Botha’s Hill - The 53rd edition of the Coca-Cola Craven Week will come to a close on Saturday when Western Province and the Golden Lions meet in the final game of the tournament, the unofficial title match.
There is, of course, no official champion of Craven Week. It is purely a festival of rugby, but everyone knows that in most years, the two top sides are given the honour of playing in the last game.
And the winners of that encounter have the bragging rights until the following year.And no-one at Kearsney College this week will argue with the choice of sides to appear in Saturday’s showpiece fixture.
Both won their first two games comfortably, scoring 100 points each in the process, and both played scintillating running rugby.
Province beat Boland 41-20 and the hosts, KwaZulu Natal, 60-5, while the Lions accounted for South Western Districts 59-24 and the Blue Bulls 41-14.
Both have a number of players in their ranks who must be in contention for SA Schools honours when the squad is named next week, and the two undoubted stars of the week so far will be in action when the teams meet on Saturday: fullback Gianni Lombard of WP and Lions centre Wandisile Simelane.
The Bulls will meet unbeaten Free State in the main curtain-raiser, while the only other unbeaten team, the Pumas, take on the hosts.
The two teams featuring in the main game are among those who have made the most appearances in the week’s showpiece fixture over the years. Western Province have played in the main game more times than any other team.They have made 23 final game appearances down the years, followed by Free State with 17.
The Golden Lions are next with 13 appearances, while the Blue Bulls have played in the week’s concluding fixture nine times.This is WP’s seventh appearance in the last 10 years, and the Lions’ sixth.
WP’s most recent, and most successful appearance in the main game was last year when they beat Eastern Province 95-0.
As far as main game victories are concerned, WP head the list with 12, followed by Free State on eight and the Blue Bulls on six.
This year for the first time, the Under-18 Academy Week has been running concurrently with the Craven Week, and WP also feature in that main game on Saturday.
Their opponents are the Blue Bulls.
Saturday Star