CURRIE CUP: Jukskei derby provides tale of differing approaches

There is some irony in the fairly widespread view, which does have plenty of justification to it, that the Carling Currie Cup these days exists primarily for the smaller unions who might not survive without it.

While the Airlink Pumas and the Suzuki Griquas thrived in the previous two seasons that the domestic competition was played against the backdrop of the Vodacom United Rugby Championship, that is not the case this year.

The Pumas will need to win against DHL Western Province in Stellenbosch on Sunday to have any chance of making the semifinals.

As for Griquas, they haven’t reprised the form that saw them host the final in 2022 and challenge strongly again last year before winning this season’s SA Cup.

Their final two games are for pride and no more than that.

Instead of the competition building up to a decider featuring teams not involved in the URC, with the Toyota Cheetahs last year beating the Pumas in the Bloemfontein final, the final stages of this competition look set to become all about the build towards the URC.

For the Cheetahs are the only non-URC team still in the hunt, with the other members of the current top four being the Vodacom Bulls, the Fidelity ADT Lions (who become the Emirates Lions in the URC) and the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV (they will drop the XV when the URC arrives).

URC TAKING PRIORITY

Judging from the team selections of two of those three teams for this coming weekend’s penultimate round of league play, it looks like the URC buildup is taking priority, with this phase effectively now serving as the URC pre-season.

The Sharks, so impressive and promising when they were effectively a Sharks age-group team under age-group coach JP Pietersen up until round 8, have slipped into URC mode for Saturday’s visit by the Novavit Griffons.

John Plumtree is back as coach and several URC players and potential frontline newcomers from other franchises, for that read mainly the Lions, are getting their first runs since the end of last season.

The Sharks have one more league game after this, the final one of this phase against the Bulls next Sunday, and are likely to be even more of a URC strength team when that game arrives.

But the Bulls team they face will have experience by then of playing a URC strength side, because that is what the Lions have come up with for Friday evening’s big Gauteng derby at Midstream College.

The Bulls have elected to forego their Loftus home-ground advantage for the game and apparently it has had the desired effect, with a large crowd expected.

That crowd will be watching a Lions team that includes among other URC regulars fullback Quan Horn, recently capped for the Boks, Erich Cronje, Rabz Makwane, another pair of new Boks in Morne van den Berg and Ruan Venter, JC Pretorius, Reinhardt Nothnagel, PJ Botha and so the list goes on.

The side will be led by URC captain Marius Louw.

Same same, but different. Switching it up ahead of our Jukskei Derby clash tomorrow.

🆚 Vodacom Bulls
🗓: Fri, 30 August
⏰: 17:15
🏟 : Midstream College#LionsPride🦁 pic.twitter.com/7HPHfuNCwu
— Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) August 29, 2024

The Lions don’t have as big a squad as some of the other URC franchises so it’s been a more complicated Currie Cup for them when it comes to spreading their personnel, but their intention for Friday evening’s game is clear - this is when the URC buildup starts, as indeed it does for the Sharks.

And the Stormers, who no longer have any interest in the destination of the Currie Cup trophy but will use the last two WP games to get ready for the start of the URC season, which we understand might be happening a week later than the initial 21 September kick-off.

BULLS ARE ODD ONE OUT

The odd one out is the Bulls, who have stuck with the team that has got them to top of the log with one game to play.

So in a sense, the trans-Jukskei derby is a clash of different approaches, with one building to the URC and the other team aiming for Currie Cup success.

YOUR TEAM to face the @LionsRugbyCo TOMORROW at Midstream College 🫡🥶 pic.twitter.com/a9AT84dPCb
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) August 29, 2024

That is not to say the Bulls don’t have the URC, or the Investec Champions Cup in mind.

Quite the opposite in fact - it just so happens that the Bulls have enough depth that they can get away with playing what is effectively their alternative URC or Champions Cup team in the Currie Cup.

The side that has played in the domestic competition isn’t far from the one that went for instance to Northampton Saints when director of rugby Jake White was accused of disrespecting the Champions Cup, and before that to Lyon in the pool phase.

You need depth to compete in both overseas competitions, and the Bulls are gaining a lot from the continuity of selection that they are likely to continue with right through to the Currie Cup final, if they get that far.

Meanwhile, the Cheetahs need to overcome Griquas in a central union derby in the first game of the weekend if they want to keep the Pumas challenge for their current fourth position at bay.

The way it stacks up, one of the Cheetahs or the Pumas will be the only non-URC team in the Currie Cup semis, which will then become a URC warmup with a very famous trophy at stake.