The Currie Cup will burst into life this weekend with two mouthwatering derbies that could go a long way in determining who will be the last four teams standing in the competition.
The highveld derby between the Blue Bulls and Golden Lions will be the first of the weekend’s big clashes at Loftus Versfeld and it is expected to be another war of attrition between the two rivals, but also promises to be a festival of tries with the free-spirited brand of rugby both sides have played so far in the competition.
While the defending champions will come into tonight’s fixture with their tails up after a convincing and thorough beating of the Boland Cavaliers last weekend, they will be wary of the cracks in their game that were exposed by Griquas a week before in Kimberley.
For all the flair that Johan Ackermann’s side possess, they struggle to get their game going when challenged in the set-piece and at the breakdown and these are the areas the Bulls showed a lot of improvement in during their narrow loss to the Sharks last week.
Nollis Marais’ side have stuttered and stumbled along in this year’s campaign, but they have shown glimpses of the dangerous side they can be, especially with ball in hand, but that often comes when they have subdued the opposition in the engine-room.
The scrum and line-out remain one of the Bulls' strengths while the lottery that has become the breakdown could go far in determining the ultimate winners of tonight’s clash.
The Bulls were manhandled in the rucks by the Sharks last weekend and even though they felt they had the better of the Durbanites, they will need to be dominant at the breakdown if they are to get their exciting backs into the game and build scoreboard pressure.
The Lions, on the other hand, will revel in the pressure of playing at Loftus, a stadium that has seen them produce some enterprising rugby and get favourable results in the past two years in Super Rugby and the Currie Cup.
With only one point separating the third placed Lions (12) and the Bulls, who are on 11 points, there will be a lot more to play for than just bragging rights as the competition edges closer to the semi-finals.
“The Lions are a good side, they bounced back after losing to Griquas and they gave Boland 60 points.
“If you give the Lions a chance and opportunity they will score.
“For us it was a tough match on Saturday (against the Sharks) and one that we should have won but the result on Friday night will be what we need to get,” said Marais earlier this week.
In the coastal derby, the unbeaten Sharks travel down to Cape Town to face a Western Province team that looks shaky at best and is in desperate need of building on their win against the Eastern Province Kings last week if they are to have any chance of making the semi-finals.
While the Sharks were pushed to their limits by the Bulls last week, they will again look to taking control of proceedings upfront before unleashing their lethal backs, which include Junior Springbok fullback Curwin Bosch, who is in sublime form at the moment.
The Sharks have only made one change to their team with former Sevens star S'bura Sithole coming in for Lwazi Mvovo and it will only strengthen a team that have all but secured their place in the semi-finals with four wins from their four matches.
Today at 3pm in Wellington, Boland will play host to the Pumas in what could turn out to be a feisty basement scrap, while Free State are favourites to pick up maximum points when they host the winless Eastern Province in Bloemfontein tomorrow (3pm).
TEAMS
Blue Bulls: Duncan Matthews, Travis Ismaiel, Dries Swanepoel, Burger Odendaal, Jamba Ulengo, Tian Schoeman, Piet van Zyl, Hanro Liebenberg, Arno Botha (captain), Ruan Steenkamp, Marvin Orie, RG Snyman, Jacobie Adriaanse, Jaco Visagie, Pierre Schoeman, Replacements: Bandise Maku, Martin Dreyer, Nic de Jager, Roelof Smit, Andre Warner, Joshua Stander, Ulrich Beyers.
Golden Lions: Andries Coetzee, Courtnall Skosan, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Howard Mnisi, Anthony Volmink, Marnitz Boshoff, Ross Cronje (captain), Ruan Ackermann, Cyle Brink, Kwagga Smith, Lourens Erasmus, Martin Muller, Jacques van Roooyen, Robbie Coetzee, Dylan Smith; Replacements: Armand Akker van der Merwe, Corne Fourie, Victor Sekekete, Fabian Booysen, Dillon Smit, Jaco van der Walt, Jacques Nel - The Star