Six team elite Currie Cup might be too small

It's funny how you can think something is a really good idea and then the more you think about it the more misgivings you start to have.

When the board of SA Rugby first announced the return of the strength versus strength Currie Cup, everyone jumped for joy (well, in the bigger provinces anyway). Officials and journalists, faced with the prospect of full houses to pay their way and a steady stream of big games to write up, were unanimous that it was a good thing.

It is still a good thing. The mismatches which became vogue last season did nothing for the domestic competiton or for the strength of the South African game.

At the same time, regular readers of this column will know that there are a few concerns that I feel have not been properly addressed.

For a start, what happens next year to the large land mass that is the Eastern Cape, long one of the more fertile regions for producing black talent. Should SA Rugby not make some sort of plan which will enable an Eastern Cape team (Border and the Elephants combined with maybe even SWD included) to play in the elite Currie Cup?

So far there has been no move in that direction. Instead it appears we are just heading back to the pre-1996 system of having an A Section and a B Section.

That brings me to my second misgiving. We need strength versus strength, but a six team elite competition might be too small. Last weekend's round of Currie Cup games provided compelling evidence that there are more than just six teams that can be competitive against one another.

The Falcons, who lost narrowly to champions Western Province at Newlands, will probably be part of the elite next year. But the Eagles, who drew a sizeable crowd to their refurbished Outeniqua Park ground, will not be.

And although the Pumas were outplayed by the Sharks, they came within a few points of beating the Lions the week before.

Yes, an eight team elite Currie Cup might lead to a few one-sided games. But then that is rugby. Maybe the likes of WP and Natal need the odd easy game so that they can give their many overworked Springbok players a rest.

And it would probably good for the Pumas for them to have some of their country cousins in the system as it will mean they can also win the odd game, apart from the inevitable once a season upset against one of the bigger teams.

At the moment it appears the Falcons' inclusion alongside the four big city unions and Free State might be the kiss of death. They will probably lose most of their games and then face automatic relegation when it comes around.

An eight team Currie Cup would make the relegation battle more interesting. It would also give the teams battling in the lower division more to aim at as they will know they can expect a better chance of survival if they do earn promotion.

One of the down sides of the new system was illustrated this week.

Boland, who have just appointed a new coach in Hawwies Fourie, admitted that they would be losing most of their top players now that they will be playing in the B league.

The likes of Wayne Julies, Enrico Januarie and Ashwin Willemse are all on the shopping list of the Lions or Bulls. What incentive is there now for the Boland union to keep their production line of young talent going? Like the Eastern Cape, this is a region which has been relied on in the past to keep black players coming through.

After a conversation this week with one official who in the past was always in favour of a return to strength versus strength, it appears I may not also be alone in suddenly seeing some value in the present system.

Think about it. We are about to go into a weekend in which several teams could either make or blow their 2002 Currie Cup challenge. The final week of the preliminary round will produce as much tension and excitement as was ever produced during a corresponding stage of the old strength versus strength competition.

And the extended quarterfinal stage, which starts the following week, will build up to two high profile semi-finals followed by the final itself. That is six weeks of action-packed, nerve jangling rugby where all the teams will be living cheek by jowl.

Now look at what we can look forward to next year. The six team elite Currie Cup will not include a semi-final. The two top teams in the section will play each other in the final.

If my memory of the old days of strength versus strength serves me correctly, this could mean that the finalists are almost guaranteed from around the end of August and everything after that just becomes a side-show in preparation for the decider.

I am not being negative unnecessarily. As I have already said, SA rugby does need to return to some sort of strength versus strength format.

It is just that there are aspects of the current system that should perhaps be absorbed into the new to ensure that we come up with a perfect competition which will serve all the ends that the SA Rugby bosses should be working towards.