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Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town - Western Province have a foot back in the door in their quest to earn a possible home final in the Absa Currie Cup.
But smart money still suggests the Sharks, despite their dramatic, last-gasp defeat to the Lions in a pulsating encounter in Johannesburg on Saturday, will finish at the top of the pile when the round-robin phase ends in a fortnight.
A full-house victory against Griquas at Newlands on Friday night took second-placed Province to 43 points and at the very least the knowledge that it will take a near-miracle now for them to miss the semi-finals altogether.
They also made up four points on the table-leading Sharks after the minor turn-up for the books at Coca-Cola Park, where the dapper Lions squeezed out a 22-20 triumph in the weekend’s feature game.
The difference is now only four points, with WP - comfortable if far from faultless winners against the men from Kimberley - interested anew in pipping their coastal rivals to pole position ahead of the knockout activity.
It will still require some doing, however … especially as John Plumtree’s charges have the relative formality of a home outing against the basement Leopards in the penultimate round of games this Friday, where anything but five points for them is massively unlikely.
By contrast, Anton van Zyl and company have a perilous visit to Loftus to play the Blue Bulls, defending champions and still with work to do just to qualify for the last four.
Even in the unlikely event that the “Streeptruie” win in Pretoria with a bonus point, the gap on the Sharks is pretty sure to remain at least four points going into the final round, where they entertain that very team on October 9.
That would mean Province having to win that one by a wide enough margin to deprive the visitors of a bonus point: if they could manage that their considerably superior “for and against” would almost certainly be enough to ensure top position.
WP did win the corresponding home fixture against the Sharks 29-15 last season, although for the final round in 2010 all teams will have their leading Springboks available again and it is the Durban outfit who may benefit slightly more in that respect.
Meanwhile a mighty battle looms next Saturday when the Cheetahs, presently fourth and a point behind the Bulls, entertain the vastly improved Lions in Bloemfontein.
It is a likely eliminator for a semis berth, because the Lions are only two points adrift of the Cheetahs and the winner there will be in a rosy position to muscle the other out – both teams have comparatively easy fixtures in the last round.
The Cheetahs won 20-16 last season, although they come up against a team who are rapidly putting smiles back on the faces of long-suffering Lions fans and confirmed their progress under John Mitchell’s tuition with the fine Sharks win.
It was a particularly punishing encounter, however, with bodies-on-the-line defence the order of the day for both sides and Franco van der Merwe’s troops will do extremely well to get up all over again and topple the Cheetahs in their own backyard.
Injuries are beginning to have an inevitable say on the competition as we near the final furlong: the Bulls had several established stars substituted and nursing ice-packs during their hard-fought win against the Leopards on a bone-dry Potchefstroom surface, the Lions lost Jaco Taute, the Sharks Stefan Terblanche, while Province surrendered Wicus Blaauw prematurely against Griquas.
Top five teams and their remaining matches:
Sharks, 47 points: Leopards (h), WP (a)
WP, 43 points: Bulls (a), Sharks (h)
Blue Bulls, 38 points: WP (h), Griquas (a)
Cheetahs, 37 points: Lions (h), Leopards (a)
Lions, 35 points: Cheetahs (a), Pumas (h)
Cape Town - Western Province have a foot back in the door in their quest to earn a possible home final in the Absa Currie Cup.
But smart money still suggests the Sharks, despite their dramatic, last-gasp defeat to the Lions in a pulsating encounter in Johannesburg on Saturday, will finish at the top of the pile when the round-robin phase ends in a fortnight.
A full-house victory against Griquas at Newlands on Friday night took second-placed Province to 43 points and at the very least the knowledge that it will take a near-miracle now for them to miss the semi-finals altogether.
They also made up four points on the table-leading Sharks after the minor turn-up for the books at Coca-Cola Park, where the dapper Lions squeezed out a 22-20 triumph in the weekend’s feature game.
The difference is now only four points, with WP - comfortable if far from faultless winners against the men from Kimberley - interested anew in pipping their coastal rivals to pole position ahead of the knockout activity.
It will still require some doing, however … especially as John Plumtree’s charges have the relative formality of a home outing against the basement Leopards in the penultimate round of games this Friday, where anything but five points for them is massively unlikely.
By contrast, Anton van Zyl and company have a perilous visit to Loftus to play the Blue Bulls, defending champions and still with work to do just to qualify for the last four.
Even in the unlikely event that the “Streeptruie” win in Pretoria with a bonus point, the gap on the Sharks is pretty sure to remain at least four points going into the final round, where they entertain that very team on October 9.
That would mean Province having to win that one by a wide enough margin to deprive the visitors of a bonus point: if they could manage that their considerably superior “for and against” would almost certainly be enough to ensure top position.
WP did win the corresponding home fixture against the Sharks 29-15 last season, although for the final round in 2010 all teams will have their leading Springboks available again and it is the Durban outfit who may benefit slightly more in that respect.
Meanwhile a mighty battle looms next Saturday when the Cheetahs, presently fourth and a point behind the Bulls, entertain the vastly improved Lions in Bloemfontein.
It is a likely eliminator for a semis berth, because the Lions are only two points adrift of the Cheetahs and the winner there will be in a rosy position to muscle the other out – both teams have comparatively easy fixtures in the last round.
The Cheetahs won 20-16 last season, although they come up against a team who are rapidly putting smiles back on the faces of long-suffering Lions fans and confirmed their progress under John Mitchell’s tuition with the fine Sharks win.
It was a particularly punishing encounter, however, with bodies-on-the-line defence the order of the day for both sides and Franco van der Merwe’s troops will do extremely well to get up all over again and topple the Cheetahs in their own backyard.
Injuries are beginning to have an inevitable say on the competition as we near the final furlong: the Bulls had several established stars substituted and nursing ice-packs during their hard-fought win against the Leopards on a bone-dry Potchefstroom surface, the Lions lost Jaco Taute, the Sharks Stefan Terblanche, while Province surrendered Wicus Blaauw prematurely against Griquas.
Top five teams and their remaining matches:
Sharks, 47 points: Leopards (h), WP (a)
WP, 43 points: Bulls (a), Sharks (h)
Blue Bulls, 38 points: WP (h), Griquas (a)
Cheetahs, 37 points: Lions (h), Leopards (a)
Lions, 35 points: Cheetahs (a), Pumas (h)
