Province on early precipice
25/07/2008 12:05  - (SA)  

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Rob Houwing

Cape Town - While the bill-topping match rightly pits the Sharks against the Lions in Durban, it is Western Province one of the "major unions" who will probably be sweating more than most in the Absa Currie Cup programme this weekend.

For their home derby against the Cavaliers on Saturday is a must-win affair and they know it - even if the midway point of the competition hasn't even been reached yet.

Province's problem is their consecutive, unexpected defeats against "minnows" Griquas and the Falcons; a shock Newlands reverse against the Cavaliers to complete a dubious hat-trick will make their qualification prospects for the last-four stage suddenly look remote even with another eight games to play.

The modern Currie Cup format is a fascinating one in that five into four doesn't go: in other words, one of the five South African "Super 14" regions is always a casualty in the lucrative semi-final cut-off.

At this stage WP are the superpower in that dreaded fifth spot. It is bad news when you consider that the big-union CEOs all pin their hopes on increasing, rather than decreasing, attendance figures as the Currie Cup nears its business end and the likely presence of the various senior Springboks spices it up further, too.

Monetary spin-off

So Rob Wagner will be biting his fingers to the bone in the hope that Province finally get it right against an underdog and clobber the Cavaliers.

Failure to do so and his team will rather lose touch with the top unions. Not only that, but much of the rosy monetary spin-off achieved by the Stormers' resurgence as a Super 14 force in 2008 (average home gate 44 364) will be undone as fans revert to earlier cynicism about trophy-winning potential at the famous old ground.

With an uneasy 12 points to show from five matches, Province trail the table-topping Bulls by six points, and will make it so much harder for themselves to return to contention should they stumble sensationally on Saturday.

Of the four teams above them, after all, they have yet to play all of the Bulls, Lions and Cheetahs away, and on present form would not be fancied to prevail in any of those games. So they arguably have more to lose than any other team this weekend ...

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