The Cheetahs are at home as the Pumas look for their second successive Currie Cup title on Saturday.
The Currie Cup Final, between the Toyota Cheetahs and the defending champions, the Airlink Pumas, will kick off at 16:00 on Saturday at Toyota Stadium.
The match officials for the two Currie Cup Finals for the 2023 season, with Cwengile Jadezweni taking charge of his second successive Premier Division final.
Jadezweni will be assisted by AJ Jacobs and Stephan Geldenhuys, while Egon Seconds has been appointed as TMO for the Currie Cup clash.
The Pumas will be tough to beat. Just ask the Sharks.
The Sharks lost 26-20 to the Airlink Pumas, who are now looking to win their second title in a row.
“I think it’s the toughness. We really train hard, but it’s also the discipline,” said the Pumas’ charismatic coach Jimmy Stonehouse when he was asked what was behind his team’s continued success in the Currie Cup.
Tough is what he believes his players have to be, as he feels his union does get the short end of the stick when it comes to the battle for sponsorship and attention. He believes the Pumas deserve to be playing rugby for more than just the months of the year that the Currie Cup is being played.
“It’s tough for the guys sometimes at the Pumas, and what we’re doing here (by winning these games) is to say to SA Rugby: ‘Just give us an opportunity’,” said Stonehouse after his team’s brave 26-20 win over the Sharks.
“We cannot play in the URC or those competitions because we don’t have the money, but just give us something – another competition – so that we don’t have another seven months of pre-season and so that we can get another sponsor to invest in us. That’s what we’re trying to create.”
“It is about showing out there as a team that we belong somewhere. I practice and preach this with the players and I tell them that if the Pumas win, they will go somewhere,” said Stonehouse.
“If they have a belief that they’re brilliant and want stuff on their own, they will go nowhere. I think that’s the greatest thing. At the end of this season, Tinus de Beer is going to Wales, Ali Mgijima is going to the Cheetahs, and Diego Appolis is going to the Sharks. Everybody is going, just like last year.”