A mouth-watering prospect

“What an achievement it is to be the champion team of the world champion nation...”

Those words were used in a writer’s summary of the Sharks’ triumphant 1995 Currie Cup season. It was the year where Francois Pienaar’s Springboks won the World Cup and the scribe was quite right – the Sharks were the champion team of the champion nation.

With the trophy cabinet at SA Rugby really overflowing this year, the team that lifts South Africa’s coveted domestic trophy on 31 October will have much to boast about. And the knowledge that this country boasts the best players in the southern hemisphere as well as the champions of the world should add further to the intensity of what is my favourite part of the rugby year.

The Currie Cup these days always takes a while to get going. The first two months are played under-strength, and an eight team Premier League is arguably also not ideal as there are too many mismatches and foregone conclusions.

I know Griquas have done well this year, but they have tended to be the only country union exceptions to the general rule that it is the big city unions that dominate. Griquas are playing for a place in the semifinals when they host the Sharks this coming weekend, and if they reach their objective, they will be repeating an achievement of 11 years ago.

But former All Black lock Chris Jack summed up where the Currie Cup may fall down when he was asked to compare the competition to the New Zealand equivalent when he was about to take his leave of Western Province last month.

“I haven’t played in the NPC for a while, but because the national union has greater control over contracts and there are salary caps, the player strength is more evenly spread out in New Zealand than it is here and as a result you get more competitive games,” said Jack.

Jack, who is to be contracted by Tasman in his second career in New Zealand, was obviously referring to the many mismatches you get in the Currie Cup. Boland rugby chief Chester Williams unwittingly admitted to the problem when he said after the recent match against WP that his team had shown a pleasing improvement in the Newlands match. Yet they had conceded 50 points!

Being at some of these games can be a bit tedious, as even if the winning team puts on a dazzling rugby display, issues such as non-existent defences have to be taken into consideration and tend to temper any enthusiasm. And if a smaller union team manages to hold a big union team, like Boland did for a while at Newlands, it is normally because of spoiling tactics that can hardly be considered aesthetically pleasing.

But now we go into the part of the season where the top teams play one another, the Springboks are available, and the results are less predictable.

Good luck to Griquas, who have worked hard for their success this season and deserve to still be in contention going into the final week of the league phase. But what most rugby fans are looking forward to is seeing the traditional powerhouses pit themselves against one another at full-strength.

That hasn’t happened yet in the domestic season for when the Blue Bulls, Sharks and WP played each other in the league stages their Boks were absent. This season WP missed fewer players to national duty than the other two, but Allister Coetzee has done a great job of growing his team.

It could even be that not having players who have already had their hunger blunted by Tri-Nations success and a tough series against the British and Irish Lions might count in WP’s favour. Particularly as their three returning Springboks – Andries Bekker, Ricky Januarie and Schalk Burger – can hardly claim to be over-worked.

But unless WP ruin the party, there is a potential clash coming our way in the next few weeks that will enjoy a rare billing as the showdown between the Super 14 champions and the Currie Cup champions.

Whether it happens in the semifinals, which is now entirely possible, or in the final itself, that is a match that has the potential to bring the nation to a standstill on the day it does. The last time those sides met at full-strength it was in the final Super 14 league match, with the Sharks losing narrowly in their quest for a bonus point win. The Bulls have become southern hemisphere champs since then. I can’t wait!