Cheetahs can prove they’ve been the missing link

There has been something missing from the Currie Cup in the past two years and this coming weekend, the second round of the 2019 edition of the oldest provincial competition in the world, might just show us what that missing ingredient is.

Those who were watching rugby in the 1970s and 1980s might consider shouts of ‘Vrystaat’ as synonymous with the competition. The late Wouter Hugo was the man who led Free State to their first ever Currie Cup triumph, beating Morne du Plessis’ Western Province at the old Free State Stadium. Remember those old fashioned stands and the athletic track that used to run around the playing perimetre?

Although they had to wait many more years before they won it again - it was 2005, that Meyer Bosman try at Loftus followed by Ollie le Roux smoking a cigar - the Free Staters were a top team, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s, before the start of the WP ‘`Golden Era’, they were the team who invariably played what was then Northern Transvaal, now the Blue Bulls, in the final. They always lost, but some of those finals were epic affairs.

EPIC FINALS

There have been some other more recent epic finals that the team now known as the Cheetahs, and which is based at the same venue but what has now morphed into a far more modern stadium, have been involved in. The 1997 final, where they lost by a narrow margin to WP but thought they had won it before referee Andre Watson adjudged the pass to last gasp try scorer Jan-Harm van Wyk to be forward, was a case in point.

So was the epic 2006 tussle in Bloemfontein. A year after the Cheetahs upset the Bulls in Pretoria, the teams met again. It was tight the whole way, and after the scores were level in normal time they went into extra time. Where it ended level again. So the two teams ended up sharing the trophy, just like the protagonists in the recent Cricket World Cup final should probably have done.

But if you ask Ollie le Roux, who was involved in both those finals, he will tell you the Cheetahs felt like they continued as champions as they had gone into the game as the reigning champions and the Bulls had failed to beat them. He does have a point.

In 2007, an understrength year because of the World Cup, the Cheetahs won again, and then in 2016, with Franco Smith as their coach, they played sublime attacking rugby on the way to their most recent title.

LOOKING TO RECONNECT WITH FANS

Unfortunately that is where it stopped though for the Cheetahs when it came to the Currie Cup. Yes, they have been there the last two years, but in name only due to their commitment to the GuinnessPRO14, which in 2017 and 2018 started early enough - or to put it more correctly, the Currie Cup finished late enough - for the two competitions to coincide.

That’s not happening this year and Smith, about to say farewell to the union he served so well as first a player and then a coach as he prepares to take up the position of Italy head coach, would love to give his employers the present of reconnecting the Bloemfontein public with their team.

That can probably best happen by the Cheetahs winning the competition that the ‘Vrystaters’ have best identified with down the year. They have a lot of injuries at present but they do start with their best available team when they head to Pretoria on Friday night for their opening game in the competition.

It will be interesting to see how a Currie Cup strength team measures up against what is effectively a PRO14 team. It’s a big game for the Blue Bulls too, and their coach Pote Human was already talking about it in the immediate aftermath of his team’s defeat to WP in Cape Town. That result does make it imperative for the Bulls to win, and it is a home game to boot, but it is understandable why Human has so much respect for the Cheetahs - he is a former Free State player and team manager himself.

Apologies to Bulls supporters, but the competition could do with the boost it might be given if the Cheetahs produce the goods and set themselves up as worthy challengers to the top teams.

EMOTION WILL HAVE A SAY IN DURBAN

Those top teams, at least before last week, were understood to be last year’s finalists, who clash in Durban in a match that might be less predictable than the Sharks’ loss to Griquas last weekend might suggest.

Just ask WP coach John Dobson: “There is always a lot of emotion on this game and it might explain some of the crazy results when we play the Sharks. They’ve probably won more games at Newlands against us than they have at Kings Park, and vice-versa. Every time you think one team should be heavily favoured the result goes the other way.”

It does too, and you can take this year’s Super Rugby as an example of what Dobson is referring to: the Stormers won in Durban when the Sharks were favourites, and then the Sharks came to Cape Town and won the last round game. It is in the Currie Cup though that the trend is most obvious, as can be gathered from the fact that the last four Currie Cup finals between the two teams have been won by the visiting side.

Province, with an already formidable pack now featuring JD Schickerling on the flank, must be favoured again this weekend. Which probably means they will lose.

CENTRAL UNION FOCUS

But while there will undeniably be a lot of focus on the Durban showdown, most particularly because the Sharks really need to respond or be damned, this is a weekend where the unions from central South Africa could make the biggest statement.

