{"id":50028,"date":"2023-06-18T11:16:58","date_gmt":"2023-06-18T11:16:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again"},"modified":"2023-06-18T12:35:57","modified_gmt":"2023-06-18T12:35:57","slug":"pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again","title":{"rendered":"‘Pure heart and belief’: Stonehouse’s Pumas are going to the Currie Cup final … again!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse said it was “difficult to express my feelings” following his side’s stunning Currie Cup semi-final victory over the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The Pumas, the defending champions, won 26-20 to book their spot in next weekend’s final against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.<\/p>\n

It is an exceptional effort for a side that cannot compete financially with the bigger unions in the country and does not play in any other professional competition outside of the Currie Cup.<\/p>\n

The Sharks entered Saturday’s match as comfortable favourites, but the Pumas put on a display rich in passion, grit and defensive determination.<\/p>\n

“I’m very proud of these kids. They’re just amazing and they have fought week after week,” Stonehouse told media after the match.<\/p>\n

“We don’t have the depth to change players and they just keep on going, and it’s amazing to see the way fought out there tonight.<\/p>\n

“We just hit them back over and over again, and that’s pure heart and belief.”<\/p>\n

Stonehouse said that while the challenges for a union like the Pumas were obvious, the mission was always the same.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got the belief to win, and it doesn’t matter if it’s home or away,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s just the supporters and spectators that don’t give us a chance, because we’re a small union. But we come in week in and week out and play a good brand of rugby, and it’s just amazing.<\/p>\n

“It’s about showing out there that we belong somewhere.<\/p>\n

“I practice and preach this with the players and I tell them that if the Pumas win, they will go somewhere. If they have a belief that they’re brilliant and want to do stuff on their own, they will go nowhere.<\/p>\n

“I think that’s the greatest thing. At the end of this season Tinus de Beer is going to Wales, Ali Mgijima is going to the Cheetahs, Diego Appollis to the Sharks … everybody is going, just like last year.”<\/p>\n

Stonehouse praised the work ethic of his players, saying they deserved their shot at making history again.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s the toughness. We really train hard, but it’s also the discipline,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’s tough for the guys sometimes at the Pumas, and what we’re doing here is to say to SA Rugby: ‘Just give us an opportunity’.<\/p>\n

“We cannot play URC or those competitions because we don’t have the money, but just give us something – another competition – so that we don’t have another seven months of pre-season and so that we can get another sponsor to invest in us.<\/p>\n

“That’s what we’re trying to create.”<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse said it was “difficult to express my feelings” following his side’s stunning Currie Cup semi-final victory over the Sharks in Durban on Saturday. The Pumas, the defending champions, won 26-20 to book their spot in next weekend’s final against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein. It is an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":50027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[274,315,506,285,2492,953,992,587,875,275],"class_list":["post-50028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-currie-cup","tag-durban","tag-jimmy-stonehouse","tag-nelspruit","tag-pumas","tag-rugby","tag-sharks","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\n'Pure heart and belief': Stonehouse's Pumas are going to the Currie Cup final ... again! - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse said it was "difficult to express my feelings" following his side's stunning Currie Cup sem ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"'Pure heart and belief': Stonehouse's Pumas are going to the Currie Cup final ... again!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse said it was "difficult to express my feelings" following his side's stunning Currie Cup sem ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-18T11:16:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-18T12:35:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/06\/sm_1687075396.843162.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"476\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"‘Pure heart and belief’: Stonehouse’s Pumas are going to the Currie Cup final … again!\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-18T11:16:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-18T12:35:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again\"},\"wordCount\":489,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/06\/sm_1687075396.843162.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"currie cup\",\"durban\",\"jimmy stonehouse\",\"nelspruit\",\"pumas\",\"rugby\",\"sharks\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pure-heart-and-belief-stonehouses-pumas-are-going-to-the-currie-cup-final-again\",\"name\":\"'Pure heart and belief': Stonehouse's Pumas are going to the Currie Cup final ... again! 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