Folks, say welcome to the new addition to Authors here on Rugby-Talk. Rob Peters is the owner of NEWSPOD MEDIA who will also supply us with AUDIO CONTENT of after match interviews.

They act as Media Provider to a host of Radio Stations in SA and an exciting collaboration between Rob and Myself might see us lead into a new era of Pod Casting and possibly Live Streaming in future.

Welcome the man with open arms, here’s another outstanding rugby lover in our midst! 

AUDIO REGARDING THE SEMI’s & THE UPCOMING FINAL:

[cincopa AUOAURahKLLj]

Rob Peters

The Sharks are looking at lifting the coveted ABSA Currie Cup trophy for the sixth time when they face the talented Western Province outfit at ABSA Stadium in the Currie Cup final in two weeks time.

The KwaZulu-Natal side has hosted six Currie Cup finals of which five have been played at the ‘shark tank’.  

In 1956 Natal hosted Northern Transvaal at Kingsmead, the well-known cricket ground in Durban, as King’s Park rugby stadium had not yet been built. The wind was almost gale force and during this exciting struggle the two fly-halves, Thys van Zyl from Northern Transvaal and the later Springbok Keith Oxlee dominated almost the entire game with the boot. Five minutes before the final whistle flanker, Schalk van Dyk scored a try that allowed Northern Transvaal to win the match 9-8.

Natal had to wait 27-years before finding themselves in a final again and travelled to Newlands for the 1983 showdown against Western Province. Again, it came down to a kicking game and the visitors returned home disappointed after losing the game 9-3.

The 90’s proved to be the start of a successful decade for the coastal team as Natal won more Currie Cup seasons than any other team in this time. The Sharks got their first ever Currie Cup title as they beat Northern Transvaal  18-12 at Loftus Versveld and two years later they beat Transvaal 14-13 at Ellis Park.

1993 was a year that saw Natal host their first final at King’s Park Stadium but unfortunately they lost 21-15 against a tough Transvaal team, but restored their pride two years later beating Western Province 25-17.

1n 1996, Natal became known as the Sharks and beat the Golden Lions 33-15 in Johannesburg.

The 90’s ended in the opposite fashion as to how it started for the Sharks, losing three finals in a row. Travelling up to the Highveld, the Sharks encountered a 32-9 loss against the Golden Lions at Ellis Park in 1999, and then went down 25-15 and 29-14 against Western Province respectively in Durban and Cape Town through the next two years.

The Sharks had to wait five years to win after a huge 40-19 loss against the Blue Bulls in 2003 at Loftus Versverld. The Sharks ended a 12-year drought for a trophy by winning the Currie Cup final against the Vodacom Blue Bulls in Durban by 14-9 and they did it in style by outscoring the opposition by two tries to nil.

As it stands, John Plumtree’s Sharks team will be very weary of Alistair Coetzee’s Province team when they battle it out for this year’s ABSA Currie Cup title. History has shown that out of the four finals played between the two coastal giants, Western Province have won three. What does not help the confidence of the Sharks’ coach, is that this year Province have boasted a point’s difference of 240 points, with most points scored in this year’s competition (520), whilst conceding the least (280).

Just to add concern to the New Zealand coach’s strategy, he will also be reminded of Western Province’s semi-final against Free State Cheetahs which proved to be a one-sided affair with a score line boasting a 31-7 thumping which included three tries to one soft miss-pass thrown whilst attacking the Free State line in the last quarter of the game.

Whilst the odds are probably frustrating the bookies, credit has to be given to an experienced Sharks pack that has appeared in four finals since 2000, two of which were against Western Province’s last two final encounters.