Currie Cup: Round 9

[TRF_Ezequiel]

The penultimate round of the Currie Cup regular season is upon us and this weekend we will have another 3 amazing matches to look forward to. The two top teams will travel west to face the Central provincial teams. In Kimberley the Golden Lions will try to stay ahead of the Sharks, who travel to Bloem. The remaining match will be played in Pretoria, where Western Province will try to cement their spot for the play-offs while the Blue Bulls have to win to keep a small chance of making those same play-offs.

With this encounter we will start the weekend. Round 9 kicks off at Loftus Versfeld, the stadium where the Springboks demolished the Wallabies last weekend. The Blue Bulls will see it as their final chance to make the play-offs which they missed last season. Both teams lost last weekend and will try to bounce back. If the Bulls win, they will have to hope both Natal Sharks and Golden Lions beat their opponents to climb to the 4th spot on the log. Western Province cannot climb on the log, unless they win with a bonuspoint and the Sharks team loses without clinching a bonuspoint. The match between the two earlier this season in Newlands, ended in a 42-6 win for the Cape Town province.

In Kimberley, the log-leaders Golden Lions will try to stay ahead of the Sharks when they play the unpredictable Griquas. The Griquas team has lost two in a row after winning 3 straight. Can the Griquas get back to winning and hop back in contention for the play-offs? They have dropped out of the top-4 and they are desperate not to finish last. The Golden Lions are again looking to top the log at the end of the regular season and if they do, it will be a slap in the face of SARU, who dismantled their Super Rugby franchise to accommodate the Southern Kings. Can the Golden Lions repeat their feat? Things will be difficult since they are without strongholders Taute, Jantjies, Cilliers and Mapoe. Griquas don't miss anybody due to Bok duty but nobody can deny Marnus Schoeman being close to a call-up. He is the, according to insiders, the sole reason the Griquas team is playing so well. When the teams met earlier this season, the Griquas won at Ellis Park, scoring 5 tries in a 32-42 win over the defending champions.

The final match will be played after the Springbok test against New Zealand and will see the Natal Sharks visiting the Free State Cheetahs. Matches between these two are always a guarantee for a spectacular encounter. By beating the franchise-partners Griquas, the Free State team climbed from 6th to 4th and they have play-off contention in their own hands. With Heinrich Brussow again leaving the field early with an injury, it looks like he will be a last-minute decision whether he plays or not. The Natal Sharks will possibly be without Pieter Dixon who was red-carded for kicking CJ Stander in the face. The citing commissioner will determine whether that was intentional and if a ban is justified. If so, the Durban team will have to rely on youngsters Kyle Cooper and Monde Hadebe for the hooking position. Louis Ludik and Keegan Daniel were not among the injury-replacements for the Springboks and they will have their work cut out for them. The most interesting battle will be the scrum-halves. Cobus Reinach and Sarel Pretorius are both quick, impulsive scrummies who play more based on intuition rather than a certain game-plan. Especially Reinach has shown his class in the last couple of matches. When the two teams met in Durban 5 weeks ago, the Cheetahs were leading 6-21 at half-time but imploded in the second half and lost 34-32 when Meyer Bosman scored the winning try in the 76th minute.


The vBookie event for this round will be Blue Bulls - Western Province

Round 9 Fixtures

Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria (05/10/2012, 19:10 GMT)

Hoffe Park, Kimberley (06/10/2012, 14:00 GMT)

Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein (06/10/2012, 19:15 GMT)

 

[LittleGuy]

I was very dissapointed with WP last week, they came out so flat against the Lions after playing well against Griquas the week before. Trips to Loftus Versfeld are easier said than done even with the Bulls having a poor season. I do think they will get into the playoffs but they may come in at a low seed and have to go on the road for a tough semifinal.

 

[Sker]

Sorry Eze but I'll be cheering very hard for the Cheetahs to win this one, if the Bulls win at Loftus they have a chance to go through to the semis.

 

[Draggs]

Sorry Eze but I'll be cheering very hard for the Cheetahs to win this one, if the Bulls win at Loftus they have a chance to go through to the semis.

After we downed the Bulls for you?

 

[TRF_heineken]

Bulls have Dean Greyling, Chilliboy and Bjorn Basson back to help their cause...

But they have lost their in-form loose forward, Arno Botha due to Bok-duty.

I hope we smash our arch-enemies! it will start my weekend off very well!

 

[Draggs]

Bulls have Dean Greyling, Chilliboy and Bjorn Basson back to help their cause...

But they have lost their in-form loose forward, Arno Botha due to Bok-duty.

I hope we smash our arch-enemies! it will start my weekend off very well!

Basson and Ralepelle haven't played in a fair bit, have they?

I hope we give Marais Sr. a start, he has looked quality off the bench every time.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

If we play Viljoen at fly-half, we will lose. Easy... We need Bosman at fly-half, a center pairing of Whitehead-Jordaan, put Viljoen on the wing (or Sithole) and Ludik full-back.

 

[Draggs]

If we play Viljoen at fly-half, we will lose. Easy... We need Bosman at fly-half, a center pairing of Whitehead-Jordaan, put Viljoen on the wing (or Sithole) and Ludik full-back.

Viljoen isn't as poor as many make out. He played a shocker last week, but how many times has Bosman, McLeod, et al done that?
Reinach, Bosman, Ndungane, Whitehead, Jordaan, Viljoen, Ludik

Good defending back three capable of running and kicking. Five eights/midfield axis has great potential, I hope that they click.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Viljoen has not just been poor last week, ever since we played Griquas in Kimberley he has been poor. Mainly because Griquas found a way to stop him, something the other teams managed as well. When we played the Cheetahs at home 5 weeks ago, we only got into our game when Bosman moved to fly-half. Viljoen is a good full-back/winger but he should not be closer to the rucks and scrums.

