When Lions flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff pushed a penalty-kick wide of the mark for the fourth time, referee Craig Joubert blew the final whistle, and Western Province’s 13-year wait to win the Currie Cup in front of the Newlands faithful was over.
Witnessing the 19-16 win against the Lions in October would have been a special moment for every Province fan who had also been present at Newlands when Corne Krige led WP to victory over the Sharks in 2001.
That day, Greg Daniels, Gert Smal, Greg Hechter and Thelo Wakefield all posed with Krige on the field for the post-match team photo.
Only Daniels, the team’s long-time masseur, remains in the same post. Smal, the coach of the 2001 champions, returned to Cape Town from club duty in Ireland in April to take over the reins as WP director of rugby.
Hechter was the fitness coach in 2001, and this season reinvented himself as the defence coach after an extended role as the kicking specialist. And Wakefield has since climbed from team manager to WP president.
The dynamics of the Currie Cup competition have also changed dramatically since 2001.
Back then, 14 teams were split into two sections, with the top four sides in each section advancing to the eight-team Currie Cup after a single round of matches.
The advent of the First Division meant that the 2014 champions didn’t have the luxury of walkover matches against the likes of the Leopards, Bulldogs and Eagles, but their “strength-versus-strength” schedule belied a competition that is now contested by a significantly lower echelon of players.
No fewer than 22 of the 30 players who jogged on for the start of the 2001 decider were Springboks.
Percy Montgomery, Breyton Paulse and Pieter Rossouw comprised the WP back three and Cobus Visagie, Charl Marais and Robbie Kempson packed down in the front row. For the Sharks, centres Trevor Halstead and Andre Snyman lined up outside halfbacks Craig Davidson and Gaffie du Toit, while loose forwards Warren Britz, AJ Venter and Shaun Sowerby hunted Province runners.
In the 2014 final, Boshoff, Juan de Jongh, Pat Cilliers and Jaco Taute were the only capped players who were on the field for kick-off. Of the four, only the Lions pivot was deemed good enough to tour Europe with the Springboks in November (as a late call-up).
What used to be a world-renowned domestic championship, and a proving ground for Bok contenders, is now a test laboratory for Super Rugby hopefuls.
But, as the expression goes, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Province coach Allister Coetzee did just that en route to his first title at Newlands.
A run of eight wins in 10 league matches showcased an abundance of Stormers-calibre players in the WP ranks, and a few Bok prospects.
Ten-Test flanker Siya Kolisi bounced back from a form slump to produce some of his finest rugby in the first six rounds, before suffering ligament injuries to both knees.
Team captain and fellow Bok, Juan de Jongh led Province with six tries. And three-Test Taute, who had flopped emphatically at fullback during the Super Rugby season, resurrected his career at inside centre where he proved to be a robust competitor.
Though other players stole the headlines, the two most promising performers, with a look ahead to the Stormers’ 2015 campaign, were locks Ruan Botha and Jean Kleyn. Botha dominated the lineouts with a maturity uncommon to a 22-year-old, and he did so while continuing to contribute physically in the tight-loose.
Kleyn was a revelation at No 4. Following in the footsteps of Rynhardt Elstadt, De Kock Steenkamp and Eben Etzebeth, Kleyn is another hard-working, no-nonsense Province scrumming lock whose work ethic underpinned the competition’s most effective defence and most electric counter-attack.
Both locks broke down at the end of September, Botha bowed out for the season with an ankle injury while a shoulder complaint sent Kleyn to the medical room for two weeks.
Like Kleyn, No 8 Nizaam Carr exemplified an elite work-rate. The 23-year-old led the competition in both tackles and ball carries, was voted WP players’ player of the year, and was rewarded with his Test debut against Italy in November.
Carr scored Province’s second try in a 35-16, season-opening win against the EP Kings in Port Elizabeth. Rookie WP winger Seabelo Senatla was sin-binned on debut in that match, but all was forgiven and forgotten a week later when the SA Sevens speedster burnt the Blue Bulls with a brace of tries in a 41-17 win at Newlands.
He would only score one more try all season, in the Loftus Versfeld re-match, but that was enough to give opposing coaches sleepless nights.
The respect Senatla earned from rival teams opened up the field for De Jongh, Cheslin Kolbe and Kobus van Wyk. The quartet combined for 19 of WP’s 44 tries through 10 league matches and two play-offs.
And they were complemented by the boot of flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis, who finished joint-first overall for points scored with 123.
The try-scorers took turns in the limelight, while Catrakilis kept the scoreboard ticking over, converting 50 of 54 kicks at goal for a 93-percent strike rate.
An imposing right wing, Van Wyk crossed four times in three matches spanning consecutive wins against the Lions, Bulls (in Pretoria) and Kings.
Despite scoring three tries at Ellis Park in round six, Province suffered their first loss of the season, going down 35-33 against the Lions.
Rookie flanker Sikhumbuzo Notshe added a speed dimension to the back row in the ensuing clash with Griquas, crossing twice in a 36-12 win at Newlands.
Carr matched the feat a week later as Province beat the Pumas 37-23 in Nelspruit, with Catrakilis kicking four conversions and three penalties. And De Jongh dented the Bloemfontein scoreboard with a pair of tries in WP’s penultimate league match, a 34-29 result against the Cheetahs.
With one match to go, Province had earned an eight-point lead on the standings and Coetzee wisely rotated his line-up for the visit from the Sharks. The Durbanites won the battle in Cape Town 28-20, but lost the war a week later when the Lions put 50 points past them in the Joburg semi-final.
WP benefited from Coetzee’s call as Kolbe, returning from what was feared to be a season-ending neck injury, blitzed the Bulls for two tries in the Newlands semi.
And in the final, Catrakilis converted five of five attempts at goal for 19 points, while Taute powered over the line as Province scored all their points in the first half.
Boshoff proved no match for his WP counterpart, shanking four of seven kicks, and Coetzee leapt for joy at the final whistle, celebrating a milestone championship. - Cape Argus