For the second week in a row it was the Sunday game that was the most closely fought of the four Carling Currie Cup clashes and once again it was newcomers Boland Kavaliers who played a big role in providing the entertainment.
They didn’t win this time to back up their last gasp win in week one but the nine point losing margin to Suzuki Griquas in Kimberley doesn’t tell the full story of a game that saw big leads and then big comebacks and several thrilling tries mixed in with the power mauling that won it for the hosts in the last quarter.
Let’s not pretend that the defence of either side was perfect, but the surface at Suzuki Park on a dry and clear August afternoon does promote the quick tempo passing game and it does see some big scores on days when both teams get their attack right. Which was pretty much the case in this game.
It was a classic confrontation between a team that has an advantage at forward and one that has to survive on scraps, and Boland did that brilliantly. The game was also broken into different parts, with Griquas looking in control after 20 minutes, but Boland’s brilliant runners overturned the deficit with a flurry of tries just before halftime to take a 34-19 halftime lead.
It looked like Griquas changed their game after the break as they focused more on capitalising on forward dominance, and they fought back to lead before Boland, showing the kind of ‘never say die’ attitude that will make them popular and also feared in the domestic competition, reclaimed the lead only to lose it again heading into the last 10 minutes.
Boland may feel they deserved more than just a solitary try scoring bonus point from their trip to central South Africa but their discipline did let them down in the last quarter. And while they were looking for more than one log point, they should be happy with the six they have so far, a total that puts them well ahead of their Western Cape neighbours, DHL Western Province.
WP were much improved on their effort against the Vodacom Blue Bulls in the first round and, with development and blooding of new talent being their main emphasis, as it is with the Hollywoodbets Sharks XV, the Province coaches should feel they gained plenty out of the game even though the loss leaves them well behind the eight-ball in the one round league phase of the competition.
The Lions had several standout players and flyhalf Lubabalo Dobela was a deserved man of the match after a performance that saw him score the thrilling opening try for his team as well as enjoy a near perfect day with his place-kicking boot.
Up the M1 in Pretoria there was another entirely predictable big win for a highveld team, although a 64-0 loss probably was a bigger magnitude than anticipated. The Bulls ran riot but the 10-try massacre does need to be seen in the context of the different approaches the two unions are taking to the domestic competition.
While the Bulls fielded several seasoned players and even a few internationals such as Marvin Orie and Jaco van der Walt, the Sharks were a young team picked mostly from players who are not part of that franchise’s URC squad and who are either new or relatively new to this level.
The Sharks XV is actually called that to distinguish it as a development team so those talking of the game being a record score might take that into account.
Of course the Sharks are the reigning champions after winning a thrilling final last year but the URC coach John Plumtree felt that the hard, competitive games in the playoff rounds of the Currie Cup did compromise the URC campaign and that is why some young players who did well for the Sharks in last year’s competition aren’t there now. They’ve graduated to URC squad level, which is the case with some of the young WP players too.
The Toyota Free State Cheetahs bounced back from their loss to Boland in the opening round by holding sway against Airlink Pumas in Bloemfontein on Friday but it is the two Gauteng teams that look the best bets for Currie Cup glory this year.
However, while the Bulls did go to Cape Town to win in the first round, the Lions will be crossing a new frontier for the season when they play their first away game of the season - and it is on Sunday against Boland in Wellington. That will be a great game to watch for many different reasons, but mostly because they both play a thrilling brand of rugby.
WEEKEND CARLING CURRIE CUP RESULTS (round two)
Toyota Free State Cheetahs 42 Airlink Pumas 25
ADT Fidelity Lions 40 DHL Western Province 19
Vodacom Blue Bulls 64 Hollywoodbets Sharks XV 0
Suzuki Griquas 48 Sanlam Boland Kavaliers 39