The Carling Currie Cup heads into the penultimate round of the league phase with five teams in with a realistic chance of making the playoffs, and with two separate battles effectively taking place as the sides jostle to determine who plays where in the playoffs.
When it comes to finishing in the top two, there’s currently a three-way fight, which makes the central union derby that starts the weekend fare in Bloemfontein on Friday evening particularly significant. The hosts, the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, are currently locked on the same number of log points at the top of the table with the Sanlam Boland Kavaliers, 21, but they are just one point ahead of their rivals from nearby Kimberley, who travel with plenty to play for.
Whoever loses will have suffered a severe setback to their chances of securing a home playoff a fortnight from now, although much could depend on who wins the games on Saturday featuring Boland, the Airlink Pumas, and the ADT Fidelity Golden Lions.
The last-mentioned will host a Vodacom Blue Bulls team that has slipped after a strong start, following the correct decision made by incoming Bulls URC coach Johan Ackermann that all of his union’s focus should be on that competition and not the domestic competition.
If a decision is ever made to move the Currie Cup to a different window, meaning not in the off-season when the URC players should be resting and then going through their pre-season preparation, it might change, but for now, it appears the Lions are the only URC-aligned team that takes the Currie Cup seriously. And they arguably paid for that when they appeared to run out of puff after a promising start to the most recent URC season.
LAST CHANCE SALOON FOR BULLS
The Bulls players playing in the Currie Cup, though, would like to get to the semis if they can, so they effectively have a last very slender chance of keeping themselves alive if they win the trans-Jukskei derby. It will, however, require other results to go their way, so even a win with a bonus point might not be enough to keep them alive in the competition.
If the Lions win, they will be hoping that DHL Western Province can do them a favour by beating the Pumas in Cape Town in the last game of the weekend. That will mean the Lions will be comfortably in the top four heading into the last round, meaning they will be in a strong position to clinch a semifinal spot.
The homeground advantage needed in a semi, though, would appear at the moment to be between the Cheetahs, Kavaliers and Griquas, with the Kavaliers hoping to continue their run of wins against bigger unions when they visit Pietermaritzburg’s Woodburn Stadium in the middle game of a Saturday triple header.
The Sharks have brought in Siya Masuku as their one URC squad member, but otherwise, it is still the young team that finally broke the duck with a home win over WP last weekend, so the Kavaliers have an excellent chance to make it five wins out of six.
If they want to make the top two, meaning what would be a plum home semi in Wellington on the weekend of 12/13 September, they may well have to strike now. It is understood that WP are starting to move into URC mode and are intending to bolster their team to make next week’s Cape derby a URC warm-up game.
Boland often featured as the Stormers’ first warm-up game before a Super Rugby season in the past, so it makes sense for John Dobson to go that route, and it is understood the process of bringing players in for a pre-season warm-up opportunity might even start in this weekend’s game against the Pumas. Don’t be surprised to see someone like Deon Fourie in action in the game against the team from the Lowveld.
Of course, with another warm-up game scheduled for the following weekend in George, where they play the Sharks, the Boland game next week might not see the Stormers go what Dobson would call Full Metal Jacket; it’s more likely it’ll be a second team. So it is not as if Boland won’t have a chance of winning. But they can do themselves a big favour by winning against the Sharks and not relying on next week’s result to clinch home advantage in the semifinal round.
The Sharks, by the wa,y start their on-field preparation for the URC season when they host English club Saracens at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on the same night the Currie Cup team will play their last game of the campaign against the Pumas.
Like WP, and to be honest, the Bulls too, the Sharks no longer have any stake in the competition they won last year by beating the Lions in the final.
WEEKEND CARLING CURRIE CUP FIXTURES:
Toyota Free State Cheetahs v Suzuki Griquas (Bloemfontein, Friday 17.00)
ADT Fidelity Lions v Vodacom Blue Bulls (Johannesburg, Saturday 15.00)
Hollywoodbets Sharks XV v Sanlam Boland Kavaliers (Pietermaritzburg, Saturday 17.10)
DHL Western Province v Airlink Pumas (Cape Town, Saturday 19.20)
Carling Currie Cup log points after five matches:
- Toyota Cheetahs 21;
- Sanlam Boland Kavaliers 21;
- Suzuki Griquas 20;
- ADT Fidelity Lions 16;
- Airlink Pumas 15;
- Vodacom Bulls 10
- Hollywoodbets Sharks XV 6;
- DHL Western Province 1.
