The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier domestic competition, four South African franchises also compete in the United Rugby Championship competition, including for the 'South African Shield'. for the highest placed South African team.
The Stormers is a South African professional rugby union team based in Cape Town in the Western Cape that competes in the United Rugby Championship, a trans-hemispheric competition that also involves sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. They competed in the Super Rugby competition until 2020. They have won one major international championship, the 2021-22 United Rugby Championship, and seven South African 'conference' titles, five in the South African Conference of Super Rugby, and two in the URC equivalent, the South African Shield.
The Golden Lions are a South African professional rugby union team based in Johannesburg who compete in the annual Currie Cup.
The Blue Bulls is a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament and the United Rugby Championship. They are governed by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union and are based at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, Gauteng province.
Bryan Gary Habana OIS is a South African former professional rugby union player. Playing mainly as a wing, he is widely considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He played for the Golden Lions, the Blue Bulls and Western Province in South Africa, for the Bulls and the Stormers in Super Rugby, and for Toulon in the French Top 14, and won 124 caps for the South Africa national team.
Derick Hougaard, more commonly known as the 'Liefling van Loftus' is a South African professional rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Saracens in England. He normally played at flyhalf. Hougaard played for the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup competition in South Africa and the Bulls in the international Super Rugby competition.
The Free State Cheetahs, currently named the Toyota Free State Cheetahs due to sponsorship reasons, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by the Free State Rugby Union and are based at the 48,000 capacity Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein. The Cheetahs have won the Currie Cup six times, with five of the wins coming since 2005, including winning the cup three times consecutively from 2005 to 2007. Since the advent of professionalism in rugby union, they have been considered one of South Africa's "Big 5" provincial rugby Unions.
The Sharks are a South Africa rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. The Sharks are the current representative team of the KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union and they draw some of their players from the KwaZulu-Natal Province. For most of their history, the team was known simply as 'Natal', with a nickname of 'The Banana Boys' or Piesangboere in Afrikaans, until the mid-1990s when they were re-branded as the Sharks.
The Final of the 2007 Super 14 season, a provincial rugby union competition in the Southern Hemisphere, took place on 19 May 2007 at ABSA Stadium in Durban, South Africa. The match was won by the Bulls 20 points to 19 over their hosts the Sharks. The match had four tries - two by each team, and the last of which was scored by Bulls' wing Bryan Habana in the 82nd minute to give his team the trophy. It was the first Super rugby final to be played in South Africa, as well as the first all-South African final, and the first final with a South African winner.
The 2009 Absa Currie Cup Premier Division season was the 71st season in the competition since it started in 1889. The competition was contested from 10 July through to 31 October.
Jacques Jacobus "Vleis" Engelbrecht is a South African professional rugby union player, currently playing in France with French Pro D2 side Montauban. He can play as a flanker or a number eight.
Rosko Shane Specman is a South African rugby union player for the Bulls in Super Rugby, the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup and the Blue Bulls XV in the Rugby Challenge. He played rugby sevens for the South Africa national rugby sevens team between 2014 and 2018 and also played Currie Cup rugby with the Sharks from 2010 to 2012, the Pumas from 2013 to 2015 and the Free State Cheetahs in 2017. His usual position is winger.
Handré Pollard is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the South Africa national team and Leicester Tigers in England's Premiership Rugby. His regular playing positions are fly-half, where he started for South Africa in their 2019 Rugby World Cup Final win, and inside-centre. He has previously played for the Bulls and Blue Bulls in his native South Africa, Osaka Red Hurricanes in Japan and Montpellier in France. He is one of 43 players who have won the Rugby World Cup on multiple occasions, 24 of whom are South Africans.
Jonathan "Jono" Ross is a South African former rugby union player who played mostly as a blindside flanker but also played at number 8.
The 2003 Currie Cup was the 2003 season of the South African domestic rugby union competition, the Absa Currie Cup premier division, played from 26 July 2003 – 1 November 2003. The 2003 Currie Cup saw the implementation of a new format for the tournament with the Cup being split into two divisions, the Premier Division and a lower division. The Premier Division consisting of the top six provincial teams and the lower division consisting of eight teams for a total of 14 teams participating in the Currie Cup. The teams in the divisions played matches among themselves with top teams progressing to the finals. The finals were played at Loftus Versfeld Stadium where the Blue Bulls beat the Sharks 40–19 to win the cup. This was the second in a streak of three consecutive Currie Cup wins for the Blue Bulls between 2002 and 2004. The Blue Bulls' Ettienne Botha scored two tries in the final. This equalled the record for tries scored in a Currie Cup final at the time.
Hanyani Masana Shimange is a former professional rugby union player. His position of choice was hooker, but he played one game for the Springboks at flank.
Christian Francois Schoeman is a South African rugby union player. His regular position is fly-half.
Super Rugby Unlocked was a professional rugby union competition played in South Africa from 10 October to 21 November 2020. Sponsored by communications company Vodacom, the tournament replaced the South African component of the incomplete 2020 Super Rugby season that was shut down in March of that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020–21 Currie Cup Premier Division was the 82nd edition of the top tier of the Currie Cup, the premier domestic rugby union competition in South Africa. It was sponsored by beer brand Carling Black Label and organised by the South African Rugby Union. The competition was won by the Bulls, who beat the Sharks 26–19 after extra time in the final played at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria on 30 January 2021.
The Pro14 Rainbow Cup was a professional rugby union end-of-season cup competition played in 2021 that consisted of two separate tournaments: the Rainbow Cup for twelve European clubs and the Rainbow Cup SA for four South African clubs. The winners of each competition then played a final match to determine the overall winner. The tournament operated as a shortened 'Spring season' to allow for the integration of the four new South African teams into the United Rugby Championship ahead of the 2021–22 season.
