Currie Cup round-up
2008-07-20 14:24
Johannesburg - After four rounds of largely predictable results and not always the best standard of rugby, the Absa Currie Cup this weekend suddenly came alive in Round Five with the upset of the year and the reinforcement of the influence of Sevens rugby on the fifteen-man game.
The Valke, this season playing in their traditional kit of yesteryear, showed what coaching, skill and confidence can do when they outplayed Western Province 38-32 in Brakpan.
It was amazing stuff - and don't point to the fact that the losers didn't have a number players available due to national call-ups and injury.
The Valke played with 14 men for more than 30 minutes. They are made up from released players who couldn't make their own unions' squads, supplemented by club players taken from the Valke Senior League. Their success, thus far, is also the result of some hard work by coach Rudy Joubert who again showed what can be achieved if the charges buy into a philosophy.
Amazing handling skills
The win was achieved against one of the biggest unions in the country which included a number of players with Super 14 experience, two present Springboks in the backline and lots of experience from players like Alan Skeate, Brock Harris, Willem de Waal, AJ Venter, Francois Louw and Adriaan Fondse.
Len Olivier at flyhalf was, with No 8 Sean Plaatjies, the pick of a Valke side that showed confidence in one another, guts, a willingness to run and some amazing handling skills. If only former SA Schools captain Plaatjies had played at this standard some years ago.
** The Free State Cheetahs showed that they will not relinquish their title easily. They ran the Sharks ragged in Bloemfontein, with all eight of their Sevens Springboks influential at one time or another as well as Emerging Sevens Boks captain Bevin Fortuin in their 31-9 win.
The victory was also a tactical triumph for Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske who had included David de Villiers for his lineout ability - and the selection was vindicated with a number of lineout turnovers and spoilt Sharks possession.
And let's not forget the hard work of Heinrich Brussow and his perfect foil Schalk van der Merwe as loose forwards.
Bulls at the top
**Griquas last weekend beat WP with a monstrous final kick. On Saturday they scored six tries - five of them in the second half - and converted only one to lose 36-32 to the Lions after a near unbelievable comeback from 29-5 just after the break.
The second-half breakdown was 27-12 in Griquas' favour. Three of their tries came in the last six minutes.
The win puts the Lions into second position on the log.
**The Blue Bulls didn't have it all their own way, but despite a rather lethargic second half after a lively first stanza they beat the Boland Kavaliers 26-10 in Wellington.
Springbok Fourie du Preez was sharp at scrumhalf while for Boland, Sevens Bok Renfred Dazel scored the try of the match with an inside-out step that left Tiger Mangweni stranded.
The foundation of the Bulls victory, which took them to the top of the log, was laid in the line-outs where Wilhelm Steenkamp and Francois van Schouwenburg dominated proceedings and contributed to a good performance by Fourie du Preez in his first start after injury.
**In the First Division, the Leopards collected their third five-pointer from three outings when they beat the Border Bulldogs 29-19 in East London and saw challengers Griffons unexpectedly go down 30-24 to the Pumas in Welkom of all places.
The SWD Eagles trounced the Mighty Elephants 29-6 in George.
- SAPA