Mike Greenaway

SURE, the semi-final cruncher against the Blue Bulls at Newlands was tough, extremely tough, and it might have cut Province’s favourites tag in half.

But maybe it was needed...maybe they needed to be stress-tested ahead of the ultimate Currie Cup showdown after cruising through the league stages with no team able to offer any kind of resistance. While rugby has appeared to be nothing more than an afterthought in Durban recently with the Sharks desperately trying to sign a deal with Sony Music Entertainment with those night-terror producing music videos, WP have been hard at work in an attempt to keep South Africa’s most coveted rugby cup shining in the Mother City.

If there are a few things the Sharks can do well enough to make South Africa forget about that cringe-inducing rendition of Ice Ice Baby, it’s scrum. And getting over the gainline. And then offloading. And booting a ball. And while they can’t seem to string together a few steps to a tune, those backs know how to step between the solid white lines.

But Province are simply on another level, they have been the whole season. Wilco Louw has been tormenting his opposite scrummagers, and in the final last year, he made a meal of the Sharks’ Thomas Du Toit.

The Sharks have since done well in that department, but the pack-down is one that should swing in Province’s favour.

WP’s backline and the kind of havoc they can easily wreak from set play and on the counter is so obvious that even officials who are blind to the Bulls’ endless offside offences would be able to see.

Two big tests, however, should be the gainline battle, and the aerial contest. But given the boots and highball capabilities WP boasts, stopping the Du Preezs and preventing those offloads should be the only real concern.

So ja, the Durbanites sure have ruined one of the 90s hits for EVERYBODY, and seeing that Province will thump them today, maybe it’s time they start working on a clip dedicated to the Currie Cup trophy – If You Don’t Know (or Own) Me By Now, perhaps? IN BYGONE days of Currie Cup yore, Western Province-Sharks showdowns were about the broadsword of the Sharks going up against the Western Province rapiers.

To a large degree, today’s final could be a throwback to those times when the Sharks’ game plan was based primarily around bullying the show ponies off the ball.

In the Currie Cup league games, Province had the freedom to run riot, and they did so spectacularly. It was only in last week’s semi-final that they hit a speed bump.

The Sharks have been encouraged by the Bulls’ in-your-face strategy, and believe they can take it further because they have a superior pack to the Bulls.

Take the front row, for example, an area where the Sharks largely lost the final last year at Kings Park when Wilco Louw demolished his old Cape schoolboy rival Thomas du Toit. In the space of a year, the Sharks have turned a weakness into a strength. Du Toit has switched to tighthead and has made impressive strides.