The 2025 Currie Cup season has been one for the record books with smaller teams making a real impact on the season. Underdogs Boland and Griquas have been sensational, beating most of the major teams and making it to the knockout stage of the tournament. The Currie Cup is Mzansi’s oldest rugby and the world’s oldest rugby league and can be traced back to 1889, when the first unofficial match took place. The first official match was played two years later where the Western Province took home the Currie Cup. The Cup is drenched in tradition. It was donated by Sir Donald Currie who owned British shipping company and wanted the cup to be given to the best team that played against the British Isles tour on the SA tour. Griqualand was the first team to be awarded the trophy. Sportingbet has best the odds on Currie Cup betting available for the final match tomorrow.
The road to the final.
Eight teams participated in this year’s competition with many players not being available to play due to commitments to the Springboks. It was a long road for the teams who all seven matches since the start of the tournament at the end of July. The teams that are known to dominate took a back seat this season with the Blue Bulls, Western Province and the Sharks all ending at the bottom of the log. The Pumas missed out on their chance to reach the semi finals but finishing fifth overall this season.
The Semi-finals.
The semi-finals saw the Cheetahs play an away game against the Griquas at the Suzuki Stadium in Kimberley. Griquas who is the first team to win the cup in 1889 was easily able to overcome the Cheetahs with the final score at 25-5. Boland had a fantastic season, but the team could unfortunately did not make it past the semi finals. They lost the match against the Golden Lions at Ellis Park this past Saturday by a big margin with the Golden Lions securing a home final with score after the final whistle at 67-19.
The final at Ellis Park.
This Saturday will see the 57th final in the format that the tournament is played currently played. The competition only started being played annually since 1968. Western Province is the team with the most titles winning the 34 times and the last time Province took home the cup was in 2014. The 2025 Currie Cup final will take place in Johannesburg with the match kicking off 15:00. The last time that the Griquas won the Currie Cup was in 1970. Where they beat the now Golden Lions with two points, the match ended with a score of 11-9. My money is a on a fantastic game of rugby this Saturday, with the hope that the underdogs can achieve what they did 55 years ago.