Not much separating the top teams
by Gavin Rich 11 October 2010, 07:17
When the dust had finally settled on an absorbing Absa Currie Cup league season, two things were clear -- the top four teams had made the semifinals, and there is not much separating those teams.
The log table sums it up. Although the Sharks were always quite comfortably ahead in their race to grab top spot after their win over Western Province in Durban at the end of the first round, it was the bonus points accumulated along the way, rather than the number of wins, that made it thus.
In the end the Sharks ended up with the same number of wins (10) as the second-placed WP and third-placed Free State Cheetahs, with the fourth-placed Bulls having won just one game less. Those four teams were significantly better than the next placed team, the Lions, who by losing to the Pumas in their last match saw their season peter out into a disappointing synopsis which read won seven and lost seven.
Once again Griquas were competitive in the first half of the competition, and came pretty close to finishing up with the most tries, but they were well beaten by the Sharks, Blue Bulls and WP in the second round and were seldom in with more than just a slight mathematical chance of qualifying for the semifinals during the second half of the competition.
The Pumas finished the season well, and had some great moments in the middle stages of the competition, particularly their shock win over the Bulls. They were well ahead of the last-placed Leopards at the finish, and with Jimmy Stonehouse doing some great work with the team, they can look to build on this performance next year.
But the also-rans all took their bow this past weekend, and it is the Sharks, WP, Cheetahs and Bulls who are left. Which of them is going to win the Currie Cup? The return of the Springboks has seen a lot of smart money going onto the Bulls, while WP’s chances were strengthened considerably by their emphatic win over the Sharks in Cape Town at the weekend.
It is true that the Sharks had less incentive than WP going into the game, and Newlands is a heck of a place to visit if you are not supremely motivated. But the Sharks would not have been expected to be as comprehensively outplayed as they were, and while they are sure to be better in the semifinal against the Bulls, some alarm bells did ring for them in the Newlands game.
The Bulls have to travel away from Loftus for the remainder of the competition if they win it, so if they do succeed, they would have done it the hard way. One thing they do not lack is BMT and knowledge of how to win finals and semifinals, and the Durban semifinal looks like a 50/50 game.
The Newlands semifinal, which will be the later of the two on Saturday, is less so. The Cheetahs did win in Cape Town on their last visit, but that might be a good thing for WP as complacency has been at the heart of their past defeats to that team on their home ground. Losing to the Cheetahs at this venue just a short while ago will make complacency less of a possibility.
What the win over the Sharks did do for WP was get their momentum up, and on that basis they must start the Newlands semi as favourites. For them the key will be the ability of their tight five to reproduce against the Cheetahs the excellent form that they showed against the Sharks and which effectively shut the Sharks out of the game.
WP do seem to have a different aura and more physical edge about them when all the top Springboks are back, and they will be holding thumbs that Springbok Jaque Fourie is cleared to play. Fourie left the field with a foot injury against the Sharks and was on crutches after the game.
There were too many mistakes from both sides in the Newlands match for it to be remembered as a classic, but it did provide a reminder of the depth of talent available to this country and the message that was drummed out during the domestic season was that there really is no excuse for the recent poor results of the Springboks.
A feature of the last weekend of competition was that the Cape Town match was the only one where the home team won.
Weekend results
Platinum Leopards 7 Vodacom Free State Cheetahs 78
Xerox Lions 27 Barloworld Toyota Pumas 34
GWK Griquas 36 Vodacom Blue Bulls 48
Vodacom Western Province 33 The Sharks 21