The cat is definitely amongst the pigeons after three rounds of this season’s Carling Currie Cup. And after a weekend of two big upsets, it is safe to say that there is more than one cat in the cage scrapping out to feast on what could be a massive reward come the end of the competition.
Ahead of this weekend’s third round of the Currie Cup, bookmakers' odds had predicted favourable odds for two big dogs of South African rugby, the Vodacom Bulls and Fidelity ADT Lions. Both Gauteng teams were sitting pretty at the top of the Currie Cup standings with 10 points each after the first two rounds. Early predictions also had these two sides as favourites to contest the Grand Final on 20 September.
Boland and Pumas Pull Off Big Upsets
However, no one told that to the Airlink Pumas and Sanlam Boland Cavaliers this past weekend. With coach Jimmy Stonehouse’s Pumas jumping to the top of the standings after convincingly thumping counterpart Phiwe Nomlomo’s Bulls 41-7 at Loftus Versfeld.
Down in Wellington, coach Hawies Fourie’s Cavaliers also outplayed the Lions 29-10 in their Sunday Showdown at Boland Stadium, to jump up to third place on the standings.
Meanwhile, there were also wins for the Suzuki Griquas who deservedly smacked a very poor Western Province outfit 47-17 in Kimberley on Friday, while the Toyota Cheetahs won a snorefest of a clash against the Hollywoodbets Sharks by the small margin of 7-5 in Durban.
But again, the highlight of the past weekend’s Currie Cup action remained the return of newbies, Boland Cavaliers, in the season's competition.
With two home wins and a fighting loss to the Griquas in Kimberley, the Cavas have captured the hearts and minds of lovers of Currie Cup rugby. Not only on the field but also how both home games have been sold-out affairs.
Cavaliers Eye Currie Cup Semi-Final Spot
The team from Wellington is certainly making the most of their return to the Currie Cup after an absence of nine years.
And they are not about to let the good times end, as Cavas captain Marlon Williams and his men are eyeing a semi-final spot.
After the win against the Lions, Williams said:
We always want to strive to be our best at home. We are a passionate community, so we want to make them proud. We want to create hope for that small kid in the crowd, we want to make sure they can get behind the Boland and make sure they don’t support other teams in the province. We are not just here in this competition to make up the numbers, you know. We are a proud and passionate union… don’t think you are gonna come here and rock up and just get your points.
We take great pride in what we do and how we do it. There is a lot of emphasis, especially with a coach like Coach Hawies, who is a passionate coach and who does not like losing, so we really work hard. We plan ahead, and what’s also important is to keep the focus on 80 percent us, and 20 percent the other teams. It does not help to focus too much on other teams, and then we forget about ourselves and our strengths. We will go look at what our weaknesses are and work on that to get better at what we do.
Hawies Fourie: Currie Cup Job Only Just Getting Started For Boland
However, Boland mentor Fourie, knows his team have to keep their feet planted firmly on the ground if they hope to reach their goal of making it to the semi-finals.
That was Marlon’s message to the guys in the dressing room after the game, to stay humble, feet on the ground and start again on Tuesday morning and start from zero.
For me it is always important that after a game you put it behind you as quickly as possible – winning or losing. Sometimes you hang on to a result too long so as a coaching staff and as players, we need to put the game behind us, focus on the next one. We all know the Bulls will come back with a bang next week and we can expect them to try and turn it around. They did not play well last night and the Pumas outmuscled them so we expect the Bulls to be really physical next weekend, and back to their old self. But we know how to play in these conditions and we back ourselves to do it well again.
Soul Searching Time for Currie Cup Big Dogs
Meanwhile Lions coach Mziwakhe Nkosi admits the Boland gave his Johannesburg outfit a reality check on Sunday and knows they will need to lift their levels when they tackle the Pumas in Nelspruit this coming weekend.
Obviously, this is a very disappointing result. More than anything, a disappointing performance. I felt the Boland were good for it; they brought in the crowd and we probably allowed them to bring the crowd in. But a disappointing performance in particular after the start that we have had in the Currie Cup, so we have a lot of work to do to pick ourselves up. Credit to Hawies and his coaching group and team, they were outstanding. They were good for the 29-10 win. There is one or two things that we were good at today and that we perhaps were disappointed in. Not a performance that is anything to write home about but we have still got some points on the board to play with. Trip to Pumas next week, so we look forward to that.
Wooden Spoon For Western Province?
Down in Cape Town, the winless Western Province have fallen to last place on the Currie Cup log, with zero points after three games.
To add further insult to their winless run, it looks as if Province captain and Springboks Sevens ace, Zain Davids’ Currie Cup campaign has come to an end after an early injury during Friday’s loss against the Griquas.
Another tough encounter awaits Coach Labeeb Levy’s young side as they have to travel to Bloemfontein to tackle Frans Steyn’s Cheetahs on Saturday.
While the also winless Sharks take on the Griquas in a Round 4 clash.
