The third round of the Currie Cup played over the weekend has left many teams with more questions than answers.
Western Province and the Valke will reflect on their results so far and wonder what they have to do to resurrect their Currie Cup campaigns.
Western Province produced their second woeful performance in as many weeks when they lost to the Sharks by 32 points to 16 at the Absa stadium on Friday night.
The Capetonians lacked direction and their execution was below par. They didn’t compete for the loose ball and their kicking was pathetic.
When the Western Province forwards did decide to join the party and managed to string a couple of phases together their backline kicked away the possession.
They leaked four tries and only scored one against the Sharks. Western Province did lead the game at one stage, after Sharks captain AJ Venter decided to run the ball in his own 22m, then lost possession, giving the visitors a 13-10 lead.
Western Province winger Joe Pietersen is probably one of the few players who could walk away from Friday night’s game with any pride.
The Capetonians are in trouble and the loss of Gerrie Britz to the national team will weaken them further. Some serious introspection is needed or they can forget about having a decent Currie Cup campaign this year.
For the Sharks however, any win is precious and they should cling to any positives from the game.
Sharks eighthman Ryan Kankowski produced an impressive performance after being on the back foot last weekend and scrumhalf Ryan Kockott hassled his counterpart Paul Delport throughout the match.
The Valke have also had a poor start to their campaign. They created all the play in their clash against the Boland Cavaliers, and then handed the visitors a 39-33 victory.
The Cavaliers are definitely punching above their weight as they have recorded a second unlikely victory in as many weeks. The Valke strung together a number phases setting themselves up for perfect try scoring opportunities only for one of their players to drop a ball or make the wrong pass.
The Bolanders sat back and let the Valke make all the mistakes and then punished them. The Cavaliers crossed the tryline five times and most of these tries were against the run of play.
The Valke outside backs are impressive on the offensive but their finishing also let them down on a night when they should have scored. Riaan Viljoen is improving every game he plays and his impressive runs and a beautiful try on Friday capped off a good night for him.
The Cheetahs have scored an amazing 187 points and only conceded 24. The Cheetahs beat their neighbours Griquas 51-10 at Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein. At halftime the game was a lot closer as the visitors were only seven points adrift.
In the second half, Cheetahs fullback Phillip Burger turned on the heat and attacked the Griquas defence and created openings for the Cheetahs support runners.
Centre Marius Joubert is another player who showed his class on the offensive as he found the outside gap a number of times. Flyhalf Willem De Waal’s distribution created a lot of space for his outside backs and his kicking out of hand was also from the top drawer.
The Blue Bulls gained bragging rights in Gauteng when they comfortably beat the Golden Lions 25-11 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Bulls scored three tries and they all came from winger John Mametsa. The Bulls scored points when it mattered and the Lions came agonisingly close but they couldn’t punish the home side when it mattered. The Lions loose trio of Cobus Grobelaar, captain Ernst Joubert and Willem Alberts are creating a reputation for themselves as they put in another impressive performance on Saturday.
Bulls fullback Johan Roets was at his usual best as he calmly plucked the high ball out of the air and his offensive abilities came to the fore when he created two of the Bulls tries.
Next week will only see one fixture when the Sharks host the Wildeklawer Griquas at the Absa Stadium on Saturday. – Sapa