Three teams likely to contend for the old trophy

Those players who double up as Super Rugby players will feel they are in familiar territory when the 2019 edition of the Currie Cup starts with a full round of three matches at the weekend.

The South African conference of Super Rugby was so tightly fought that the teams went onto a knock-out footing about five or six weeks from the conclusion of the league phase of competition.

In fact, given that it was always going to be tightly contested, or at least that was the perception before the one local side, the Jaguares, put a spoke in the wheel, it was probably long before that that the players and coaches went into the “throw everything on the line” mode. It was one of the reasons the South African teams didn’t rotate selections to the same extent as some of the more successful overseas franchises - they just felt they couldn’t afford to, every game was of critical importance.

It is likely to be this way again next year, so the teams might as well get used to it, and the extra pressure in the shortened Currie Cup is a good thing from that viewpoint. It is also good if you subscribe to the view that less is more. With only six league games being played by each team, no-one can afford to slip up if they want to host playoff games, and there aren’t the irrelevant games we sometimes saw in the past.

For a team like last year’s beaten finalists Western Province, it is particularly imperative they hit the season running as they have a tough opening. They host the Blue Bulls on Saturday and then next week they travel to Durban for a repeat of last year’s final. They and the Sharks were the strong teams in last year’s competition and looking at the team lists for the weekend, that looks likely to be the case again in 2019.

Indeed, if there is a difference between the Currie Cup and Super Rugby when it comes to the competition between the sides, it is that it does appear there should be more of a gap between the teams in the domestic competition than there was in a conference race that, in terms of the local team pecking order, was decided in the last week.

What does make a different this year though is the fact that the Free State Cheetahs will be competing with a full strength squad for the full competition. The Guinness Pro14 only starts after the conclusion of the Currie Cup on 7 September and Cheetahs coach Franco Smith is aiming to use the domestic campaign to reconnect the Cheetahs team with their fan base.

It makes sense for them to throw everything into regaining the status of domestic champions that was theirs in 2016 as it would be a good launch-pad for the northern hemisphere competition and get the Bloemfontein public behind them. The Cheetahs though will meet stiff opposition from the two coastal teams, and it is likely that one of those three sides will lift the old trophy.

The Sharks have 10 players who played in the Super Rugby quarterfinal back for Friday night’s opener against Griquas, and probably the same amount from the side that beat the Stormers in the final league game. The WP side that hosts the Bulls is arguably stronger than the one that finished off Super Rugby, with players returning from injury. They’ve lost their Boks, but by the end of Super Rugby there weren’t many Cape-based Boks left standing anyway.

Province have depth in several areas, most particularly front-row and second row, and while the back row resources have been ravaged by injury, the starting loose trio of Jaco Coetzee (at openside), Ernst van Rhyn and Juarno Augustus should prove as good as anything any other team can put onto the field.

Wian Vosloo has been chosen to start ahead of Roelof Smit for the Bulls and the choice of the former Sharks opensider ahead of Smit is surprising, but with Smit backing up from the bench it still sends out the same message - Coetzee may have his hands full fronting the Bulls threat when it comes to ball scavenging at the breakdown.

WP definitely have the more experienced pack, but the Bulls boast an impressive backline, with Manie Libbok starting his apprenticeship for what is expected to be a frontline role as pivot next year.

If you think back to last year’s semifinal between these two teams, with the Bulls taking Province to extra time, it might well not matter a jot though what the sides look like on paper - it was the Bulls’ defence that took WP out of their comfort zone last October and they will be looking to do it again. Those who remember last year’s game will agree that this is a potentially fascinating match up, although the smart money will be on Province doing what they didn’t do last year by winning comfortably.

The Cheetahs have a bye this weekend and will open their campaign against the Blue Bulls in Pretoria next Friday.

WEEKEND FIXTURES

Cell C Sharks v Tafel Lager Griquas (Durban, Friday 19.35)

Prediction: Sharks to win.

Xerox Golden Lions v Phakisa Pumas (Johannesburg, Saturday 15.00)

Prediction: Lions to win

DHL Western Province v Vodacom Blue Bulls (Cape Town, Saturday 17.15)

Prediction: WP to win.