The Currie Cup semi-finals take place this weekend with the Bulls hosting Province before the Griquas visit the Shark Tank.
The big north versus south rivalry is renewed this weekend as Western Province make the trip to Loftus to take on tournament favourites, the Bulls. The Loftus locals are major favourites with the bookies here which is hardly surprising considering they last lost a home game back in March 2020.
Will Loftus Versfeld remain a fortress this weekend or will the raiding Capetonians tear down the walls and steal a famous victory?
Blue Bulls v Western Province
Friday 3 September
Loftus Versfeld
19:00
To Win (80 Mins)
Blue Bulls 2/9
Draw 25/1
Western Province 7/2
Handicap
Bulls (-10.5) 17/20
Province (+10.5) 17.5
The odds are stacked against the visitors this weekend and rightly so as the Bulls have become, by far and away, the dominant force in South African rugby since Jake White took over the reins of the Pretoria-based side.
White’s men have again impressed during the Currie Cup, with the reigning champions winning eight of their games while having two called off due to COVID. Their only two defeats of the campaign came at the hands of the Lions and, in a touch of irony, Western Province. It must be remembered, though, that the Bulls fielded a third strength team during their opening round defeat to the Capetonians, with their senior statesmen away with the Boks or contesting the Rainbow Cup final.
Looking back at last weekend’s action, and a somewhat weakened Bulls side managed to stave off a fired-up Cheetahs outfit as they ran out 39-36 victors in an end-to-end affair.
While the Bulls were far from their best, Western Province put in their most impressive performance of the season as they beat the Sharks 24-35 in Durban. John Dobson will have been almost as pleased with the victory as he would have been with the performance of Dan du Plessis, who played an absolute blinder with the centre scoring two tries and giving the sharks midfield a tough time of it.
Verdict: Bulls (-10.5) 17/20
The Bulls have such a quality side. I mean, Ruan Combrink made his debut for them last week. I just feel they are far too talented to not beat what is a very wobbly Province outfit by a decent-sized margin.
The Sharks welcome the Griquas to Durban this Saturday evening for the second of this weekend’s Currie Cup semi-finals. The hosts come into this one as short favourites with the bookmakers but will need to be wary of a Griquas side who will be looking to make history by claiming a Currie Cup finals berth which they last managed a half century ago.
Sharks v Griquas
Saturday 4 September
Kings Park
17:00
To Win (80 Mins)
Sharks 1/4
Draw 25/1
Griquas 3/1
Handicap
Sharks (-9.5) 17/20
Griquas (+9.5) 17/20
This is certainly a fitting semi-final for a season that has upset the status quo.
The Griquas were almost joined in the semi-finals by fellow minnows, the Pumas, after the two teams played out a 13-13 draw last weekend. The Pumas hopes were to be dashed, however, by Western Province who produced something of a shock down in Durban last weekend as they beat a much-fancied Sharks side 24-35.
A lot of improvement will be needed from the Sharks this weekend. While the Griquas are unfancied, they will pose a major threat. A real area of concern for the KZN franchise from last week was their defence around the fringe of the ruck and one outside that, which was often exposed by the Province forwards. The Griquas like to keep things tight to the ruck when in the red zone which could exploit this defensive issue should the Sharks not shore things up.
In terms of team news, we are likely to see a few changes from the hosts with their experimental midfield pairing of Wener Kok and Murray Koster not producing the goods this past weekend. I expect Kok to keep his place with Marius Louw the likely candidate to take over from Koster.
Verdict: Sharks (-9.5) 17/20
I’m expecting the Sharks to bounce back here. They will be annoyed about their showing last week and they’ll look to put things right and build momentum headed into the final.
