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Appetising north/south derby kicks off rugby weekend

rugby30 July 2021 08:02| © SuperSport
By:Gavin Rich
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Harold Vorster © Gallo Images

Friday night will see Newlands host an appetising north/south Carling Currie Cup derby between DHL Western Province and the Vodacom Bulls that should be the perfect way for viewers to kick off a rugby weekend headlined by the second test in the same city the following day.

Indeed, for those home early from work, there is an intriguing Friday doubleheader in the domestic competition to busy yourselves with as you enjoy your sundowners, with the Sigma Lions desperately needing to avenge their first-round defeat in Nelspruit when they host the New Nation Pumas at Emirates Airlines Park.

And on Saturday, Tafel Lager Griquas will be looking to continue their recent sequence of giant-killing acts when they visit Jonsson King’s Park for a match that takes on more significance given the visiting team’s recent form than would normally be the case.

Cell C Sharks coach Sean Everitt has named a strong team for the match and so he should, not just because Griquas have already beaten the Toyota Cheetahs, WP and the Lions this season, but also because Everitt will remember where his stint as Sharks coach started.

It was against Griquas in Durban that Everitt made his senior Sharks head coach debut after taking over from Robert du Preez - the Sharks lost.

The Sharks have Yaw Penxe back and with Anthony Volmink in good form and Werner Kok proving useful as an outside centre, there could be plenty of entertaining rugby across the 80 minutes as Griquas these days do like to give the ball air.

The Sharks though should have too many big guns and also have form and momentum on their side, so the smart money should be on them ending the visiting team’s winning sequence.

The Bulls’ winning sequence against them now extends back over two years is what WP will be out to do when they make their return to the stadium they thought they had said goodbye to in January.

The heartening fact for Province is that they have been creeping incrementally closer to ending their drought against the Bulls, with two of their most recent losses to their arch-rivals - in a preparation series game and a Rainbow Cup game - coming off the last moves of close games.

Both those games were at Loftus, but the recent games in Cape Town have been close too. There were just four points separating the Bulls from the Stormers in the Cape Town Stadium Rainbow Cup clash in May, while the Bulls’ last visit to Newlands last November was an epic.

That was the Currie Cup game where they clawed back from a deficit to win in the dying seconds after playing much of the second half with 14 men after prop Jacques van Rooyen was red-carded.

The Bulls will not want to have to do it with 14 men again on Friday night against a WP team that has struggled for form but can be unpredictable. Province have arguably their strongest team of the Currie Cup season thus far taking the field for them and will be captained by veteran Springbok centre Juan de Jongh, who is leading in the absence of the injured Ernst van Rhyn.

The highlight of the game could be the battle between two good loose-forward units, in particular the two rising stars, Evan Roos of WP and the Bulls’ Elrigh Louw.

Although they are playing away from home, the Bulls boast a rich vein of form in recent visits to Cape Town, particularly if you factor in their win over South Africa A two weeks ago, and they have enough talent in all areas of their game to prevail again.  

The game in Johannesburg is less easy to make a prediction for as the Pumas faltered in their home game against WP and the Lions should be supremely motivated to avenge on their home ground the humiliation they suffered in Nelspruit.

WEEKEND CARLING CURRIE CUP FIXTURES

Sigma Lions v New Nation Pumas (Johannesburg, Friday 16.45)

Prediction: Lions to edge it.

 

DHL Western Province v Vodacom Bulls (Cape Town, Friday 19.00)

Prediction: Bulls to win by 7

Cell C Sharks v Tafel Lager Griquas (Durban, Saturday 14.30)

Prediction: Sharks to win by 10 to 15

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