SA’s ailing asset
18 Sep 2012
RYAN VREDE writes the Currie Cup has completely lost its prestige and is now no more than a platform for some young players to stake a claim for a Super Rugby contract.
I’ve watched every round of the tournament and have been completely uninspired. Certainly there are a handful of promising young players emerging, but overall the standard is decidedly mediocre for what used to be South Africa’s showpiece tournament. This of course has been the case for some time, but the quality on offer in 2012 is the lowest it has been in years, even with the current six-team format.
South Africans often boast of their bountiful player resources. This country is undoubtedly blessed in that regard, by quantity doesn’t translate to quality if the Currie Cup is an indication.
The quality will rise in the closing rounds of the league phase when the Springboks return and reach its climax in the playoffs. This is what South Africans will have to become used to – two and a half months of mediocrity followed by an injection of quality for a couple of weeks.
An extended Super Rugby tournament has contributed in part to this. The wizards at the South African Rugby Union who negotiated the Super Rugby deal did so at the expense of the world’s oldest domestic competition. This made financial sense to them, of course, as there was more cash to be made from broadcasting revenue and commercial opportunities that arose from Super Rugby than there were for the Currie Cup. Australia, with no domestic competition to rival South Africa or New Zealand, shafted their partners in the negotiation and emerged as the big winner, with more Australia derbies and a guaranteed team in the play-offs despite having the weakest conference.
More teams will be accommodated in Super Rugby in 2015, which is likely to mean the tournament cutting deeper into August. Where will that leave the Currie Cup? Will we see a one-round, five match league phase followed by semi-finals and a final? It would certainly heighten the stakes and make for more entertaining viewing, albeit not because of the quality of the product. Some club-standard players will continue to give their mates reason to toast with their TV cameos, when those players should have been watching from their couches. But this is what the Currie Cup has become – the playground of the ordinary.
There is no immediate solution on the horizon. There is no way Sanzar will trim Super Rugby to pit only the very best teams against each other and in so doing reducing the time it takes to complete the tournament. In an ideal world I’d have a Super 10 that starts in early February and finishes 11 weeks later, with a one-round, six-team Currie Cup commencing thereafter. If, for example, Western Province host the Sharks in 2012, they will travel to Kings Park in 2013.
This would allow Springboks players to compete in the Currie Cup before the June Tests. The game’s most important assets – the players and supporters – win, with a higher quality product and roughly the same amount of game time.
This is a pipe dream. The tournament that was once the pride of a nation is being reduced to rubble, serving as no more than an opportunity for aspirant young bucks to impress their coaches. So sad.
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614 Comments
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18 Sep 2012, 15:10 pm
@poppa69-140:
fair and square.
they have no idea.
18 Sep 2012, 15:10 pm
@poppa69-147: Actually Pops you will find it’s because not being there to play our most respected rivals in 87 hurts more than the Aussie victory in 91….it’s a compliment to NZ actually.
18 Sep 2012, 15:11 pm
@Heavens Game-138: speaking of hypocrites, didnt Plumtree play 40 odd ist class games for his NZ province? yet you still claim hes natalian through and thorugh?
18 Sep 2012, 15:12 pm
@cane-144: Of course Beast is one of ours… Many Zimbos and Rhodesians have represented SA with pride… and generally SA has been proud of the Zimbos/Rhodesians playing for the Boks… Indeed you could make quite an excellent side made up of Bok Zimbos of the ages.
Not the same “pride” as NZ has for a “foreigner” playing for the ABs… A bit of an embarrassment for you arrogant lot. Hence the scramble to designate every PI in the team “NZ born”…
Hypocrites… The lot of you… But not surprising at all… Being a hypocrite seems to be a virtue for you sheepshagging coconut eaters.
18 Sep 2012, 15:13 pm
@wnbb-142: I saw a shove, put it on slow mo and it just looked like a shove to me. A punch though should get a ban and he never. Not sure what messesage that sends to the younger rugby players out there. Foul play like that should be punished and yes, give the red and ban him for two weeks as well. Need to stop that thuggery in its tracks.
Look I think the boys had a laugh after and a beer, but still those that punched have to be disciplined.
18 Sep 2012, 15:14 pm
@Puma-137: Wasn’t quite that simple, Puma. That was one of the longest maul scuffles I’ve seen, and it got more and more agro from both sides. Deysel was pretty close to decking him too, I reckon.
18 Sep 2012, 15:14 pm
“ja boys but listen you can go home after the series I have to live here” 5 rand prize for the first to guess this infamous quote.
18 Sep 2012, 15:14 pm
@poppa69-148: Thanks Poppa.It was sad to see Kiwis taking cash in total disregard to the greater good of humanity.
18 Sep 2012, 15:15 pm
@Puma-155: sorry typo – meant – message
18 Sep 2012, 15:16 pm
“”149.wnbb said:
18 Sep 2012, 15:09 pm
Nobody gets robbed in a rugby game!You either win because you are good or lose because you are simply not good enough on that particular day.South Africans should just accept the fact that the Kiwis are their masters most of the time”".
.
..
.
.
I don’t know who this wnbb is.
