Romance that is the Currie Cup

ACurrie Cup final has that gripping feeling about it, you simply can’t be impartial to it regardless what your provincial colours might be.

Tomorrow, when the Sharks and Western Province lock horns in Durban, it will bring division between close friends and husband and wife might not see eye to eye for a short while.

Interestingly, these two teams were the first since 2005 to win an away final when Province shocked the Sharks 25-18 in Durban in 2012 and the Sharks returning the favour the next year in Cape Town by winning 33-19.

But before that, one has to go back to 2005 when the Cheetahs beat the Bulls 29-25 at Loftus and to this day Bulls fans will probably never forget the mocking Ollie le Roux smoking a fat cigar on the pitch.

But the last three years it all went the home team’s way with Province beating the Lions 19-16 in 2014, the Lions beating Province 32-24 in 2015 and the Cheetahs running away with the Bulls 36-16 last year.

Having attended 10 of the last 11 finals since 2006, game day at a final is as close as you can possibly get to Test match rugby.

And with a few exceptions, it has always been thrilling stuff and closely fought affairs.

There have been a few runaways though like the Pat Lambie show in 2010 when the Sharks hammered Province 30-10 and the Elton Jantjies magic in 2011 when John Mitchell’s Lions outplayed the Sharks 42-16 at a jam-packed Ellis Park.

But there were close ones too, like in 2007 when it took a last-minute Willem de Waal conversion for the Cheetahs to edge the Lions 20-18 and who could ever forget that missed Marnitz Boshoff penalty which would have sent the 2014 final into extra time?

Significantly, the last time there was a draw in a Currie Cup final was in 2006 when the Cheetahs and the Blue Bulls played to a 28-28 extra- time stalemate in Bloemfontein.

But then the South African Rugby Union decided there would never again be a drawn result in a final, with the scenarios of extra time, most tries scored and highest position in the table coming into play.

Robert du Preez’s Sharks will fancy their chances of a fourth title since 2008, as long as they don’t let the home town pressure get to them.

It is shaping up as another thriller on the rugby calendar.