CURRIE CUP PREVIEW: Chance to further develop SA's young stars

When the Junior Springboks won the World Rugby Under-20 Championship in fine style there were doubtless many who wondered when they would next see some of those young stars in action. The answer may well be that you will see them in the Carling Currie Cup.

The oldest domestic rugby competition in the world kicks off this coming weekend (26/27 July) and there is one massive improvement on previous seasons - the concept of less is more has sunken in for the organisers and this year there will be only one round of competition before the playoffs start.

That means just seven games for each team, which considering they are playing in what now should be the South African off-season as the franchises are aligned to the northern hemisphere season, is about right.

It means that instead of starting straight after the end of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship like last year there was at least an opportunity for those fringe players who are contracted for URC and can benefit from also playing in the Currie Cup to get a bit of a break.

The Hollywoodbets Sharks for instance only gathered to start training for the Currie Cup on 7 July, a month after their last URC game.

Not that there will be too many players doubling up, for there should no longer be any debate about where the oldest domestic competition in the world fits in the South African rugby landscape.

It is a development vehicle for the URC franchises and that’s where the Junior Boks come into it - this will no doubt be an opportunity for several of them to start making the transition to senior level rugby.

When it comes to players already established at senior level, it is only the players who don’t get much game time in the URC because they aren’t first choice players that should get to see Currie Cup action.

In that sense, the Currie Cup is important for the building and maintaining of the depth necessary to compete in both the URC and the Champions Cup.

The competition no longer carries the bragging rights of old, and while the Sharks fans celebrated their team’s triumph over the ADT Fidelity Lions in last year’s final at the time, the real gains made by the Sharks in the competition came when they had their young players on the field in the early rounds.

Sharks director of rugby Neil Powell, in an interview with supersport.com a few months ago, made no bones about where the Currie Cup fits in his franchise/union’s planning - while it was an opportunity to give some older fringe players game time that they miss out on during the URC season, and they help with the development of the younger players, the emphasis was to use it as part of “the pipeline” for junior players through to senior level.

“When it comes to our age-group players, when they reach 21 it is decision making time for us - if they are ready to play Currie Cup rugby by then we keep them on,” said Powell.

CHANGE TO SHARKS’ MODEL

The Sharks have changed their contracting model somewhat, with more emphasis being placed on developing young players, and feeding the senior team from the bottom, rather than contracting in big names who frankly have at times struggled to deliver the needed energy at franchise level.

It was last year’s Currie Cup that helped develop Jurenzo “Boogey Man” Julius into a player that could play URC and Champions Cup rugby, and the team was superbly led by another rising youngster, Nick Hatton.

The team, known as the Sharks XV to differentiate it from the side playing in the franchise competitions, was coached by JP Pietersen, who will do so again, and it will be interesting to see if the Sharks, should they make the playoffs again, repeat what they did last year by bringing the available big names back at that stage.

Franchise coach John Plumtree felt that his URC challenge was impacted by the hard semifinal against the Bulls, that went to 100 minutes as there was extra time played, followed by the final against the Lions.

In the sense that they weren’t the usual “easing in” type of pre-season games needed and the players felt the hard start to the season in their bodies when they went on tour straight after that to start their URC campaign.

By contrast, however, DHL Western Province’s failure to make the playoffs in the Currie Cup meant that the Stormers’ plans to use the final stages of the domestic league as a buildup to the URC were scuppered.

Stormers director of rugby John Dobson had to hurriedly arrange a midweek fixture against the Pumas but it wasn’t enough, although in his defence he also wasn’t helped by the decision made to delay the South African start to the URC because the Currie Cup final fell on the same day.

The good news is that the Currie Cup final and the first round of the URC do not clash this year, but there is just one week between the domestic decider and the start of the international competition.

The Sharks found last year that a one week gap wasn’t enough, but the point is that this year coaches can plan around it whereas last year there was a sudden change that was foisted on them and it messed with their planning.

LEVY NOW IN CHARGE AT WP

Dobson won’t be coaching the WP Currie Cup team this season, he has handed over those reins to Labeeb Levy, who doubles as the Stormers skills coach, and it makes sense for him to do that as coaches need time off to refresh as much as players do.

The highly respected and experienced Brendan Venter, who effectively masterminded the Sharks’ Currie Cup win in 2013, will be with WP as a consultant.

Dobson wanted to coach the team last season because he felt it was necessary to expose his coaching style to young players and other players coming through the system but he later admitted that was a mistake.

However, the role of the Currie Cup in unearthing and helping the development of young players was advertised when Dobson had to call upon the likes of Jonathan Roche and then later Paul de Villiers in his URC campaign.

But it might be a mistake for any team that doubles as a franchise in the URC to put too much emphasis on winning the competition, meaning using URC players in what should be their off-season, as it can impact when it really matters in the international competition.

SMALLER UNIONS HAVE A POINT TO PROVE

One of the differences last season to the previous few seasons was that it was the depth of the URC franchises that prevailed over the unions like the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, Suzuki Griquas and the Airlink Pumas, who use the competition to prove they are worthy of higher competition.

In the first few years of the competition that happened, with the Pumas scoring a memorable win in 2022, and their eagerness to get back to that level was underlined by their successful redeployment of Willie Engelbrecht, who has returned to the lowveld after several seasons with the Stormers and WP.

The non-URC unions have to do well in the SA Cup to get into the Currie Cup Premier Division, and interesting newcomers this year will be the Boland Cavaliers, which will mean the return of the old Cape derby against WP that used to attract so much interest in that region.

Boland, representing an area where so many young players learn their rugby, mean business, and their coaching staff, headed by Hawies Fourie, is a strong one, with former SA under-20 coach Chean Roux assisting with the forwards.

Carling Currie Cup first round fixtures

Airlink Pumas v Suzuki Griquas (Nelspruit, Friday 25 July, 7:30pm)

ADT Fidelity Lions v Hollywoodbets Sharks (Johannesburg, Saturday 26 July, 3pm)

DHL Western Province v Vodacom Blue Bulls (Cape Town, Saturday 26 July, 5:10pm)

Sanlam Boland Cavaliers v Toyota Free State Cheetahs (Wellington, Sunday 27 July, 3pm)

Round 7 concludes the league phase on 6 September

Knockouts to be played from 13 September, with the final on 20 September