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Ten Currie Cup final facts

Pretoria - The Currie Cup final for 2009 will be played at Loftus between the Blue Bulls and Cheetahs. Here are some interesting facts on SA's domestic jewel.

1. This will be the 49th Absa Currie Cup final since the advent of finals in this tournament in 1939. The Blue Bulls have played in 30 finals before now, with the Free State Cheetahs set to make their 13th appearance in an Currie Cup Final. The Pretoria team have won 22 (including four shared) out of those finals, with the Free Staters winning four out of 12 (including one shared).

2. The Blue Bulls and the Free State Cheetahs have competed against each other in eight Currie Cup finals, the most recent being in 2006. The Bulls have been victorious in six finals (1973, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1981 and 2004) while the Free Staters have won one final (2005). Both sides shared the trophy following a 28-28 draw in 2006. 

3. Eighteen Blue Bulls players (out of their 22-man match day squad) have previous Currie Cup final experience while nine Free State Cheetahs players in their match-day-22, have been involved in an Currie Cup final before this weekend. It is also the same 18 Blue Bulls players selected for Saturday’s Currie Cup final that were part of the success of the Bulls during their 61-17 victory over the Chiefs in this year’s Super 14 final. 

4. The Blue Bulls squad for the final, boast a total of 17 Currie Cup winner medals, while the Cheetahs have a total of 13 winner medals in their match-day-22. Adriaan Strauss is the only player from both squads that has achieved a winner’s medal with both teams ( Blue Bulls – 2006, and Cheetahs – 2007).

5. This final will be Bryan Habana (lue Bulls) and Jacques-Louis Potgieter’s (Free State Cheetahs) last match for their respective teams. Habana is set to continue his rugby with Western Province next year while Potgieter will rejoin the Bulls next season.  

6. Potgieter is the leading points-scorer (163) in the 2009 Absa Currie Cup competition. The flyhalf converted 29 tries while scoring three, and also kicked 26 penalties and four drop goals. He is also the seventh Cheetahs players to end the season as the top points-scorer in the last ten seasons. Willem de Waal (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) and Kennedy Tsimba (2003 and 2002) were the other players to achieve this feat.

7. The Cheetahs have scored the most tries (62) in the 2009 Currie Cup and have also added the most points by any team (485) this season. The Loftus side are second with 475 points. Gerhard van den Heever of the Blue Bulls, who is second on the list of leading try-scorers this season, has been selected on the bench for Saturday’s final.   

8. Theuns Stofberg is the only player to have won the Currie Cup with three different Provinces. He won titles with Free State (1976), Northern Transvaal (1979 and 1980) and Western Province (1982 and 1983). Former Springbok wing James Small is the only other player to have played in three Absa Currie Cup Finals for three different provinces - Transvaal, Natal and WP – but he never won a title with Transvaal. 

9. No player has ever scored more than two tries in an Absa Currie Cup final. Buddy Swartz was the first to score a brace in a final – in 1970 for Griquas against Northern Transvaal. Edrich Krantz scored two Northern Transvaal against Western Province in 1980. Andre Venter added two for Free State in the 1994 final against Transvaal, Thinus Delport for the Lions against the Sharks in 1999, Breyton Paulse for the WP in their 2000 final victory over the Sharks and the late Ettienne Botha did it twice - in the 2003 final against the Sharks and in 2004 in the Absa Currie Cup final against the Free State Cheetahs.

10. Jonathan Kaplan will referee the 2009 Currie Cup final, his fifth appointment to officiate in South Africa’s Premier Domestic competition. This will also be his third final between the Blue Bulls and the Cheetahs. Andre Watson, who has refereed in two IRB Rugby World Cup Finals, has refereed in seven Currie Cup Finals followed by Steve Strydom (six) and Freek Burger (five).
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