CURRIE CUP PREVIEW: Newcomers look for another perfect Sunday

The teams affiliated to Vodacom URC franchises will hog the Saturday afternoon space again this weekend but if you are looking for a must watch game in the second round of the Carling Currie Cup it might well be the one in Kimberley on Sunday.

Suzuki Griquas need to pick themselves up after losing in the first round to the Airlink Pumas in Nelspruit but they are up against a side that made a strong point against the other central union team, the Toyota Cheetahs, last Sunday.

Sanlam Boland Kavaliers have returned to the Premier Division of the domestic competition for the first time in well over a decade but they’ve done so with a bang.

There were stages of their game against the Cheetahs, one of the favoured teams in the competition as they are not deflected by also being involved in the URC, where they looked like they were going to win comfortably. Then the Cheetahs came back at them and once they took the lead you’d have expected the Bolanders to fade.

Think again. They showed their passion and commitment by taking the game beyond the hooter by eight minutes before dotting down the winning try amidst scenes of bedlam in a Wellington venue that looked packed to capacity.

With DHL Western Province also drawing a big crowd (for the Currie Cup) in their loss to the Bulls the day before, there certainly doesn’t seem to be anything lacking from the rugby appetite of the people of the Western Cape, although the lure of watching the Cape Town team might well be tested if they get well beaten in Johannesburg on Saturday afternoon.

COASTAL TEAMS GAINING EVEN IN DEFEAT

However, WP are arguably a team their fans need to watch in a different way to the usual want them to win at all costs the way you’d have expected in the past. The Bulls team that beat them last week was loaded with tried and trusted experienced players and it was no surprise that Province came second given that they appear to be on a clearer development path in this competition than the Pretoria union are.

Jeandre Rudolph was brilliant for the Bulls last week but we know he is a standout in the domestic competition. What we don’t know is if he can dominate in the same way if he takes a step up to URC level. Ditto former Sharks flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain. Marvin Orie is a Springbok. Stedman Gans should probably have played more URC games for the Bulls last season than he did.

WP on the other hand were filled with lesser known players so WP fans should have left DHL Stadium feeling a bit heartened by the second half effort. It was my first proper viewing of the young flyhalf Kyle Smith at a level up from age group for instance and the first impression was good even though he was in the losing team. Ditto a few other players in the blue and white stripes.

CHAMBERLAIN CAN GAIN FROM REBUILDING CONFIDENCE

Of course someone like Chamberlain can gain a lot out of having a good Currie Cup campaign, something by the way that he did in his very first appearance in the competition for the Sharks back in 2019. That was under the coaching of Sean Everitt, who at that point had just been rewarded for his success at under-21 level by being elevated to replace Robert du Preez as Sharks senior coach and Chamberlain was one of several age-group players he brought with him.

A good Currie Cup campaign in a winning team will do wonders for Chamberlain’s confidence and make him a better player if required in the URC.

The point though is that a team like WP, or for that matter the Sharks XV, who lost to the Lions with a very young and untried team at this level, might actually be gaining more from an overall depth viewpoint in their defeat than the Bulls will be in winning. In the sense that those unions are testing unknowns, whereas the star performers for the winning teams in the first round were players we know about already.

So there is something for WP and Sharks fans to gain by watching these games even if it might not be fun to see them lose. And in both cases the sides should be bolstered this week by the returning Junior Boks, with the Sharks calling up a quintet of players who were involved in the World Rugby Under-20 Championship win and WP set to do something similar when they name their side on Friday.

On the WP angle, what would be interesting to know is how many of the Blitzboks they fielded last week will be returning to Sevens at the end of the Currie Cup season. If the bulk of them are, then you have to question the point of them playing Currie Cup in the same way as we’d question the point of some of the journeymen who are contracted by some other unions for just this competition.

CHEETAHS FACE BIG PRESSURE IN FRIDAY GAME

The two highveld teams will start as strong favourites to win the games in Johannesburg and Pretoria on Saturday, but it is harder to find a favourite for the Pumas’ visit to Bloemfontein that starts the weekend fare on Friday night. The Cheetahs are under pressure to win after their unexpected loss last week but the SA Cup champions have shown they mean business and the crowd that turned out at the Mbombela Stadium, remembering that Nelspruit isn’t exactly a big city, showed how much passion there is for their team among the people of the lowveld.

Weekend Carling Currie Cup Fixtures (second round)

Toyota Free State Cheetahs v Airlink Pumas (Bloemfontein, Friday 19.00)

ADT Fidelity Golden Lions v DHL Western Province (Johannesburg, Saturday 15.00)

Vodacom Blue Bulls v Hollywoodbets Sharks XV (Pretoria, Saturday 17.10)

Suzuki Griquas v Sanlam Boland Kavaliers (Kimberley, Sunday 15.00)