Herewith the two teams for this weekend’s Currie Cup Premier Division Final at Mr Price Kings Park, Durban.
DHL Western Province:
DHL Western Province head coach Allister Coetzee has named his team for Saturday’s 2012 Absa Currie Cup Final against the Sharks at Mr Price Kings Park in Durban (17:00 SA Time).
Coetzee has made just one change to the starting line-up that beat the Golden Lions 21-16 in last Saturday’s dramatic semifinal, with Damian de Allende and Marcel Brache trading places – De Allende starting in the No.12 jersey and Brache dropping to the bench for the final.
“They have got a powerful team and I think Marcel (Brache) will do a job off the bench and we will probably be needing his experience in the last couple of minutes of the game,” explained Coetzee.
“We have got to front up physically and I think Damien (de Allende) is the right choice.
“He is quite a good ball-carrier, he has got explosive pace, he is quite big and tall and he has got good core skills as well.”
Flank Deon Fourie will captain the team, with six Under-21 players in the matchday 22 and six Test Springboks and one Canadian international in the squad.
Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Don Armand, 6 Deon Fourie (Captain), 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Replacements: 16 Deon Carstens, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Louis Schreuder, 21 Marcel Brache, 22 Joe Pietersen.
The Sharks
The Sharks’ match day 22 to take on Western Province in the Absa Currie Cup Final on Saturday at Mr Price KINGS PARK features a mix of those who have done duty all season as well as returning Springboks.
In all, coach John Plumtree has selected eight current and recent Springboks in the starting line-up (add Craig Burden to that list as an unused member of the Springbok squad) with a further four named on the bench in a show of force from the Durban side.
It was a point of interest just how the returning Springboks would be reintegrated back into the competition at the conclusion of the Castle Rugby Championship, with the likes of Western Province and the Blue Bulls throwing all of theirs straight back into duty as they faced more pressure in the final rounds, while The Sharks had the luxury of being picky whilst rewarding the players who had taken The Sharks this far.
“The squad is all together now, we have been for a couple weeks, so there were fewer selection headaches for me,” Plumtree explains. “We do feel for the players that are left out, that makes it hard on those who went through the whole campaign. And might not be involved.”
He adds that there have been lessons learned from the past, although their situation did ease the pressure to play the Springboks where they might have been better coming back into the side slowly.
“Definitely, it was something we focussed on and made easier by the position we were in,” he points out. “With the format as it is, with six teams and relegation involved, the pressure was on those sides in that relegation zone to play their bigger names.”
For this match, Plumtree has retained the same backline from last week’s semi-final with rotational changes amongst the forwards. Willem Alberts starts with Jean Deysel replacing him on the bench while Steven Sykes returns for a start after his recovery from injury (which had him playing off the bench last week).
In the front row, Craig Burden switches with Kyle Cooper with Dale Chadwick the unfortunate one to miss out. Odwa Ndungane will add further experience off the bench after returning from injury.
With home ground advantage, The Sharks have been instilled as favourites, with Western Province themselves happy to take the underdog tag. “It’s a way of deflecting pressure away from themselves for them to call us the favourites,” Plumtree says. “They’ll have their own expectations and they will be coming here to win, I am not buying into that.
“They are good enough to be here at this point, we respect that and we will go full out at them and they will be doing the same with us.”
Sharks: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Keegan Daniel (Captain), 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Anton Bresler, 4 Steven Sykes, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Craig Burden, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Wiehahn Herbst, 18 Jandre Marais, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Odwa Ndungane.
Date: Saturday 27 October
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Kick-off: 17:00 SA Time (15:00 GMT)
Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant referees: Christie du Preez, Stefan Breytenbach
TMO: Johann Meuwesen
57 @ grootblousmile:
Great gbs, a slightly longer version of what Sharky put up yesterday. Just keep reminding us though… 🙂
The outcome of this game will be determined by ATTITUDE, PASSION, CHANCES TAKEN…
The Sharks have a better settled and much more experienced side, very few key injuries (bar Bismarck).
WP have the defensive systems, exuberance of youth… and an average coach… but many Key injuries.
I give it to the Sharks by 10 or more…
60 @ Just For Kicks: Sorry about that, tried to be clever – got it right now!
60 @ Just For Kicks:
So you see, you rate your team, like you should. They a very good side.
Now were you as honest in your opinion there as I was in mine?….. 😉
Tell us where you think Province are stronger. Eben surely is better than Sykes and I think Habs is better than Mvovo.
