Ken Borland

The Bulls have already broken their 10-year trophy-drought this season by winning the SuperRugby Unlocked title, but at the end of the day, the Currie Cup is the big prize they are after according to coach Jake White.

The Bulls won the SuperRugby Unlocked competition by four points and those points were then carried over to the Currie Cup. White’s charges have subsequently finished top of the log in the Currie Cup as well, but this time they have to get through two knockout matches to claim the silverware, starting with their semi-final against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.

“We’re not trying to be arrogant, but we said at the start of the season that we wanted to play in the final and win the Currie Cup. So we’ve now got two weeks left to play, whether you look at this season as one or two competitions or two competitions in one, at the end of the day we are in the playoffs. Now we want to get to the last round and win the trophy.

“We’ve done the hard work to get into the final, we’ve put the hard yards in to justify home advantage. The reality is we’ve got a lotto ticket for the last two rounds, hopefully we stay alive after this weekend. There won’t be any crowds but I still think it’s a massive bonus for the guys to sleep in their own beds, be in their own changeroom, all the little things,” White said this week.

While the 2007 World Cup winning coach acknowledged that it was far from a fait accompli that the Bulls would achieve their goal, White did make their journey in 2020/21 sound somewhat miraculous.

“I’ve coached in competitions before where the first and second team on the log don’t play in the quarterfinals, they go straight to the semis and get a week off. But sometimes the team that finished first on the log doesn’t win, there are still no guarantees even if you finish first. But this team really want to win the Currie Cup, they want to be part of history and write their own script.

“No-one expected us to do so well. I’ve had seven months to work with this group and in the last 10 years the Bulls had not won a senior trophy, we lost five of our six SuperRugby games last year and finished sixth in the Currie Cup in 2019, losing to Griquas at Loftus. So other teams were far ahead of us and I’m very satisfied with how things have gone. But we haven’t really won anything yet,” White said.

Newlands has been kind to the Sharks the last two times they have played there, including a 12-9 win in the Currie Cup final on October 27, 2018, and coach Sean Everitt says his team is quite comfortable travelling to Cape Town for their semi-final against Western Province on Saturday.

The Sharks have won their last two matches at Newlands, also beating them 12-9 in SuperRugby in 2019, and they have been triumphant in three of their last five outings at The Grand Old Lady of South African rugby. Those wins have all been narrow, however, all by less than six points, while their two defeats were heavy – by 11 and 22 points in 2018.

“We’re very happy to go to Cape Town, it’s a lot easier than going to the Highveld, especially playing in the afternoon at this time of year. It’s been really hot here in Durban, so we’re looking forward to better conditions and we do play well in those sort of conditions. The travel there certainly won’t deter us much.

“We did speak about the emotion involved from Western Province’s side that it might be their last game there. There’s a lot of tradition surrounding that stadium, including for the Sharks and we would really like to be the last team to win at Newlands. But we’re up against a desperate, emotional team with a good set-piece so it should make for a good game,” Everitt said this week.

Everitt also said that because of where the two teams are situated on the log – Western Province finished second and the Sharks were third – the home team will be favourites and that will bring added pressure.

“They finished second on the log, so we’re probably underdogs. So the pressure is on them playing at home, plus with all the emotion of Newlands. I’m not sure why the away team has won the last few playoffs between us, but it probably comes down to the pressure of playing at home. Because of that pressure, it’s all going to come down to error-rate and discipline.

“If we’re not accurate in receiving kicks then we may be in trouble. But having Aphelele Fassi back at fullback adds a different dimension to our counter-attack and Manie Libbok did really well at fullback too and is on the bench. From an attack point of view, maybe we haven’t performed as well as we would have liked, but without continuity you’re going to struggle to get that synergy in attack,” Everitt said.

Sharks’ last 5 results at Newlands

June 15, 2019             Won 12-9 (SR)

October 27, 2018        Won 17-12 (CC final)

September 29, 2018    Lost 28-50 (CC)

July 7, 2018                 Lost 16-27 (SR)

August 26, 2017         Won 21-20 (CC)

Sharks’ last 6 playoffs v WP/Stormers

October 27, 2018        Cape Town      Won 17-12 (Currie Cup final)

October 28, 2017        Durban                        Lost 21-33 (Currie Cup final)

October 26, 2013        Cape Town      Won 33-19 (Currie Cup final)

October 27, 2012        Durban                        Lost 18-25 (Currie Cup final)

July 28, 2012               Cape Town      Won 26-19 (SuperRugby semi-final)

October 30, 2010        Durban                        Won 30-10 (Currie Cup final)

With the Bulls having the experience of Arno Botha and Jacques van Rooyen on the bench, and a Springbok scrumhalf in Embrose Papier sitting alongside them, and the Lions fielding six forwards amongst their reserves, five of them relatively inexperienced, Bulls coach Jake White said on Thursday that he is confident his team will have the edge when it comes to the closing stages of their Currie Cup semi-final in Pretoria on Saturday.

