Griquas out to finish Currie Cup home campaign on a high against desperate Sharks

No team is down and out in the Currie Cup as yet, but this weekend could see some gaps widening. 

Currently, the teams are all bunched together on the log, with the Pumas, Cheetahs and Cavaliers all on top with 11 points, followed by the Bulls, Lions and Griquas a point further back, but even the Sharks (1) and Western Province (0) are not out of the running yet.

Obviously, the Sharks’ title defence is hanging by a fraying thread, which could become alarmingly thin on Friday when Round Four of the Currie Cup gets underway in Kimberley.

The Suzuki Griquas will be eager to stay in the hunt for a top-two finish, and home ground advantage in the play-offs will host a desperate and determined Sharks team.

Though the KZN outfit has had a tough start to the season, losing all three of their games, this has made them desperate and dangerous. Another thing to consider, incidentally, is that they have won three of their last five meetings against Griquas.

Suzuki Park a hostile venue

But the visitors should bear in mind that playing in Kimberley is always a challenge, and the Sharks can expect plenty of counterattacking from the hosts.

And you can be assured that Griquas will want to push their home ground advantage with coach Pieter Bergh having a strategy in mind that may add a bit of pressure to the other teams in the competition. “We’ve got a wonderful opportunity to go top of the standings before the other teams play, and that’s our mindset,” the coach said.

However, considering the Sharks’ pedigree, he was quick to caution against expecting an effortless cruise to the top of the standings. He said the young Sharks team is overflowing with Under-20 graduates and Baby Boks, and has shown that they are on an upward curve.

“There was a lot more fight and energy, and you could see a different attitude from them (last week against the Cheetahs),” Bergh said.

The Griquas coach said that with Friday’s game being their last league encounter at home, they were keen to make the advantage of familiar conditions, and the ‘gees’ from the grandstand count.

Gaps between teams will widen from now on

Bergh said that it will be important for Griquas to get as high up on the table as possible on Friday, because after this weekend’s Round Four clashes, the gaps on the table will begin to space out a bit. “From the top six teams, the Bulls are playing the Boland, the Lions are playing the Pumas. There will be a gap opening up there,” he said.

“Next week, the Cheetahs play the Lions, we play the Bulls, and Boland play the Pumas. A lot is going to happen in the next three, four weeks, which is wonderful for the competition,” he added.

But looking at the game ahead of them today, Griquas’ main advantage over the Sharks is their cohesion in the wake of plenty of game time, thanks to their deep run in the SA Cup, and the first three rounds of the Currie Cup. This team has bonded and gelled. 

Pedigree will count

The home team also boasts a host of seasoned senior provincial players ready to run the young upstarts ragged. Additionally, they have a lot going for them in several aspects of attack – points scored, tries scored, most line-breaks, and most defenders beaten.

Yet, it is at the breakdown where they have impressed, winning a whopping 20 turnovers thus far in the competition.

Yet, despite Griquas’ forward dominance, the Sharks cannot afford to just prepare for a forward assault. Bergh is constantly adding new items to his bag of tricks, so his team is never one-dimensional and always unpredictable. 

“We’re also kicking a lot,” Bergh said, saying that they demonstrated that last week, “We had 30 kicks against Western Province. We’re finding that balance of when to play and when to kick, playing in the right areas of the field.

“That’s what we’re getting right now.”

“The biggest positive for me is that we have improved every week,” he said.