Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – They haven’t managed a victory in either of their last two outings but the Golden Lions are within touching distance now of sealing rights to a possible home Absa Currie Cup final.

All John Mitchell’s charges need to be sure of ending top after the round-robin phase is one further win against Western Province in Johannesburg next Saturday (it doesn’t even have to be with a bonus point), and if they fail to achieve it then, there is still the away meeting with the Sharks in the final round of the ordinary season in which to get it right.

They lost to the Blue Bulls last week and had to come from 25-11 behind in the dying minutes just to secure a thrilling 25-25 draw with the Cheetahs in a muddy Bloemfontein on Saturday.

But the two log points they stole at the death for levelling matters with two converted tries – the Cheetahs will be kicking themselves for their defensive naivety over the second – ultimately still represented very useful progress in their quest to clinch a first Ellis Park final in nine years.

Back in 2002, they were convincingly beaten 31-7 by neighbours the Blue Bulls at the venue.

From a Lions perspective, even better news was to fairly quickly follow their fightback: the Sharks then proceeded to crash 15-10 at home to a significantly weakened Western Province side, managing only a lone table point for finishing within seven points on the scoreboard.

It meant that John Plumtree’s side, presently going through one of those strange leaden-footed phases that sometimes afflict them, remained as many as seven points behind in second spot on the table, with 38 points to the Lions’ 45.

So another four points puts the Lions out of reach of anyone.

A battle royale is developing for the second “home semi” berth, with the third-placed Cheetahs on 37 points, the now slightly revitalised Province in fourth on 36, and the Bulls lying fifth on 33.

And just making the cut for the last four thus remains a nerve-jangling affair with two high-stakes rounds to play; sixth-placed Griquas on 30 points, for instance, will be right in the hunt as well if they can knock over the Bulls in Kimberley next weekend and thus do WP a big favour.

Of the current top four sides, the Cheetahs could probably be said to have the easiest run-in on paper, as they play the Pumas in Witbank next Friday and round off their campaign at home to Griquas – the expected wins in both might well see them leapfrog the Sharks for a home semi-final.

Still, despite their lack of verve of late, the Sharks will still be tipped by most pundits to earn a full house of five points away to the bottom-placed Leopards in their next fixture, which could go a long way to restoring rhythm.

It must be said that this weekend’s “headline” clash in Durban between last year’s finalists served up little evidence that either the Sharks or Province are likely cup winners.

In blustery conditions, there were far too many errors on both sides and penalties aplenty, plus a comedy of mutual place-kicking errors that went a long way to explaining the rather low-scoring affair.

But Allister Coetzee, coach of the injury-plagued visitors, will not care: his youthful charges grabbed an unlikely, precious win against a line-up sporting notably more first-class caps between them, thanks to Freddie Michalak’s late, ill-advised little grubber pretty deep in his own territory that Dewaldt Duvenage was able to gleefully latch onto and dive over for the 78th-minute try that broke a 10-10 deadlock.

Psst, with the Lions suddenly not looking too convincing as the competition nears its close, and the Cheetahs having squandered such a commanding lead in the Bloemfontein match, what price those wily old Bulls banishing all that early-season angst at Loftus and running off jubilantly with a Currie Cup yet again?

They do say it’s all about peaking at the right time ...

Next weekend’s programme:
Friday: Pumas v Cheetahs, Witbank.
Saturday: Griquas v Blue Bulls, Kimberley; Lions v Western Province, Johannesburg; Leopards v Sharks, Rustenburg.

*The final round a week later (home teams first) is as follows: Bulls v Leopards, Cheetahs v Griquas, WP v Pumas, Sharks v Lions.

* Click HERE for the latest Currie Cup odds on BET.CO.ZA