Ross Roche

By Ross Roche

Senior sports writer


Super Saturday in Currie Cup with three big clashes

The in-form Cheetahs will be confident of picking up a full house of points against Western Province.


It is a super Saturday in the Currie Cup competition with three games set to be battled out as the competition heads towards the business end.

The table topping Cheetahs will be hosting fourth on the log Western Province in their match-up at Toyota Park in Bloemfontein (kick-off 1pm).

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The in-form Cheetahs will be confident of picking up a full house of points against Western Province, but will be weary of the Cape Town side after their impressive win over the Bulls over the past weekend.

Despite all of their Stormers stars being in URC action and having been rested last weekend, they thumped a Bulls team featuring a large number of URC stars, so they will head into the game against the Cheetahs with plenty of confidence.

However the full strength home side should have too much firepower if they play to the best of their abilities on the day.

The second placed Pumas take on the bottom of the table Griffons in their clash at the Mbombela Stadium (kick-off 1pm).

The Pumas were surprisingly knocked off the top of the log by a superb performance by the Lions at Ellis Park last weekend and they will be eager to get right back to winning ways with a big win over the tournaments whipping boys.

The Griffons have found the going tough in their first season back in the Premier Division, but managed a stunning win over the Bulls at the end of March and they will need to try and replicate that performance to stand any chance against the Pumas.

Loftus clash

The second from bottom Bulls then welcome the third placed Sharks for their game at Loftus (kick-off 5:30pm).

It has been contrasting seasons for the two sides with the Bulls having won three and lost five so far, while the Sharks have won five and lost three.

It will thus be an interesting clash as the Bulls beat the Sharks in Durban earlier in the season, but head into the game off a heavy loss against Western Province.

“We are expecting a tough game. The Sharks are the one team that has beaten the Pumas and the Cheetahs, who are the two teams on top of the log, so we are expecting a big challenge from them,” admitted Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White.

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