Currie Cup · Round 2
Lions
Pumas
Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg
Championship Standings
Two-point losers, both of them — the Lions and the Pumas sit fifth and sixth on identical records: played one, lost one, points difference of −2 apiece, two log points each from losing bonus points. Whoever wins here climbs into the top four and leaves the other with one point from two rounds and three straight away games to come. The Cheetahs have already broken clear at the top after a 43–21 dismantling of the Sharks XV on Friday.
| Pos | Team | P | W | L | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Cheetahs | 2 | 2 | 0 | +24 | 9 |
| 2 |  Sharks XV | 2 | 1 | 1 | -20 | 5 |
| 3 |  Boland Cavaliers | 1 | 1 | 0 | +14 | 4 |
| 4 |  Stormers | 1 | 1 | 0 | +6 | 4 |
| 5 | Lions | 1 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 2 |
| 6 | Pumas | 1 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 2 |
| 7 |  Griquas | 1 | 0 | 1 | -6 | 1 |
| 8 |  Bulls | 1 | 0 | 1 | -14 | 0 |
Lions
W3, L2Two matches, two two-point defeats — the Lions have now lost the 2025 final and their 2026 opener by the same agonising margin, and both were there to be won. In Bloemfontein they were level with the Cheetahs deep into the second half before a 29–27 finish sent them home with a losing bonus point and nothing else. What the numbers underline is how comfortable this group is at Ellis Park: their last three home games in the competition produced 67–19, 37–7 and 44–5 routs. This is a side that flattens opponents on the highveld and then loses tight ones on the road.
Pumas
W1, L4Read the Currie Cup column in isolation and the Pumas look ragged — one win in five, and three of those defeats by six points or fewer, including a one-point heartbreaker against these very Lions. But that column is badly misleading. Between the 2025 Currie Cup and this month the Pumas went and won the SA Cup for a second year running: seven wins, a draw and one defeat in the league phase, then the Cheetahs 42–36 in the semi and Griquas 38–35 after extra time in the Kimberley final. Last week's 26–24 loss to the Sharks XV was the sort of narrow reverse this side has been on the right end of all year.
Head-to-Head Record
5 – 0 – 5
Lions wins · Draws · Pumas wins (last 10 meetings)
Lions (5)Split down the middle over a decade, but the recent split is anything but even: the Lions have won four of the last five, including a 75–21 evisceration in Nelspruit and a 55–12 rout at Ellis Park in 2024. Before that the Pumas had won five in a row from 2021 to 2023 — a run that included a 50–9 hammering of the Lions in Johannesburg. The last meeting was the tightest of the lot, a 36–35 Lions win at Mbombela Stadium last August decided by a single point. This fixture does not do middle ground: it produces either a hiding or a one-score thriller.
Recent Results
| Date | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 2025 | Currie Cup | Pumas 35–36 Lions |
| Aug 2024 | Currie Cup | Lions 55–12 Pumas |
| Jul 2024 | Currie Cup | Pumas 21–75 Lions |
| Apr 2023 | Currie Cup | Lions 26–10 Pumas |
| Mar 2023 | Currie Cup | Pumas 34–27 Lions |
| Apr 2022 | Currie Cup | Pumas 45–10 Lions |
Average score in the last 6 meetings: Lions 44 – Pumas 22 across the last five, though that average is warped by the 75–21 and 55–12 blowouts of 2024. At Ellis Park specifically the Lions have won the last two — 55–12 and 26–10 — but the Pumas' 50–9 win here in January 2022 is proof this venue is no guarantee.
Extended Form
Lions6W, 3L (last 12 months)
The 2025 Currie Cup regular season was theirs: five wins from seven, the competition's best points difference at +97, a 46–5 opening win over the Sharks XV, 44–5 over the Bulls and 37–7 over eventual champions Griquas. A 67–19 semi-final rout of Boland followed, then the 27–25 final defeat to Griquas at Ellis Park settled by the last kick. The 2026 campaign opened with a 29–27 loss in Bloemfontein.
No side in the competition was better over a full season last year and none had less to show for it. The pattern is stark and it matters this week: every heavy Lions win came in Johannesburg, while both regular-season defeats (Boland 29–10, Cheetahs 47–31) and last week's loss came on the road. This is a heavily reloaded, development-tilted squad — Junior Springboks Mahle Sithole and Thando Biyela are already in the starting XV — but the home-away pattern has survived the turnover so far.
PumasSA Cup champions · 9W, 1D, 5L across 2025–26
A modest 2025 Currie Cup (3W 4L, fifth, though with +54 points difference thanks to a 41–7 win over the Bulls and 49–28 over Griquas) gave way to a superb 2026 SA Cup: second on the log with seven wins, a draw and a single defeat, a 42–36 semi-final win over the Cheetahs at Mbombela, and a 38–35 extra-time victory over Griquas in the Kimberley final to become the first side to retain the trophy. The 2026 Currie Cup opened with a 26–24 home loss to the Sharks XV.
