Currie Cup preview (Final)
26 Oct 2012
GARETH DUNCAN analyses Saturday’s Currie Cup final between the Sharks and Western Province.
WHY THE SHARKS WILL WIN
Most of the odds lie in the Sharks’ favour: home ground advantage, they have the better team on paper, they have settled combinations and the stronger pack. Let’s not beat around the bush, the Sharks are overwhelming favourites to claim the title.
The Sharks have not lost against any South African team at home during Super Rugby and the Currie Cup. Kings Park has been a fortress against their local rivals, and they will carry that confidence into the title-decider. WP will also go into this match knowing they only won once in the last five against the men from Durban in all competitions. The bashing they received in the Super Rugby semi-final at Newlands must still haunt them.
A key advantage for the hosts will be their expected ascendancy among the heavies. While the Golden Lions boasted the strongest pack for most parts of the domestic competition, the Sharks forwards won that reputation during the latter league rounds and in the semi-final win over the Blue Bulls as their Springboks returned.
The Sharks boast brute strength up front, which has been central on attack and defence, their scrumming performances and setting a quality platform for in-form flyhalf Pat Lambie and his dangerous backline. There’s a 60% chance of rain in Durban on Saturday, highlighting the importance of dominance among the forwards.
Kudos must be given to head coach John Plumtree, who mastered the management of his Test players after they came back from Rugby Championship duty. The Kiwi learned his lesson the hard way last season when he rushed all seven of his internationals into the starting line-up when they jetted back from the World Cup in New Zealand. They struggled to make an impact in the 2011 Currie Cup final at Ellis Park, which saw the Lions ease to a 42-16 win. Plumtree will get the best out of his Boks on Saturday.
Lambie’s most outstanding individual performance came in the 2010 Currie Cup final. He’s yet to eclipse that memory over the last two years, but the signs he’s shown over the last fortnight in the No 10 jersey indicate he’ll be an important player on the pitch on Saturday. Even though he struggled to get game time with the Springboks this season, he’s looked confident at flyhalf and will play a vital role with the boot and in marshalling his team-mates on his outside. A strong run this weekend will force Bok coach Heyneke Meyer’s hand in picking him at pivot (and not fullback) during the end-of-year tour.
If the Sharks gain ascendancy, their backline will thrive. Young scrumhalf Cobus Reinach has been Plumtree’s find of the season, the young centre combination of Paul Jordaan and Tim Whitehead has gelled really well (to think Frans Steyn will still jump into the midfield equation next season), and wing JP Pietersen and fullback Louis Ludik are enjoying a purple patch of form.
This is the Sharks’ final to lose.
WHY WP HAVE A CHANCE
It doesn’t look good for the visitors.
They shocked the Lions by scoring a late try for a 21-16 comeback win in Johannesburg last weekend. But the final against the Sharks should be a step too far.
However, head coach Allister Coetzee and optimistic Province fans will say: ‘never rule out the underdogs’.
The main targets the Cape side will aim for are the lineouts, the breakdown battle and the tactical kicking game. If WP can achieve any ascendancy in these facets of play, they’ll have hope.
The Sharks have been poor at the lineouts in recent weeks, while Province have excelled at the set piece throughout the domestic campaign. Province will miss their injured lineout kingpin Andries Bekker, but if they can continue their impressive showings, they have a platform to attack from. Their driving maul has beaten most defences from close range.
The individual performances of No 8 Duane Vermeulen and flank Deon Fourie will be very influential. Both players have been consistent throughout the year, and their team will need big contributions from them. They’ll be key in the breakdown assault and as ball carriers. Fourie will also need to keep a cool head and not concede needless penalties.
The halfback combination of Nic Groom and Demetri Catrakilis will need to fire. The two players know each other well as they’ve played alongside each other ever since the 2011 Varsity Cup with UCT.
Groom provides quick service and will keep the defenders around the fringes on their toes, which takes some pressure off Catrakilis. The Kings-bound pivot has impressed with the boot when his forwards hold their own up front, but he’s known to falter when defences give him no space or time with the ball. The Province pack need to play their part, as Catrakilis will be a vital part of their tactical kicking game.
If WP can achieve this, they will have the chance to win favourable field positions. If they can milk kickable penalties off the Sharks, the visitors have a sharpshooter to rely on. But I stress, this will be a tough task.
It will be interesting to see how Coetzee’s gamble of starting rookie Damian de Allende at inside centre pays off. Marcel Brache has been inconsistent and many feel JP du Plessis (who’s with the U21s) should’ve been given a go, but Coetzee seems confident De Allende can provide a physical presence. Province can’t afford him to falter.
WP don’t have much running for them, but if they can put the Sharks under pressure in the aforementioned areas, they could find themselves in the position to pull off one of the most unlikeliest upsets of the year.