I am not saying Viljoen is bad, but he is easy to figure out when he plays out of position because he falls back to the basics, in stead of bringing his own creative plays into his game (which he does in the back-three)

 

[Draggs]

Viljoen has not just been poor last week, ever since we played Griquas in Kimberley he has been poor. Mainly because Griquas found a way to stop him, something the other teams managed as well. When we played the Cheetahs at home 5 weeks ago, we only got into our game when Bosman moved to fly-half. Viljoen is a good full-back/winger but he should not be closer to the rucks and scrums.

I am not saying Viljoen is bad, but he is easy to figure out when he plays out of position because he falls back to the basics, in stead of bringing his own creative plays into his game (which he does in the back-three)

He pretty much plays five eighths like a fullback. Considering he is a fullback, what do we expect? I have felt for a while now that Bosman isn't best at inside centre. I want to see him at stand off before deciding where he really is best.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Well, with Whitehead back from injury and Pietersen almost fit, we can put Viljoen on the bench. I cannot wait for Lambie to be released. We will play Griquas with this team:


1. Mtawarira
2. Burden
3. Jannie
4. J. Marais
5. Bresler
6. Daniel
7. Coetzee
8. Alberts
9. Reinach
10.Lambie
11.Mvovo
12.Whitehead
13.Jordaan
14.Pietersen
15.Ludik

16.Hadebe
17.Herbst
18.P. Marais
19.Stander (I prefer him over Deysel at the moment)
20.McLeod
21.Bosman
22.Viljoen

 

[TRF_heineken]

Basson and Ralepelle haven't played in a fair bit, have they?

I hope we give Marais Sr. a start, he has looked quality off the bench every time.

nope, that's what Injury does to you... Prevent you from playing

Anyways, Bjorn Basson is in the starting 15, with Dean Greyling possibly also starting pending Morne Mellet's injury. Chilliboy is on the bench.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

What! WP at 5.50 odds. Damn, I already put all my VCash on the Bokke.

A difficult game to call but I'd bet on WP at those odds.

 

[TRF_heineken]

News this morning is that Heinrich Brussouw will be out for 6 months with injury and that JP Pietersen has started training again with the sharks...

 

[Gena_ZA]

Eish, he is very unlucky with injuries..
Any news if Juan Smith will ever play again?

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

There's been a lot of long-term injuries lately. Duvenhage, Smith, Brussow, Burger and Bismarck du Plessis are the most significant ones. I just hope especially Smith makes a return some day.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Eish, he is very unlucky with injuries..
Any news if Juan Smith will ever play again?

Yeah, he's playing next year in France...

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

There's been a lot of long-term injuries lately. Duvenhage, Smith, Brussow, Burger and Bismarck du Plessis are the most significant ones. I just hope especially Smith makes a return some day.

Yeah, we don't have anything resembling the Aus injury crisis but;

2 Du Plessis
3 Oosthuizen
6 Brussow
7 Smith
8 Spies
14 Petersen
17 Ralepele
19 Burger

is pretty significant.

Most countries would be hard pressed to make up for those players being MIA. Luckily we have deth in loose forwards and Adriaan Strauss is a pretty nifty hooker to have lying around as well. On top of that we had injuries to J Goosen, J Taute and several others that kept them out until recently or that happened recently to fringe players (J Potgieter for instance).

Add to that the fact that we did not have much continuity from RWC to now and we've actually done pretty decently.

Losing all of those core Bulls stars;

1 Steenkamp
(not counting Smit LOL)
4 Botha
5 Matfield
9 Du Preez
13 Fourie
18 Rossouw

on top of injury meant HM had to do some hard thinking with mixed success but we're getting there and he seems to at least be able to make the tough decisions albeit not as quick as most would want.

 

[Draggs]

Sharks: 15. Louis Ludik , 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. Paul Jordaan, 12. Tim Whitehead, 11. JP Pietersen , 10. Meyer Bosman, 9. Charl McLeod , 8. Keegan Daniel (Capt), 7. Jean Deysel, 6. Jacques Botes, 5. Anton Bresler, 4. Jandre Marais, 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 2. Pieter Dixon, 1. Dale Chadwick
Replacements: 16. Kyle Cooper, 17. Allan Dell, 18. Peet Marais, 19. Lubabalo Mtembu, 20. Cobus Reinach, 21. Riaan Viljoen, 22. Sibusiso Sithole

All that backline yet look at the scrum half.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Sharks: 15. Louis Ludik , 14. Odwa Ndungane, 13. Paul Jordaan, 12. Tim Whitehead, 11. JP Pietersen , 10. Meyer Bosman, 9. Charl McLeod , 8. Keegan Daniel (Capt), 7. Jean Deysel, 6. Jacques Botes, 5. Anton Bresler, 4. Jandre Marais, 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 2. Pieter Dixon, 1. Dale Chadwick
Replacements: 16. Kyle Cooper, 17. Allan Dell, 18. Peet Marais, 19. Lubabalo Mtembu, 20. Cobus Reinach, 21. Riaan Viljoen, 22. Sibusiso Sithole

All that backline yet look at the scrum half.

I think we all will agree that we are happy to see JP Pietersen back! even as a non-sharks supporter.