Steve Morris : Rugby
It is one of those interesting, though probably largely irrelevant statistics, that Free State have not won a Currie Cup since 1976 and a graphic illustration of the swirling tides of the game that they have washed up in Cape Town this weekend as the side to oppose Western Province in the Currie Cup final.
It is equally worthy of note that the two teams who have, at least for the most part, produced the most expansive rugby of the campaign, should have the right to fight it out for this country’s premier domestic honours.
For Province have surged back from the agonies of confused and inconsistent frustration which marked their campaign last year and topped the log in the round- robin phase with an approach just as holistic as that which has served Free State so well.
This, one must say though, is part of the Province problem. The intricacies of the magic they seek to weave can often cost them dearly and, on the basis of the two semi-finals, there must be an examination of the character as well as the skills of the two sides.
It has often been said, more in jest surely than in fact, that many people come from Bloemfontein, but few go there intentionally.
In rugby terms though, this has some ring of reality in that many of this country’s front-line players were given a start on the hard grounds of the Free State capital … and that Free State have never shirked from the prospect of winning away from home.
Province might hold the advantage of playing at Newlands, but only the truly foolhardy would make them overwhelming favourites against a team who recorded a win over Otago in New Zealand when on the road in the Super 12 and followed that up with that monumental 40-22 devastation of Natal in front of the partisan fans at King’s Park last weekend.
Under the two coaches, Harry Viljoen in the Cape and Peet Kleynhans in Bloemfontein, both teams have taken the three traditional pillars of strength in this country’s rugby – forward power, inconoclastic defence, and a love of running with ball in hand – and made them gel into an entity which both overwhelms and entertains.
This has not been an easy task and, while it is what he has consistently aimed at over the years at Natal, one which has escaped Ian McIntosh and the men under Gary Teichmann this year.
Both Province and Free State have shown the willingness and the strength within to open up all facets of the game, insisting that the forwards run and handle and that the backline does its share of the tough stuff when the call came, melding different facets of individual playing requirements into a hugely successful whole. It is something that the All Blacks have strived for since the advent of the ideal of total rugby.
Both have handled the set pieces up front in an almost belligerent, businesslike fashion, doing the job but taking no prisoners in the accomplishment of this.
Here, though, one would fancy that the Free State front row of Os du Randt, Naka Drotske and Willie Meyer have held an edge over the season.
Du Randt – as he showed against Natal – most clearly typifies the profile of the player of a modern coach’s dreams and were he not equipped with the physique of the traditional outdoor convenience which makes him such an asset in the front row, it is not beyond the bounds of lateral thinking to picture Du Randt as a far from average backline player for his handling, tackling and almost incredible mobility.
In this willingness to run the ball from the set pieces, both teams have relied on the standout loose trios of the season: Province orbiting the fresh talents of Corne Krige and Bobby Skinstad at flank round the cool experience and sheer physicality of Andrew Aitken, Free State the white-jerseyed blanket of the unrelated Venters, Andre and AJ, combined with the increasing confidence and drive of Rassie Erasmus.
With forwards as committed as this, there has been ample opportunity for both sides to do what William Webb-Ellis first envisaged all those years ago and run with the ball.
For Province, Justin Swart has settled into the role of an attacking fullback with panache, Pieter Rossouw is clearly enjoying moving up to the wing to join the resurgent James Small, and Dick Muir has used his vast experience and vision to help settle the Springbok mantle on the shoulders of the oft-maligned Percy Montgomery.
As a unit the Province backline have sometimes failed to fire on all cylinders and their handling and defence in midfield have shown some worrying lapses, but the whole has surely proved greater than the sum of its individual parts. Add to this the growing talent of Louis Koen at pivot, which has given those outside him the chance to work patterns of play that have been superb to watch all season, and the backs have had much to do with the refound confidence in the Cape.
Yet again, Free State must be given the edge in this department for they have gone about the job of moving the ball across and down the field of play with a forcefulness and flair that their opponents will testify has often been unstoppable.
Perhaps this has something to do with the wily midfield where World Cup centre Brendan Venter has calmed his sometimes suspect playing temperament under the cool captaincy of the ageless Helgard Muller. Chris Badenhorst has regained his bustling impatience for the tryline and Jan-Harm van Wyk has shown that a good pair of hands, an open mind and a real turn of pace make defending against him one of the less thankful tasks in South African rugby.
The looming contest promises great things, but then that has so often been the case in finals which have then turned into dour forward battles where the ethos of a game so carefully nurtured during the build-up to the final decider has been cast to the winds of the driving ambition to put the silverware on the shelf.
It cannot, surely, be the case with two coaches and two teams who have played this well all season and in Free State’s case, they have something extra to prove, having been successfully marginalised for next season’s Super 12. Victory for Free State – and it is a very real possibility – would give them the chance to raise the argument that, under the banners of the new regional selections who will contest the southern hemisphere’s provincial competition next season, the team which fares the best in Currie Cup should have the right to host the home games.
It is something Province will have to think about before they take the field. For one feels there is more than just the Currie Cup at stake here.