CURRIE CUP PREVIEW: Two separate narratives for final round

There are five teams in contention for semifinal spots as the final round of the Carling Currie Cup arrives. Four teams will be using this weekend as an important step in the on-field preparation for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship season, which starts three weeks hence.

That, in a nutshell sums up the two separate narratives that are apparent for a final weekend of league play that, because so much has changed with some of the teams because of the preparation for the URC, frankly undermines the competition.

There is of course one team that belongs to both subsets. The ADT Fidelity Lions are both warming up for the URC and they still have an interest in winning the Currie Cup, something that was denied them by the last gasp monster penalty from their former teammate Jordan Hendrikse playing in Hollywoodbets Sharks XV colours in last year’s final.

The other three URC coaches may wonder at the wisdom of Ivan van Rooyen, the Lions’ URC coach, chasing Currie Cup success. The Sharks certainly felt it cost them a bit at the start of the URC that their final preparation games for that competition were a 100 minute semifinal against the Vodacom Bulls followed by a tight final and then just a one week gap before they had to be in Connacht.

The Lions’ commitment to the Currie Cup, which was ultimately in vain, arguably cost them in the URC, when they clearly ran out of steam later on after a promising start. Not that a passage to the playoffs is necessarily a done deal for them seeing they are hosting the impressive Suzuki Griquas in their final league game.

It is an away game for Griquas and on that basis the Lions will be strong favourites. But last week Griquas were away too against the Toyota Cheetahs and delivered a statement performance. Griquas, who like the other smaller unions had the SA Cup as a momentum builder before the Currie Cup started, should also be a bit more cohesive as a team given that the Lions have only recently started to reintroduce some URC players.

BOLAND SHOULD KICK THEMSELVES

A win will be enough to put the Lions into the playoffs, and they may already know they are in the playoffs by the time they play as the Airlink Pumas have a tough away game on Friday against a Sharks XV that has beefed up on URC players on a night where their game serves as a double header with the URC warmup clash with English club Saracens (kick-off 16.00).

The Sharks will play their annual George warmup against the DHL Stormers as an additional pre-season game next week so they are not completely at URC strength, but they have enough experience in their ranks to start as strong favourites to knock the Pumas out of the race.

Not that the Pumas are alone in being up against it among the contenders for playoff spots. The Boland Kavaliers have become the favourite other team of many fans for the passionate and entertaining way they approach the game but on Saturday they play an almost fully loaded Stormers team in the Cape derby at DHL Stadium.

Many of the big guns, including Evan Roos, who should be in Auckland with the Boks, are playing for Western Province in the final match of a season in which, regardless of Saturday’s result, they will finish last.

Again, it seems unfair on Boland that suddenly at this late stage the whole competition should be subverted, although coach Hawies Fourie will probably be honest enough to admit his team conspired against themselves when, instead of kicking the ball into touch off the last move when they were leading in Pietermaritzburg last week, they kicked to attack and the Sharks XV capitalised by building up to the penalty that Siya Masuku kicked to win the game.

ACKERMANN MAKES HIS DEBUT

The Toyota Cheetahs are in the same boat as all the other non-URC franchises as Johan Ackermann makes his debut as Bulls coach at Loftus. Unsurprisingly, with the organisation of specific URC playoff matches like the one in George next week being costly exercises, the Bulls too are using this as a URC warmup.

The Bulls are certainly an interesting one when it comes to the Currie Cup as it would be completely understandable if the Sharks camp are remembering with some mirth how the Bulls Currie Cup coach accused them of not respecting the competition when they won 64-0 at Loftus against the Durbanites in the second round.

The following week Ackermann, who took up position as the new Bulls head coach from Jake White, decided that the Bulls policy should be the same as that of WP and the Sharks, meaning treat the Currie Cup as a development tool and no more.

That week the Bulls were thrashed at Loftus by the Pumas and they haven’t won a game since, while the team that was chided for disrespecting the competition has shown definite progress and ended the under-strength phase of the Currie Cup last week on a notable high.

That is both a lesson in being careful what you say because it could end up making you look silly and, perhaps more importantly, an indicator that the Currie Cup needs to be played in a different window if it is going to be taken seriously by unions who don’t want to let it compromise their URC campaigns.

CARLING CURRIE CUP FINAL ROUND FIXTURES

Hollywoodbets Sharks XV v Airlink Pumas (Durban, Friday 7pm)

DHL Western Province v Sanlam Boland Kavaliers (Cape Town, Saturday 2:45pm)

ADT Fidelity Lions v Suzuki Griquas (Johannesburg, Saturday 5pm)

Vodacom Blue Bulls v Toyota Free State Cheetahs (Pretoria, Saturday 7:05pm)