Who is not amped up for the Currie Cup Final? Even supporters from non-participating teams cannot wait for the epic battle due to follow on Saturday 30 October 2009.
What a wonderful competition!
What a joy to be a rugby supporter!
The battle for the sought after cup is going to be huge, players are going to give their all. Heroes are going to rise to the occasion.
It is very difficult to predict a winner for the final… do you choose the Bulls team full of stars and Springboks or do you choose the gutsy Cheetahs who boast a powerful front row, a fetcher par excelance and with backs who have speed to burn?
Let’s look at the chances and strong and weak points in both teams:
Blue Bulls:
The Bulls have game breakers who have served the Bulls and SA with distinction. Where in the world could you find better than Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Morne Steyn and Bryan Habana… the answer is simple.. nowhere !! In addition There’s Pierre Spies, Danie Rossouw, Dewalt Potgieter, Wynand Olivier and the gutsy little Francois Hougaard.
On paper this Bulls team is settled and virually without weak points…. except in the front row, where they will surely play second fiddle to the might of the Cheetahs front row. Another aspect which worries me and most Bulls supporters is Pierre Spies’s “bad hands” behind the scrums.
In the line-outs the Bulls should reign supreme, in the kicking department Fourie du Preez and Morne Steyn should dictate play. There is possibly not another team in the world with such quality tactical kickers and such a dead-eye dick who kicks for posts.
In midfield Wynand Olivier breaks most team’s lines almost at will, at wings the Bulls have the Habananana and Francois Hougaard. At full back there is the solid Zane Kirchner.
Chasing ground ball and grinding in the rucks and mauls there is the quality of Deon Stegmann, Dewald Potgieter and Pierre Spies!
Will the weakness in the front row and complacency be the Bulls worst enemies?
Free State Cheetahs:
The Cheetahs had an abysmal Super 14 and an equally abysmal start to the Currie Cup this year, but then swung into gear and started demolishing everything in their path!
They boast arguably the best front row combination in SA and is sure to get the upperhand in the scrum battle.
In addition they have fetcher supreme, Heinrich Brussow who will cause untold damage to the Bulls in the ground-ball-battle.
At No 8 they have the up-and-coming Ashley Johnson who has been underrated by most for far too long. I rate this man as a future Springbok, he is abrasive, strong, has good hands, breaks tackles, runs good lines and tackles like a demon.
In JP Joubert, the so called journeyman at scrum half, they have a crisp passer of the ball, a man who mostly takes the correct options, but he is slow and by that I mean he does not seem to run fast with those “horrelbene” of his.
At fly half the Cheetahs have the 2nd most dangerous fly half in SA, a man who punts the ball for miles, who attacks space, who defends well and who easily takes the points when on offer. He sometimes blows hot or cold though… but he’s been in very good shape lately. It will be his last game for the Cheetahs before re-joining the Bulls for next year.
In midfield the Cheetahs are vulnerable…
On the wings the Cheetahs have two speed merchants, with Lionel Mapoe the find of the season on wing and Danwell Demas, arguably one of the fastest but worst wingers to play at this level.
At full back there is the solid and heavily underrated Hennie Danniler, a rock and a pillar in the last vestage.
Prediction:
This is putting me on the spot here, I frankly am very hesitant to make a prediction, but I’ll chance one here… the Bulls should win but it should be a nail-biter to the end.
This week saw cartoons being mailed about and I thought I would share a couple received this morning… Go Bulls!!
Teams:
Blue Bulls: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Francois Hougaard, 13 Jaco Pretorius, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Derick Kuün, 1 Gurthrö Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Heini Adams, 21 Burton Francis, 22 Gerhard van den Heever.
Free State Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Lionel Mapoe, 13 Corné Uys, 12 Meyer Bosman, 11 Danwel Demas, 10 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9 JP Joubert, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Frans Viljoen, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 David de Villiers, 4 Nico Breedt, 3 WP Nel, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Wian du Preez.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Izak van der Westhuizen, 19 Lukas Floors, 20 Tewis de Bruyn, 21 Louis Strydom, 22 Fabian Juries.
Date: Saturday, October 31
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Kick-off: 17.00 (15.00 GMT)
Predicted weather: Early showers and morning clouds, otherwise mild. High of 25°C and a low of 13°C. The win will be at about 15km/h NE and there’s about a 50 percent chance of precipitation.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
Assistant referees: Pro Legoete, Cobus Wessels
TMO: Shaun Veldsman
Valk ek hoop jou score is reg ou maat, ek sal ook maar so saggies more vir die Staat support…maar moet sê die bulle het een helse span…
The economic realities of the Free State is a strange Pot”Orange” to understand. gOOgle pot belge to understand the context- not neceSSarily the recipe!
There might not be 60 000 people with the disposable income to fill a 48 000 seater stadium on a wEEkly basis but there is quite a bit of mOOlah in circulation, as a lot of economicaLLy active people from various sectors chOOse to live here and raise their kids here.
A point in case of a player that played the “klevah” game is Andre Venter and how he had not taken the “biGGer” play/paycheque but built a solid busine$$ instead.
It pointed the way for a couple of ChEEtah lAAities.
For sure Grey and its exceLLent developmental environment – rugbywise- does serves as a magnet for out of town talent and yes, they will leave Bloem at the first oPPortunity. They were klevah oPPortunists in the first place.
There is however a core of VrystAAters that might travel to the beach at every given oPPortunity- but home is right here in Bloem- hopefuLLy sOOn “Blingfontyn” again.
