Midweek Currie Cup shoot-out could be decisive

An indication that the Carling Currie Cup still matters a lot to some was provided when the Vodacom Bulls named their team for Wednesday night’s top of the log clash with the Cell C Sharks at Loftus.

Perhaps it is about ensuring players are available for the knock-outs should the Bulls not be involved in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship play-offs in June, but the selection of several URC players for a game in the middle of a week that started with a clash with Munster and will end with a crucial URC match against Scarlets does send out a message about the Pretoria union's intent in the domestic competition.

The Bulls were burnt earlier in the season, in fact at the start of Currie Cup and derby phase of the URC, when they lost to the DHL Stormers in the URC just a few days after fielding several URC players in their opening domestic campaign win over Western Province. It appeared they might have learned a lesson from that for they reverted to a more development type team for the following fixtures, but the arrival of their arch-rivals from Durban has seen them return to a team littered with URC players.

A backline of Kurt-Lee Arendse, Canan Moodie, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Morne Steyn and Keagen Johannes looks not far off a full-strength URC backline, and then you have the likes of skipper Arno Botha, Walt Steenkamp and Lizo Gqoboka in the forwards. The bench has Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, Jacques van Rooyen, Ruan Nortje, Elrigh Louw, Chris Smith and Cornal Hendricks in it.

So what URC players are sitting out this game? It certainly adds to the challenge the Sharks face as they go to a venue which, until they were helped by the red card to Steyn early in the recent URC game, has tended to provide some of their unhappier moments over the past decade.

SHARKS WANT TO FACE THE BEST

However, the selection of such a strong Bulls side might work for the Sharks in the sense that it will increase their motivation, for a win over such a loaded Bulls team by what is essentially a Sharks second string team will be quite an achievement for the Durban union and confirm the depth they have available to them.

“A lot of very good rugby players,” said Sharks coach Etienne Fynn when asked what he thought about the Bulls team. “It is clear that the Bulls have gone out and selected their strongest available team and it is clear that they are targeting this game and that is what it is about, it is about competing. And that is what our players would want, they would want to measure themselves against the strongest Bulls team.”

If you look at the log though you see why this game is so important for the Bulls - they lost to the Toyota Cheetahs in their second game of the competition, so they are three points off the pace being set by the Cheetahs and the Sharks, both of whom have yet to lose. A win for the Sharks in the late game of an appetising midweek triple header for television viewers would put quite a bit of daylight between the top teams and the Bulls.

But playing players who were involved in URC action just a few days ago and who might be involved in another URC game just two games hence - the Bulls host the Scarlets on Friday night - must surely have some impact on both energy levels and perhaps psychology. It would only be human if players who might be involved later in the week again managed their output.

Fynn appeared to agree that what the Bulls are doing is a bit left field from those perspectives and suggested those were the very reasons his own team doesn’t have URC players in it.

“Look I have no idea what their thinking or approach is. I do though know what a URC game takes out of you and what a Currie Cup game takes out of you, and hence our selection,” said the Sharks coach.

BLOEMFONTEIN A CRUCIAL GAME TOO

The Bulls/Sharks game isn’t the only one on Wednesday that could have an impact on the top of the log shoot-out, for the Toyota Cheetahs will go into their home game against WP knowing they have a chance of moving ahead of the Sharks at the top of the log if the Bulls win at Loftus later in the evening.

Province will be in a desperate mood as they have lost three of their four games and for them it appears there is a different objective to what there is for the top three, who will all be vying for the home ground advantage in both potential play-off games that comes with ending top of the table. WP coach Jerome Paarwater is realistic and also mindful that his union doesn’t currently have the money and therefore the depth that the other teams do so for him, a top four spot and a place in the semifinals will be enough.

“We don’t have the depth that the Sharks and the Bulls have at the moment, I think everyone can see that, but we are very eager to get out there and do our best against the Cheetahs,” said Paarwater.

“We were a bit frustrated that we had a three week break as when you lose, like we did in our last game against Griquas, you want to get back out on the field as quickly as you can so that you can put things right. We have though had a good two to three weeks training with the URC side so we are hopeful we have ironed out the problems we had earlier in the competition.

“The Cheetahs are obviously a very good team but I read somewhere that their coach Hawies Fourie has said he wants his team to win every game by 50 points, like they did against the Sigma Lions. I can’t remember us losing by 50 points before but we have worked very hard on our defence for this game.”

JANNIE LEADS DESPERATE LIONS TEAM IN KIMBERLEY

Talking of the Lions, they have a chance to pick up the pieces of a poor Currie Cup campaign so far when they go to Kimberley to play the Tafel Lager Griquas, who are currently in fourth place, four points ahead of fifth placed Province but they’ve played one more game than the Cape Town team.

The Lions will be captained by veteran Springbok Jannie du Plessis and are clearly seeing the value now of having experienced players in the team to guide the youngsters rather than relying on an out and out youth policy. Kimberley is a tough ask though for any team, as readily acknowledged by their coach Mziwakhe Nkosi.

“It is quite a challenge to play Griquas away, we all know what difficult customers they are on their home field and they have knocked over a couple of quality teams in Kimberley, with Western Province springing to mind,” Nkosi.

“So we are under no illusions about the task that awaits us. Having said that, we are desperate for a positive result and will be going all out for the victory. To achieve that we will have to be good in all departments, not just one, and play for all the 80 minutes.”

The Lions have a new flyhalf in James Tedder, the former UCT Varsity Cup star, and Nkosi says he is excited about what Tedder might produce in the No 10 jersey.

“In looking at the new halfback pairing of Ginter Smuts and James Tedder, I am very excited for Tedder as he is one of the players who has shown promise as a youngster coming up. We also know what he did in the Varsity Cup so we have high expectations of him.”

WEDNESDAY’S CARLING CURRIE CUP MATCHES (all live on Supersport)

Tafel Lager Griquas v Sigma Lions
Kick-off: 15.30
Referee: Griffin Colby

Toyota Cheetahs v DHL Western Province
Kick-off: 17.45
Referee: Morne Ferreira

Vodacom Bulls v Cell C Sharks
Kick-off: 20.00
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen