If there’s a coach based in South Africa that people should be starting to take notice of it is the Suzuki Griquas mentor Piet Bergh, who on Saturday will be taking his team in search of back to back Carling Currie Cup titles.
The years of drought that started with the famous 1970 final, when Griquas shocked Northern Transvaal, were ended last year with George Whitehead’s last gasp kick in Johannesburg that enabled his team to beat the Lions 27-25. Now, 12 months later, Griquas are poised to go to the stratosphere that eluded them for so long a second time as they host their nemesis from 2022, the Airlink Pumas, in the decider.
The Pumas shocked Griquas at the same Kimberley venue for Saturday’s game in 2022, and that will be driving the confidence of the team from Nelspruit as they venture back to the central South African region where they scraped a close semifinal against the Toytota Free State Cheetahs a few days ago.
Of course, there is much truth in the old saying that a final, or indeed any play-off game, can be a great leveller, but Griquas have been the form team in the Currie Cup subsequent to their unexpected first round defeat away against the DHL Stormers XXIII.
They were particularly impressive in scoring more than 50 points against the Lions team they edged out in last year’s final and on that basis they will start as overwhelming favourites.
The caveat is that the Pumas have an 80 per cent record against the Griquas from their last five games. They had made a habit of edging out their opponents, only for that to be changed, and quite significantly so, in their last meeting - Griquas won the league game in Kimberley 38-14, an emphatic victory.
Bergh has a well organised but exciting attacking team playing for him and he went into the competition with the right attitude after the epic drought breaking win last September.
“From the beginning of the season we said we don’t want to defend the Currie Cup. We want to go and attack the Currie Cup,” said Bergh at the Griquas team announcement. “That has worked well for us this season, we just have to do it one more week now.”
Attack the Currie Cup and attack in the game has been very much the Griquas’ mantra, which is why they are hoping for a dry day on Saturday as they look to dazzle in front of their own fans.
It will be the third final played in Kimberley in the space of the 56 years that have passed since the 1970 epic, and having lost in 2022, Griquas will be particularly motivated to win it on home soil for the first time in more than half a century.
As the team that topped the log, Griquas should fancy themselves to win, but that could well bring extra pressure. They will be drawing on the lessons learned from 2022, when the Pumas won comfortably and the hosts imploded, to get them through for what would be the significant but relatively rare achievement these days of retaining the Currie Cup.
Ironically Griquas were the first ever team to win the Currie Cup, with the famous old trophy being first awarded to them way back in 1891 for being the team that gave the touring British Isle team the best game on their tour that year.
Nobody will pretend that the trophy still has the same gravitas it attained after that 1891 season, when it became the Holy Grail for all South African teams below the Springboks, but the last few finals, such as the two in Johannesburg in the last two seasons featuring the Lions against first the Sharks and then Griquas, have been great and exciting games to watch.
As an appetiser to the international game in Baltimore later in the evening, an afternoon on the couch if you can't actually make it to the game could prove a pleasant undertaking.
Teams
Suzuki Griquas: Stefan Coetzee, Dylan Maart, Zane Bester, Mnombo Zwelendaba, Saka Makata, George Whitehead, Bob Alexander, Carl Els, Marco de Witt, Lourens Oosthuizen, Albert Liebenberg, Malembe Mpofu, Ig Prinsloo, Tiaan Lange, Leon Lyons. Replacements: Janco Uys, Eddie Davids, Ntobeko Shezi, Derik Pretorius, Carel van der Merwe, Jack Hart, Liam Koen.
Airlink Pumas: Jaycee Nel, Darren Adonis, Sango Xamlashe, Wian van Niekerk, Banie Britz, Clinton Swart, Thomas Bursey, Willie Engelbrecht (captain), Andre Goedhals, Ntsika Fisanti, Tiaan de Klerk, JJ Scheepers, Sampie Swiegers, Chyle van Zyl, Etienne Janeke. Replacements: Gustav du Rand, Zukisa Sali, Junior Banda, Stephan Krugel, Ruwald van der Merwe, Thabo Ndibmande, Tino Swanepoel, Russwill Fredericks.
Referee: Morne Ferreira.
Kick-off: 3pm
Prediction: Griquas to win by 10