CURRIE CUP WRAP: Opening round littered with tight contests

The opening round of the 2026 Carling Currie Cup Premier Division produced four tightly contested encounters, while the Dotsure SWD Eagles and the Valke progressed to the First Division final after easy victories in their respective semifinals on a great weekend for provincial men’s rugby in South Africa.

SWD will host the First Division final in George next weekend after they finished top of the log and recorded a 59-10 victory over the Leopards at Outeniqua Park on Saturday, with the Valke’s 44-12 win over Eastern Province in Gqeberha securing them a second successive spot in the decider.

The Eagles, who led 45-0 at the break, were in rampant mood and scored nine tries, while the Leopards could only reply with two consolation tries in the second half, when the home side took their foot off the pedal.

Janus Venter scored twice for the Eagles, while Divan du Toit (5) and Fred Zeilinga (2) added seven conversions. For the Leopards, Noegh Hayward and Luyolo Doyi went over.

In the other semifinal, the Valke put on an impressive second half display to defeat Eastern Province in Gqeberha by 44-12 after leading 19-12 at the break.

The visitors from the East Rand, who will be hoping to go one better this year after they suffered a heart-breaking defeat in the 2025 final, scored seven tries to two by their hosts.

Ilunga Mkendi scored two tries for the visitors while Sergio Stalmeester contributed a try, three conversions and a penalty goal for a personal tally of 14 points.

The details of the First Division final will be announced in due course.

The Premier Division kicked off on Friday evening, with the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV and DHL Stormers XXIII edging the Airlink Pumas and Suzuki Griquas in dramatic fashion.

At the Mbombela Stadium, the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV had to work until the final whistle before claiming a 26-24 win over the Airlink Pumas. Lyle Matthews made an immediate impact on debut with a first-half hat-trick, which helped the KwaZulu-Natalians build enough of a cushion to survive a determined Pumas fightback.

The visitors – who left Nelspruit with five log points – led 19-5 at the break, but the men from Mpumalanga showed character and attacking intent to fight back in the second half, collecting two log points for finishing within seven and scoring four tries.

The Pumas’ tries were scored by Lundi Msenge, Chyle van Zyl, Tino Swanepoel and JJ Scheepers, with Nevaldo Fleurs adding two conversions.

Apart from Matthews’ hattrick, the experienced Kerron van Vuuren also scored a try for the Sharks, while Tim Swiel slotted three conversions.

At DHL Stadium in Cape Town, the DHL Stormers XXIII marked the start of their campaign with a 25-19 victory over the defending champion Suzuki Griquas, ending a long losing run against the Kimberley side.

The Capetonians had to fight back for this victory after trailing 8-12 at the halfway stage. The Stormers XXIII also had to absorb sustained pressure and overcome repeated disciplinary setbacks, but they stayed in the contest and struck decisively in the closing stages.

Jean-Luc du Plessis opened the scoring with an early penalty goal for the hosts, before Griquas replied through tries by Sako Makata and Lourens Oosthuizen. Vernon Paulo’s try for the Stormers XXIII reduced the visitors’ lead to 12-8 at the break.

Mfundo Ndhlovu early second half try and a conversion and penalty goal by Dominic Malgas pushed the hosts into an 18-12 lead, but Griquas regained the lead with a converted try by Tiaan Lange 25 minutes before the end.

Stefan Ungerer then put his former side away with a try at the death, with Malgas adding the extras to rub a little bit of salt into the visitors’ wounds, although they still got a losing bonus point.

On Sunday in Bloemfontein, the Toyota Cheetahs had to dig in their heels to beat the Fidelity ADT Lions by 29-27 after leading 16-13 at the break, with Springbok scrumhalf Faf de Klerk providing a spark for his new team.

It was 8-8 after 15 minutes with the teams trading penalty goals and unconverted tries, but the hosts added eight more points before the visitors responded with their second try late in the first half to make it a three-point game.

The “tit-for-tat” continued and the Lions’ Likhona Finca completed a hat-trick of tries, but a late penalty goal by Jaco van der Walt gave the Cheetahs fans exactly what they wanted – a bonus point victory at home.

The first round concluded at a packed Boland Stadium in a cold and wet Wellington where the Sanlam Boland Kavaliers led from start to finish in their 24-10 victory (halftime 14-3) over the Vodacom Bulls XV.

The Bolanders opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Joshua Eras crashed over for a converted try, and they followed that up 20 minutes later when Dayan van der Westhuizen scored following a series of attacking phases, and with the visitors a man down due to a yellow card.

Jaydon Bantom’s penalty goal early in the second half made it 17-3 before the Bulls reduced the deficit to seven points with a converted try by Shaun Schürmann with just over 20 minutes remaining.

However, the Kavaliers sealed the deal when they were awarded a penalty try in the 74th minute after a massive driving maul, with the visitors leaving Boland with empty hands after a match in which their lack of discipline was costly.

Scorers:

Carling Currie Cup First Division semifinals

EP 12 (12), Valke 44 (19)

EP – Tries: Temba Botina, Christian Potgieter. Conversion: Maxwell Klaassen.

Valke – Tries: Ilunga Mukendi (2), Kelvin Kaneunungo, Sergio Stalmeester, Zeilinga Strydom, Eddie Evans, Adriaan Joubert. Conversions: Stalmeester (3). Penalty goal: Stalmeester.

Dotsure SWD Eagles 59 (45), Leopards 10 (0)

SWD Eagles – Tries: Janus Ventre, Andre Warner, Ewan Coetzee, Gunther Janse van Vuuren, Ulrich Stander, Carel du Preez, Rosco Syster, Tiaan Drotskie. Conversions: Divan du Toit (5), Fred Zeilinga (2)

Leopards – Tries: Noegh Hayward, Luyolo Doyi.

Carling Currie Cup Premier Division:

Airlink Pumas 24 (5), Hollywoodbets Sharks XV 26 (19)

Pumas – Tries: JJ Scheepers, Tino Swanepoel, Chyle van Zyl, Lundi Msenge. Conversions: Nevaldo Fleurs (2).

Sharks XV – Tries: Lyle Matthews (3), Kerron van Vuuren. Conversions: Tim Swiel 3).

DHL Stormers XXIII 25 (8), Suzuki Griquas 19 (12)

Stormers XXIII – Tries: Vernon Paulo, Mfundo Ndhlovu, Stefan Ungerer. Conversions: Dominic Malgas (2). Penalty goals: Jean-Luc du Plessis, Malgas.

Griquas – Tries: Sako Makata, Lourens Oosthuizen, Tiaan Lange. Conversions – George Whitehead (2).

Toyota Cheetahs 29 (16), Fidelity ADT Lions 27 (13)

Cheetahs – Tries: Marko Janse van Rensburg, Ramon Uys, Victor Sekekete, Cohen Jasper. Penalty goals: Jaco van der Walt (3).

Lions – Tries: Likhona Finca (3), Latica Nela. Conversions: Sam Francis (2). Penalty goal: Francis.

Sanlam Boland Kavaliers 24 (14), Vodacom Bulls XV 10 (3)

Boland – Tries: Joshua Eras, Dayan Van der Westhuizen, Penalty try. Conversions: James Tedder, Jaydon Bantom. Penalty goal: Bantom.

Bulls XV – Try: Shaun Schurmann. Conversion: Keagan Johannes. Penalty goal: Johannes.