Now all that’s left domestically is for South Africa to crown the 2016 Currie Cup champions.
But first up are the semi-finals and this weekend the table-topping Cheetahs host the defending champions, the Lions, while in Pretoria the Blue Bulls will entertain their big rivals from the Cape, Western Province.
Franco Smith’s Cheetahs will be hot favourites against Johan Ackermann’s Lions having progressed to the play-offs with an eight from eight record and having scored the most points (366) in the competition and picked up a bonus point for tries scored on seven occasions.
The Cheetahs have been an inspired bunch since Super Rugby where they managed to register just four wins from 15 matches.
In their eight Currie Cup games this season, they scored a whopping 49 tries and let in just 18 for, by far, the best attack and defensive record of all nine teams.
But the Lions, who snuck into the play-offs after an up-and-down campaign where their only away win came against the EP Kings, will fancy their chances of causing an upset. They get back Springboks Faf de Klerk, Julian Redelinghuys and Malcolm Marx for the run-in and these three players alone will significantly boost the men from Joburg.
Not available though are the likes of Jaco Kriel, Warren Whiteley, Elton Jantjies and Lionel Mapoe who’re all off to Japan to play club rugby.
But the Lions will know they pushed the Cheetahs pretty close when the teams met in the round-robin stages; the men from Bloemfontein edging the tie 37-29.
With both teams favouring an open, attack-minded game expect the side that defends best over the 80 minutes to win through to the final.
In the other semi-final, Nollis Marais’ Bulls probably just have the edge over Western Province, who also just made it into the play-offs; thanks to their last-minute win against Boland two Friday’s ago.
What makes the clash just a little bit more unpredictable though is the fact both teams will be boosted by the return of a few Springbok players. For the home team Adriaan Strauss is likely to pack down at hooker, while Trevor Nyakane could very easily be on his skipper’s shoulder in the front row. Scrumhalf Rudy Paige, too, could be back in the No 9 jersey if he’s fully recovered from the concussion that kept him out of the Durban Test on Saturday.
For Western Province, Bongi Mbonambi, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Damian de Allende and Juan de Jongh will be available for the semi-final.
The Bulls won the round-robin encounter, at Loftus as well, 45-26, but this weekend’s match is likely to be a lot closer than that.
*The Griffons won the First Division title in Potchefstroom on Friday afternoon after they downed the home team, the Leopards, 44-25.
The Star