Preview: Vodacom Cup Final

The Pumas and Western Province have travelled as far afield as Windhoek, Secunda, Kimberley and Caledon, and will converge on Cape Town this weekend for the Vodacom Cup Final.

The match – the first time ever the Vodacom Cup Final will be hosted in Cape Town – will form part of Newlands celebrating its 125th year of existence this weekend.

And to add a little spice, it's a replay of last year's quarterfinal, won 13-8 by the Pumas in Nelspruit.

One member of that Pumas side, who will be watching from the sidelines in the colours of the Stormers, is Vincent Koch.

Ten of his teammates from last year's quarterfinal will return to Cape Town this weekend – Jacques Momberg, Frankie Herne, De-Jay Terblanche, Marius Coetzer, Uzair Cassiem, Juan-Claude Roos, Wilmaure Louw, Jerome Pretorius, John-Wessel Bell and Reynier van Rooyen.

For the home team, only six members of their match-22 this weekend were part of the side that tasted defeat in the Mbombela Stadium last year.

They are Jan de Klerk, Rayn Smid, Michael Willemse, Sithembiso Sithole, Deacon Chowles and Robert du Preez.

WP coach John Dobson has selected Wilhelm van der Sluys as the "sole survivor" of their 2012 title-winning side. Louw and Simon Westraadt, now plying their trade in the Lowveld, were in the colours of Griquas three years ago.

Louw was also member of the Pumas side which lost in the Final against the Golden Lions in 2013, and will return for the final along with 10 other members of that team – Momberg, Terblanche, Coetzer, Cassiem, Pretorius, Bell, Herne, Eduan van der Walt, Stefan Watermeyer and BlitzBok Rosko Specman.

The last time these two sides met in Cape Town, was in semifinal in 2012, with WP winning comfortably by 33-20 en route to their maiden Vodacom Cup title.

At home, Western Province hold a commanding 4-1 lead over the Pumas, with the visitors from Mpumalanga recording their first and only win at Newlands in 2002 (58-18). The Capetonians though emerged victorious at home in 2012 (33-20), 2011 (27-14), 2008 (59-19) and 2003 (33-28).

Overall, they've played against each other nine times in the Vodacom Cup, with WP winning six times and the Pumas on three occasions.

"It's a great occasion for Western Province rugby and we'd like to go out there on Saturday and make our supporters proud of this team," said Dobson, who will be head coach of the Cape Town-based union in the Currie Cup.

"We've put in a lot of hard work this season and it's wonderful that we can play a final in front of our supporters at Newlands, but we know it will be a tough encounter against a well-coached and experienced Pumas side. You only have to look at the way in which they won their playoffs in the last fortnight to see that they are peaking at the right time of the season."

Pumas coach MJ Mentz said: "We've already eliminated the champions from 2014 and 2013, and now we have an opportunity to do the same against the champions from 2012.

"It sounds easier than it is though and playing at Newlands provides us with yet another massive challenge. The structures at Western Province are very well established, they are a well-coached side and always bring through some superb young players.

"But we're focused on our own game and what we want to achieve. We saw against the Golden Lions last weekend what our experienced players can do and we'll be counting on them again to pull this one through.

"We're going to Cape Town with a belief that we can win, otherwise we may just as well stay at home. We've shown what we can do in the last two weeks by winning tough matches away from home and Newlands will be even tougher."

Road to the Final:

Round One

Pumas beat Griffons 57-18 (Nelspruit)

WP – bye

Round Two

Pumas beat Welwitschias 61-7 (Windhoek)

WP – bye

Round Three

Pumas beat Limpopo Blue Bulls 52-0 (Secunda)

WP beat Boland Cavaliers 25-10 (Caledon)

Round Four

Pumas lost to Blue Bulls 20-18 (Pretoria)

WP beat Sharks 32-12 (Cape Town)

Round Five

Pumas lost to Golden Lions 24-16 (Nelspruit)

WP beat EP Kings 19-13 (Port Elizabeth)

Round Six

Pumas beat Leopards XV 31-23 (Potchefstroom)

WP beat EP Kings 34-6 (Cape Town)

Round Seven

Pumas beat Falcons 28-22 (Nelspruit)

WP beat Griquas 21-14 (Kimberley)

Round Eight

WP beat Free State XV 30-29 (Bloemfontein)

Pumas – bye

Round Nine

WP beat SWD Eagles 27-19 (Cape Town)

Pumas – bye

Quarterfinals

Pumas beat Griquas 28-14 (Kimberley)

WP beat Leopards XV 47-22 (Cape Town)

Semifinals

Pumas beat Golden Lions 43-20 (Johannesburg)

WP beat Blue Bulls 10-6 (Cape Town)

Vodacom Cup Final results:

1998: Griquas beat Golden Lions 57-0

1999: Golden Lions beat Griquas 73-7

2000: Free State XV beat Griquas 44-24

2001: Blue Bulls beat Boland Cavaliers 42-24

2002: Golden Lions beat Blue Bulls 54-38

2003: Golden Lions beat Blue Bulls 26-17

2004: Golden Lions beat Blue Bulls 35-16

2005: Griquas beat Leopards 27-25

2006: Falcons beat Sharks XV 25-17

2007: Griquas beat Blue Bulls 33-29

2008: Blue Bulls beat Free State XV 25-21

2009: Griquas beat Blue Bulls 28-19

2010: Blue Bulls beat Free State XV 31-29

2011: Pampas XV beat Blue Bulls 14-9

2012: Western Province beat Griquas 20-18

2013: Golden Lions beat Pumas 42-28

2014: Griquas beat Golden Lions 30-6

2015: Western Province v Pumas

The teams:

Western Province: 15 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 14 William Ndayara, 13 Pat Howard, 12 Jaco Taute, 11 Tshotsho Mbovane, 10 Robert du Preez, 9 Godlen Masimla, 8 Rayn Smid, 7 Justin Benn, 6 Tapiwa Tsomondo, 5 Chris van Zyl, 4 Jan de Klerk, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Michael Willemse (captain), 1 Sithembiso  Sithole.

Replacements: 16 Charlie van Jaarsveld, 17 Deacon Chowles, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Luke van der Smit, 20 Justin Phillips, 21 Kyle Lombard, 22 Matt Turner.

Pumas: 15 John-Wessel Bell, 14 Bernado Botha, 13 Wilmaure Louw, 12 Stefan Watermeyer (captain), 11 Jerome Pretorius, 10 Juan-Claude Roos, 9 Reynier van Rooyen, 8 Jason-Colin Fraser, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Marius Coetzer, 4 Rudi Mathee, 3 De-Jay Terblanche, 2 Jacques Momberg, 1 Khwezi Mona.

Replacements: 16 Frankie Herne, 17 Simon Westraadt, 18 Eduan van der Walt, 19 Brian Shabangu, 20 Johan Herbst, 21 Justin van Staden, 22 Rosko Specman.

Date: Saturday, May 30

Venue: Newlands, Cape Town

Kick-off: 14.10 (12.10 GMT)

Referee: Quinton Immelman

Assistant referees: Jason Jaftha, Francois Pretorius

TMO: Deon van Blommestein