But he/she is wise beyond his/her young years.
18 Sep 2012, 15:17 pm
@poppa69-153: Of course he’s a Natalian… Like Fred Michalak… Like Mexted… Like La Croix… Like Mendez… Like the United Colours of Benetton, there are the United Colours of the Sharks…
Once a Shark always a Shark and Plum is a legendary Shark… He might have played some games in NZ, but I reckon he sees himself as a Shark first before anything else.
He was also a 7s Bok too…
Naah, Plum is a Shark through and through, despite his way forgotten past history… He became a playing legend at the Sharks in one of THE great Sharks sides… He may become a coaching legend Next year with a Sharks side with the potential to be one of the best.
Plums birthplace is merely incidental now after so much Sharks water passing under that long forgotten bridge.
18 Sep 2012, 15:17 pm
@Heavens Game-154: this beast you mean?
Notably, despite living in South Africa and representing the country internationally, Mtawarira was a Zimbabwean national until late June 2010
18 Sep 2012, 15:17 pm
@NZINCHINA-157: Some extra in Lord of the Rings?
18 Sep 2012, 15:17 pm
@NZINCHINA-157:
Mexted.
18 Sep 2012, 15:17 pm
@NZINCHINA-157:
Classic.
18 Sep 2012, 15:18 pm
only the holy
18 Sep 2012, 15:18 pm
@katman-156: Howzit Katman,
I watched that game again last night. Sure it went on for a bit, but Deysel never pnuched him. He may have wanted too, but never. He shoved him and then got punched to the ground.
Anyhow it is done, but Sinclair should have picked up a ban for it. He got off totally. What was the citing commissioner looking at? Holmes picked up a one week ban.
Crazy match actually playing in dam like conditions too. 5 man scrum for WP at the end. Had a chuckle there actually, with our 8 man scrum against their 5 man scrum. Also feet could not get any hold there in the mud. They must have been moeg for sure. Eventually we got the penalty try.
18 Sep 2012, 15:19 pm
hint 76′
18 Sep 2012, 15:19 pm
Plumtree was born on 16 July 1965 in Hawera, Taranaki. Although Plumtree and Lions coach John Mitchell were born and grew up in the same town, they only got to know one another later as players and coaches.[2][3] Plumtree attended Hawera High School from 1976 to 1980.[4]
Playing as a flanker in his native New Zealand, Plumtree represented Taranaki Rugby Football Union in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC) for 40 games, starting in 1985. In 1989 he was selected to participate in trials for the All Black team.[5]
keep goign HG, this sure is fun
18 Sep 2012, 15:19 pm
@Puma-167: typo – punched
18 Sep 2012, 15:19 pm
@Puma-145: Yeah… They were dumb enough to get caught… And fark me if was too blatantly obvious not to get caught… They lost the plot… And good on the Sharks because they now know they definitely have the edge over them…
18 Sep 2012, 15:21 pm
@NZINCHINA-157: Ok so does this mean Kiwi’s have only ever been robbed by the refs andd the Boks have always gotten away with murder? Come on guys, you are rugby people, don’t act like one eyed children!
18 Sep 2012, 15:22 pm
@poppa69-169: Yes, and Plum represented the Sharks for 80-odd games… Not to mention his many games for Durban North Crusaders when Club rugby in Natal was at its pinnacle…
Lets tally up the numbers, Knobber… And while we at it, lets tally up your ignorant stupidity too… clearly a symptom of slight illiteratcy… no doubt.
18 Sep 2012, 15:23 pm
A medal for Cocopops, Cane and Wnbb
18 Sep 2012, 15:23 pm
give them nothing hg
18 Sep 2012, 15:23 pm
@Heavens Game-171: Yip we do. 4 from 5 this year….lol.
18 Sep 2012, 15:24 pm
@poppa69-162: Keep up… “Brave” chap…
You seem to be “bravely” in reverse at the moment…
18 Sep 2012, 15:24 pm
@Heavens Game-154: @<
Hey HG………………………………………….we got 60,000 van der muewes eligible for AB honours.
We are looking good.
18 Sep 2012, 15:25 pm
@Skeppie-172: I remember a story about a game in SA the ABs were playing, and apparently at the time the crowd behind the posts cheered when an AB kick was directed at the posts..
the ref blew that the kick missed because the crowd cheered, but it was the downtrodden/those kept undwer the nazi jackboot who apparently sat in those positions and they were actually cheering because the kick went over and the ABs would have won.
I am not sure of the year, early 70s I think..
18 Sep 2012, 15:26 pm
@Heavens Game-173: slight “illiteratcy”
oh my, hahahahahaha
18 Sep 2012, 15:28 pm
@wnbb-149: “Nobody gets robbed in a rugby game!You either win because you are good or lose because you are simply not good enough on that particular day.”
That is cetainly no what we heard after cardiff 2007…
do you recall the penalty stats that were rattled out of that “flawless” 2nd half by France?
18 Sep 2012, 15:28 pm
@poppa69-180: Glad you could spot it… Your google spellcheck must be quite fast…
18 Sep 2012, 15:28 pm
@Heavens Game-177: you’re the one claiming Beast was S African, when he was clearly a Zimbo national until June 2010?
classic… but continue, you sure are outsmarting me mate, how can I compete with such stupidity?
its bakkies-esque in its totality..