FORM
Sharks WWLWLWLWWWW
WP LWLWWLWLLWW
Sharks – 15 Louis Ludik, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Keegan Daniel (c), 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Anton Bresler, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Jandre Marais, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Odwa Ndungane.
WP – 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Don Armand, 6 Deon Fourie (c), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Subs: 16 Deon Carstens, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Marcel Brache, 22 Joe Pietersen.
Gareth’s prediction: Sharks by 15
567 Comments
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27 Oct 2012, 13:57 pm
@cane-547:
Yeah, lower Hutt… Wellington is a cool place.
Why I am asking is because I saw I see Ben Harper is performing there on 2 and 3 November. If you are at all into his stuff you cannot miss it. He is doing an accoustic set, should be magic.
27 Oct 2012, 13:59 pm
1 cup in the bag
2 to go
go boys go!
27 Oct 2012, 14:09 pm
@I am a stormer-546:
Swiel is quite good but it seems as if the Bulls pack is too strong for WP so it will be a battle for him today.
27 Oct 2012, 14:13 pm
@Robzim-553:
Good drive there by WP. But that Kebble boy must be an expensive mouth to feed.
27 Oct 2012, 14:18 pm
@I am a stormer-554:
I think there is quite some money in that family so he will probably be well fed and look like his dad in the not too distant future- and that will not be a pretty sight
27 Oct 2012, 14:50 pm
@The Sharks rugby pedigree is packaged as dog food-374:
So determined to prove your Pedigree
yet you see only what you wish to see
you trample on all nuance and irony
and are colourblind to the art of subtlety
focus not on what you wish will be to be
and simply see before you what is
If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn’t be. And what it wouldn’t be, it would. You see?
@Jeraldjay-382:
You are more percipient
As the minstrelpoet observed
Some people feel the rain
Some even sing and dance and celebrate
Others, sadly, simply get wet.
Some look in the mirror and see only what they believe stares back at them – based on tightly held jealously guarded historical preconceptions.
You Sir, see through the looking glass!
May the universe align itself as it will and the Planets fall where they may.
May the result be free of controversy and may whomever the Champions are stand straight and tall with grace as Champions should!
Go Western Province
27 Oct 2012, 15:37 pm
The tank is humming.
Wpians in abundance.
Arme outjies.
Grinding time draws near.
27 Oct 2012, 15:38 pm
“If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wish’d for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.”
27 Oct 2012, 15:46 pm
I’ve gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good good night
I’ve gotta feeling (Woohoo) that tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good night
That tonight’s gonna be a good good night
Tonight’s the night
Let’s live it up
I got my money
Let’s spend it up
Go out and smash it
Like Oh My God
Jump off that sofa
Let’s get get OFF
I know that we’ll have a ball
If we get down
And go out
And just lose it all
I feel stressed out
I wanna let it go
Lets go way out spaced out
And losing all control
Fill up my cup
Mazel tov
Look at her dancing
Just take it OFF
Let’s paint the town
We’ll shut it down
Let’s burn the roof
And then we’ll do it again
27 Oct 2012, 16:00 pm
SBW rushed for MRI scan
2012-10-27 13:14
Tokyo – New Zealand All Blacks centre Sonny
Bill Williams was taken to hospital for an MRI
scan after hurting his shoulder playing for
Japan’s Panasonic Wild Knights on Saturday.
The New Zealand heavyweight boxing
champion said on his Twitter page: “Going in
for an MRI hopefully just a small muscle
tear” after Panasonic’s 23-20 win over
Kintetsu Liners.
Williams, who scored a first-minute try, was
taken to hospital after the match with his
right arm in a sling.
If serious the injury could put his fight
against South African Francois Botha in
Brisbane next month at risk and even bring a
swift end to his Japanese season.
Williams left the world champion All Blacks
and Waikato Chiefs for a 12-match deal in
Japan worth an estimated $100,000 a game.
27 Oct 2012, 16:09 pm
Sh*t, massive storm coming which means my DSTV reception goes and also my WiFi modem has to be unplugged.
27 Oct 2012, 16:12 pm
@Transformation-560: how come you never post on Kings threads?
27 Oct 2012, 16:16 pm
@David-561:
Off to the pub then.
27 Oct 2012, 16:30 pm
@I am a stormer-563:
Yeah. My wife will not be happy being left alone. She hates storms and we usually have the electricity trip as well.
27 Oct 2012, 16:32 pm
@I am a stormer-563: pub it is…
27 Oct 2012, 16:38 pm
@MaximusLudicrusHumorus-556:
Beware the Jabberwock my son.
27 Oct 2012, 20:36 pm
@wp. winning nothing never looked so easy-512:
Do you still blog under this nic?
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