Kings Park Stadium, Durban (27-10-2012, 15:00 GMT)
It's finals time in South Africa! After 10 weeks of unpredictable matches, we got to the play-offs, where the Natal Sharks beat the Blue Bulls and Western Province were victorious while visiting the Golden Lions. With those results, we see a re-match of the 2010 final. Let's see how the teams did so far. We will specifically zoom in on the matches in which these two teams played against each other.
When the competition started back in August, these two teams went head-to-head in round 1. Newlands was the arena where they tried to get first points. Western Province started off good with a 13-3 lead at half-time. When the second half started, the Sharks only needed 15 minutes to turn things around and a 16-22 lead was the result. The final score was 23-25 and both hookers scored tries. Craig Burden scored twice for the Sharks and Tiaan Liebenberg crossed the line for WP.
In round 6, the teams met again, this time in Durban. Both hookers were unavailable since they were called up for the Springboks during the season, but the young replacements Scarra Ntubeni and Monde Hadebe showed they fit in perfectly. The encounter in Durban however, will always be remembered for the poor discipline, especially from Western Province. Canadian international Jebb Sinclair was red-carded early in the second half for punching Jean Deysel, Tyrone Holmes got a similar punishment 15 minutes later for punching Jacques Botes. The yellow card to Wilhelm van der Sluys 5 minutes before the end of the match resulted in WP ending with 12 men and losing 43-27 with a penalty try in the 82nd minute to give the Sharks a bonuspoint.
Interestingly, the only other team who beat Western Province twice this season, was Golden Lions who were beaten in the semi-finals. That should be a good sign for the Western Province supporters, while the Sharks will hold on to the thought that everything is looking like a copy of the 2010 season. Topping the log, beating Blue Bulls in the semi's and playing WP in the final at Kings Park. The Sharks ended the season with the most points scored, the best point difference, most tries scored, least tries conceded and most bonus points. Statisically, the Sharks cannot lose but in finals rugby, anything is possible.
When we have a look at the history between the two teams in finals rugby, we see they met five times previous to this weekend's clash. In 1984, the teams played a final in Cape Town and a 19-9 victory ensured a victory for WP while Natal, in only their second final at that moment, were outclassed. Around the turn of the century, a WP-Natal final was played in both 2000 and 2001, both going the way of Western Province. The 15-25 win in 2000 was in Durban, a 29-24 win a year later was at Newlands. It was the last time a trophy was added to the cabinet in Cape Town.
Natal Sharks have won 2 finals against Western Province. The most recent one was in 2010 when Patrick Lambie scored 25 points (only 1 short of Derick Hougaard's record for most points in a final by a single player) in a 30-10 beating. In 1995, Natal beat Western Province in Durban by 25-17, getting their 3rd ***le in 5 years. If the Sharks win this weekend, it will again be their 3rd championship in a couple of seasons.
The Sharks are firm favorites but it's anyone's guess who will lift the trophy after 80 minutes. These two teams have played each other so many times, both in Currie Cup and Super Rugby and both teams got their Springboks back since their last meeting. For the Sharks we see Mtawarira, Burden, Jannie du Plessis, Coetzee, Alberts, Lambie, Mvovo and Pietersen while Western Province can call upon Liebenberg, Etzebeth, Vermeulen, Habana and de Jongh while Bekker and de Villiers are out injured. The line-ups look like this:
Replacements: 16. Kyle Cooper, 17. Wiehahn Herbst, 18. Jandre Marais , 19. Jean Deysel , 20. Charl McLeod, 21. Meyer Bosman, 22. Odwa Ndungane
Replacements:
16. Deon Carstens, 17. Brok Harris, 18. Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19. Jebb Sinclair, 20. Louis Schreuder, 21. Marcel Brache, 22. Joe Pietersen
