Currie Cup · Round 7
Pumas
Cheetahs
Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Championship Standings
Griquas and the Cheetahs are locked on 26 points with home semi-finals already banked — Griquas hold top spot on a +97 points difference to the Cheetahs' +45, so nothing less than a bonus-point win in Nelspruit keeps Bloemfontein's hopes of the No 1 seed alive before Griquas visit Boland on Sunday. Below them it is a scramble: the Lions (three wins and a 22–22 draw with the Sharks) finished their season on 19 on Friday night, the Sharks' 53–22 rout of the Bulls lifted them to 17, and the Pumas — fourth on 17 with a game in hand — know a win guarantees a semi-final. Lose, and they are relying on a losing bonus point and Griquas doing them a favour in Wellington.
| Pos | Team | P | W | L | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Griquas | 6 | 5 | 1 | +97 | 26 |
| 2 | Cheetahs | 6 | 5 | 1 | +45 | 26 |
| 3 |  Lions | 7 | 3 | 3 | +47 | 19 |
| 4 | Pumas | 6 | 3 | 3 | -20 | 17 |
| 5 |  Sharks | 7 | 3 | 3 | -24 | 17 |
| 6 |  Boland Cavaliers | 6 | 3 | 3 | +40 | 16 |
| 7 |  Stormers | 7 | 3 | 4 | -51 | 16 |
| 8 |  Bulls | 7 | 0 | 7 | -134 | 5 |
Pumas
W3, L3Three wins on the bounce — Wellington, Loftus and a 29–7 dismantling of the Stormers at home — had the Pumas looking like the third-best side in the competition, and then Griquas came to Mbombela and took them apart 38–14. That defeat was as ugly as the scoreline: 17–4 down at the break, Ruwald van der Merwe binned inside 11 minutes, Jan-Henning Campher red-carded for a dangerous clean-out, and five tries conceded at home. It leaves the Pumas with a −20 points difference and a habit of losing big when they lose — the three defeats have come by 2, 23 and 24 points. The good news is that the two home performances against non-elite opposition were controlled and physical, which is exactly what this game requires.
Cheetahs
W5, L1Five from six and four in a row, but look at the margins: 2, 22, 5, 10 and 9. The Cheetahs win close games rather than blowing teams away, and the one they lost — 24–21 in Kimberley — was decided by a kick. Faf de Klerk has been the difference in two of the four straight wins, scoring the 80th-minute try that beat the Stormers 31–26 at Athlone and then taking player of the match against Boland with a try and an assist. The 62–52 win in Pretoria says everything about this side: 62 points is brilliant, 52 conceded to a winless Bulls XV is a defensive problem that Griquas already exposed. They have not kept anyone under 20 points since Round 2.
Head-to-Head in Nelspruit
5 – 0 – 5
Pumas wins · Draws · Cheetahs wins (last 10 meetings, all competitions)
Pumas (5)Dead level over ten, but the two competitions tell opposite stories. In the Currie Cup the Cheetahs have won four of the last five — including the 2023 final, a 41–14 rout at Mbombela in 2024 and 42–25 in Bloemfontein last August — and five of their last six visits to Nelspruit. In the SA Cup it is the Pumas who own the rivalry: they beat the Cheetahs 42–36 in a ten-try semi-final at this ground in May, with Clinton Swart's three penalties and two Cheetahs yellow cards the difference. This fixture also gave the Pumas their 2022 Currie Cup title run (a 38–35 semi in Bloemfontein) and their biggest ever win over the Cheetahs, 61–21 in March 2023.
Recent Results
| Date | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| May 2026 | SA Cup Semi-final | Pumas 42–36 Cheetahs |
| Aug 2025 | Currie Cup | Cheetahs 42–25 Pumas |
| Sep 2024 | Currie Cup | Pumas 14–41 Cheetahs |
| Jun 2023 | Currie Cup Final | Cheetahs 25–17 Pumas |
| Jun 2023 | Currie Cup | Pumas 14–29 Cheetahs |
| Mar 2023 | Currie Cup | Cheetahs 21–61 Pumas |
Average score in the last 6 meetings: Cheetahs 35 – Pumas 22 across the last five meetings. Strip out the SA Cup semi-final and the last four Currie Cup meetings have gone to the Cheetahs by an average of 17 points — the Pumas have not beaten them in this competition since that 61–21 hiding in Bloemfontein three and a half years ago.
Extended Form
Pumas13W, 1D, 5L (last 12 months)
The 2025 Currie Cup ended with a 39–13 win over the Stormers and a 19–13 loss to the Sharks that cost them a semi-final. The 2026 SA Cup was theirs for a second straight year: seven wins, a draw and one defeat in the league, a 42–36 semi-final win over the Cheetahs in Mbombela, then 38–35 after extra time against Griquas in the Kimberley final. The 2026 Currie Cup has been 3W 3L — 24–26 Sharks, 29–52 Lions, 20–15 Boland, 33–31 Bulls, 29–7 Stormers, 14–38 Griquas.
Jimmy Stonehouse's side are the best second-tier team in the country and a mid-table Currie Cup side, and the gap between those two things is the story of their season. Everything they have won in the past year has been won at Mbombela or in knockout rugby, and both of those conditions apply on Saturday. The concern is what happens when they meet a top-two side: the Lions and Griquas have beaten them by a combined 47 points, and the last four Currie Cup meetings with the Cheetahs went the same way.