The Lions will have a well-travelled reserve prop in Ruan Dreyer, but Jan-Henning Campher, Carlu Sadie, Reinhard Nothnagel, Wilhelm van der Sluys and Francke Horn are all still making their way at this level and White quickly seized on the composition of the visitors’ bench.

“When I look at the Lions, I see six forwards on the bench so that’s how they’re going to finish and I don’t think those guys have played a game together as a pack. They said they’re going to run the ball but they only have two backs on the bench. So it’s going to be hard for them to play from side-to-side and it’s a big risk with six forwards who haven’t played together before.

“So that will present opportunities for us as well, our preparation has been very good and we are full of confidence. We’ve won most second halves in the matches we’ve played, so by that measure we are a team that finishes well. We can change things around and not just be one-dimensional. We’ve beaten the Lions, Sharks and Western Province twice so there’s no reason for us not to be confident,” White said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Bulls starting line-up announced on Thursday is pretty much the first-choice team White would have had in mind a few weeks ago. The exceptions are at lock and hooker, where Sintu Manjezi and Schalk Erasmus have cracked the nod.

Promising 25-year-old second-rower Walt Steenkamp is still fighting his way through the Covid return-to-play protocols, while Erasmus is the heavier of the two hookers – 108kg to the 98kg of Johan Grobbelaar – and thus will start to bolster the scrum, where the Bulls will have to weather an early onslaught from the Lions.

“Walt is still not 100% in terms of the return-to-play protocols. Our medical team is very proactive and has lots of concern for the players, so his welfare comes first, we won’t take a chance and they are 100% sure that he’s not quite back where he should be. Schalk scrummed with Lizo Gqoboka and Trevor Nyakane last game and I just thought it was easier to keep them together.

“With Grobbies, Jacques and Arno on the bench we have a bit more senior, experienced heads to finish. We have the luxury of having Jacques on the bench, who is a great asset, but Lizo is a Springbok and has played many times with Trevor. They’ve been working with scrum coach Daan Human and the feeling was they are a settled combination,” White said.

Bulls: David Kriel, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Duane Vermeulen (C), Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Sintu Manjezi, Trevor Nyakane, Schalk Erasmus, Lizo Gqoboka. Bench – Johan Grobbelaar, Jacques van Rooyen, Mornay Smith, Jan Uys, Arno Botha, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Marco Jansen van Vuren.

The return of tighthead prop Thomas du Toit to the Sharks line-up and the absence of loosehead Steven Kitshoff for Western Province will be an obvious shift in the fortunes of the two teams for the Currie Cup semi-final at Newlands on Saturday, but Sharks coach Sean Everitt said on Thursday that it is what happens after the set-pieces that is of more importance than the scrum or lineout itself.

Everitt was able to choose both his Springbok props in Du Toit and Ox Nche on Thursday, while Kitshoff, South Africa’s No.1 loosehead and one of the world’s best in that position, was ruled out of the semi-final due to Covid-19 protocols.

“Even if you get set-piece dominance, what happens next is the important thing. After a dominant scrum or lineout is does make getting the gainline advantage easier, but the set-pieces are just a platform to play from. There are lot of other aspects that have to take place to get points on the board. But it will be good to have Thomas back after he was out for quite a while with Covid problems and injury before that.

“The set-piece battle is about the unit though and although Kitshoff is one of the best and exceptionally fit, Ali Vermaak is a good player as well and Western Province still have Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, JD Schickerling and Salmaan Moerat so it is a formidable tight five. So we certainly cannot take it easier and we are never happy when someone falls sick,” Everitt said on Thursday.

While Everitt had the full complement of players to choose from, the Sharks’ tight five does show a couple of changes from the outfit that would have been considered the first-choice selection a few weeks ago. The selections of Fez Mbatha to start at hooker and JJ van der Mescht at lock point to the KwaZulu-Natalians bulking up the scrum to counter Western Province’s key strength.

“Fez Mbatha went really well against Griquas and made the scrum stronger; Dan Jooste was struggling wit an eye injury last week and we actually weren’t sure whether he’d be fit this weekend, so he will start off the bench. JJ van der Mescht is purely picked on merit, he had one of his best performances against Griquas and Hyron Andrews hasn’t played for a while so we didn’t feel his body could last the whole 80 minutes.

“One would obviously like the continuity of playing every weekend and picking the same players, but we are level-pegging in that regard with the other three teams in the semi-finals. It’s all about how you train and the quality of your preparation. It’s a bit like the first game of the season, we all worry about how we’re going to go. But we’re on an equal footing with Western Province, it’s not as if they’ve been playing either,” Everitt said.

Sharks: Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (c), Marius Louw, Yaw Penxe, Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Henco Venter, Dylan Richardson, Ruben van Heerden, JJ van der Mescht, Thomas du Toit, Fezokuhle Mbatha, Ox Nche. Bench – Dan Jooste, Mzamo Majola, Michael Kumbirai, Hyron Andrews, Thembelani Bholi, Jaden Hendrikse, Jeremy Ward, Manie Libbok.