Way to go

I don’t know about you, but how good is the Currie Cup!

Pardon the slang but that is exactly how it was put to me by an avid rugby fan who is reveling in what has turned out to be a marvelous 2006 Currie Cup competition.

And I was in full agreement. Having all along felt that the Cup without the Springboks would turn out to be competitive, intriguing and with plenty of new faces coming to the fore I have to admit that it has been even better than expected.

The new faces, the Jano Vermaaks, Jaco Pretoriuses, Robbie Diacks, Gio Aplons, Hendrik Meyers, Francois Steyns and Hilton Lobbertses, have been there in abundance and the tournament is building to an exceptionally exciting climax but there is another aspect to which we can look forward to with even greater anticipation – next year’s Super 14.

Now I know SuperRugby, for South African teams and players, has been a trail of disaster but I’m looking forward to us doing much better next year.

This contention is based on my belief that events of the Currie Cup have brought about groundswell of change in the style of local rugby which will impact on our performance in the Super 14.

For this we have the Sharks, under Dick Muir, to thank because they were instrumental in bringing about an attitudinal change as far back as the Super 14 as well as the transformation that swept through Western Province.

Guided by Kobus van der Merwe and the inspirational Luke Watson, Province returned to values of the past, and started to be successful, and the next thing the Lions, thanks to the arrival of Eugene Eloff, had been infused by the same spirit and in no time at all the Cheetahs were rekindling their old approach and even the Blue Bulls were coming to the party.

Essentially what happened is that South Africa’s top teams shook off their shackles and explored new avenues of adventurous rugby.

Sparked by the Sharks, teams have gone over to an approach of trying to win matches, rather than trying to not lose them, and the upshot has been an amazing revival.

At times it has been pretty helter-skelter and quite imperfect, but it has always been exciting and I feel sure we’ll see improved results in the Super 14 because of this new attacking mindset.

Apart from the arrival on the scene of an awesome array of talent – more’s the pity that we’re not going on a proper tour at the end of the year – the 2006 Currie Cup will go down as the season South African teams started to play again.