@ Puma:
@ grootblousmile:
Best CC final, I was there, my new Opel Monza was stolen that day in front of the New Union Hotel, Natal/Ntvl 1992, Loftus, Tony Watson in the corner shaking off Theo van Rensburg, then late tackle by Robert du Preez behind the tryline…..Natal scored 10 points in 2 minutes, overs skedovers….. Craig Jamieson and the boys took the cup back over the green hills where it will rest henceforth again……and that’s all I have to say about that.
@ grootblousmile:
What I don’t understand / like / get is the love going on between the Sharks and WP supporters.
There is no spite, no attitude, no energy.
The Sharks are talking up the WP very pleasantly, and the jolly good WP supporters are being all polite about it.
It is quite sickening.
I suppose that we must expect this limp wristed kind of approach to a final from the 2 most boring set of supporters in the CC.
56 @ Puma:hahaha, didn’t see that coming!
60 @ Just For Kicks:
Okay see you got it up there now.
66 @ Loosehead:
Bwahahaha
Now you’ve done it…..
67 @ Just For Kicks:
HAHAHAHAHA. I know only what I am seeing, probably do have my black and white glasses on there…. 😉
Actually I do rate Aplon highly, just that Ludik is having such a great season.
I also rate JDJ a lot, though seeing Jordaan against the Reds and the Junior WC shows what a class player he is. So he just edges JdJ for now… 🙂
@ Loosehead:
@ Loosehead:
Just you make sure you boys nail the EPQueenies first, don’t concern yourself with the CC just yet!!!
@ Loosehead:
Your welcome to do the talking for us 😉 we promise we wont stop you 😆
64 @ Puma:Like I alluded to, the big difference is in the coaching, not the players. In my opinion, the teams are fairly evenly matched, but when you look at the season, WeePee have been all over the place, up one week, losing dismally the next. Whereas the Sharks, through Plum, have been quietly building a solid game plan, sticking with it, and improving steadily week after week.
Yes, defence is sooo important, I don’t deny it, but the adage “defence wins you matches” is history in the modern game. Sharks have a very balance attack and defence. The WeePee/Stormers……well, you decide
66 @ Loosehead:
Priceless! Had a bloody good laugh there…………..hahahaha…….. 😆
58 @ Puma:
I have 50 reasons to party today.
Unfortunately having to put bread on the table intervenes!
71 @ Pietman:
Arghhhh, even if the Queenies come close to winning in PE, I would read nothing in it.
Tree State okes are already relaxing and won’t be so all fired up and gutsed out for this game against that bunch of lemons!
73 @ Just For Kicks:
Have to agree with Plum. He is a superb coach, though I also rate AC.
You do remember my Sharks losing badly against Kwas though? We can also get it wrong sometimes.
Though this is a final and I think BOTH teams will play above their weight. Going to be a cracking game.
Watching the video clip totally forgot we sing the national anthem before the CC. Awesome, vibe going to be electric at the Tank. Damn hope it don’t rain.
76 @ grootblousmile:
Maybe so, but if the FS have ANY pride they will want to humiliate the Kings.
75 @ Scrumdown:
hahaha. Was Piet’s idea…hahaha. Not a bad one though…LOL.
Yesterdays music thread got us in the party mood I think..lol.
If only 2 decent teams were playing, like the Bools and the Vrystaat [ fuck me they have to klap the Kings tomorrow night] there would be a shit fight going on between that silly fcuk GBS, Cheetah4eva, bdb and myself. I would be telling them about how crap McGyver is at scrumming, how the Potties are walking sick notes, how boring the backline is, Sideshow Bob, Hoohah is the new Brent Russel, Pretoria girls are fat and boring in bed etc.
They would [be very wrong in] saying that our front row sucks, we are the poor cousins, our conditioning is crap, we only play with Boland and Bools throw away players.
There would be some gees on this site.
These Sharks gents and ladies and the WP metro-sexuals are so about as exciting as Heyneke Meyers game plan.
Now up the tempo of this or support the Kings next year.
Piss fukken poor the lot of you.
78 @ grootblousmile:
LOL.
Now try and find a clip with Trevor Naoh? He is brilliant, one of our best.
81 @ grootblousmile:
Snap! You have done so…lol.
82 @ Loosehead:
Fark YOU, Ingelsman!
Hahaha
80 @ Puma:
My 50th today so you can be sure I’ll have an in depth discussion with the Captain later this afternoon.
81 @ grootblousmile:
Great stuff. Trevor is brilliant, has a gift for sure.
82 @ Loosehead:
bwaaahaaaaaa.
@ Loosehead:
@ Loosehead:
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