Money on the Sharks

Former Springbok star Robbie Fleck puts his money where his mouth is ahead of Saturday’s Absa Currie Cup Final – Sharks all the way, says rugby365s columnist.

There is no doubt about it – the two best teams in South Africa will compete in the Currie Cup Final on Saturday, the Sharks and the Blue Bulls. This game has all the makings of an absolute cracker and I’m expecting one of the best ever finals in recent years.

There seems to be plenty of excitement in the air, which can only be great for our rugby, while I guess the imminent Springbok squad announcement is also helping to set the scene.

A lot of the players involved on Saturday should be in the mix later on when the Bok squad is announced, but I already went into detail about that last week, so there is no point repeating myself. (Read last week’s column here!)

Looking to the final, both teams are capable of playing a complete, 15-man game. And even though this is a final, I am expecting a high-scoring match.

The Sharks keep the ball alive and support their runners from deep, whilst the Bulls play with a bit more structure, but they also like to have a go – who wouldn’t with Bryan Habana in their team?!

Pieter Rossouw has given the Bulls backs a whole new dimension and they are threatening from third or fourth phase ball, but also from first phase possession, a superb attribute for any team.

The Sharks, of course, also boast try-scoring threats right across the board and they have are capable of scoring tries from absolutely anywhere – they’re probably a more extravagant try-scoring team for lack of a better word. Their loose forwards Keegan Daniel (nine) and Jacques Botes (eight) top the Currie Cup try-scoring charts, while JP Pietersen is back to his try-scoring best after a very quiet Super 14.

Adding even more spice to this game is the amount of history between the Sharks and the Bulls. There was, of course, that dramatic Super 14 Final in Durban last year and then who can forget the 1990 Currie Cup Final when the underdog Sharks – with Tony Watson scoring a great try – shocked the all-powerful Northern Transvaal at Loftus.

This year, these two teams are locked at 1-1 in the Currie Cup, with both teams having won their home league matches – so the stage could not be set any better!

Looking at the two teams respective strengths, the big thing for me is the Bulls’ structure. While it is their biggest strength, it can also be their weakness at times. If teams are able to match them up front, they tend to lose their structure and form, and things tend to fall apart. The Sharks can not only match them in that department, but they could well trump them…

Habana is an obvious threat, but Morné Steyn has been in fine form at No.10 – bringing a different approach to the crucial flyhalf position – and Wynand Olivier has been playing wonderful rugby in the inside centre channel.

The Sharks also have a very talented backline, jam-packed with game-breakers. The names Pietersen, Adi Jacobs, Frans Steyn, Odwa Ndungane and Ruan Pienaar reads like a Who’s Who of Springbok rugby. Throw in some French flavour with Frédéric Michalak – think back to previous Currie Cup-winning Sharks teams with Olivier Roumat and Thierry Lacroix in the mix – and this Sharks side has very few chinks in its armour.

One would always expect scrummaging to be a major Bulls strength and while it is, I rate the Sharks front row of ‘Beast’ Mtawarira, Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis as a better than unit than the Bulls front three of Gurthrö Steenkamp, Derick Kuün and Rayno Gerber. Bismarck is keeping our World Cup-winning captain John Smit on the bench, while Kuün is a retreated flank who is still getting comfortable at hooker.

The Sharks will attack the Bulls at scrum time and the ‘Beast’ will look to get on top of Rayno Gerber and put them on the back foot. Then, when the Bulls front row has tired a bit, the Sharks can bring on Smit at hooker or prop, and also Deon Carstens, who last played for the Boks in 2007.

In all, the Sharks have 15 Boks and one French international in their 22-man squad – a staggering amount of internationals either way you look at it. The key, however, could be the Sharks bench – Smit, Carstens, Van den Berg, Daniel, Kockott, Barritt and Murray are all quality players with game-breaking abilities.

Daniel has been one of the Currie Cup Players of the Year and he should become a Springbok when the squad is named later in the evening and he would probably walk into any other starting XV in the country. As luck may have it, he finds himself behind the likes of Jacques Botes, Jean Deysel (probably the find of the season) and Ryan Kankowski – the most well-balanced loose trio in the country.

From a playing point of view, I think the Sharks team is more complete than the Bulls – especially when one takes the Sharks bench into account – but the mental strength of the teams will also have a huge bearing on the result.

Yes, it is a different game and a different competition, but that 2007 Super 14 Final will weigh heavily on everybody’s minds. Only, I am pretty sure the Sharks would have learnt their lessons from that day and I, for one, don’t see Frans Steyn missing another simple conversion kick like he did back then.

Don’t worry; the Bulls will remind the Sharks about that game when it comes to Saturday, and even though there will be plenty of banter and loads of aggro, whatever happens out there come 4.30pm will finish with a few beers at the post-match function.

It’s great to see this kind of excitement ahead of a Currie Cup Final – I, for one, am looking forward to what should be an absolute cracker.

Fleckie’s Currie Cup Final prediction: Expect a similar game to the 2007 Super 14 Final, but the Sharks will take it this time around in a high-scoring final.

Until next week,
Fleckie

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