The Cheetahs and the Pumas meet in the Currie Cup final in Bloemfontein on Saturday for what should be a thrilling climax to the season. We take a look at the game from a betting angle.
The Cheetahs and the Pumas were the early pace setters in the Currie Cup, but both went through a mid-season slump before recovering to make the playoffs.
CHEETAHS
The Cheetahs finished top of the log, 3 points clear of the Sharks with 4 losses and 1 draw in their 14 matches. Their semi-final clash was at home to the Bulls last week where they started underdogs despite having beaten the Bulls at Loftus the week before. The bookmakers got this one wrong though and the Cheetahs romped to a 39-10 semi-final victory sending the Bulls back to Pretoria with their tails between their legs.
PUMAS
The Pumas were in danger of missing the playoffs when they went into their final regular season match away at the Griquas, but they turned in a strong performance to win 27-17 and sent the Griquas tumbling out of the Tournament. They then faced the Sharks in Durban in their semi-final, a game where they started 9 point underdogs, but made a mockery of the handicap winning 26-20.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The Cheetahs and the Pumas met twice in the regular season with the Cheetahs winning 29-14 in Nelspruit in Week 13, but the Pumas had dealt the Cheetahs a 61- 21 defeat earlier in the season. In that game though the Cheetahs were missing practically their whole squad due to Challenge Cup commitments.
FINALS
The Pumas are the defending Currie Cup Champions having beaten the Griquas 26-19 in Kimberley last year and the Cheetah’s last appearance in a Final was a 31-28 victory over the Lions in Bloemfontein in 2019.
Handicap: Cheetahs -7.5
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BETTING: Click here to bet
Cheetahs 4/10
Draw 28/1
Pumas 12/5
The Cheetahs have certainly found their feet again after some wobbly matches towards the end of the season and I think they will have too much for this Pumas side. My focus though is going to be on the Total Points Market where I am betting that we get 53 points or less in the game. I am basing this partly on the fact that this is a Final and should be tightly contested at least early on, but also on the fact that the Pumas last 6 games have all been low scoring and none of them have reached the 50 point mark.
Other Markets that punters can sink their teeth into will be the 1st, Last and Anytime Try Scorer Markets which will be out closer to kick-off and another popular bet in Finals is the Winning Margin of 1-12 points where we find the Cheetahs to win by under 12.5 at 14/10 and the Pumas by under 12.5 at 7/2.
Suggested Bet: Under 53.5 points at 10/11
Note: All prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
