Notwithstanding a poor international season, the anticipation ahead of the Currie Cup final this weekend suggests that the game in this country is in rude health right now. Two teams packed with Springboks and emerging talent will meet in Durban for boasting rights, while there is no place this year at the top table for the Bulls, week in and week out the best provincial side in the world.
Despite beating the Sharks in log play a month ago, Western Province must start as underdogs against a Sharks team that topped the log with a certain amount of comfort.
Yet finals are a great leveller and home advantage will not be all important once the game begins. Moreover, Province supporters will recall that the last time their side won the Currie Cup was in Durban, against the odds, in 2001. That was the culmination of a melancholy period for the Sharks, who reached the final in three successive seasons, hosted two of them and lost every one. They were unquestionably the team of the 1990s, but not of the first decade of the new millennium.
As for Province, still the most decorated side in the history of the competition, the 2001 victory was their last trophy to date.
It will unquestionably be a clash of styles. Sharks coach John Plumtree has based his tactics on a dominant pack, with flat-lying backs who thrive on turnover ball. His counterpart at Province, Allister Coetzee, does not have the same power at forward to call on, particularly among his bench sitters, so a more classical style has emerged, with deep-lying backs attacking from first-phase ball.
Man for man Province cannot challenge the Sharks pack physically, but they have an edge in the backs, particularly at centre where the cerebral Jean de Villiers is able to bring the best out of the gifted Juan de Jongh. The question, as ever, is whether De Villiers will get enough good ball to control the game.
Tactically the Sharks were masterful in their semifinal against the Bulls, but it took a huge physical toll. With the ball, the Sharks were prepared to play Rugby League, with the important codicil that they weren’t forced to concede possession after every fifth carry. Without it, they shut down space and hit the ball carrier behind the advantage line.
Rarely can a Bulls team have spent so much phase play going backwards. The normal lifeline for a team that can’t win the collisions, collecting high balls and attacking from deep, was not an option, because the Sharks refused to kick away possession. Only in the frantic, rain soaked, final minutes did they resort to finding touch.
It is conceivable that Plumtree is thinking of a repeat dose for the final. One way to keep a lid on the Province backs is to keep the ball away from them. But there is an important difference to consider. The Sharks played the way they did against the Bulls because of fear. They were aware that the Blue Machine, once started, would be almost impossible to stop.
Without underestimating Province in any way, Plumtree must concede that the fear factor is absent. That being the case, it would be difficult at the end of a long season to convince his team to put their bodies on the line in the way they did in the semifinal.
Thus the Sharks have a tightrope to walk. Too little commitment and Province will waltz through the gaps created, too much and they may not last the pace. So it is fair to assume that the Sharks backs will see a little more possession than was the case against the Bulls.
Much will again depend on Patrick Lambie at flyhalf. Against Province at Newlands, Lambie was pushed to fullback to accommodate Andre Pretorius. It was an experiment that failed, but had the positive outcome of revealing exactly how much the Sharks have come to rely upon the gifted 20-year-old’s decision-making ability under pressure.
Against the Bulls, Lambie was able to play his preferred ball-in-hand game, with intelligent passing off either hand dictating the Sharks’ clinical ground gaining. In the closing minutes when Pretorius came off the bench, Lambie went back to fullback and made a mark for all seasons, claiming a high ball a metre from the Sharks line with a phalanx of blue clad behemoths advancing upon him.
It surely will not have escaped the Province brains trust that to improve their chances of winning they need to seal off Lambie from his support runners and force him to kick. Schalk Burger and Francois Louw will need to have their jet shoes on to contain the youngster, but they may be held back a crucial metre by the threat posed around the fringes of the breakdowns by scrumhalf Charl McLeod.
The Sharks have a great finisher on the left wing in Lwazi Mvovo, but their most effective strike runners are closer to the ball.
They have a beautifully balanced back row, with the pace of Keegan Daniel, the power of Willem Alberts and the thoroughbred sensibilities of Ryan Kankowski. If the tight five perform better than they managed in log play at Newlands, the Sharks should sneak home due to their greater quality between numbers six and 10.