Cheetahs11W, 1D, 10L (last 12 months)
A miserable stretch from August 2025 to January 2026 — 10–40 and 5–25 to Griquas (the latter a Currie Cup semi-final), 31–35 to the Bulls, then four straight Challenge Cup defeats to Exeter, Stade Français, Ulster and Racing 92. The 2026 SA Cup was a recovery (6W 1D 2L, third on the log, 87–5 at Border, 32–31 over Griquas) that ended with the 42–36 semi-final loss in Mbombela. The 2026 Currie Cup has been the best rugby of the year: 5W 1L and a home semi-final secured with a round to spare.
Seven consecutive defeats between August and January, and now a side that has lost once in six. The transformation is real but it has a name: Faf de Klerk, whose arrival has turned a team that leaked points into one that closes games out. Frans Steyn has rotated his entire tight five here with the semi-final secured — a signal that Nelspruit is a game to manage, not a game to win at all costs — and this team has already lost at this ground once this year.
Pumas XV
Three changes to the XV that lost to Griquas, and all of them are telling. Zukisa Sali starts at loosehead with Etienne Janeke dropping to the bench, Andre Goedhals replaces the yellow-carded Ruwald van der Merwe at openside, and Clinton Swart — whose three penalties beat these opponents in the SA Cup semi-final — takes the No 10 jersey from Nevaldo Fleurs. Hooker Jan-Henning Campher's red card last week rules him out, so Gustav du Rand covers the front row. Willie Engelbrecht captains from No 8 in a loose trio with Thabo Ndimande and Goedhals, and Sampie Swiegers, who scored twice against the Cheetahs in May, anchors the scrum at tighthead. Stephan Krugel and De Wet Marais give the bench SA Cup-winning experience.
Cheetahs XV
Frans Steyn has changed his entire tight five with a home semi-final already secured: Dux Manyama, Stefan Venter and Aranos Coetzee form a new front row — Venter replacing the injured Juan Smal — with Arno van der Merwe and Carl Wegner in the second row. Captain Neels Volschenk, who makes his 50th appearance, is the only forward to keep his jersey from the Boland win; Pierre Uys and Sisonke Vumazonke flank him. Jooste Nel comes in at inside centre for the injured Zander du Plessis, and Springbok World Cup winner Faf de Klerk — player of the match last week — partners Tiaan Swanepoel. Michael Annies, who scored twice against Boland, and Clayton Blommetjies complete a back three with genuine gas. Marco Jansen van Vuren also reaches 50 caps from the bench, where last week's starting front row of Dos Reis and Okonkwo wait.
Key Matchups
The whole game sits in the contrast between the two halves of the field. Up front the Pumas have the settled, heavier unit — Sampie Swiegers and Chyle van Zyl have scrummed together all year, while the Cheetahs field a tight five that has not started together in this competition and lost its first-choice hooker to injury. That is where the home side must win the game: squeeze scrum penalties, keep Swart kicking to the corners and turn the 2pm lowveld heat into a fourth-quarter problem for a rotated pack. Behind the scrum it is not close. Faf de Klerk has been the best player in the competition for a month, and Annies, Blommetjies and Nkabinde are the fastest back three the Pumas will have faced at Mbombela this year. If the game gets loose — and Cheetahs games do, witness 62–52 in Pretoria — the visitors score more tries. The Pumas' route is to make it ugly, and they have the pack to do it.
Match Forecast
A net of −6 says the Cheetahs are the better side and the calibration says that is still not enough to pick them on the road — home teams win these games more often than the dimensions suggest, and the qualitative case for the Pumas is a real one. Frans Steyn has changed his entire tight five with a semi-final already secured, and against Swiegers, Van Zyl and Sali on a hot afternoon that is an invitation. The Pumas have already beaten this Cheetahs team at this ground this year, 42–36 in the SA Cup semi-final, with Clinton Swart's boot the difference, and Swart is back at fly-half after being left out of the XV against Griquas. This is a must-win for the hosts and a game to manage for the visitors, and that gap in desperation tends to show in the last 20 minutes.
The case against is Faf de Klerk and the recent history. The Cheetahs have won four of the last five Currie Cup meetings by an average of 17 points, they have not lost at Mbombela in this competition since 2021, and the Pumas were just dismantled at home by the other top-two side, conceding five tries and losing two players to cards. If the Pumas' discipline goes the way it did against Griquas, the Cheetahs' back three will run away with it and the 42–25 and 41–14 scorelines of the last two years will repeat. Rugby365 have gone Cheetahs by five; the scorecard is close enough that they may well be right. But the pack, the venue and the stakes say Pumas by a score — and probably not the bonus-point win the Cheetahs need to worry Griquas.
Pumas to grind out a must-win by a score — a rotated Cheetahs pack in the lowveld heat is the edge, Faf de Klerk is the threat.
The Cheetahs have won five of their last six Currie Cup visits to Mbombela Stadium — 43–37 (2019), 35–31 (2020), 28–17 (2022), 29–14 (2023) and 41–14 (2024) — with the Pumas' 28–19 win in August 2021 the only exception.
The Pumas beat the Cheetahs in a ten-try SA Cup semi-final at this ground in May, with Clinton Swart — restored at fly-half this week — kicking three decisive penalties against a side that picked up two yellow cards.
Between August 2025 and January 2026 the Cheetahs lost seven consecutive matches across the Currie Cup and Challenge Cup. They have lost once in six since Faf de Klerk arrived for the 2026 Currie Cup.
Captain Neels Volschenk and bench utility back Marco Jansen van Vuren both make their 50th Cheetahs appearances in Nelspruit.
Frans Steyn has replaced his entire tight five from the Boland win, with Volschenk the only forward retained — Stefan Venter starts at hooker for the injured Juan Smal.
A Pumas win guarantees a semi-final place. A defeat leaves them on 17 or 18 points, needing Griquas to beat Boland in Wellington on Sunday — and with the Sharks' points difference only four behind, even that may not be enough.