Lessons of finals and seasons past

Saturday’s epic Currie Cup final, and the way it ended, sparked an interesting question – how do you spot a great game, one of those events that turns out to be historic, before it actually happens?

There must have been many people around the country who before the Loftus final probably thought this was one they could miss. There was a general feeling that it would be one-sided, a view backed by many experts.

For my part, I remembered that last year I had a sneaky suspicion, long before the final arrived, that the Bulls were going to live through a similar experience to 1990 and 1989, two years when they failed to win outright but dominated the competition for most of the season.

When it did not happen, and the Cheetahs won through to that final and lost with something to spare, it became harder to imagine such a scenario transpiring. After all, we have watched umpteen matches now between the Bulls and the Cheetahs over the past few seasons where the underdogs have been competitive for much of the way, but they have never actually won the game.

The closest they had come to upsetting the Bulls was a draw in Bloemfontein last year, when Bulls coach Heyneke Meyer rested several of his key players. So if the Bulls could not be beaten under-strength in the Cheetahs’ back yard, what chance did they really have of doing it at Loftus in a final?

Well, it is those sort of valid questions that make games like Saturdays particularly memorable. Just like 1990, when no-one gave Natal a chance. Heck, I battled to find a provincial coach in the buildup to last week’s semi-final at Newlands who predicted anything other than a Western Province victory.

The Cheetahs did it the hard way, and that is why their achievement will remembered, and why their win ensured that this particular final will be remembered for much longer than it would have been had the Bulls just secured another entry on the golden trophy.

It was a final which should also be entered into lore as a lesson for future coaches and captains of what to avoid when building up to a final.

For instance, it looked to me that Anton Leonard, the Bulls captain making his final appearance, was well short of a gallop. There had been doubts over his participation in the buildup, and when he was yanked before the end, it seemed to be an acknowledgement from Heyneke Meyer that his leader had played injured.

How many times down the years have Currie Cup finals churned out the lesson that this is one occasion when there should be no room for sentiment? It happened again in this final, and it may have cost the Bulls their chance to make it four in a row.

Meyer and his Bulls may deny it, but there also appeared to be just a hint of complacency about the Bulls on Saturday. Like their fans, there appeared to be an attitude of “we have done what is necessary, let’s start the celebrations” when they were 25-12 up.

If this was so, it would have been understandable in the sense that when the Bulls have taken leads like that on several other occasions in the past three seasons it has invariably spelled the end for their opponents. How many times have the Bulls been beaten after taking a 13 point lead.

Indiscipline was the other big factor in the match. Some would like to blame referee Jonathan Kaplan, but that is a bit like blaming the messenger for bringing bad news. The reality was that the number of penalties conceded in the match was unacceptably high, and while yellow cards did have a say in the result, it was a miracle that there were not more cards handed out given the truculence of the players.

Usually the Bulls have prevailed because they have been able to retain their discipline when the opposition lose theirs, but when it mattered most, the Bulls failed themselves.

It will be recalled that they were also guilty of this in 1990 when Tony Watson, the Natal try-scorer, was charged after he dotted down, so offering Joel Stransky the opportunity to make it a nine point try with a penalty from halfway.

Yes, there are several lessons that are handed out each year, but not always absorbed. And some things that just remain the same, such as the importance of tight-five dominance, and the pivotal role played by the front-rows.

Natal would never have won the 1990 final were it not for the efforts of Guy Kebble, Tom Lawton and Gerhard Harding, and the Cheetahs would never have won at Loftus were it not for the fact that several of their better, more experienced players just happen to be front-row forwards.

One final thing: The team that won the Currie Cup just happened to be the top four province that boasted the least Springboks at the start of competition. They won the trophy through team spirit, passion and commitment. There may be a lesson in that for a union like top-heavy Western Province…