Three of the nation's URC franchises are in the bottom half of the table.
Lions centre Rynhardt Jonker on the run during their Currie Cup match against the Pumas at Ellis Park last weekend. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
The 2026 Currie Cup season looks like its heading for a repeat of the 2025 edition, after the second round of fixtures was battled out over the past weekend, with SA’s big four teams largely struggling.
Of the United Rugby Championship franchises, only the Lions walked away with a win, a strong 52-29 result over the Pumas at Ellis Park, that saw them rebound from their tight opening loss against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein a week earlier.
It thus sees the log taking shape, as each side will play each other just once before going straight into the competition semifinals.
The Cheetahs currently top the standings with a perfect haul of 10 points, followed by the Boland Cavaliers (9), Lions (7) and defending champs Griquas (6), with the bottom half seeing the Sharks (5), Stormers (4), Pumas (3) and Bulls (1).
Last year at the end of the pool stage the Lions finished top, followed by the Griquas, Cheetahs and Cavaliers, and ended with the Kimberley side upsetting their Johannesburg hosts at Ellis Park to lift the title.
A similar situation could be on the cards this season, but the bolstered Cheetahs, featuring double World Cup winner Faf de Klerk along with a few other top recruits, seem to be the early favourites, especially after following up their win over the Lions with a good 43-21 result against the Sharks.
Wild cards
Both the Sharks and Stormers have showed they could be wild cards, however, after they upset the Pumas in Mbombela and Griquas in Cape Town respectively over the first weekend of action, before falling to defeats this past weekend, with the Stormers thrashed 41-3 by the Cavaliers in Wellington.
The Bulls don’t look like they will be contenders at all after a defeat to the Cavaliers and a big 56-26 loss to the Griquas.
The main question will however be if the Lions can finally clinch their first Currie Cup title since 2015, after hosting the past two finals, only to fall at the final hurdle.
Speaking after the match against the Pumas, Lions coach Mziwakhe Nkosi admitted he was pleased with his side’s bounce back win.
“We are happy with the win for a few reasons. One, it was a short week for us, having played on Sunday (against the Cheetahs) and they played on Friday (the previous week). So we had a six-day turnaround and they had an eight-day one,” said Nkosi.
“To have just two training sessions and with us needing to bounce back it was a big challenge for these guys to come back and put in a (good) performance. So we are happy with the five points and it keeps us in the race for those play-off spots.”