Jimmy Stonehouse's Pumas arrive battle-hardened in a way almost no other side in this competition can claim — they have played and won knockout rugby this year, twice, on the road, against the two best teams in the second tier. Danrich Visagie, who kicked the extra-time penalty that won the SA Cup final, starts at fly-half. The worry is the schedule: this is the first of three straight away games, and the Mpumalanga side must now win at altitude to keep their campaign alive.
Lions XV
Two changes to the starting group from Bloemfontein, both Junior Springboks: Mahle Sithole comes in at hooker and Thando Biyela shifts to No 6. Lock Ruan Delport captains from the second row alongside Dylan Sjoblom, with Jarod Cairns and Morné Venter completing a young, mobile loose trio. New signing Asad Moos is in line for his first appearance off the bench, where Renzo du Plessis and Marco Ferreira provide the experience. Rabz Maxwane on the left wing is the one genuinely URC-hardened strike weapon in the backline.
Pumas XV
Several changes for the trip to the highveld. Flanker Willem Engelbrecht captains from No 7 in a loose trio completed by De Wet Marais and Marvelous Mashimbye, with JJ Scheepers and Stephan Krugel locking a scrum built around Junior Banda and Etienne Janeke. The key selection is at fly-half: Danrich Visagie, whose extra-time penalty won the SA Cup final in Kimberley, gets the No 10 jersey with Thomas Bursey inside him. Springbok-capped hooker Jan-Henning Campher and Conor van Eden headline a bench with genuine finishing power.
Key Matchups
The Pumas own the experience columns — a settled front row, a captain in Willem Engelbrecht who has led this group through two SA Cup finals, and a fly-half in Danrich Visagie who has already kicked one trophy-winning penalty this year. Against a Lions XV containing two Junior Springboks and a debutant on the bench, that gap in games played is the visitors' clearest route to an away win, particularly if they can squeeze penalties at scrum time and let Visagie kick the corners. The Lions' counter is width and altitude: Rabz Maxwane is the best finisher on the park by some distance, and Latica Nela at full-back gives them a counter-attack threat against a Pumas side that will be defending in thinner air than they train in. Whoever controls the kicking game in the last quarter wins this — and that is exactly where a lowveld team playing at 1,750m usually starts to hurt.
Match Forecast
A net of +2 makes this the tightest call of the round, and it comes down to two dimensions pulling in opposite directions. The Lions' case is venue and history: Ellis Park at 1,750m, where their last three Currie Cup outings produced 67–19, 37–7 and 44–5 wins, and a head-to-head in which they have taken four of the last five, including 75–21 and 55–12 routs. Against a Pumas side making the first of three consecutive away trips out of the lowveld, that is a real and measurable edge. The Pumas' case is that they are simply the better-drilled team — SA Cup champions in back-to-back seasons, with a captain and a fly-half who have won knockout finals on the road this year.
The reasons to be nervous are stacked and legitimate. The Lions are a development-tilted, heavily reloaded squad with two Junior Springboks in the starting XV and a debutant on the bench, and they have now lost two matches on the bounce by two points apiece — this group knows how to be in a game and not how to close it. The Pumas have lost by one, two, three and six points in their recent Currie Cup outings; they are never far away. Rugby365 have called this one for the Pumas by three, and the scorecard is close enough that it would be no surprise. But the last quarter at altitude, with Maxwane on the end of it, is where a lowveld side starts to leak — take the Lions narrowly.
Lions by a score at Ellis Park — altitude and a lopsided recent head-to-head just outweigh the better-drilled, better-travelled SA Cup champions.
The Lions have now lost their last two Currie Cup matches by exactly two points — the 2025 final to Griquas (25–27) and the 2026 opener to the Cheetahs (29–27).
The Pumas became the first side to retain the SA Cup in May, beating Griquas 38–35 after extra time in Kimberley — Danrich Visagie, who starts at fly-half here, kicked the winning penalty.
The Lions have won four of the last five meetings, including 75–21 in Nelspruit and 55–12 at Ellis Park in 2024, and a 36–35 thriller at Mbombela last August.
The Lions' aggregate score across their last three home Currie Cup matches — 67–19 over Boland, 37–7 over Griquas and 44–5 over the Bulls.
This is the first of three consecutive away fixtures for the Pumas, who play at 1,750m in Johannesburg having trained all year in the Mpumalanga lowveld.
The Lions and Pumas are separated by nothing on the log — one game, one defeat, a points difference of −2 and two log points each.