Griquas retain Currie Cup in Kimberly and give nation hope

As Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry was drawing to its Wagnerian climax in Baltimore in the US, almost 13 000km back in South Africa, a chapter in another rivalry had been written as Griquas successfully defended their Currie Cup title, beating the Pumas 23-16.

It was a sweet moment for a rugby union that gave SA the cup in 1891, before winning it in 1899, 1911, 1970 and, after a 55-year gap, 2025. This win, their fifth, was special.

Last year, the win came against the odds at Ellis Park in Joburg.

The year before, Griquas had won the right to host the final in Kimberley, but were beaten by the Pumas in a rivalry that has burgeoned away from the eyes of the big multinational tournaments, with each team going at each other hammer and tongs, hell for leather across the SA Cup and the Currie Cup.

It was fitting that the two met in Kimberley on Saturday and wonderful that Griquas could not just retain the trophy, but finally win the Currie Cup in their hometown for the first time since 1970.

In many ways, Griquas and Kimberley are a snapshot of all that is great in South Africa, as well our greatest disappointment.

The union has been a veritable rugby kindergarten, providing some iconic players with their first professional start. However, every time Griquas reveal their latest find, they have to regenerate as the bigger unions poach their new finds.

The fact that no-one at the Griquas Rugby Union has thrown in the towel and locked the gates to Hoffe Park in despair speaks volumes about the nuggety resilience of the diamond fields.

The fact that head coach of the Griquas Pieter Bergh has managed to develop a back-to-back Currie Cup winning team in an unfashionable place with a budget that bigger unions probably earmark for their school rugby development, tells you even more.

However, perhaps the greatest signal is Kimberley itself.

The Diamond City isn’t in the best shape.

Three decades of municipal mismanagement, catastrophic service delivery failures, the departure of De Beers and the collapse of Ekapa Mining have robbed the city that was the birthplace of industrial South Africa of much of its lustre and charm.

And yet, amid it all, in the union’s 140th anniversary year and the 150th game for the legendary veteran Griquas flyhalf George Whitehead, hope springs eternal.

You can triumph in adversity if there’s a plan and everyone works together.