Currie Cup Final Standouts: Pressure Creates Diamonds  

Pieter Bergh’s charges were written off going into the decider, with the Lions – loaded with United Rugby Championship stars – starting as 20-point favourites. However, the men from Kimberley coped better with the pressure and pulled off one of the greatest upsets in Currie Cup history to lift the trophy for the first time in 55 years. 

A moment of madness from Lions lock Ruan Delport, who deliberately knocked the ball down, gave Griquas the golden opportunity in injury time, and the evergreen Whitehead made no mistake with his clutch kick as the Peacock Blues prevailed.

Griquas brought the fight to the favourites from the get-go and owned the opening quarter after Cameron Hufke pounced on a mistake to score the first try.

The Lions looked nervous, even after Chris Smith put them on the board with a penalty goal and Kelly Mpeku cantered over for their opening try to give them a 10-7 lead in the 25th minute.

The remainder of the first half was a ding-dong battle as Lourens Oosthuizen put Griquas back into the lead with a powerful carry before Richard Kriel broke the line and scored a soft try to hand the Lions a 17-14 lead at the break. 

The Lions lost Smith, who’d converted both of their first-half tries, two minutes into the second stanza, with former Griquas ace Lubabalo Dobela taking over at flyhalf.

Whitehead had the first say in the second half when he levelled the scores; however, the visitors failed to field the restart and Henco van Wyk cashed in for the Lions to give them a 22-17 lead.

The hosts ratcheted up the pressure from there but came up empty-handed when they turned down a kickable penalty, which would’ve made it an eight-point ball game.

The plucky Peacock Blues not only stayed in the contest, but wrestled back momentum and stunned the Lions when Mnombo Zwelendaba went over and Whitehead added the all-important conversion to edge in front with six minutes to go.  

A desperate Lions team threw everything at the visitors and got their reward when they earned a penalty in the 79th minute, which Dobela slotted, before a twist of fate saw Griquas being crowned champions and the Lions lose out in heart-breaking fashion for the second successive season.

Our top three standouts of the final were:

Gustav Erlank

Erlank personified the fight and energy the Peacock Blues poured into the contest to do the unthinkable.

The explosive eighthman has been one of Griquas’ star players all season, but saved the best for last. No name? No more, baby!

Erlank made more carries (23) and metres (143) than any other player, while he also made a team-high 15 tackles and won a turnover.

Truly talismanic, he dominated on both sides of the ball and transformed himself into a Currie Cup legend with a Man of the Match performance for the ages.

Dylan Maart

Maart was magical, and not in the way you’d expect from a winger who’d thrilled with his attacking antics and try-scoring ways throughout the season.

No, he didn’t touchdown this time, and yet, he had an unmistakable impact on the match as he worked his socks off. A hungry flyer whose work rate matched his natural abilities, he was tremendous when it came to his kick-chasing, excellent under the high ball, threatened when he did have the pill, and big on defence.

Yes, the next man on our podium enjoyed the crowning moment, but it was Maart who’d kept Griquas in the game with a blinder of a try-saving tackle on Angelo Davids in the 76th minute. 

George Whitehead

Cometh the hour, cometh the man.

With the game on the line, Griquas’ experienced flyhalf coolly slotted the ball through the uprights to grab glory.

An underrated servant of South African rugby, the 36-year-old used his educated boot to good effect to put his team in the right areas of the field and unleashed those around him well with quality distribution, with his bullet ball that nearly put Gurswin Wehr in for a try being the best of the lot.

His two drop goal attempts piled the pressure onto the Lions even further, and his goal-kicking masterclass – a perfect five from five (three conversions and two penalty goals) – was the stuff of legend. Pressure creates diamonds, and Whitehead shone like one as he kicked the men from the Diamond City back to the summit of South African rugby in dramatic fashion.

Making things that much more meaningful for Whitehead, who finished as the competition’s leading point-scorer with 88 points, was the fact that the final fell on his recently deceased father’s birthday.