Five teams are in the mix, and no-one knows yet who will finish in what position.
Another hugely interesting, and also fascinating, weekend of Currie Cup Premier Division rugby has left the battle for semi-final places finely balanced ahead of this weekend’s final round of regular season matches.
While only five teams out of the eight are in position to feature in the last-four, it is not yet known who’ll finish where on the points table and who’ll sneak in as the last-placed qualifier.
As things stand, Griquas lead the way with 25 points, followed by Boland (23), Lions (21), Cheetahs (21) and Pumas (20).
The bottom three sides – Bulls (10), Sharks (10) and Western Province (1) – are out of the playoffs picture.
For the top five teams, everything will come down to what happens this weekend in the final round of matches.
Final round action
Griquas face a tough away trip to the Lions, who’re far stronger than they were in the early stages of the competition because they’re now backing several United Rugby Championship players who’re in need of game time ahead of the start of that competition in a few weeks’ time, so there could be a big change in log position between those two.
Boland are also away to Western Province, a side who haven’t won a game all season, so a win for the Premier Division newcomers could see them go top of the pile, if Griquas fall in Joburg.
The Cheetahs are away to the Bulls, who’ll this week see a number of their senior URC plyers return to action ahead of their build-up to that competition, so while the Pretoria team haven’t performed well recently, will be much tougher this weekend.
A defeat in Pretoria to the Bulls, combined with a win by the Pumas, who’re away to the Sharks, could see a change at four and five on the points table.
The Pumas will be favourites in KZN, but the Sharks, despite a poor season with a young team, have registered two wins of late and they, too, could hand a few more seniors an outing this weekend, ahead of the start of the URC.
For the record, this last weekend saw Griquas beat the Cheetahs 40-10 in Bloemfontein, the Lions hammer the Bulls 44-5 in Joburg, the Sharks edge the Boland Cavaliers 33-31 in Pietermaritzburg and the Pumas beat Western Province 39-13 in Cape Town.
Fixtures:
Friday: Sharks v Pumas 7pm
Saturday: WP v Boland 2.45pm, Lions v Griquas 5pm, Bulls v Cheetahs 7.05pm
