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Johannesburg - With the Absa Currie Cup reaching its halfway mark this weekend the Leopards and Pumas will have to make a step-up if they wish to finish in that all important sixth-place on the log.
If they thought it would get any easier they would be making a grave mistake as they take-on two of the most successful teams in the history of the rugby competition on Friday.
The Pumas host Western Province in Witbank while the Leopards will face the Blue Bulls at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Phokeng.
While the Pumas showed great potential early on in the season, their wheels came off unceremoniously in a 80-16 thrashing against the Cheetahs last weekend.
Province coach Allister Coetzee said he still rated the Pumas despite their shortcomings in Bloemfontein a week ago.
"I am not underestimating the Pumas at all," said Coetzee.
"I have told the players to forget about what happened against the Cheetahs, because the Pumas are a quality side and we have huge respect for what they do."
Coetzee's team had been seriously affected by injuries after their gutsy 28-26 win over the Golden Lions.
The coach, however, said the inexperienced players knew they needed to make the step-up in the absence of some of the experienced campaigners.
"The players understand that, irrespective of your size, you have to make sure you front up," said Coetzee.
"That is what I expect to see from these guys coming through the ranks and it's something they will have to do."
The Pumas would be mindful of last year's results against Province as they lost both their matches by more than 40 points.
In the other Currie Cup match on Friday the Leopards take on a resurgent Blue Bulls team who are fresh off a convincing 44-20 win over Griquas in Pretoria.
Despite losing 23-3 to the Sharks, the Leopards were anything but a beaten team.
With only one win in the competition they are lying dead last on the log and will be desperate to take the scalp of one of the bigger teams.
Blue Bulls coach Pine Pienaar said they were expecting desperation on the part of the Leopards.
"They will be in a state of mind where they will go to Rustenburg with nothing to lose," said Pienaar.
"If you play against the Bulls you will always pick your game up.
"They will come out physically and can move the contact point.
"They will try to move us around and they have special players to do that."
The Bulls had an inconsistent start to their season but seemed to have found their right rhythm in recent weeks winning their last two games.
Pienaar said they were looking at finding consistency in the remainder of the competition.
If the Griquas game is taken as the measure of how they want to play, the Leopards could be in for a world of pain.
The Bulls received a late set-back on Thursday with the withdrawal of Bjorn Basson due to a bout of flu.
The Springbok speedster was replaced by Gerhard van den Heever.
