CAPE TOWN
– Sometimes a perfect season isn’t enough. And nobody will know that better
than Western Province.
After going through all six of their Currie Cup league games
unbeaten and having struggled past the Blue Bulls in a thriller of a semi-final
last week, it was Province’s opponents the Sharks who lifted the cup in a hot Cape Town yesterday.
And given their performance, they sure deserved the 17-12
victory at Newlands.
The Durbanites were the more clinical side and did most of
the playing, while WP never really looked like scoring.
After a decent effort in the opening quarter, things went
downhill from there for the 2017 champions.
It was a massive effort from the Sharks pack, while the
hosts made an already unpleasant afternoon (thanks to the weather) even worse
with a poor lineout showing.
The Sharks also did well, in the first half especially, to
combat Province’s scrum – an area which had been one of the hosts’ biggest
assets throughout the 2018 season.
For all the brilliance
Province produced on
attack this year, it was a rather unusual sight seeing the blue-and-white hoops
presenting no real threat on attack.
A number of kicks straight down the middle didn’t do them
any favours, and the chase rarely made up for what those kicks lacked.
And while playing for territory was always going to be
important against the Sharks, handing over possession like that should
certainly have been a lesson Province learnt early on.
They were also on the wrong side of turnover possession a
number of times, and it was in the last 20 minutes that the gravity of that sin
really hurt them – when they were on the attack and the Sharks easily turned it
over at least twice, stopping any possibility of WP coming back from a 17-12
deficit.
Another surreal aspect was the fact that Province didn’t
score a single try after having scored a total of 40 five-pointers in the
league stage and the semi-final, while the Sharks ran in two through Man-of-the-Match
Akker van der Merwe and Tyler Paul.
The Cell C Sharks celebrate their Currie Cup victory #CurrieCupFinal #WhereLegendsRise @TheCurrieCup @DirectAxis @NashuaLTD pic.twitter.com/OTheDR3mAH
— South African Rugby (@Springboks) October 27, 2018
Province’s points came from three penalties by SP Marais and
one by Damian Willemse – who showed his mettle on defence at No 12.
One of those tries perfectly showed just why the black-and-white
outfit are so dangerous when it comes to their ball-carrying, and their ability
to keep the ball going through offloads.
After leading 6-0 at halftime, WP only managed two more
penalties in the second half, while Van der Merwe’s early second-half try gave
them a 7-6 lead.
Province took a 9-7 lead again after another Marais penalty,
but that was the last time the hosts would enjoy being in the position as the
Sharks went 10-9 and 17-9 up after that, before Willemse added the last penalty
kick to take the score to 17-12.
That's how much it means to win the #CurrieCupFinal- Well done to the Cell C Sharks. #WhereLegendsRise pic.twitter.com/HiwCwZw64L
— South African Rugby (@Springboks) October 27, 2018
Ironically, since 1995, whenever these two sides had met
each other in a final, it was the team who had lost the last league game
between them who would go on to celebrate with the coveted cup.
Province managed to break that trend last season when they
won the final in Durban,
but this season, things went back to “normal”.
Another interesting final stat reads that in the last eight
out of nine playoff matches at Newlands, the team who led at halftime went on
to win the game.
It didn’t help Province lift the cup for the 35th time,
however.
Points-Scorers:
Western
Province 12 – Penalties:
SP Marais (3), Damian Willemse (1).
Sharks 17 – Tries: Akker van der Merwe, Tyler Paul.
Conversions: Robert du Preez (2). Penalty: Du Preez (1).
@WynonaLouw