An epic battle is on the cards when the Airlink Pumas host Suzuki Griquas in the 2025 SA Cup final in Nelspruit on Saturday, when the hosts will be looking to dethrone the competitions’ inaugural winners from Kimberley. The match, which is scheduled to kick off at 18h30 at the Mbombela Stadium, will be broadcast live on the SuperSport Rugby channel.
The final – a repeat of the 2024 decider which Griquas won 46-24 to capture the first SA Cup title – is in fact the fifth decider in the last eight years between the two fierce rivals.
The Airlink Pumas won the SuperSport Rugby Challenge final by 32-20 in Oudtshoorn in 2018, and Suzuki Griquas got their revenge in the same competition a year later with a 28-13 victory in Saldanha Bay.
In 2022, the Pumas won the Carling Currie Cup Premier Division final in Kimberely by 26-19, and last year Griquas took the honours in the SA Cup against the men from Mpumalanga.
The Airlink Pumas won three of the five most recent games between the two teams, with the sides each winning twice in their four meetings last year (in the Carling Currie Cup and SA Cup), while the Pumas ended Griquas’ incredible unbeaten run since the start of the SA Cup with a 31-29 triumph earlier this month.
As their league result showed, there is not much to choose between the two sides. Both are prolific with ball in hand on attack, with the Airlink Pumas having scored 81 tries in their nine league games, just one more than Suzuki Griquas.
While the teams were separated by three log points at the end of the league phase, the points’ difference between them was only two points – 351 scored by the Pumas to 349 by Griquas – which points to two very evenly matched sides.
In last weekend’s semifinals, the men from Mpumalanga had to work hard for their 31-29 win over the Sanlam Boland Kavaliers in Nelspruit, while the team from the Northern Cape prevailed by three points in their epic 41-38 victory over the Toyota Cheetahs in Kimberley.
On Saturday, the individual battles are also going to be interesting. Griquas’ experienced captain, flyhalf and ace goal kicker, George Whitehead, is having another outstanding SA Cup campaign, and he currently leads the list of most points scored on 103, three more than Andrew Kota of the NovaVit Griffons.
The Pumas duo of Danrich Visagie and Clinton Swart have collected 98 and 90 points respectively.
Meanwhile, Suzuki Griquas’ Dylan Maart and Gurswhin Wehr have scored 14 tries apiece so far, four tries more than their teammate Cameron Hufke and Boland’s Lunathi Nxele.
Saturday’s big decider will be refereed by Stephan Geldenhuys and the kick off time is 18h30 at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.
Airlink Pumas v Suzuki Griquas
Date: Saturday, 24 May
Venue: Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Kick-off: 18h30
Referee: Stephan Geldenhuys
TV: SuperSport 211
TEAMS
Airlink Pumas: 15 Tino Swanepoel, 14 Lundi Msenge, 13 Sango Xamlashe, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Darren Adonis, 10 Danrich Visagie, 9 Ross Braude, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Ruwald van der Merwe (captain), 6 Ntsika Finsanti, 5 Jeandre Leonard, 4 Heinz Bertram, 3 Eddie Swart, 2 Darnell Osuagwu, 1 Etienne Janeke. Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Stephan de Jager, 18 Dewald Maritz, 19 Kwanda Dimaza, 20 Andre Fouche, 21 Russwill Fredericks, 22 Jay-Cee Nel, 23 Stefan Coetzee.
Suzuki Griquas: 15 Cameron Hufke, 14 Dylan Maart, 13 Zane Bester, 12 Mnombo Zwelendaba, 11 Gurswin Wehr, 10 George Whitehead (captain), 9 Thomas Bursey, 8 Gustav Erlank, 7 Marco de Witt, 6 Lourens Oosthuizen, 5 Albert Liebenberg, 4 Dylan Sjoblom, 3 Cebo Dlamini, 2 Janco Uys, 1 Leon Lyons. Replacements: 16 Gustav du Rand, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Junior Banda, 19 Athenkosi Khethani, 20 Phumzile Maqondwana, 21 Bobby Alexander, 22 Tylor Sefoor, 23 Tom Nel.