The Hollywoodbets Sharks XV will be defending their crown when they kick the 2025 Carling Currie Cup season off in July, looking to add more silverware to the trophy case which includes last year’s title, the 2023/24 EPCR Challenge Cup and the 2024/25 Vodacom United Rugby Championship South African Shield.
With the VURC now behind us, following Leinster’s comprehensive victory over the Vodacom Bulls in last weekend’s final, consigning the Pretoria side to a third defeat in the finals, and winning their first title in the tournament, all eyes now turn to South Africa’s oldest, premier rugby tournament, the Carling Currie Cup.
In a repeat of last year’s dramatic final when the Hollywoodbets Sharks defeated the Fidelity ADT Lions 16-14, the two will once again meet, doing battle in the opening round on 26 July, also at Emirates Airline Park, pitting the two finalists against one another.
The Sanlam Boland Kavaliers have joined the Premier Division for the first time since 2016 after finishing in the top four of the SA Cup, with the Novavit Griffons dropping down into the First Division.
The remaining teams competing for the title are DHL Western Province, the Vodacom Bulls, Toyota Free State, Airlink Pumas and Suzuki Griquas.
With a busy rugby season ahead, there is only one round of matches played, rather than a home-and-away series, with the four front-runners contesting the semi-finals on 13 September, and the final taking place a week later.
The first half of the seven-match schedule for the Hollywoodbets Sharks is weighted in favour of away games and kicks off against the ADT Lions in week one, with a second away trip, also to the highveld, where the Vodacom Blue Bulls host the Durbanites in Pretoria in week two.
Round three sees 2023 winners Toyota Free State visiting Hollywoodbets Kings Park, while the Hollywoodbets Sharks travel to the Cheetahs’ central cousins’ home in Kimberley, taking on Suzuki Griquas a week later.
The final three rounds are all at home, giving the reigning champions a strong run in the lead-up to the knock-outs.
Rounds five, six and seven have the Hollywoodbets Sharks at home for successive matches, welcoming DHL Stormers and Sanlam Boland Kavaliers to Durban before the final round, a third consecutive home game, with 2022 champions Airlink Pumas visiting Hollywoodbets Kings Park to close out the pool stages, with the semi-finals taking place the following weekend.
While the Carling Currie Cup is steeped in history and historic achievements – probably the most noteworthy being the Hollywoodbets Sharks (then Natal) defeating the favoured Vodacom Blue Bulls (Northern Transvaal) at their beloved Loftus Versfeld in 1990, under captain Craig Jamieson and coached by the legendary Ian McIntosh – it has also been the breeding ground of future superstars, given the opportunity on the big stage and proving their worth.
Since 1990, the Hollywoodbets Sharks won the title on a further three occasions as the ‘Team of the 90s’ (1992, 1995, 1996) and again in 2008, 2010, 2013, 2018 and 2024.
A further 10 as losing finalists brings them to 19 appearances in the Carling Currie Cup Final in 35 years, quite the strike rate and showcases the team’s abilities and grand ambitions.
