We now have both teams announced and in a way I am a bit surprised by the fact that ueless Juan is not in the WP starting line-up - but on the bench. Now lets look at the final and my view on some points.
Western Province
15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Jean de Villiers, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Siya Kolisi, 6 Deon Fourie (captain), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Frans Malherbe, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Michael Rhodes, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Nic Groom, 21 Kurt Coleman, 22 Juan de Jongh.
Sharks
15 SP Marais, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Louis Ludik, 12 Francois Steyn, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Charl McLeod, 8 Keegan Daniel (c), 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Peet Marais, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Stephan Lewies, 19 Jacques Botes, 20 Cobus Reinach, 21 Fred Zeilinga, 22 Heimar Williams
Discussion
Full Back
This is going to be an interesting match up - since there are members who punts both for Springbok squad selection. The question is would the older Aplon - basically in the twilight of his career - be able to repeat his heroics of last week against the Lions - or will Marais be able to repeat his performances of the past and get the better of the full back scenario in the game. My guess is it will be an equal competition with neither be outright winner.
Wings
This again is a competition where youth (Knobel) will get the better of Mvovo - who in recent games have been quiet and easily contained. On the other side we have Van den Heever against the near retirement age - Ndungane. Van den Heever is a better player than he is credited for and is easily better than Ndungane. WP is the outright favourites in this case.
Centers
This is going to be fun. I was surprised by the inclusion of Francois Steyn after his nondescript performance against the Lions last week. However, he is there and has to face up to the up-and-coming De Allende. My own impression is that De Allende is going to play the fool with Steyn - who is slow and not really up to standard - he still looks too fat to my liking. De Villiers against Ludick is like a artisan against the apprentice - no contest. The center combination heavily in favour of WP.
Flyhalfs
An interesting contest between two of our leading flyhalfs - probably no's 1 and 3 in the pecking order in the absence of Goosen - who is likely to become no 1 after more matchplay. I think that Lambie and Catrakilis will have an impact - but fear that the centers and outside backs of the Sharks will be over-shadowed and may make Lambie look the worse of the two. However, head-to-head likely to be in favour of Lambie.
Scrummies
McLeod under pressure is one of the worst scrummies imaginable - wild and inaccurate passes have very often marred his playing career. He is very good when he gets balls in space - but I would frankly have preferred for Reinach to start. Schreuder has developed nicely as a scrummie and has shown some class in CC matches. Schreuder to get the upper hand in this contest.
No 8
The conmtest is between speed and physical strength and in view of the lesser abilities and (before Clean Cut get at me again} of some of the Sharks backline players - I think that Vermeulen is the better of the two - no contest.
Flanks
Here again we have a strange combination playing each other - Alberts facing Kolisi and Coetzee facing Fourie. Alberts in matches rarely produces anything of note and augment the tight five of his team - but does precious little otherwise. Kolisi is a funny guy - he does not really produce the goods and play in flashes - look brilliant in one or two ball carries per match - but his defensive stats is low. No ball recovery at breakdowns either. However, he will have to be bloody bad to be worse than Alberts - so in the case of the blindside flank my vote goes to Kolisi. On the open side I believe that the contest will probably favour Coetzee - he is a better defender than Fourie statistical wise - but the problem with Fourie is he is a penalty machine - makes turnovers in possession - at a very high price - last week it was 5 penalties against him. Because of Alberts - I believe the contest will favour the WP in the flanks competition
Locks
There can be no argument - Etzebeth is the best lock in SA and also the best one in the world - but his lock partner is the nondescript Steenkamp a player with no grunt. In the opposite corner is Du Toit - the up and coming "wunderkid" - partnered by the very promising Marais. Despite the Etzebeth element - I think the contest will be evenly matched.
Props
Here we have three strong props and one weak one (Cilliers). Because of Cilliers the WP scrum is likely to be under pressure. Contest favours the Sharks.
Hooker
Bismarck - enough said - no contest
CONCLUSION
Overall I think the situation favours WP - since he Sharks have some really questionable players and WP is going to utilize their resources better. WP TO WIN BY circa 10 POINTS.
