Weekend's Currie Cup action

2008-07-17 22:02

Cape Town - Sharks captain Johann Muller will have a double dose of motivation when he leads his team into battle against the defending champions, the Cheetahs, in Currie Cup action at Vodacom Park on Saturday.

Not only will Muller be playing in his 50th match for the Durbanites - in all games outside of the Vodacom Super 14 - but the Springbok lock will attempt to do something that no Sharks Currie Cup captain has done since 2003; beat the Cheetahs.

That's a huge task for us," said Muller, alluding to his team's recent record against the Free Staters. "But the boys are up for it and excited for the game."

And, when asked about the prospect of bringing up his half-century for the table-topping Sharks, the World Cup-winning lock admitted: "It's great.?

Muller added: "BJ (Botha) got his two weeks ago, Albert (van den Berg) last week and now it's my turn. I played in my 50th Super 14 game earlier in the year, so it's been a fantastic season from that point of view.

It's great playing in your 50th game for a wonderful Union like the Sharks and a great honour, and hopefully we can make it a special one."

The Cheetahs, however, will be hoping to rain on Muller's parade come Saturday; in a match that will also be used to help promote - and thereby raise funds - for Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, which, of course, takes place the day before on Friday, July 18.

Western Province v Falcons

Also taking place on Friday is the Falcons v Western Province clash at Bosman Stadium in Brakpan - a match the Capetonians will be eyeing with some apprehension after their loss to Griquas at Absa Park last Saturday.

Whilst WP coach Allister Coetzee has not lost a match at Newlands this season, his charges have not been able to register a win away from home.

In a bid to remedy this, Coetzee has made some "unenforced and some forced" changes, the most notable of which sees former Boland No 9 Dewaldt Duvenhage drafted straight into the starting XV in place of Alastair Siegelaar.

Duvenhage has already played for Boland in this year's Currie Cup competition, but he has been on loan only, which has given Coetzee the option of "recalling" the SA Under-20 scrumhalf for WP duty.

"In the first three games we played and the underfoot conditions the pace of the game was a bit slower," explained Coetzee, himself a former scrumhalf in his playing days.

"Once we got to the Highveld, and the harder fields, one could see it's a quicker game. It is a game where your No 9 has to get to the rucks much quicker and get the ball out much quicker. Those are the lessons I learnt in the first three games."

Looking ahead to facing the Falcons, Coetzee added: "What we didn't realise was how hard Griquas were going to come back at us (last week), and that's something we must bear in mind in Brakpan. You can expect the Valke to challenge us for the full 80 minutes."

Blue Bulls v Cavaliers

Elsewhere in the Absa Currie Cup, Duvenhage's SA Under-20 squad mate, and fellow scrumhalf, Francois Hougaard finds himself back on the Blue Bulls' replacements bench where he will deputise for World Cup-winning star Fourie du Preez.

Du Preez made his long-awaited comeback from injury off the bench against the Cheetahs just last week, but Bulls coach Frans Ludeke has wasted little time in rushing his star No 9 back into a starting role.

The Blue Bulls, who beat the defending champion Cheetahs at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday, will travel to Wellington for a Saturday afternoon showdown against the Boland Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers will be licking their wounds after suffering severely at the hands of the Lions last week.

The Johannesburg-based outfit is growing in confidence each week after a jittery start to their 2008 Currie Cup campaign.

Lions v Griquas

The Lions, losing finalists against the Cheetahs last year, lost their first two matches this year, before winning well over the Falcons and the Cavaliers in the past fortnight.

Next on their "agenda" are the ever-improving Griquas - the Men from Kimberley no doubt still on a high after their giant-killing antics over WP.

Griquas coach Dawie Theron, however, has a few injury worries this week, with flanker Frans Viljoen having broken his arm against WP and centre Jaco Bekker missing out with a groin injury. Viljoen is expected to be out until September, but Bekker should be back in action in two weeks' time.

"The Lions are a dangerous side at the best of times and are playing good rugby at present," said Theron this week.

"They are a well-balanced side, with plenty of pace and like to play the running game. But we're well-prepared ourselves and we can't afford to lose if we want to stay in the hunt for a semi-final place."

Currie Cup facts of the week:

With Griquas having earned a narrow 21-20 victory over Western Province last weekend, all teams in the Currie Cup have now won at least one match each this season.

Western Province utility forward AJ Venter played his 105th Currie Cup match when he turned out against Griquas in Kimberley last Saturday.

Only 13 players have now played more Currie Cup matches than Venter, who has Martiens le Roux and De Wet Ras immediately ahead of him on the all-time list of games played with 106 matches to their credit.

Another man eyeing a De Wet Ras record is WP flyhalf Willem de Waal, who after scoring 36 points in the first two matches of the season, has managed just another 19 in two games since. De Waal needs another 85 points to overhaul Ras's tally of 1 210 points to take him into third place in the overall Currie Cup points-scoring stakes.

First, however, De Waal needs to make sure he can leapfrog Lions points-machine Earl Rose, who has racked up a massive 47 points in his team's last two crushing wins over the Falcons and the Boland Cavaliers. Rose is currently the leading points-scorer in the 2008 season with 67 points.

