Unforgettable finals
28 Oct 2010
GAVIN RICH, writing in the Weekend Argus, takes a personal look at the previous Currie Cup deciders between Western Province and the Sharks.
When Natal and Western Province first met in a Currie Cup final it was 1984, the year that two tropical cyclones, Demoina and then Imboa, followed me home from a family holiday in Mauritius to flood Zululand.
Back then no one would ever have imagined that the singer George Michael would one day spend time in jail, for he was the lead singer of Wham back then, and they were immensely popular. So for obvious reasons was George Orwell’s prophetic book, 1984, which we matric pupils at Northlands Boys High (now Northwood College), had to dissect and mull over as a set-work.
Considering the dire theme of the book, it was fitting that for those of us fanatics who called ourselves the Kings Park faithful, it was another of those bleak winters which our team spent in the doldrums of the B Section of the Currie Cup.
To be fair, they played well enough that year to extricate themselves from rugby’s equivalent of purgatory – only it just so happened that the promotion-relegation game was in Welkom, their hoodoo ground, against their hoodoo team, Northern Free State, better known to Durbanites as the Purple People Eaters (a nickname given them by former Natal captain Dick Cocks in his popular Natal Mercury column, Cocks and Bull).
But if Natal in the B Section era had problems when asked to play against teams made up of miners and farmers, they tended to go much better against teams made up of students, lawyers, doctors and, OK, the occasional maize farmer.
And so it was that in the semi-final the week after the failed promotion attempt, Natal entertained Free State in the semi-final – in those days A Section and B Section teams played off – and they won 26-15.
Natal were helped that day by a positional switch for Gawie Visagie, who moved to flyhalf to make place at scrumhalf for a young law student whose official name was Craig Jamieson but who we knew as the Cabbage Patch Kid because of the unruly mop of hair that made him look like he might live with his surfboard in an old panel-van somewhere on the south coast and perhaps also be a Wham groupie.
WP had the stars, but Natal had a giant waterpolo star on the flank, Derek LaMarque, who was the forerunner of Wahl Bartmann and Jean Deysel as a ball carrying loose forward. Visagie always played better when out of position, and flyhalf suited his gift for putting over drop goals, which accounted for Natal’s first-half lead in the Newlands final.
As last man in a cricket match in Westville it was with great reluctance that I left the radio commentary behind in the pavilion, with Natal leading 6-3. There was no chance of us winning and playing for a draw would require over an hour of stoic straight batted resistance that was beyond my mediocre batting talents, besides which it would mean missing the rest of the final. So I lofted the first ball to mid-off, only for the catch to be dropped – and has any batsman ever banged the pitch so hard in frustration at being given a life?
By the time the cricket was ended, the final was into the second half, and WP, with Rob Louw playing a blinder, had taken control. They eventually won 19-9, but if ever there was honour in defeat, it came for Natal that day in what was to be Wynand Claassen’s last game as captain.
And so on 11 years to 1995, the season after my move to Cape Town after three years covering Natal rugby for the Natal Mercury. The Natal players found it quite amusing that I was now, in their minds anyway, in the Province camp, and before the final at Kings Park, Gary Teichmann chided me: ‘Remember, you are either for us or against us, you can’t be in between’.
WP arrived in Durban with a behemoth pack anchored by Garry Pagel and the late Tommy Laubscher. Forwards normally come into their own in wet conditions, so when it rained the night before, it seemed good enough reason to predict a WP victory.
But what have rugby writers ever known? The slippery field actually ended up suiting Natal, who had a hooker in John Allan who was a wily old veteran. Allan has always talked a good game, but he also used to play the odd good one too, and that day he was the heart of a Natal front row that outwitted their stronger opponents. World Cup-winning flyhalf Joel Stransky, then playing for WP, did not help matters for the Cape team by going walkabout behind a well beaten pack as the Sharks won 25-17.