Apart from the Cheetahs, the team from the city 180 kilometres away, the one with the Big Hole, should also be drawing some interest after what they did to the Sharks. Was that outstanding Griquas performance a once off or an aberration. We will know more after they’ve hosted the Pumas in the earlier Friday game at their headquarters, Tafel Lager Park.

ROUND 2 FIXTURES, FRIDAY, 19 JULY

TAFEL LAGER GRIQUAS V PHAKISA PUMAS

Kick-off: 17h00

Venue: Tafel Lager Park, Kimberley

Referee: AJ Jacobs

Assistant Referees: Ben Crouse and Johre Botha

TMO: Lourens vd Merwe

TV: SS1

Griquas Squad – Anthony Volmink, Ederies Arendse, Michal Haznar, Andre Swarts, Eduan Keyter, George Whitehead (captain), Zak Burger, Neill Jordaan, Sias Koen, Gideon van der Merwe, Victor Sekekete, Ian Groenewald, Ewald van der Westhuizen, AJ Le Roux, Khwezi Mona.

Replacements: Wilmar Arnoldi, Mox Mxoli, Johan Momson, Zandre Jordaan, Chriswill September, Tinus de Beer, Bjorn Basson, Ruan Kramer.

Pumas Squad – Devon Williams, Morné Joubert, Ryan Nell (capt), Henko Marais, Etienne Taljaard, Kobus Marais, Reynier van Rooyen, Willie Engelbrecht, Carel du Preez, Jeandré Rudolph, Stefan Willemse, Le Roux Roets, Marné Coetzee, Marko Janse van Rensburg, Andrew Beerwinkel.

Replacements: Simon Westraadt, De-Jay Terblanche, Hilton Lobberts, Phumzile Maqondwana, Ashlon Davids, Chris Smith, Alwayno Visagie, Morgan Naude.

VODACOM BLUE BULLS V TOYOTA FREE STATE CHEETAHS

Kick-off: 19h15

Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria

Referee: Marius vd Westhuizen

Assistant Referees: Stephan Geldenhuys and Christoper Allison

TMO: Joey Klaaste-Salmans

TV: SS1

Bulls Squad – Divan Rossouw, Cornal Hendricks, Johnny Kotze, Burger Odendaal (captain), Rosko Specman, Manie Libbok, Embrose Papier, Tim Agaba, Roelof Smit, Ruan Steenkamp, Andries Ferreira, Ruan Nortje, Wiehahn Herbst, Jaco Visagie, Simphiwe Matanzima. Replacements: Johan Grobbelaar, Dayan van der Westhuizen, Conraad van Vuuren, Jean Droste, Marco van Staden, Ivan van Zyl, Marnitz Boshoff, Dylan Sage.

Replacements: Jacques du Toit, Charles Marais, Reinach Venter, JP du Preez, Jasper Wiese, Gerhard Olivier, Dian Badenhorst, Darren Adonis.

ROUND 2 FIXTURES, SATURDAY, 20 JULY

CELL C SHARKS V DHL WESTERN PROVINCE

Venue: Jonsson Kings Park, Durban

Kick-off: 14h00

Referee: Stuart Berry

Assistant Referees: Paul Mente and Vusi Msibi

TMO: Marius Jonker

TV: SS1

Sharks Squad – Rhyno Smith, Kobus van Wyk, JP Pietersen, Jeremy Ward (co-captain), Lwazi Mvovo, Curwin Bosch, Cameron Wright, Tera Mtembu (co-captain), Jacques Vermeulen, Luke Stringer, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Coenie Oosthuizen, Kerron van Vuuren, Juan Schoeman.

Replacements: Craig Burden, Mzamo Majola, John-Hubert Meyer, Gideon Koegelenberg, Phendulani Buthelezi, Sanele Nohamba, Marius Louw, Aphelele Fassi.

Western Province Squad – SP Marais, Edwill van der Merwe, Ruhan Nel, Dan Kriel, Seabelo Senatla, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Justin Phillips, Jaco Coetzee, JD Schickerling, Ernst van Rhyn, Chris van Zyl (capt), Salmaan Moerat, Wilco Louw, Scarra Ntubeni, Corne Fourie.

Replacements: Chad Solomon, Kwenzo Blose, Carlu Sadie, David Meihuizen, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Godlen Masimla, Josh Stander, Craig Barry.