PRETORIA - Once the pride and joy of South African rugby, the Currie Cup competition will have a low key kick off this year while its relevance and quality will be put to the test.
Never before has the oldest domestic competition in the world begun while Super Rugby is still being played but this year will be different as the two competitions will be played concurrently.
While the Lions, Sharks and Stormers are contesting the Super Rugby quarterfinals, the Currie Cup will quietly get going with the defending champions, the Free State Cheetahs, opening proceedings when they host the Sharks in Bloemfontein tonight (7pm).
The Cheetahs will be at full strength with their Super Rugby campaign done and dusted but the Sharks will undoubtedly not be at their best with all of their top players involved in the Super Rugby play-offs.
But the Cheetahs will be facing a similar dilemma later in the season with their participation in the European Pro14 competition as they will be forced to play with a second string side from September until the end of the season which would cripple their title defence.
Griquas will go into tomorrow evening’s clash against a depleted Blue Bulls side feeling that they can get one over the once mighty side from the capital.
The men from Kimberley would have taken a lot of confidence from reaching the final of the SuperSport Rugby Challenge and will look to build on that into the Currie Cup where they will fancy their chances against younger and inexperienced teams from the big unions.
The Bulls, on the other hand, will be looking at using the Currie Cup as a springboard for next year’s Super Rugby competition and at the same time they will want to go one better than last year when they lost to the Cheetahs in the final.
On Sunday, the Pumas will host the Golden Lions at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit and as much as the Pumas have had a low key build up to the competition, they will look to take advantage of a Lions team that will be playing with a lot of juniors as their cream of the crop players are still involved in Super Rugby.