The next two Currie Cup finals between the coastal provinces were the back to back 2000 and 2001 clashes. The first was in Durban, and there is a fresh recollection of a prominent Sharks official thanking me as a representative of the Cape media for helping drive interest for the game. That after Sharks coach Rudolf Straeuli had locked the Durban media out of his training sessions and had refused to speak to anyone from the Fourth Estate for two weeks.
The Sharks started as favourites, and dominated the forward battle, but WP scored three breakaway tries within the first half hour to effectively win the match, which WP took 25-15 before heading off to the old Bourbon Street night club to celebrate into the early hours of the morning.
The following season saw the final in Cape Town, and in some ways it was the reverse of this year in that WP had to play the Sharks in the last league match in Durban having already secured to spot on the log table.
With nothing to play for, WP were beaten easily, in much the same manner as the Sharks, who were this year’s Percy Frames trophy winners (for the team that wins the league stage), were outplayed at Newlands a few weeks ago.
In the 2001 decider WP reversed the result of the final league game, and were more comprehensive victors than the final scoreline might have suggested. Is that perhaps a good omen for the Sharks ahead of the fifth instalment of the coastal final saga set to be staged in Durban next Saturday?
The people of KwaZulu-Natal will be hoping so, for the same Sharks official who had thanked me 12 months earlier informed me on the eve of that 2001 final that ‘the Sharks have to win for the people of Durban, the city really doesn’t have much else going for it anymore’. Regardless of what happens on Saturday, at least Capetonians will still have their mountain …
26 Comments
28 Oct 2010, 12:17 pm
Unforgettable Dragons! That’s 3 for today’
28 Oct 2010, 12:42 pm
Nice read by Rich.
28 Oct 2010, 12:51 pm
And here I thought we were talking about unforgettable finals in general. All things considere, there are hardly any unforgettable finals that didn’t include the Bulls, and I actually cannot remember a previous final between the Sharks and WP.
I’m sure there must have been one or two, but only during the 90′s, as the Sharks never featured in finals prior to 1990, and WP hardly featured in finals after 2000.
So the window of opportunity is really pretty short. One decade in total.
28 Oct 2010, 12:54 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : Only one springs to mind. For me the unforgettable matches were those in the ’80s when CC was all we had, Naas was Baas and Morne Du Plessis was oom Baas. Epic encounters between legends of the game.
28 Oct 2010, 13:01 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy) :
Bit before my time. My earliest TV memory is watching Sport 84 (or was it Sport 85) with my dad. I think it was Naas, Carel Du Plessis and that crowd playing.
Must be honest, I can’t actually remember anything that actually happened, as I was too young.
My first clear rugby memories relate to the Boks playing some International invitation side in the late eighties or early nineties, I think. Carel du Plessis and Fafa Knoetse scored some tries, if I recall correctly.
28 Oct 2010, 13:12 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : LOL Sport 84… That brings back memories…
Fafa could play a bit too. All good WP manne of course
28 Oct 2010, 13:19 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : The Sharks and WP both featured in the 2000 & 2001 finals. WP were victorious on both occasions
28 Oct 2010, 13:35 pm
@Frankly speaking(Frankly speaking) :
Chris Rossouw of all people scoring the decisive try with his crazy chip in the Sharks 22…
28 Oct 2010, 13:44 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt) : Chris Rossouw and Werner Greeff were a thorn in the side of many a WP team
28 Oct 2010, 14:43 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : Legend, I remember Sport ’83….hehe before Top sport.@Tacitus(Tacitus) : It was the World 15 at Newlands, or at least I remember bits and pieces of that game.
28 Oct 2010, 15:03 pm
@Frankly speaking(Frankly speaking) : Werner Greeff a real legend
28 Oct 2010, 15:07 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt) : The one thing that stands out for me of that Final was flying in from Bloem for the match. As you leave the airport, Mr Price put up this massive billboard reading “Welcome to whine country”. This was on the back of Corne & the boys complaining of over robust play by the SHarks the week before. I guys the “whine” was a bit sour when the Sharks flew back.
