Despite a promising start to the 2025 Carling Currie Cup season the Airlink Pumas have, for the second year in a row, failed to reach the semi-final stage of the competition.

The final round of the league phase of the Currie Cup was played on Friday and Saturday, September 5 and 6, with the Pumas travelling to Durban to take on the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.

The Pumas were still in with a shot of making the semi-finals going into the last round, but would need to beat the Sharks to give themselves the best chance of doing so.

The clash in Durban was the first of the weekend, kicking off on Friday evening, and it was a tense affair. In spite of the Sharks dominating territory and possession throughout the first half, several unforced errors and spoiled opportunities meant they remained scoreless. In contrast, the Pumas managed to take a 6-0 lead into halftime, capitalising on penalty goals from flyhalf Clinton Swart.

Things changed in the second half, however, as the Sharks seemed to kick into gear and find their groove with the addition of their Vodacom URC players to the matchday squad helping matters somewhat.

The hosts from KwaZulu-Natal finally broke the try-scoring drought when fullback Yaw Penxe chased down a Siya Masuku grubber to score.

Pumas winger Lundi Msenge responded with a brilliant try of his own, expertly chipped to him by scrumhalf Ross Braude.

This kept the Pumas narrowly ahead, but only for so long, as the momentum swung back in the Sharks’ favour with tries from Phepsi Buthelezi and Francois Venter putting them ahead. The Pumas could, however, not stage a late comeback and the Sharks emerged 19-13 victors.

The losing point gained by the Pumas kept their semi-final hopes alive, but they’d have to wait 24 hours to learn their fate as they needed the Toyota Cheetahs to lose against the Vodacom Blue Bulls and not earn any bonus points. While the Cheetahs did in fact lose, they still received a losing bonus point as well as a four-try bonus point.

This was enough to eliminate the Pumas, who had started the 2025 Carling Currie Cup with a dominant 49-28 win over the Suzuki Griquas who finished second on the log after the league phase. This was followed by a tough loss against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, but they bounced back once more with a resounding 41-7 win against the Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versveld.

A hard-to-swallow loss against the Fidelity ADT Lions at Nelspruit Rugby Club was followed by a deflating defeat at the hands of the Sanlam Boland Kavaliers, who overcame a 23-point deficit to beat the Pumas at Mbombela Stadium. The Pumas kept the semi-final chances alive with a win against Western Province in the penultimate round, but the final-round loss against the Sharks sealed their fate and perhaps defined their season.

The Airlink Pumas showed sparks of brilliance this season, putting together top performances that were, unfortunately for the Mpumalangans, far too fleeting. For the majority of the season the Pumas were deserving of a spot in the semi-finals and often played rugby that had fans believing in the possibility of a second Currie Cup trophy.

However, their season will instead be remembered for the inability to consistently see games through and moments where, through small mistakes, they afforded opponents more belief and momentum than they should have.