As the final Currie Cup league weekend brings a number of showdowns, there will be none more watched than the repeat of last year’s final when The Windhoek Draught Griquas face the Airlink Pumas for a place in the semifinals.
The match - a repeat of last year’s final - is basically a knockout game for both sides. The winner will advance to the semis while the loser is likely to be out of it altogether.
And for Griquas coach Pieter Bergh, the stars are aligning at the right time.
Griquas’ win over Western Province last week was some of the best rugby they’ve played in years, and the confidence in the side is growing as they peak at the right time.
PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME
“I feel we are pretty much where we were last season. We’re peaking at the right time. Last season we played our best rugby in the last four, five weeks of the competition. Our performance against WP was our best of the year - like last year - and like last year we have to beat the Pumas to make the semifinals,” Bergh told Supersport.com.
“We’re planning to peak at the right time and that is now. Momentum is vital for us, and we’re confident we’re on track to make the semis.”
After a slow start, the Griquas team is not on fire and will be looking to use their home-ground advantage on Friday to down a Pumas side that has won just one of their last six games and is struggling to defend the title they won last year.
Bergh admits that the team didn’t start well but once they had settled on combinations they started showing promise, and promise turned into form, which turned into results in the latter half of the competition.
BACKS AGAINST THE WALL
Their backs-against-the-wall approach has helped them as they surge from behind to be dark horses for the semis this year.
“I told the players we have been playing knockout rugby for the past month. We knew if we lost to the Griffons we were out of it, if we lost to the Cheetahs - we drew - we would be out of it. If we lost to WP we would also be out of the running. So we’ve been under knockout pressure for the past four weeks and that has helped with confidence,” he admits.
But what happened earlier in the season when they were expected to do a lot better than they did?
“We had a bit of a hangover after last year’s final,” admits Bergh. “And as coaches and players we took a bit longer than we expected to get over it. We started playing some good rugby at the latter part of the season.
CONTINUITY IS KEY
“What changed for us in the second half of the season was that we got continuity. In the first half because we kept on changing we didn't get continuity, especially in the backline. We had three different 10s, three different 12s and three different 15s. Since we settled about five weeks back, we haven’t made a change in the backline for the last month and we’ve been playing some really good rugby. The combinations have settled and it showed in our play as well. We’ve also got very few injuries, and that has helped.
“To go into the last three-four games with the same backline has definitely helped.
The Pumas may have beaten them last year in the final, but Bergh doesn’t see it as a revenge game.
“It isn’t really a revenge game, it’s just another game for us. One that we need to win. We were well prepared for that final last year, but our execution was poor. These past three weeks we have been tactically brilliant. So I doubt we will fall into that trap again.
“We know we can beat them. We beat them twice last season even though we lost in the final. It’s always very close between the two sides but we know we can beat them.”