28 Oct 2010, 15:08 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : I would have to agree with you. Do you remember that classic final where the CHeetahs beat the Bulls at Loftus through a Meyer Bosman try? Classic!!
28 Oct 2010, 15:13 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) :
That should make us more or less the same age.
28 Oct 2010, 15:14 pm
@wernergreeff fanclub membership 3(wernergreeff fanclub membership 1) :
Was an interesting game, remember a very young, and very impressive John Smit – scored for the Sharks in that game too.
28 Oct 2010, 15:18 pm
@PissAnt(PissAnt) : In the corner of the Grand stand & Danie Craven stand.
The key moment was Chris Rossouw kicking a penalty just before halftime to bring Province back. Up to that point they were nowhere
28 Oct 2010, 15:24 pm
“But what have rugby writers ever known?”
The truest words ever written in a rugby article here on Keo.
28 Oct 2010, 21:53 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) :
Hi Tac,
Its CC final week and the Bulls are not in the final.
So please forgive everyone for not talking about the Bulls.
The world does not revolve around the Bulls.
Hey Galileo got sent to prison for saying something so controversial.
BTW the Sharks did feature in finals prior to 1990. Only twice though.
1956 we lost to the Bulls 9-8 and 1983 as above against WePee
Of course so what that we hardly featured. The Bulls did not feature pre WW2 (of course they didnt exist)
Its our week (WP and Natal). Next week we talk Boks etc.
28 Oct 2010, 21:57 pm
@Tacitus(Tacitus) : Your age explains a lot about your posts. You actually missed the golden era of SA rugby (1982-1989), when the dominating team played total rugby and the best ever backline players of SA rugby graced our fields. Johan Heunis, Gysie Pienaar, Andre Joubert, Calla Scholtz, Ray Mordt, Niel Burger, Danie Gerber, Michael du P, Faffa Knoetze, Carel Du P, Naas Botha, Divan Serfontein and Garth Wright.
You might be surpised to know but the best ever Bulls team I saw was the one that graced the field in 1989, even though they shared the CC with WP thanks to a brilliant individual try by Carel and a shaving miss by Rian Gouws in the dying seconds of the match. The best ever CC team I saw was the WP one of 1988, even though they lost to NTvl in the final. They did however win the Lions Cup, the CC league match at Loftus at a canter, and should have won the CC final, but Calla Scholtz missed a sitter.
Apart from those years, SA rugby had really lean seasons in terms of talent.
28 Oct 2010, 22:02 pm
never realized old tacit two shoes was such a lightie, always imagined him to be an old fogey like one of us.
28 Oct 2010, 22:30 pm
As finals go, the following finals were won by the 2nd favorite (favorite in brackets):
1987: Bulls (Tvl)
1988: Bulls (WP)
1989: WP/Bulls Shared (Bulls)
1990: Sharks (Bulls)
1998: Bulls (WP)
2004: Bulls (WP, although FS was in the final)
2005: FS (Bulls)
2006: FS/Bulls Shared (Bulls)
2009: Bulls (WP, thanks to Nakelevuki)
28 Oct 2010, 22:32 pm
seems like quite a few keo bloggers went to the same school as gavin rich.
could be wrong but some that come to mind are;
biscuit
rangerman
charo
erm…..brain getting a liitle slow now.
heavens game is a durban h0m0 s3xuals old boy i think
29 Oct 2010, 05:53 am
@Tacitus(Tacitus) :
@skopskiet(yliad) :
So taccy watched his first CC final in the 80′s with his daddy while still wearing short pants.
Kind of puts things in perspective now.
29 Oct 2010, 11:39 am
D ick C ocks? Seriously? How do the Sharks manage to plumb these ridiculous depths?
29 Oct 2010, 12:02 pm
Good article. Brought back fond memories.
29 Oct 2010, 18:07 pm
Ah. The 2001 Final. The first and still only one I’ve ever been to. Braam van Straaten ripped the Sharks to shreds with a 24-point haul at inside centre. And Chris Rossouw was actually a Bok by then!
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