Would you like to win a R1 million? It was announced yesterday that a South African rugby fan could win a million Rand in the Absa Currie Cup’s ultimate drop goal kicking competition.
Three lucky winners will be chosen at random from SMS entrants to attempt a drop goal in this year’s Absa Currie Cup Final which takes place on the 31 October 2009. The first successful contestant will walk away with R1m.
The competitors will drop from the intersection of the corner of the 10m and 5m lines. The competition is not open to professionals or first-league club players.
“Rugby fans should start practicing whenever they can squeeze in a session,” said Steward Masela of Absa Group Marketing.
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A significant number of Springbok players have been released to play for their provinces when South Arica’s premier rugby competition, the ABSA Currie Cup kicks off this weekend.
Oregan Hoskins, President of the South African Rugby Union, said at the launch of the competition on Monday that the Bok management decided to releases “as many players as possible” for this coming weekend’s opening matches.
Hoskins, describing it as “the word’s best domestic competition”, said it is obvious that the public want to see the top players in action.
The Currie Cup, one of the oldest competitions in the world and still regarded as the cornerstone of South African rugby, kicks off this Friday when the Boland Cavaliers host the competition newcomers, the Leopards, in Wellington.
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It’s all systems go for this year’s ABSA Currie Cup and it will start with the Boland Cavaliers hosting the Platinum Leopards in Wellington on Friday.
And to mark the occasion SA Rugby and Absa have launched a new logo to renew the identity of Absa’s long-standing sponsorship of South Africa’s 118-year Currie Cup.
“The nature of the game is constantly changing, increasing competition for ‘market share’ so that competing in sports sponsorship necessitates a strategic review of tournament reach and flex in a developing market place”, said Bronwen Rautenbach, Absa Executive Creative Director.
“Absa is confident that the new identity will reflect the nature of rugby in South Africa as it is today, as the logo captures the emotion, professionalism and energy of the current game.”
Eight teams – Boland Cavaliers, GWK Griquas, Platinum Leopards, The Sharks, Vodacom Blue Bulls, Vodacom Free State Cheetahs and Vodacom Western Province and the Xerox Lions, will battle it out for domestic rugby’s most important prize in the Premier Division competition.
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The men from Potchefstroom, the Platinum Leapords are back with the big boys in the Currie Cup Premier division after beating the Valke twice in a row.
“The Leopards – who finished the regular part of the First Division season in first place, before losing to the Griffons in the final on October 10 – beat the Valke 27-19 to make it two from two against the Brakpan-based side, having beaten them 29-24 last weekend.
The Leopards ended the promotion/relegation fortnight as the only unbeaten team and they will be joined in the Premier Division in 2009 by the Boland Cavaliers, despite the Bolanders going down 50-42 to the Griffons in Welkom on Friday afternoon.
Boland beat the Griffons 54-15 last week and that victory was enough to see the Bolanders – who finished seventh in the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division – retain their Premier Division status once again.
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South Africa’s premier Union Rugby competition, the ABSA Currie Cup is set to welcome a new team into their midst.
“The Leopards took a giant leap towards inclusion in South Africa’s top echelon when they edged the Falcons 29-24 in their First Round promotion/relegation match in Brakpan on Friday.
The Leopards, who will take a handy advantage into next week’s second leg, could join the ranks of big animals like the Sharks, Blue Bulls, Cheetahs and Lions – not to mention Western Province, Griquas and Boland Cavaliers – next year.
The Cavaliers have virtually secured their place in the Premier Division for another year with a runaway 54-15 win over the First Division champions, the Griffons, in Wellington earlier on Friday.
The second leg is in Welkom, but Griffons have several mountains to climb if they are to get promotion.
We look at the first leg of the promotion/relegation matches:
Falcons 24-29 Leopards
The Leopards, beaten in the First Division Final last week, have one foot in the big time after beating the Falcons in Brakpan on Friday. The visitors from Potchefstroom deservedly won the match after trailing 6-10 at half-time.
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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.
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It seems that the the remaining two spots for the semi-finals of the Currie Cup will go down to the wire, after this weekend’s happenings both on and off the field.
“Yes, when Western Province and the Lions go head-to-head just after 17.00 (South African time) on Saturday, October 4, there will be one spot in the play-offs remaining and they will be contesting that place.
The Sharks and Blue Bulls have secured their places. All that remains is to determine who finishes first and who ends up second. First place brings with it home ground advantage in a possible Final.
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What an exciting Currie Cup weekend it was once again! In Wellington Vodacom Western Province battled to a 23 – 7 victory over the Boland Kavaliers on poor field conditions and failed to gain their vital bonus point to stay in contention for the semi-finals.
“The pre-match withdrawal of captain Jean de Villiers with a stomach bug and the pressure on Western Province to score four tries, conspired to destabilise the Cape Town outfit and ultimately cost them the all-important bonus point.
Given the context of the game, Boland’s patience, spoiling tactics and superb defensive resiliency proved to be an effective concoction for the home team, with the Kavaliers already resigned to a bottom-two finish and the visitors chasing the defending champion Cheetahs to clinch a playoff berth.
A jittery Western Province failed to convert their try-scoring opportunities and saw several promising offensive manoeuvres into Boland territory fizzle out because of unforced errors.
WP scored three tries through centre Sireli Naqelevuki (2) (redeeming himself after dropping the ball on the score line earlier!) and number eight Luke Watson, while inside centre Morgan Newman slotted a conversion and flyhalf Peter Grant kicked a pair of penalties.
Winger Danwel Demas scored Boland’s only try and fullback Justin Peach converted.”
The Sharks ended the weekend at the top of the log by beating the Lions 34 – 20 in Johannesburg.
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Vodacom Western Province flanker Schalk Burger from Western Province was cleared on technical grounds after facing a disciplinary hearing in Cape Town yesterday.
Burger was cited after being ordered from the field following two yellow card incidents in Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup match against Free State in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Committee chairman Willem Gaum ruled that a player could not be cited for an incident after having been ordered from the field in such circumstances.
Due to this technicality the chairman ruled that Burger had no case to answer.
Burger is thus free to face the Valke in Saturday’s Currie Cup clash.
A 62-metre penalty-kick by Wildeklawer Griquas fullback Riaan Viljoen gave the home team a 21-20 (halftime 12-6) victory over Vodacom Western Province in an exciting Absa Currie Cup match in Kimberley on Saturday afternoon.The result marks the Kimberley team’s first victory of the season, and their desperate desire for a win was clearly visible in the number of kamikaze tackles that were meted out during the course of play.
Coach Dawie Theron’s charges complemented their physicality in the tackle with deft handling and strong, straight-running off the ball in a match which saw the lead change hands five times.
Griquas’ regular kicking ace, flyhalf Conrad Barnard missed four of five attempts at goal – converting hooker James van der Walt’s try after skewing an earlier conversion of wing Gavin Passens’ score – but fortunately for the home team, Viljoen was ready to step into the breach by slotting all three of his penalty-kicks.
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