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CAPE TOWN. — At the start of the build-up week to today’s ABSA Currie Cup final at Newlands, it seemed there was thorough justification for making Western Province overwhelming favourites to retain the old trophy.
At the time it was assumed that Willem Alberts would be joining fellow Springbok Jannie du Plessis in being missing from the Sharks team that would be travelling to Cape Town.
Most people who saw the incident that led to Bismarck du Plessis being yellow carded in last week’s semi-final assumed he would be slapped with at least a one match suspension and thus force him to miss the match.
Back-up hooker Kyle Cooper was another player injured, and Jean Deysel, who would have played instead of Alberts, was another player who was crocked.
When the word out of Durban was that Jacques Botes and Keegan Daniel would make up two thirds of the Sharks’ back row, it seemed they would be taking a lightweight pack into the final, one that Province would find easy to deal with.
It inspired talk of a complete reversal of last year’s decider, when it was WP who went to Durban with a depleted and inexperienced team and were given no chance of winning.
The Sharks’ outlook changed quickly in the early part of the week though, and led to the point on Thursday where every single one of their key players with the exception of Deysel, who would be surplus to requirements anyway, was declared fit.
So what seemed a match that would be easily won by Province suddenly turned into the 50/50 game that a final usually is. WP have no problem with that.
They even welcomed it. They want to prove their championship status by beating the best combination their opponents can put into the field.
But while WP have a realistic outlook and the pendulum has swung onto a more even keel during the course of the week, it appeared to go unnoticed by sections of the Cape rugby public and local rugby media.
The line that was adopted at the start of the week has been retained, and WP are going into the game with a massive expectation for them to not only win, but win well.
Home ground advantage and the way WP have been playing recently probably makes their favourites status justified, but Sharks reserve forward Botes was spot-on when he said from Durban that this game isn’t quite the reversal of roles that last year’s was. WP went with an inexperienced team to Kings Park last October, but outside of the second row there is nothing inexperienced about the Sharks team that will play at Newlands.
No less than 10 members of the Sharks starting team have played test match rugby, and four of the eight members of the pack played in the recent Castle Lager Rugby Championship.
That is half of the pack that this year has dominated all but the All Blacks at international level. And a fifth player, Pieter-Steph du Toit, will probably also be a Springbok before the next 12 months have run their course.
At No10 they have a flyhalf who, if given quick ball to play with, can be a match-winner, and has been against these opponents in a Currie Cup final in the not-too-distant past.
Patrick Lambie is older and wiser now than he was in 2010, and as the most balanced pivot in the country is well equipped to repeat at Newlands what he did in Durban three years ago.
We didn’t get to see too much of Frans Steyn last week, but he is a player who won a World Cup winners medal before completing his second decade of life. In short then, the Sharks do have a team capable of winning the Cup, and the memory doesn’t have to go back too far to recall when last they won a massive game at Newlands.
The Super Rugby semi-final last year was effectively a final for the Sharks, and they beat the Stormers – after travelling halfway across the world the week before the game.
All of this adds up to massive pressure on WP if they do read the newspapers or pay attention to the other media, and as the favourites it is they who feel the burden of expectation weighing down on them going into the match.
Western Province:15. Gio Aplon, 14.Gerhard van den Heever, 13.Jean de Villiers, 12.Damian de Allende, 11.Cheslin Kolbe, 10.Demetri Catrakilis, 9.Louis Schreuder, 8.Duane Vermeulen, 7.Siya Kolisi, 6.Deon Fourie, 5.De Kock Steenkamp, 4.Eben Etzebeth, 2.Pat Cilliers, 2.Scarra Ntubeni, 1.Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements:16. Frans Malherbe, 17.Brok Harris, 18.Michael Rhodes, 19.Schalk Burger, 20.Nic Groom, 21.Kurt Coleman, 22.Juan de Jongh.
SHARKS: 15.SP Marais, 14.Odwa Ndungane, 13.Louis Ludik, 12.Frans Steyn, 11.Lwazi Mvovo, 10.Pat Lambie, 9.Charl McLeod, 8.Keegan Daniel (captain), 7.Willem Alberts, 6.Marcell Coetzee, 5.Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4.Peet Marais, 3.Jannie du Plessis, 2.Bismarck du Plessis, 1.Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:16. Kyle Cooper, 17.Wiehahn Herbst, 18.Stephan Lewies, 19.Jacques Botes, 20.Cobus Reinach, 21.Fred Zeilinga, 22.Heimar Williams.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan.
Kick-off: 5.30pm
Online Reporter