The Vodacom Bulls did what they were expected to do by relying on a strong second half surge to beat the Airlink Pumas and retain their stranglehold on top spot on the Carling Currie Cup log with three rounds to play before the arrival of the knock-out phase.

The Bulls just need a bonus point or two to ensure themselves of a place in the semifinal round in mid-September, but their quest will be to maintain their lead at the top so they can have home advantage should they reach the final on 21 September. Their nearest challengers are now fellow Gauteng team, the ADT Fidelity Lions, who at the weekend pretty much condemned DHL Western Province to another year of being spectators in the knock-out stage of the domestic competition.

Although the Stormers have won a Vodacom United Rugby Championship title, have played in two finals in that competition and have never finished lower than fifth, it is a different story with their feeder team, WP, who have failed to advance to the Currie Cup knock-outs in recent years and will now have to pull off a miracle to break that trend.

LIONS BUILDING IMPRESSIVELY

Although they settled a bit after halftime and thus avoided complete humiliation, they were completely outplayed by the Lions in the first half in Johannesburg as the Gauteng union continued the impressive build they have been on across all competitions recently.

Indeed, while the Bulls have been the best team in the domestic competition, it is arguably the Lions and the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV that have made the most progress towards satisfying the new demand of this tournament for the URC franchises, which is to improve depth for the European challenges that will be faced during the proper part of the South African season.

A few weeks ago you wouldn’t have given the Sharks much chance of making the top four, but they are there now, two points ahead of the Pumas and looking now to have impressive momentum after a four match sequence of games that includes three wins and one draw.

The first of those victims was the Lions, which is no mean achievement now at this level of competition, the draw was courtesy of a great comeback that should have netted victory in Nelspruit, an easy home win over Suzuki Griquas and now a good away win over the Toyota Cheetahs.

Nick Hatton’s men play with the kind of skill and elegance that will be welcomed by Sharks URC coach John Plumtree, and coach JP Pietersen appears to be making the same statement as a coach that Joey Mongalo, currently the defence coach of the URC and Champions Cup teams, did in last year’s domestic competition.

The Sharks made it to the semis last year but were beaten by the Pumas and will be eager to go a step further this time around, although regardless of the outcome the Durbanites are already achieving the core aim of the competition for them. Which is development.

KITSHOFF MAKES SUCCESSFUL RETURN

Another angle of the competition has been the opportunity it has presented for game time for Bok players not being used in the Rugby Championship or who have been injured, and the Johannesburg game did that at the weekend as Steven Kitshoff returned to the WP team and went through unscathed. Hooker Andre-Hugo Venter played as a replacement.

One team that has struggled this year after excelling in recent seasons is Suzuki Griquas, but they found their form on Sunday by easily dispatching the Novavit Griffons in Welkom. Like Province though, they require something miraculous and freaky to happen if they are to advance to the semifinals. They currently trail the fourth placed Sharks by eight points, with WP trailing by seven.

WP have a last chance saloon opportunity to change that when they host the Sharks XV in Cape Town at the weekend. They do have a strong record at home against the Sharks across all competitions in recent times. The big match of the coming round is arguably the one in Bloemfontein between the Cheetahs and the Lions.

Weekend Carling Currie Cup results

Airlink Pumas 24 Vodacom Blue Bulls 40

ADT Fidelity Lions 41 DHL Western Province 22

Toyota Free State Cheetahs 20 Hollywoodbets Sharks XV 25

Novavit Griffons 7 Suzuki Griquas 59

Next weekend’s fixtures

Vodacom Bulls v Suzuki Griquas (Pretoria, Friday 7pm)

DHL Western Province v Hollywoodbets Sharks XV (Cape Town, Saturday 3pm)

Toyota Free State Cheetahs v ADT Fidelity Golden Lions (Bloemfontein, Saturday 5pm)

Novavit Griffons v Airlink Pumas (Welkom, Sunday 3pm)