Since Western Province are lining up the Leopards at Newlands this week I thought I’d go scratching through the highlights of the corresponding fixture between these 2 teams in the first round of the Currie Cup Premier Division in the hope of finding something redeeming to say about the Leppids in my weekly Currie Cup review. And I found this gem:

In what is probably their best passage of play in the whole match, watch in slomo horror as Leppids number 8 Morné Hanekom pins WP flanker Siya Kolisi with a casual lob of the rugby ball for an eye-watering bull’s-eye.

Even better is the quality work from commentator Andy Capastagno right at the end of the video, who nails this one on the, erm, head with his memorable “land owner” quip. If he wasn’t such a biased Sharks supporter I might actually start liking him.

The Cheetahs again had the Leopards‘ number when they ran in a convincing 60-17 victory over their North Western neighbours in their Currie Cup match in a wet Bloemfontein on Friday night. The Leopards started and finished with a bang, but the fireworks were delivered by a slick Cheetahs side who ran the Leopards ragged in difficult conditions.

Western Province secured a 2009 Currie Cup home semifinal berth in superb fashion with an emphatic 50-7 win over neighbours the Boland Kavaliers in the Absa Currie Cup derby at a sun-drenched Newlands on Saturday afternoon. Admittedly, the Boland side never at any stage looked like posing a threat to the vastly superior Province side, but they provided the ‘soft’ sort of opposition that was ideal preparation for the Newlands-based outfit ahead of the semifinal in a fortnight’s time. Province served notice at the outset that they were there to play open rugby, and conditions at Newlands were ideal. At the end of it all, Province matched the sizzling hot weather with seven well-taken tries, against one from Boland.

The Blue Bulls moved to third place on the Currie Cup log when they beat Griquas 61-27 at Loftus on Saturday, and with the win dented their opposition’s hopes of playing in the semifinals. The Blue Bulls ran in eight tries to Griquas’ four, and were in complete control from just after midway through the first half, with Griquas getting little possession. The reality, however, is that the Blue Bulls did not look like possible Currie Cup champions except in spurts, when they were really impressive.

The Sharks were stretched all the way but killed off a determined Lions team to reach the Currie Cup playoffs after a rusty display by narrowly beating them 19-17 in the Absa Stadium on Saturday.

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Western Province stormed into the Currie Cup play-offs with a rousing 43-3 win over Griquas in the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division match at Newlands on Saturday afternoon. Province crowned their victory with a bonus point after they managed five tries against a side that scored a shock victory over them in first-round competition. A heavy downpour and a soggy pitch greeted the teams as they ran out. As a result of the heavy underfoot conditions play was frequently punctuated by knock-ons, dropped passes and spilt
catches.

The Sharks beat the lowly Leopards 34-20 in their match in Durban on Friday night and also added a bonus point to their log  tally, but the Leopards would have been the happier of the two teams at full-time. Without six of their regulars, who were either injured or rested, the North West side – second from last with only one win from 11 matches before the game – tackled their hearts out and really took it to the Sharks, who had a number of their Tri-Nations  Springboks back on the field.

The Blue Bulls started off at a tremendous tempo and obviously intent on getting a bonus point fifer, but in the end they had to pull out all the stops to prevent the Free State Cheetahs from scoring the winning try at Loftus on Saturday. Both sides scored three tries in the Blue Bulls’ 30-27 Currie Cup win.

Source + Pic: sarugby.com

Potchefstroom’s main road through town on the way to Cape Town could aptly be renamed Luke Watson Drive after the Western Province captain set up his team’s 37-3 Currie Cup victory over the Leopards on Friday night. Watson scored two vital tries in the second half, tailing behind the Western Province drives, and set up a third in similar fashion for centre Juan de Jongh. Province scored five tries, three as a result of their forward drives and two by their quick backs Joe Pietersen and Gio Aplon, but the Leopards deserve much more credit than their single penalty goal might indicate.

Griquas came from behind in a hard-fought match on Saturday to beat the Lions 36-31 and keep their Currie Cup playoff hopes alive with flyhalf Naas Olivier contributing 26 points in a faultless display of goal kicking. It was a tough encounter on the hard field of Hoërskool Diamantveld where the match had to be moved because of the GWK Stadium being used for a soccer fixture. Although the commitment of the two sides cannot be faulted, too many handling mistakes and some poor options distracted from making it an outstanding match.

