Ken Borland

While the Sharks may be overwhelming favourites for Saturday’s Currie Cup final against Western Province in Durban, the memory of silly lapses that have cost them past finals in similar positions at the same venue will still be on the minds of the KwaZulu-Natal faithful.

The most famous of those was in the 2007 Super Rugby final against the Bulls, when a repeated failure to kick the ball out and a defence that was caught flatfooted allowed Bryan Habana to score one of his most celebrated tries and bring the Sanzar trophy to Pretoria for the first time. The deafening silence at King’s Park after victory was snatched from the Sharks at the death was something for the ears to behold.

Western Province will be hoping for similar magic from Habana on Saturday, as well as that other marvellous game-breaker Gio Aplon, while coach Allister Coetzee has also gambled by choosing the penetrative Damian de Allende alongside Juan de Jongh for his first Currie Cup start.

With the Sharks undoubted favourites on paper – Coetzee has had to call up six players from the U21s to cover for injuries – Western Province will almost certainly be trusting in their celebrated defence to ensure the Natalians do not get too far away from them, and then try to strike in the final quarter as they did against the Lions in the semi-final.

While many are predicting the star-studded Sharks squad, with a dozen Springboks, will simply swat Western Province aside, finals are not often like that and expected rainy weather in Durban may also be a leveller.

The visitors, denied a major cup for 11 years, are certainly going to be up for the game and nothing fuels motivation quite like being written-off as no-hopers.

But common sense suggests the Sharks should have too much power, skill and experience and only mental errors can deny them their seventh Currie Cup title.

Up front, Western Province have two animals (in an entirely complimentary sense) in Eben Etzebeth and Duane Vermeulen, but for the rest, the Sharks should have the edge in the forwards.

The Sharks’ Beast Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis anchor the Springbok scrum, while the loose trio have all played for South Africa this year. Willem Alberts is the type of hard man who sends players to hospital, Marcell Coetzee is everywhere on the field at once and Keegan Daniel has the uncanny ability to pop up exactly where needed at the right time, as well as being a pinpoint link with his backs.

The second row is an area where Western Province may enjoy more parity, although Steven Sykes has functioned at a high level for several years for the Sharks and Anton Bresler is increasingly coming into his own as well.

Sharks half-backs Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie may be small, but they can cause as much damage as those little Gremlins in the famous 1984 horror comedy film. Lambie, in particular, is a very clever player, using his boot well but also having sleight of hand and deceptive ability running with the ball.

He will be the home side’s general on Saturday and was instrumental in the Sharks’ 2010 Currie Cup triumph, scoring 25 points, including two tries, against the same opposition. It was probably the most complete performance by a fly-half in a Currie Cup final since Naas Botha’s heyday.

The rest of the backlines are fairly evenly matched, but Coach Coetzee was revealing his knowledge that Western Province will need something special to win the final by choosing De Allende, who was impressive at the end of the semi-final, instead of Marcel Brache, who was one of their stars through the Currie Cup campaign.

The entire Sharks back three of JP Pietersen, Lwazi Mvovo and Louis Ludik deserve to be part of Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s end-of-year touring squad and their ability to both dictate with the boot as well as counter-attack is an obvious strength.

In fact, the Sharks as a whole are the one team who seem to have perfected the art of mixing a territory-based game with one that demands a greater proportion of possession being kept in hand.

The all-round skills of the Sharks team, including the forwards, are also a notch above the rest of the teams in the Currie Cup.

The final might have come a year or two too early for what is undoubtedly a highly promising Western Province team, but on the day, with the pressure of finals rugby and the expectation of the crowd, the Sharks might, just maybe, toss it away. Especially if Western Province can summon the same sheer bloody-minded refusal to lose they showed in the semi-final against the Lions and earlier this year, as the Stormers, in the Super Rugby match against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.

The smart money is surely, however, on the Sharks having the skills to turn the same amount of dominance as the Lions and Bulls enjoyed into the points that will clinch the oldest trophy in provincial rugby anywhere in the world.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-10-27-shark-attack-currie-cup-preview

THE Highveld Lions meet the Delhi Daredevils in a clash of batting power versus bowling brilliance in Thursday night’s first Champions League Twenty20 semifinal in Durban, with no contest more eagerly awaited than that between Aaron Phangiso and Kevin Pietersen.

There is probably no more powerful batting line-up in this competition than Delhi’s — even Australian star David Warner battles to get a game — with Pietersen a key figure in a top order that also boasts Virender Sehwag, Mahela Jayawardena and Ross Taylor.

Pietersen has had more than a few problems against left-arm spinners in the past and his personality is such that he will look to attack Phangiso from the outset. But the Lions’ spin bowling star is always up for the fight and Phangiso will relish the battle with Pietersen.

“Aaron’s from Soshanguve and they breed them tough there. The key is that he does not get overawed quickly. He’s a good kid, he has a good heart and he’s a fighter,” Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana said.

From humble beginnings, Phangiso scrapped his way into the South Africa under 19 side in 2003, a stint with the Titans, and now he is one of the top dogs at the Lions.

Phangiso’s performances in the tournament — 8/71 in 16 overs at a fabulous economy rate of just 4.43 — and how he has sucker-punched stars such as Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Watson, suggest he would not be out of place on the international limited-overs stage.

National selector and South Africa A coach Vincent Barnes is certainly a fan.

“Aaron went to Zimbabwe with the South Africa A side for a triangular series with Sri Lanka and bowled exceptionally well against some full internationals. He was then unbelievable in Ireland. He was outstanding the whole winter for South Africa A, averaging about 3/30 every bowling spell,” Barnes told Business Day.

“Aaron’s a very clever bowler, he gets turn and he has good variations, but his mind-set is also brilliant, he knows when to use those balls.

“He’s not getting tail-enders out, he’s getting good batsmen out with good balls. He reminds me of Johan Botha, and Robin Peterson too, in terms of his grit and determination. He’s in your face, he works bloody hard and he hates the batsman scoring a run off him.”

Barnes would still like to see Phangiso play more four-day cricket, as he only has a part-time role for Gauteng in the longer formats.

“He’s an exceptional cricketer, a fantastic fielder and no slouch with the bat either. I know he’s hungry for international cricket, but I would like to see him start to concentrate on the four-day game as well.

“I hope the Highveld Lions will play him, but they have Eddie Leie and Imran Tahir too, so it will be a challenge.”

While the Lions’ left-arm spinner will be a key weapon against the Delhi batting, Dirk Nannes, Sohail Tanvir and Chris Morris will have to play their part with the ball, while pressure will be on batsmen Alviro Petersen, Gulam Bodi, Quinton de Kock and Neil McKenzie to handle the Daredevils’ pace quartet of Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Andre Russell and Irfan Pathan.

In the other semifinal, the Titans take on the Sydney Sixers at Centurion on Friday.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/sport/cricket/2012/10/25/pietersen-versus-phangiso-in-semifinal-clash