Ex Supersport
The past domestic season was the first outside of a World Cup year where the contracted Springboks were declared unavailable for the entire tournament and for the purposes of building depth for the 2015 edition of Super Rugby it was probably a good thing.
However we may have to wait until a time where a team other than Western Province hosts the final before we can be fully informed of the impact that the absence of the Boks has on the interests in the knock-out stages of the competition, which was when they had been reintroduced in preceding years. If there is one place that remains rugby mad through thick and thin, it is the Cape.
The Stormers were poor in Super Rugby but when it came to the domestic competition, Newlands was the place to be in the months from August through to the end of October, with Gert Smal’s arrival as director of rugby at Western Province having the desired effect of bringing clarity to the game plan.
It might be disingenuous to suggest that WP have fully transformed into a running team, for the statistics from the season showed that they had kicked the ball as much as they ever have, and defensive impregnability remained a massive part of their success story and was key in their narrow final win against the Lions.
What had changed though was mindset, meaning the Cape side was prepared to be more unpredictable in approach, to attack from areas of the field they wouldn’t have been prepared to previously, with the pivotal change being their willingness to have a go on the counter-attack. This effectively meant being prepared to run the ball a couple of channels wider from the turn-over contact point than was previously the case.
And with speedsters like Sevens stars Seabelo Senatla and Cheslin Kolbe there to capitalise on any half chance, plus a young wing in Kobus van Wyk who brought much needed size and ability on the cross kick to the back three mix, there were some spectacular tries scored by Province. Of course, the Currie Cup can’t hope to compete with international rugby or with Super Rugby when it comes to putting bums on seats, but gradually during the season the Newlands faithful started returning and were wowed by some of the spectacular tries that were scored.
The culmination of the season was of course the sold out final against the Lions, the second year in a row where the deciding game has been played out in front of a full house at Newlands. WP made up for their disappointing defeat to the Sharks in the 2013 final with a hard fought win against a Lions side that was effectively a Super Rugby outfit.
Would the final be so well attended without the Boks if it was played elsewhere? That is not clear, for generally attendances were down. Well, perhaps in Johannesburg, where the Lions are injecting some much needed energy back into rugby in that part of the world, and where Johan Ackermann has done wonders in building on the foundations laid some years ago by former All Black coach John Mitchell.
Ackermann was learning when he was assistant to Mitchell when the Lions won the Currie Cup in 2011, but has subsequently developed into a respected and astute coach in his own right. He may have got the game wrong in the final, where the Lions lacked the balance needed to break down the WP defensive system, but nobody would argue against the contention that the best two teams made the final – and by some distance. (PLEASE NOTE BULLE AND GUPPIES FANS!!)
Players from the respective unions who used the opportunity to make names for themselves were WP’s Nizaam Carr, who was rewarded with his Springbok cap on the end of year tour, Van Wyk, Senatla, and young locks Ruan Botha and Jean Kleyn, while for the Lions their exciting brand of rugby showcased the talents of Warren Whiteley, Jaco Kriel, Lionel Mapoe, Marnitz Boshoff and a host of others.
But elsewhere it wasn’t such a productive season, not least for the Cheetahs, who failed to make the semifinals. The fact their team wasn’t there in the knock-out phase of the season should concern supporters of the Bloemfontein based team as it used to be an expectation that in World Cup years when the Boks weren’t available they and the Lions would be frontrunners.
When John Plumtree was coaching the Sharks, the Durban union made a habit of winning the log even with an understrength team, but it was plain from an early stage of the domestic season that this wouldn’t be the case this year. Apart from looking light on personnel, the Sharks just looked poorly coached, and Gary Gold’s arrival as director of rugby hasn’t come soon enough.
The Sharks had an easier draw than a team like WP because of the way the fixture list was drawn up into separate sections, with Province playing tough teams twice whereas the Sharks only had to play the likes of WP, the Lions and the Bulls once. That didn’t help them though, with their unexpected home defeat to Griquas being the lowpoint of their season.(OH HOW HAPLESS WERE THE GUPPIES THIS SEASON!!!!!)
Until the sturdily build Andre Esterhuizen was introduced at inside centre for the away match against the Cheetahs, the Sharks looked like they were plummeting to a finish well outside the top four. Fortunately for them they managed to get some momentum, which was helped by WP’s decision to field a second string team against them in the final league fixture at Newlands when Province’s task of topping the log had already been completed. (A FACT IGNORED BY THE GUPPIES OF COURSE!)
Considering how understrength WP were that day, the Sharks struggled in that Cape Town encounter, and it was no surprise when they were then blown away by the Lions in the semifinal in Johannesburg. The Sharks seldom played in front of a sizeable crowd at their home ground of Kings Park and there is much work to be done in Durban if those crowds are going to come back.
Not that the Sharks are the only top union at the moment who appear to be feeling the pinch. After being more competitive than anticipated for much of the Super Rugby season as the Bulls, the Currie Cup incarnation of the Pretoria team, the Blue Bulls, was abjectly poor and the only real surprise was that they somehow managed to sneak into the play-offs.(BULLE WERE VERY POOR AND PERHAPS NEED A NEW COACH)
That looked unlikely when they were thumped home and away by WP and also away by the Lions, with even a very average Sharks team managing a hard fought win at Loftus. The Bulls have the cream of South Africa’s young talent on their books and it is inexcusable that they should be so poor, a fact that should surely precipitate some hard thought at Loftus about the future of the coaching staff.
The surprise package of the season, at least up until the last couple of rounds, was the Pumas. Jimmy Stonehouse’s team built up an impressive record at Mbombela Stadium before finally being undone by WP, with wins over the Cheetahs and the Sharks being registered in the early weeks. Like all country unions, however, depth is a problem in Nelspruit, and once the injuries hit the Pumas disappeared from the radar screen.
They fell away so badly that right at the end of the season they even lost to the Eastern Province Kings, who must surely rate as the non-event of the 2014 Currie Cup season. If that union is going to be competitive in Super Rugby in 2016, some miracle work is going to be needed over the next 14 months.
ONE CAN SAFELY PREDICT THE EP QUEENS WILL BE THE LAUGHING STOCK OF THE COMP.
Oh the amazing depth of WP rugby dispite Bok call ups and exports to other SA franchises and of course to the NH and Japan. Is there another rugby region in the whole wide world like WP? I doubt it.
Biltong Bek this is not being windgat its just being realistic.