The Blue Bulls ran the Boland Kavaliers off their feet on Saturday, beating the home team 72-16 after leading 22-16 at halftime.  The Bulls, who took total control in the second half, scored 10 tries to one and got their bonus point try in the 49th minute when replacement flanker Derick Kuun dotted down his first of three tries. With a well-deserved victory and an easy five points the Bulls are firmly in contention for a place in the play-offs. The Bulls scored 50 unanswered points in the last 40 minutes and  destroyed the Boland defence.

The Sharks returned to the top of the Currie Cup log when they beat the Free State Cheetahs 24-13 in a fast-moving match in Durban on Saturday, also bringing an end to the Cheetahs’ six-match winning streak.

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Griquas kept their Currie Cup hopes alive with a five pointer at Wellington on Friday. The visitors from Kimberley beat the Boland Kavaliers 31-23 after leading 21-9 at halftime. The match was by no means a spectacle, but Griquas did enough to win more comfortably than the final score suggests.  For the Kavaliers it was an improved effort, but still not good enough at this level. The Griquas pack was solid throughout with No 8 Jonathan Mokuena, flanker Rohan Kitshoff and lock Jacques Lombaard prominent.

The Lions stayed on course to reach the semi-finals of the Currie Cup with a solid 31-13 win over the Leopards at Coca-Cola Park on Friday night. The Lions scored five tries to one against a Leopards side which seemed strangely subdued before the break.  The visitors were disappointing in the first half – especially considering their two good performances in trouncing the Boland Cavaliers and then losing 34-33 to Griquas last weekend.

The Free State Cheetahs rounded off a magnificent second-half fightback to run-out close-shave 33-31 victors over Western Province in Bloemfontein on Saturday afternoon. Just when it seemed the Cape Town visitors would sneak in with a 31-26 win, the Cheetahs were awarded a penalty try in the final minute of the match to level scores at 31-all.  However, Cheetahs flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter added the conversion to secure a thrilling 33-31 victory in a match which was  a brilliant advertisement for South African rugby.

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The Sharks scored eight tries to nil as they thrashed a gallant Boland Cavaliers side 48-3 in a Currie Cup rugby

match in Wellington on Friday. The Sharks led 19-3 at halftime with flanker Jacques Botes going on to score a hat-trick of tries. Botes was all over the show and scored his second try after a lone sprint when he picked up a loose ball on his side’s own 25-metre line.  The visitors, however, battled to get their rhythm back after the interval and could score only in the 59th minute via a try by scrumhalf Charl McLeod.  The damwall then burst and the Sharks managed four more tries. Stefan Terblanche had an excellent game for the visitors and had a hand in most of their movements.
The GWK Griquas squeaked passed a game Leopards outfit 34-33 (half-time 13-19) in a thrilling match at Olen Park in Potchefstroom on Friday evening.

The Free State Cheetahs won their fifth consecutive Currie Cup match after starting the season with four losses when they beat a gutsy Golden Lions side 20-16 in Bloemfontein on Saturday.  After an uninspiring but very, very tough first half, there was more life and expansion after halftime, and also plenty of excitement after the Lions had crept back to be within one score of  winning the match. The lasting impression, however, is that neither of the two sides is likely to be a strong contender for the Currie Cup title.

Table-topping Western Province had a championship look about them in their 25-19 victory over the Blue Bulls in the North-South derby at Newlands on Saturday evening.

The victory was a fitting reward for Province who managed to overturn a 16-12 first-half deficit with a spirited second-half display to clinch another fine victory and avenge their first-round 30-22 defeat at Loftus.

Source + Pic: sarugby.com

An ill-disciplined Leopards side lost their seventh successive Currie Cup match against the Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld and ended the match with only 12 players on the field after four yellow and two red cards were issued their players. The Blue Bulls scored six tries in their 44-11 win. The Leopards, who came into the game with a record of six yellow cards and a red in the season, had another six cards – one of which was a red for prop Barend van der Walt’s second yellow card offence. That gives them a total of 10 yellow cards and three reds in their seven matches to date.

The Springbok and Free State Cheetahs wing, Jongi Nokwe, ran in four tries on Saturday to record a comfortable 59-8 win over the Boland Cavaliers at Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein. In the process Free State recorded their third win in the Currie Cup Premier Division. Nokwe also had a big hand in Hennie Daniller’s second try when he run down the left-hand touchline and chipped inside for Daniller who grabbed the ball with one hand for a spectacular try.

Despite enjoying the upper hand for most of the match, Western Province were made to sweat for their 25-20 victory against the Golden Lions in their match at Newlands on Saturday evening.

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