It’s the Absa Currie Cup Final most people anticipated; it’s the Sharks against the Vodacom Blue Bulls in Durban and the men in light blue could not be any more determined to go one better after their semifinal win over the defending champion Vodacom Free State Cheetahs.

The Bulls beat the Cheetahs 31-19 in a hard-fought encounter in Pretoria on Saturday evening, just hours after the table-topping Sharks made sure they would be hosting the Absa Currie Cup Final.

The Sharks, who have lost just twice this season, beat the Xerox Lions 29-14 in their semifinal in Durban, with both teams scoring two tries in a high-quality encounter.

The difference in the end was the kicking boot of September’s Absa Currie Cup Player of the Month, Ruan Pienaar, who contributed 16 points, whilst fellow Bok star Frans Steyn also weighed in with a monstrous 58-metre penalty goal.

Of course, the Sharks against the Bulls – in Durban – is a repeat of last year’s drama-filled Vodacom Super 14 Final; a game the Bulls won 20-19 in the last minute through a superb Bryan Habana try and Derick Hougaard’s subsequent conversion.

But Bulls skipper Matfield, who led his team to Super 14 glory, scoffed at suggestions that the Super 14 Final would have any bearing on the Absa Currie Cup Final in two weeks’ time.

“The Super 14 Final was special, as we made history by becoming the first-ever South African team to win the tournament, but that’s in the past now,” said Matfield on Saturday evening.

“The Absa Currie Cup is a different story altogether; it’s an important competition for us (the Bulls), mostly because of its great traditions. Plus, us Springboks always look forward to playing in the Absa Currie Cup and, of course, there’s no better feeling than being able to drink a beer out of that trophy.”

Speaking about his team’s 31-19 win over the defending champions – who won the trophy in 2005 and 2007 and shared it with the self-same Bulls in 2006 – Matfield added: “We did well in the scrums and line-outs (against the Cheetahs), but we have a few minor things to work on before the Final. We’re confident, however, that things will be in order before the 25th.”

Vodacom Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske was understandably a bitterly disappointed man after his side’s semifinal loss.

“The Bulls capitalised on our mistakes – those ten points (a converted try and a penalty) before half-time really cost us,” said Drotske. “It’s always difficult to erase a deficit like that against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.”

The Blue Bulls have not won an Absa Currie Cup trophy since 2004 – when they beat the Cheetahs in the Final – but the Sharks will be chasing their first title since 1996, when the likes of Springbok stars Gary Teichmann, Henry Honiball and Andre Joubert were at their marauding best.

Many believe there are plenty of similarities between the current Sharks team and that team from the 1990’s and captain Johann Muller wore a broad smile at the final whistle on Saturday afternoon.

“It’s fantastic, we set ourselves some standards this season, we wanted a Final and a home one at that, and we have achieved it,” said Muller, who is leading the Sharks, despite the presence of World Cup winner John Smit in the matchday 22. “In the first half we played some great rugby, tactically we played well.”

The Sharks lost last year’s corresponding fixture at this very venue to the Lions, but there was to be no repeat of that result as the home team ran into a 13-0 lead in virtually as many minutes.

The visitors, to their credit, hit back with a Jaque Fourie try, but another scoring spree from the Sharks saw them into a 26-7 half-time lead and it was effectively game over, despite a brave attempted fightback from the Lions in the second half.

Muller, one of 11 Boks in the Sharks’ starting XV, enthused: “This is a different year, a different team, everything is in the past, and this is a new year and it’s time for a new history to be written.”

Meanwhile, there was also plenty of play-off action at Under-21 and Under-19 level in the Absa Currie Cup, with semifinals and finals taking place at ‘Group A’ and ‘Group B’ level, respectively.

In the Under-21 competition, Griquas’ Under-21s were crowned as champions of ‘Group B’, beating the Valke 42-37 on Friday. It was a fine turnaround for the men from Kimberley after finishing the regular league season in third position, with the ‘Baby Valke’ topping the log.

In ‘Group A’ action, the ‘Baby Bulls’ took a leaf out of their senior team’s book by qualifying for the Under-21 ‘Group A’ Final. The Bulls beat the Golden Lions 40-32 to set up a Final against Free State, who beat Vodacom WP 27-21 in the other semifinal.

In Absa Currie Cup Under-19 action, the Griffons stormed to the ‘Group B’ title with a stunning 69-15 victory over Griquas’ U19’s in one of two curtain-raisers to Friday night’s Absa Currie Cup First Division Final.

In ‘Group A’ action, the Sharks provided yet another Absa Currie Cup finalist, with the ‘Baby Sharks’ beating the Lions 28-25 in their semifinal fixture. The Sharks will meet WP U19 in the Final, after the Capetonians beat Free State 20-18 in the other ‘Group A’ semifinal.

All three finals, the Under-19, Under-21 and the Premier Division Final will all be played on Saturday, October 25 at the Absa Stadium in Durban.

The Under-19 Final kicks-off at 12pm, followed by the U21 Final at 2pm and then the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Final between the Sharks and the Vodacom Blue Bulls at 4.30pm.

Top points-scorers:

183 – Morne Steyn (Vodacom Blue Bulls)
172 – Earl Rose (Xerox Lions)
102 – Conrad Barnard (Wildeklawer Griquas)
87 – Ruan Pienaar (Sharks)
84 – Chris Rossouw (Vodacom Free State Cheetahs)

Top try-scorers:

9 – Keegan Daniel (Sharks)
8 – Jacques Botes (Sharks), MJ Mentz (Wildeklawer Griquas)
7 – John Mametsa (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Jongi Nokwe (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Doppies la Grange (Xerox Lions)
6 – JP Pietersen (Sharks), Tiger Mangweni (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Wynand Olivier (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Andries Bekker (Vodacom Western Province), Bjorn Basson (Wildeklawer Griquas), Michael Killian (Xerox Lions)
5 – Waylon Murray (Sharks), Ernie Kruger (Valke), Sarel Pretorius (Wildeklawer Griquas), Jaco Pretorius (Xerox Lions), Earl Rose (Xerox Lions)
4 – Danwel Demas (Boland Cavaliers), Willem van Zyl (Boland Cavaliers), Elgar Watts (Boland Cavaliers), Albert van den Berg (Sharks), Dewald Pretorius (Valke), Marius Delport (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Akona Ndungane (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Wikus van Heerden (Vodacom Blue Bulls), JW Jonker (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Fabian Juries (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Jean de Villiers (Vodacom WP), Sireli Naqelevuki (Vodacom WP), Rayno Benjamin (Xerox Lions), Willie Wepener (Xerox Lions)
3 – John Daniels (Boland Cavaliers), Deon Carstens (Sharks), Chris Jordaan (Sharks), Rouan Cloete (Valke), Johan Jackson (Valke), Bryan Habana (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Derick Kuun (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Pedrie Wannenburg (Vodacom Blue Bulls), Heinrich Brussow (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Tewis de Bruyn (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Robert Ebersohn (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Kabamba Floors (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Wilton Pietersen (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Hendro Scholtz (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Juan Smith (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Schalk van der Merwe (Vodacom FS Cheetahs), Tonderai Chavhanga (Vodacom WP), Wylie Human (Vodacom WP), Luke Watson Wylie Human (Vodacom WP), Lukhanyo ‘Trompie’ Nontshinga, Franco van der Merwe (Xerox Lions), Jaco van Schalkwyk (Xerox Lions), Jano Vermaak (Xerox Lions).

Source: sarugby.co.za

Tags: Currie Cup, SA-Rugby