The Pumas, the runners-up in the Super Sport Rugby Challenge, which concluded in Saldanha Stadium on June 23, unofficially got the 2019 edition of the Currie Cup underway with a warm-up match against the Vodacom Blue Bulls at Loftus on Saturday.

The once-unbeaten Pumas’ place in the finals was secured when they outclassed the Boland Cavaliers 57-32 in the semi-final at KaNyamazane Stadium on June 16. They scored nine tries to Boland’s one (and a penalty try) in a masterclass demolition.

Pumas destroy Boland to book place in final

Until this point, they were unbeaten going into the final against the Tafel Lager Griquas at Saldanha Stadium.
The latter executed an almost perfect game plan to outclass and dethrone the Pumas with a score of 28-13.
On Saturday, their warm-up to their Currie Cup campaign got off to an unofficial 42-7 defeat. HP van Schoor was the only Pumas player to pay a visit to the try line, after a maul resulted in a try. It was converted by Kobus Marais.
“It was the perfect opportunity to give players some game time,” said the Pumas’ team manager, Marius van Rensburg.

Their first official match of the Currie Cup will take place at Emirates Airline Park, against the Xerox Golden Lions on Saturday. Their first home game will be against the Vodacom Blue Bulls, at 19:15 on Friday July 26. On August 3, they will tackle the Cell C Sharks on home turf, at 15:00, and in August 17, the Free State Cheetahs at 14:00.
They will go into this season without Innovative Solutions Group (ISG), their previous sponsor.

The contract was terminated after ISG allegedly did not adhere to the binding agreement of the contract. CEO of the Pumas, Pieter Burger, said they are in the legal process of suing ISG for damages.
They will thus go into Currie Cup with Phakisa Holdings as their main sponsor. Details will, however, be made available at a later stage, once this is official.
More details about Pumas’ journey into the Currie Cup will be in Friday’s Lowvelder.