BruSSow is such a guy.
He might be later in his carEEr – enticed to Europe wiFF a fistfuLL of Euros but you can believe me
He wiLL be lOOKed after weLL- right here where he can have an uncomplicated life paRRaLLel to his carEEr.
History is also throwing at us countleSs examples of excelent Bloemboys who were lured away with the grEEnback- never to be sEEn in the ultimate prize – the grEEn jersey.
ChEEtahs wiLL most likely never have 10 boKKe ina squad, but the reaLLy topclaSS player wiLL become a bok even out of Bloemfontein!
lol valk
it was on e news last night
sharks bought brussow and bought out his contract
i am sure they paid big moola’s
good morning everyone
eish gbs boet die sharks gaan n morse klomp loosies he
brussow
deysel
alberts
kanko
botes
daniel
rhodes
downey
24
Of ‘n Ou SAUK trUUk van disinformasie!
33
Buying out contract is OK!
That means everyone is haPPy
Watch the U21 lOOsies of the chEEtahs!
Het die WP nie vir Mapoe uit sy kontrak gekoop nie, en die Leeus vir Strauss nie ? …
If all the reports are true and the sharks get these players , things could be interesting next year
i believe though the sharks still need another star center , or the ones we have to to wake up and regain form
props
smitty
carstens
jannie
beast
cillier
hookers
bissy
burden
and take into account smitty can cover hooker as well
locks
muller
sykes
mostert
hargreaves
albert
loose forwards
deysel
brussow
kanko
alberts
botes
daniel
rhodes
downey
scrummies
pienaar
cockott
mccleod
ross cronje
flyhalves
hernandez
monty
guy cronje
centers
adi
murray
swannepoel
vulindlu
strauss
wings
jpp
odwa
jordaan
mvovo
full backs
stefan
ludick
lambie
thats 39 players
recognised kickers in the team
hernandez
pienaar
cockott
lambie
stefan
monty
guy and ross cronje
not sure if ludick kicks for poles too??
34@ Tjarky_Fornever – yip, bloody scary combo of 6. Brussow, 7. Deysel, 8. Alberts
Those 3 could form the Bokke loosies easily….
37
hehehe bdb
Om roBBieweSsels AAn te hAAl
“Is jy nervous?”
GBS jou moegoe!
Julle sal weer Maandag meer van my hoor. Die vloer vir die spanne inni final gegee. mind you, die neem mos anyway die vloer oor, gevraagd en ongevraagd! Moegoes!
Vir die rekord, my Superbru lees Bulle met 11 punte alhoewel ek hoop die cheaters knoop die Flou Bulle se sterte. Go Cheeeeatahs!!!!!!
Mag die beste span, lees Cheatahs, saterdag wen en laat ons die ander makmoerende rugby spelende lande wys hoe lyk dit as die BESTE rugby spelende land in die wereld, in ‘n local CC final speel.
O ja, and may there be no injuries.
Gooooooooo Cheaters!
O ja, en laastens, floooooooooooooooookkkkk jou GBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
40: Ja, baie.
38
Impe$$ive
remember there are something going paRRalel with “depth” and its caLLed “playerConstipation”.
Something the chEEtahs veryseldom suFFer from.
Okes like ValieOelschig were however determined to disprove the point!
gbs i still feel the sharks need another good center
you know a top notch center
41@ Isigidi – Jou blerrie moermengsel!!
Jou maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa se ePos…
Bwahahahaha
Flokkie WIEPIE !!
Hehehe
lol willem
44@ Tjarkie_Fornever – The Tjarks need to surf less and smoke less Vitamin Green… hie haaaaaaaaaaa
😆 gbs
die sharks sit met so baie sterre maar hul trophy kas lyk net soos Province sin al verskil is ek dink daar is meer spinnerakke en spinnekoppe in Province sin, sad but true maar dan vra die mense hoekom drink ek so baie…
49: LOL ! Toemaar, check hulle volgende jaar.
50: nee wat ek dink ek sien meer uit na kersvader wat gaan kom kuier as volgende jaar se positiewe resultate van my span…
btw headlines in daily news just on issue says brussow could be on his was to sharks
so the plot thickens
51@ Scrumsaam – Volgende jaar einde Januarie, dan gons dit weer innie Kaap oor hoe die Stormers die beste Super 14 span gaan wees…. en ons ander klomp lag weer lekker in ons mou!
To all the Bulls and Cheetah maatjies here: everything of the best for your teams tomorrow. And remember no matter what happens tomorrow, there’s always another year.
54@ Kitaartjie – Ja, mens kan altyd Weer Probeer.
Hahaha
mirrag almal…
Hoop dis `n moerse tight game soos die semi’s (en sommer dat die kerriepot 1/2 pad kaap toe gaan)
54: Dankie fender. As die Ctahs ons toelaat om more te wen, belowe ons om niks te wen vir die volgende 6 maande nie … 😉
GBS — die smileys nou weer “ou” style?
Wat sukkel jy so met die reply function?? Jy dom of iets?
bidibidi—- hoop net nie iemand kerm na die game soos vd WP supporters dat hulle alles gewen het behalwe die game nie 😉
58@ Trupi – Nee, nie dom nie… WordPress het ‘n update gemaak van Version 2.8.4 na die nuwe Version 2.8.5, wat toe beteken het dat die Reply Plugin van WP Comments Remix nie compatible is met die nuwe version nie, wag nou vir die dom spul om hulle Plugin te update…
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