The Currie Cup is heading towards the sharp end. There are three weekends of log fixtures remaining before the semifinals and at least one key game in each round.
This Saturday it’s the Cheetahs against the Bulls in Bloemfontein.
Victory for the Bulls will almost guarantee them a home semifinal, as they finish their log fixtures away to Griquas and home to the Valke. It would also dent the chances of another successful title run for Free State, especially if Naka Drotske’s men fail to secure a bonus point.
In that event they would almost certainly drop out of the top four for the first time this season. The reason being that a rejuvenated Western Province have a home tie against Griquas.
If Western Province win with a bonus point, as they should, they would take up fourth place by virtue of a superior points differential.
It’s amazing to think that three weeks ago there was reason to believe that Province, far from contesting the semifinals, would be involved in the promotion/relegation matches.
The return of their Springboks has galvanised a side that looked shambolic against the Bulls at Loftus in the last week of August.
Next weekend’s key game is the Lions against the Sharks in Johannesburg. Loffie Eloff’s team has the toughest run-in of all, with a trip to Boland this Saturday, followed by the Sharks at home and Western Province away. Eloff has a subtle way with motivation, but he will need to keep in mind last year’s semifinal in Durban.
Written off before the game, the Lions succeeded by squeezing the life out of their hosts. Scrumhalf Jano Vermaak outplayed his opposite number, Rory Kockott, on the day and Cobus Grobbelaar won the battle for the ball on the ground.
Should the Lions prevail it should have no effect on the Sharks, who play the Valke away this weekend and finish against Griquas in Durban. Winning both games will secure a home semifinal, whatever happens against the Lions.
The concern for John Plumtree’s team will be to head the log and thereby gain the inside track for a home final.
The final week of log play will decide everything, of course, and the game in Cape Town between Western Province and the Lions is a semifinal eliminator. The likelihood is that everything will come down to points difference.
The Springboks may have disappointed this year, but their return to domestic competition has emphasised the extent to which they underachieved at international level. The game between the Sharks and the Bulls two weeks ago was a case in point. Four tries each, but never a hint of an easy one.
An argument could be made that this was a better game than the 2007 Super 14 final between the same sides at the same venue. The stakes were higher in 2007, but the quality of play was not. The difference this time was that the Sharks kept Bryan Habana out for 80 minutes instead of 79.
It has been 12 years since the Sharks won a trophy. Gary Teichmann was the captain and legends such as Andre Joubert and Henry Honiball were in the team.
If you were looking for omens you might single out these two: there was a Frenchman at flyhalf during the season (Thierry Lacroix as opposed to Frederick Michalak) and in the final John Plumtree came off the bench to replace Wickus van Heerden (the uncle of the Bulls’s flanker).
There have been many times in the intervening seasons when a Sharks team flattered to deceive, last year being a classic case in point. But the strength of the current squad is so great that, assuming there is not a rash of catastrophic injuries, all other things being equal, the Currie Cup should be theirs.
But all other things are far from being equal. The fact is that these are vintage years for South African rugby as a whole and not just in KwaZulu-Natal.
The first half of the Currie Cup season may have been inferior to the second, but it forced coaches to select players who would not have had a sniff if the Springboks had not been on test duty.
Indeed, that may be the single greatest reason to let the season remain as it is, the inevitable disintegration of Sanzar notwithstanding.
Let the Super 14 be played at full strength, then let the neophytes loose on the Currie Cup. Mix in a liberal sprinkling of experienced Springboks at halfway, light the blue touch paper and retire.