Ken Borland

One thing that has become clear in this year’s Carling Currie Cup is that the ‘smaller’ unions, those not playing in Europe, cannot be taken for granted and the belief and hunger now flowing through the veins of the Griquas and Pumas players is going to make them hard to stop in the last three weeks of competition.

Griquas are third on the log and the Pumas fourth, with just the Sharks and Bulls ahead of them. At least one of them is going to make the semi-finals as they play each other in Kimberley on Saturday, but they will both go through if Western Province fail to beat the Sharks in Durban.

For the Pumas, the success of their season has been based on the realisation that they cannot just rely on their forwards to grind opponents down and they have produced some fine attacking rugby with ball-in-hand too.

“Our forwards were our go-to and they are still one of our strong points. But we said that we must play balanced rugby, we can’t just rely on our forwards for 80 minutes. The engine must rest a bit as well! So we have spread the workload, we are also using the kicking game more and overall we are just playing with more ball.

“When we played in SuperRugby Unlocked last year we got exposed to playing against the very best guys, Springboks included. We saw that we can beat them, but we just needed to rectify the small mistakes that were costing us. We spent two months focusing on that in pre-season and now we are starting to really get belief that we can beat the big unions,” ever-dangerous Pumas fullback Devon Williams told The Citizen on Wednesday.

Griquas wing Daniel Kasande also said there was a link between last year’s experiences and all the narrow defeats they suffered and their strong showing in this year’s Currie Cup.

“Not much has changed in terms of our system and structure from last year, but we had a lot of narrow losses then, things would just not go for us at the end of matcheis. So since then we have been fine-tuning our play and getting in sync with each other. Being together now for two seasons, you can see the chemistry in how we play.

“Before, every time we went into a competition we were the new boys and you get a bit of cold feet. But once you are in with the big boys for a while, you grow in confidence. You start to feel that you can dominate and it was very special beating Western Province at Newlands, once you do that sort of thing once, you believe you can do it again and again,” Kasande told The Citizen.

The way Griquas and the Pumas have contributed to the competition, one hopes many of their players are voted into the team for the newly-created Carling Champions Match – an all-star Currie Cup team chosen by the public – on November 6.

The All Blacks have agreed to base themselves in Queensland in order for the Rugby Championship to be completed, which means the historic 100^th meeting between them and their arch-rivals the Springboks will take place in the unlikely venue of Townsville, in the northern reaches of the state and deep in the tropics.

The Springboks will leave for Australia on Thursday and will have to quarantine for two weeks, but in return they will have the benefit of being able to return to normal life thereafter, not needing to stay in a bubble. They can still train while in quarantine, ahead of their next match, against Australia on September 12 on the Gold Coast.

But it is their clash with the All Blacks on September 25 in Townsville that will capture the imagination, even though it is effectively being played as a curtain-raiser to the Australia versus Argentina match that follows.

“The two-week quarantine period means we will be on tour for just under six weeks, but we are looking forward to experiencing normal life after a year-and-a-half of living under several forms of adjusted Covid-19 restrictions in South Africa. This will certainly assist in ensuring that the players are fresh mentally when they take the field, which is essential for them to peak in form.

“We are pleased that the Rugby Championship schedule has been finalised and we are looking forward to continuing our campaign in Australia. We can now continue our planning to ensure that the players are ready for the next four matches from a physical and mental point of view, and we are excited about facing our old foes Australia and New Zealand again after kicking off the tournament well against Argentina,” Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said in a statement on Tuesday.

For all the bluster about how boring Springbok rugby is and how they are unworthy world champions despite beating the British and Irish Lions recently, the Kiwis are now going to have to put up or shut up on September 25 and then again on October 2 on the Gold Coast, in what, on current form, should be the Rugby Championship decider.

Apart from the Springboks not needing to stay in a bubble after their quarantine, the other good news is that there will be spectators at all the matches. Given the level of aggression between Australian and New Zealand rugby at the moment, the local crowds could well be supporting the Springboks in their matches against the All Blacks.

Australia and New Zealand get the chance to sort out some of their issues on the field when they meet in Perth, as originally scheduled, probably next weekend.

Brisbane in Queensland has emerged as the most likely contingency plan to host the remainder of the Rugby Championship tournament.
Despite South Africa offering to host the rest of the competition and there being some interest in France and the United Kingdom, New Zealand media were reporting on Monday that the four Southern Hemisphere teams would now be based in Queensland, whose state government has agreed they can quarantine there in the midst of the rising Covid numbers on both sides of the Tasman Sea.
The Rugby Championship looks set to restart though in Perth on September 4, when the All Blacks will take on Australia in the match they were meant to play this weekend. South Africa and Argentina, who are both waiting in Gqeberha for clarity on the travel plans, will by then be quarantining in Queensland.
Meanwhile, the Springboks issued a medical update on Monday confirming Jaden Hendrikse’s worst fears that his leg is indeed fractured. That will rule him out of the rest of the Rugby Championship and his fellow Sharks scrumhalf Grant Williams has been called up to the national squad for the first time.
The 25-year-old has been in fine form in the Currie Cup and his searing pace has caused many difficulties for opposition defences.
The Springboks also confirmed that the scrumhalves who played in the 2019 World Cup final, Faf de Klerk (leg) and Herschel Jantjies (hip), are both recovering well from their injuries and should be available to play when South Africa return to action, probably on September 11.

Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen admitted after another chastening defeat against the Sharks at the weekend that the franchise is going to have to get some reinforcements to ensure they are competitive in the United Rugby Championship that is set to start next month.

The Lions bowed out of the Currie Cup at Ellis Park with a dismal 14-56 hiding at the hands of the Sharks, which has condemned them to last place on the log. Having won just two of the nine matches they took the field for, concerns have been expressed over whether the Lions are going to be slaughtered by the even tougher European sides.

“The most logical thing will be to pull players from elsewhere and there are discussions about that going on. There is an opportunity for the company to get some additional hands in the squad. We are understaffed so we have to do it and there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes,” Van Rooyen said.

It is, however, looking likely that Van Rooyen will no longer be at the helm of the side for the URC with the Lions administration openly talking about “restructuring”. Van Rooyen’s contract, and that of his assistant coaches, ends in October and last place in the Currie Cup is not a good look for someone trying to get a renewal.

While there has been speculation that CEO Rudolf Straeuli, a former Springbok coach, will take over the coaching reins, weekend reports suggested that former Springboks Victor Matfield and Jaque Fourie, a Lions legend, are also being looked at as potential replacement coaches.