2010 has truly been an interesting South African sporting year. South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup, a South African team (the Bulls) won the 2010 Super 14 competition and South Africa also won 33 medals at the recent Commonwealth games held in New Delhi, India. It’s nice to know that a local rugby tournament like the Currie Cup has not been forgotten amid the abundance of sporting excitement.
Less than 2 weeks ago (on the 16th of October 2010) the 4 teams left in the competition, The Sharks, Blue Bulls, Western Province and the Free State battled it out in semi-final stage of this year’s Currie Cup tournament.
In one of the most physical semi-finals seen in recent Currie Cup history The Sharks beat the Blue Bulls at the ABSA stadium in Durban by 16 points to 12. In the process the Sharks secured a home Currie Cup final. The Sharks supporters were smiling – it was also exactly 20 years to the day that the Sharks first upset the Blue Bulls in the now legendary 1990 Currie Cup final at Loftus Versfeld. The Sharks scoreline included a try by Keegan Daniel and a conversion and 3 penalties by Patrick Lambie. Blue Bulls flyhalf Morné Steyn only managed to score 4 penalties in the match.
In the 2nd semi-final match of the day Western Province made sure of their second appearance in a major final for 2010 when they convincingly outplayed the Free State. They beat them by 31 points to 7 at Newlands in Cape Town. The Western Province scoreline included tries by Bryan Habana, Francois Louw and Gio Aplon and 2 conversions & 4 penalties by Willem De Waal. Philip Snyman scored the Free State’s only try, which was converted by Louis Strydom. It was truly a one-sided affair.
Hype is building for this Saturday’s Currie Cup Final match in Durban. In an attempt to gain a psychological edge supporters of both the Sharks and Western Province have been encouraged to follow their respective teams on Twitter. South African sport stars have joined in on this online battle. England Test cricketer Kevin Pietersen, world champion surfer Jordy Smith, the rock group Just Jinjer and FHM model Charne Jade Slee have started following the Sharks. On the Western Province side people like comedian Rob Van Vuuren, South African duo Locnville, golfer Trevor Immelman, cricketers Herschelle Gibbs, Paul Adams & Robin Peterson, South African cricket captain Graeme Smith and musician Arno Carstens make up the list of followers. The Sharks (@just_sharks) currently have 3,139 followers and Western Province (@justWP) currently have 2,788 followers on Twitter respectively.
The match will kick off at 17:30 on Saturday and promises to be a closely contested affair. Only time will tell if the Sharks or Western Province will be the 2010 Currie Cup champions.
Feel free to check out the Junk Mail website for Currie Cup Final tickets or vote in our latest online poll. Tell us who you think will win Saturday’s game.
Feel free to check out the following posts on the Junk Mail blog. You might find them interesting
- 10 Things You Did Not Know About Durban
- The 10 Most Peculiar Animals
- 10 Things You Did Not Know About Pretoria
- 50 Facts about South Africa You Might not Know
- 10 Things You Did Not Know About Johannesburg
- Young Talent: Faeron Wheeler
- 10 Things You Did Not Know About Cape Town
- Another Collection of Funny Signs
- 10 Things You Did Not Know About Port Elizabeth
- 7 Interesting African Holiday Destinations
- 10 Things You Did Not Know About East London
