determined teams.
The Toyota Cheetahs started the first half "dominating early proceedings and led 03-00 following a converted Ruan Pienaar penalty after just five minutes of play. Following an arm wrestle of twenty minutes Tinus de Beer (2) and Ruan Pienaar added more converted penalties to level the scores at 06-06 after twenty-five minutes of play in the first half.
The Toyota started to launch wave after wave of attacks on the Airlink Pumas tryline, with Reinhardt Fortuin eventually going over in the corner after a dominant 5m lineout maul to retake the lead 11-06 and ten minutes of play left in the first half of the match.
The Airlink Pumas response was almost immediate when Daniel Kasende controlled a Tinus de Beer kick pass and fed Ali Mgijima who scored the Airlink Pumas' second try to level the scores at 11-11 and five minutes left to play in the first half.
With the game opening up Cohen Jasper scored the Toyota Cheetahs' second try following great interplay and passing by the hosts, to open up space for Jasper out wide. A sloppy pass by the Airlink Pumas ended the action in the first half with the defending champions trailing 11-18.
The Airlink Pumas added two early converted penalties before Rewan Kruger sniped and scored the Toyota Cheetahs' third try to extend their lead to 25-17 and thirty minutes to play in the second half.
No points were scored during the last thirty minutes of the match with the Toyota Cheetahs crowned as Currie Cup Champions for the first time since 2019.
Scorers:
Toyota Cheetahs: Try: Reinhardt Fortuin, Cohen Jasper, Rewan Kruger. Conversions: Ruan Pienaar (2). Penalties: Ruan Pienaar (2)
Airlink Pumas: Try: Ali Magima. Penalties: Tinus de Beer (4)
Teams:
Toyota Cheetahs: 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Daniel Kasende, 13 David Brits, 12 Reinhardt Fortuin, 11 Cohen Jasper, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Rewan Kruger, 8 Friedle Olivier, 7 Sibabalo Qoma, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Victor Sekekete (c), 4 Rynier Bernardo, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Mox Mxoli. Replacements: 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 Alulutho Tshakweni, 18 Hencus van Wyk, 19 Jeandre Rudolph, 20 George Cronje, 21 Daniel Maartens, 22 Siya Masuku, 23 Robert Ebersohn.
Airlink Pumas: 15 Devon Williams, 14 Andrew Kota, 13 Diego Appollis, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Etienne Taljaard, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Chriswill September, 8 Kwanda Dimaza, 7 Francois Kleinhans, 6 Andre Fouche, 5 Shane Kirkwood (c), 4 Deon Slabbert, 3 Simon Raw, 2 PJ Jacobs, 1 Corne Fourie. Replacements: 16 Darnell Osuagwu, 17 Etienne Janeke, 18 Dewald Maritz, 19 Malembe Mpofu, 20 Ruwald van der Merwe, 21 Giovan Snyman, 22 Gene Willemse, 23 Wian van Niekerk.