Currie Cup log ahead of Week Five:

Sharks 14

Blue Bulls 13

Lions 11

WP 10

Cheetahs 9

Griquas 7

Cavaliers 7

Falcons 6

Weekend fixtures

Friday, July 18:

Falcons v Western Province Kick-off: 19:10, Live on SuperSport 5

Saturday, July 19:

Boland Cavaliers v Vodacom Blue Bulls, Kick-off: 15:00, Live on SuperSport 1/Mnet

Griquas v Lions Kick-off: 15:00, Delayed broadcast on SuperSport 1 at 20:10

Cheetahs v Sharks Kick-off: 17:05, Live on SuperSport 1/Mnet

Weekend teams: Falcons Western Province:

Falcons: 15 Nicky Kritzinger, 14 Dewald Pretorius, 13 Rouan Cloete, 12 Hanno Coetzee (captain), 11 Johan Swartz, 10 Len Olivier, 9 Gerrie Odendaal, 8 Sean Plaatjies, 7 Warren Perkins, 6 Reg Muller, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Wouter Moore, 3 Nico Pretorius, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Frik Venter.

Replacements: 16 Jody Jeneker, 17 Rassie van Vuuren, 18 Reggie Perkins, 19 Emile Verster, 20 Freddie van Zyl, 21 Jeff Perkins, 22 Dean Bergsteedt.

Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 PJ Vermeulen, 12 Gcobani Bobo (captain), 11 Wylie Human, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenhage, 8 AJ Venter, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Justin Melck, 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Wicus Blaauw.

Repacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Schalk Ferreira, 18 Pieter Louw, 19 Conraad Britz, 20 Alastair Siegelaar, 21 Naas Olivier, 22 Morgan Newman.

Boland Cavaliers v Blue Bulls:

Boland: Justin Peach, Stefan Basson, Piet van Zyl (capt), Dewey Swartbooi, Renfred Dazel, Elgar Watts, Marnus Hugo, Dries van Schalkwyk, Henley du Plessis, Whalied Heyns, Bradley Mockford, Frikkie Spies, WP Nel, Pieter Wium, Jean Botha.

Replacements: Clemen Lewis, Janro van Niekerk, Andries Human, Cecil Kemp, Zolani Mofu, Neil Papier, Kobus Meintjes.

Blue Bulls: 15 Tiger Mangweni, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Marius Delport, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 John Mametsa, 10 Morn Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pedrie Wannenburg, 7 Wikus van Heerden (captain), 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 4 Francois van Schouwenburg, 3 Rayno Gerber, 2 Derick Kun, 1 Jaco Engels.

Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Werner Kruger, 18 Juandr Kruger, 19 Jacques Burger, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Zane Kirchner.

Griquas v Lions:

Griquas: 15 Riaan Viljoen, 14 Egon Seconds, 13 Lafras Uys, 12 Herkie Kruger (captain), 11 Gavin Passens, 10 Conrad Barnard, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Heinrich Stride, 7 Stephan Gerber, 6 Gareth Krause, 5 Jacques Lombaard, 4 Wayne van Heerden, 3 Ruaan du Preez, 2 James van der Walt, 1 Albertus Buckle.

Replacements: 16 Hans van Dyk, 17 Steph Roberts, 18 Cilliers Coetzer, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Tobie Botes, 21 Bjorn Basson, 22 MJ Mentz.

Lions: Earl Rose; Jaco Pretorius, Jaque Fourie, Doppies la Grange, Louis Ludik; Louis Strydom, Jano Vermaak; Willem Alberts, Franco van der Merwe, Cobus Grobbelaar (k), Gerhard Mostert, Dewald Senekal, Lawrence Sephaka, Willie Wepener, Heinke van der Merwe.

Replacements: Derek Harwood, JC Janse van Rensburg, Alten Hulme, Justin Wheeler, Chris Jonck, Jaco van Schalkwyk, Tsepo Kokoali.

Cheetahs v Sharks:

Cheetahs: 15 Bevin Fortuin, 14 Eddie Fredericks, 13 JW Jonker, 12 Robert Ebersohn, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Chris Rossouw, 9 Neil Powell, 8 Schalk van der Merwe, 7 Hendro Scholtz (captain), 6 Heinrich Brssow, 5 Barend Pieterse, 4 David de Villiers, 3 Kobus Calldo, 2 Jaco du Toit, 1 Wian du Preez.

Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Phillip Lemmer, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Kabamba Floors, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Hendrik Meyer, 22 Fabian Juries.

Sharks: Stefan Terblanche; Chris Jordaan, Waylon Murray, Andries Strauss, Henno Mentz; Frederic Michalak, Scott Mathie; Keegan Daniel, Nikolai Blignaut, Jacques Botes; Johann Muller (kaptein), Steven Sykes; Jannie du Plessis, Skipper Badenhorst, Deon Carstens.

Replacements: Craig Burden, Robbie Harris, Albert van den Berg, Skholiwe Ndlovu; Charl McLeod, Riaan Swanepoel, Monty Dumond.

- News24