18 Sep 2012, 15:29 pm
@shooter-174:
Now Shooter, here is short leason in history:
WE Never started any of this.
18 Sep 2012, 15:29 pm
@poppa69-169: Poppa,
We look on Plum as one of our own now. He has been in Natal for years on and off. Came off the bench too in 1990 in our first Currie Cup we won. He was part of that team and of Natal now Sharks great 90′s success. He goes way back for us. He is also married to a saffa lady. We claim him as our own now mate..lol.
18 Sep 2012, 15:30 pm
@cane-178: 60 000 Van de Meuwes?
so one might make it to be good enough to play for the ABs?
heaven knows the last one Rawlinson was complete and utter “once in a generation” Saffa special
18 Sep 2012, 15:31 pm
@Puma-167: I’m not condoning the punch, sweet as it was. I’m just saying they both were pretty angry at that stage. And if Jeb hadn’t pulled the trigger, I suspect Deysel would have.
18 Sep 2012, 15:31 pm
Okay catch up later. Work calls.
Cheers everyone.
18 Sep 2012, 15:31 pm
A former Auckland teammate and personal friend of Pat Lam says racism is nothing new in New Zealand rugby.
Peter Fatialofa, who played 72 games for Auckland from 1985 to 1993 and captained Samoa in the 1991 World Cup, said he had experience of racism when he was coaching the third-division King Country side in the early 2000s.
His comments come after Blues coach Pat Lam came close to tears in front of media yesterday, when he spoke of how racially-charged criticism had deeply upset his parents.
Fatialofa today recounted a player being racially abused by a spectator in the crowd. He said it was a difficult time for both the player and himself as coach.
18 Sep 2012, 15:31 pm
@cane-178: “van der muewes”… you mean van der merwes… great… so in about 10 yrs time when they do become eligible we look forward to Coach van der merwe of the ABs and Captain Vd Merwe of the AB’s leading them to the promised land of one-two-Moerthesky-Mortar bomb rugby…
Excellent… You can be as proud of them as you are of the “millionaire” Pom Gallagher
18 Sep 2012, 15:33 pm
“One of my players said he was frustrated playing for this team because he was getting abuse from the sideline,” Fatialofa said.
“I just had to tell him we’re here to do a job and if we win more games we’ll get more friends.” Fatialofa said there is racism in the sport, and players and coaches who are targeted just have to ignore it and focus on rugby.
“There are people who will take a cheap shot at you. The player got really frustrated.”
Fatialofa has also come out in support of Lam, whom he has known for more than twenty years. “Pat’s been through some tough times in his life,” Fatialofa said. “He’s committed himself to the Blues and he’s played so many games for Auckland. To see him react like that yesterday – I really felt sorry for him.”
“There’s got to be a barrier where you step back and say it’s just a game and it shouldn’t affect the family.” He also condemned the racist comments, saying social media was a “cheap way to throw a punch without them seeing it coming”.
18 Sep 2012, 15:33 pm
@cane-184: the world is young. the people are young. the last 100 years went by in a flash.
18 Sep 2012, 15:34 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-189: shock horror, racists in another part of the world, must have been an early SA immigrant I reckon… probably the very first of the Van de muewes
18 Sep 2012, 15:34 pm
@katman-187: Yeah they both were angry, just pleased Deysel kept his cool and discipline by not punching. He did shove but that was it. If Deysel did punch it might have got ugly.
Okay need to dash.
Catch up later.
18 Sep 2012, 15:35 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-191:
There are people who will take a cheap shot at you
sounds like you after every game involving a kiwi side bakkies..
18 Sep 2012, 15:35 pm
@poppa69-183: Poops… I am slightly worried for you…
Symptoms either of:
- naked lies
- retardation
- or slight illiteracy at the very least…
But all tinged with more than a bit of ignorance and not willing to read what you dont want to see…
Please point out where I claimed Beast as Saffa… Indeed I have explicitly stated in many posts that he is a born Zimbo…
18 Sep 2012, 15:35 pm
Samoan serial tweeter Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu has slammed the racist rants directed at Blues coach Pat Lam in the wake of the team’s poor performances.
Fuimaono-Sapolu, who raised a storm with his tweeting during last year’s World Cup in New Zealand, voiced his opinion in his usual controversial manner.
The full tweet read: “F** NZ Rugby. We polynesians have made the All Blacks the best in the world for decades! F** it now! Represent your Island countries!”
18 Sep 2012, 15:36 pm
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-191: Farken boohoo racists… Tears… Snot… trane
Everytime a coconut…
18 Sep 2012, 15:37 pm
@poppa69-193:
just a story for you to remember, pops.
you can recount it years later… like the kick that was ruled a miss…
18 Sep 2012, 15:37 pm
“ Of course Beast is one of ours… Many Zimbos and Rhodesians have represented SA with pride”
I cant understand your logic, how can they be “one of yours” if they are born in another country and play for your national side while carrying a different passport to every other team member?
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