If you want to bet money on the Carling Currie Cup one almost certain way of ensuring that your money comes back to you is to bet it on the trophy being lifted by one of the teams that is not represented in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship or EPCR competitions.
The buzz of the #CarlingCurrieCup Premier Division gets underway this weekend 🏉
— The Carling Currie Cup (@TheCurrieCup) July 4, 2024
Can the @CheetahsRugby defend their title or will we have a new champion? 🏆
Here are the opening round of fixtures 🗓️#WhereChampionsRise pic.twitter.com/EM3iBAoPet
That has been the way of things in the previous seasons where the oldest provincial competition in the world has been played during South Africa’s alignment with the northern competitions when it comes to top level franchise rugby. The Pumas won the 2021/22 Currie Cup, and the Cheetahs, who are historically one of the big teams but are not a URC franchise, won it last year.
More than just a trophy 🏆🙌
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 3, 2024
The #CarlingCurrieCup returns as the Free State Cheetahs look to defend their crown 💥 pic.twitter.com/Zarx24ZSX2
The Currie Cup has understandably become much more low key than it used to be, and one of the reasons it is being played during what should be the South African off-season now that the alignment is with the northern hemisphere is because it was hoped this would be a window where it could be in the spotlight.
The #CarlingCurrieCup is where it all began for the double-World Cup winners 🏆🔙 pic.twitter.com/jlcQ32XDD6
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 4, 2024
However this week’s opening round is being played in the shadow of the first South Africa v Ireland test, and the move to play the domestic competition in this window also won’t suddenly lead to the top unions who have the star players that attract interest to start fielding full strength teams.
If any of the Bulls, Stormers, Sharks or Lions fielded a core of players who also front for them in the URC and Champions Cup or Challenge Cup it would be counter-productive to their chances of doing well in those competitions. You can’t play rugby 12 months of the year and expect the effects of being on a constant treadmill not to catch up with you.
What the Currie Cup will offer is an opportunity for players who didn’t get much chance in the URC and are on the fringes of selection at their franchises a chance to get game time and show what they can do. The young Western Province flyhalf Jurie Matthee springs to mind.
In the glimpses we have seen of him in the Stormers No 10 jersey, Matthee is a player with a bright future, but Manie Libbok stands in his way currently.
With both Libbok and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu likely to be involved with the Boks in their Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign, Matthee may well be needed though by the Stormers in the initial phases of the next URC season. This is his chance to get game time in preparation.
And he’s just an example, there are several other players spread across the four franchises who will be doing the same. It would make more sense though for those players to be playing in a competition that was run concurrently with the URC, as used to be the case.
The Bulls and the Sharks (JP Pietersen) have different coaches to the ones that are at the helm in the URC season, which is surely the way to go. Surely coaches should be susceptible to fatigue too. There are some good coaches at some of the unions that qualified for this Currie Cup through doing well in the recent SA Cup, which was won by Griquas.
The big game of the opening weekend if you look at tradition and history would normally be the WP/Bulls north/south showdown in Cape Town on Sunday, a game that should attract more interest than the others for the additional reason of the time slot it is being played in.
But if you are looking for a really intense, high quality battle the very first game of the competition between Griquas and the Pumas in Kimberley is probably the one to focus on.
Those two provinces played each other in the 2022 final at the same venue and they’ve developed an intense rivalry.
First round Carling Currie Cup fixtures
Windhoek Draught Griquas v New Nation Pumas (Kimberley, Friday 3pm)
Hollywoodbets Natal Sharks v Fidelity ADT Lions (Durban, Friday 5:15pm)
Toyota Free State Cheetahs v Novavit Griffons (Bloemfontein, Saturday 1:30pm)
DHL Western Province v Vodacom Bulls (Cape Town, Sunday 3pm)