Derby time at Newlands
rugby365 columnist Jon Harris takes a trip down memory lane, to when north-south derbies, Western Province versus the Blue Bulls, were as big - if not bigger - than Test matches. He says those days are back!
The professional era has seen a shift in power with the Sharks deservedly being regarded as one of the country's top teams, especially since the early 1990s.
They have often led the pack in innovative methods, most notably administration and coaching and are a benchmark for the other Unions.
Yet when it comes to rivalries, nothing but nothing surpasses the one which exists between the Blue Bulls and Western Province.
Although Saturday is only a semifinal, it has taken on proportions of being a Final.
It has been a while since WP have lived up to expectations and potential, contesting for silverware which was almost their right in years gone by.
The last time they clutched the Currie Cup as champions was in 2001, when they beat Natal (Sharks) at Newlands. This was a repeat of the Final the year before in Durban, which the Cape boys also won. But the majority of this decade has been spent watching other teams contest for honours as the blue-and-white hooped team has faltered in their quest.
By contrast, the Bulls have been enjoying a very successful run during the same period, after almost having to resort to seating mannequins and using canned sound effects to emulate a full stadium during the preceding few years.
It is a rivalry which has simmered below the surface, suppressed while there was disparity between the teams. The diehards of the North, while never openly saying so, hankered for the return to glory of Province, believing that no championship could be called theirs with a sub-standard Western Province competing.
The excitement which is brewing around Saturday's game is all about the return of a century-old rivalry, last seen in it's full glory in 1998 when the Bulls narrowly beat Province in Pretoria. It is such a pity that it is a semifinal and not the championship.
The focus has to fall on Western Province for this match. The Bulls have contested 6 of the 8 finals this decade. Champions in three of those. Their presence in the playoffs is expected. WP by contrast are a lottery team, and although sentimentally many wanted to see the Cape team do well, none have been surprised when the playoffs featured four other teams.
There is a buzz in Cape Town about Saturday. I know of a good few people who joined the queue at Newlands early on the first day of sales in the hope of securing their tickets. The match is being eagerly anticipated, with an excitement long since seen in these parts, Western Province's best chance of success for years.
Chat to the Province support and there is a genuine fear for the result. The loss to the Lions has knocked the confidence of the WP supporter. This piece is not about how the teams compare, or the game plan, strengths and weaknesses. No it is about the fan, the spectator, who week in and week out wears his heart on his sleeve or his bullring in his nose, trumpeting his allegiance. It is the Province fan who seems to have lost a little bit of the swagger and confidence after watching his team throw it away at Coca-Cola Park over the weekend. That loss of confidence is only a result of years of mediocrity. A situation of "oh, here we go again".
His allegiance is decided purely on history and passion. His support of the Province jersey is undying, emanating from at least two generations of indoctrination, which was easy as WP were consistently one of the top two provinces in the country. The other, of course Northern Transvaal/Bulls.
The surge in passion is uncontrollable, it is reflex. It is basically all he knows, a Province vs Bulls final. During the Province slump, he'd quietly support his second choice, which you have to believe, was NEVER the Bulls. He has waited for a decade for this day. Yes the teams have played each other at least twice every year in the Currie Cup and once in the Super 14, but this is a final!
A semifinal everyone shouts. No, you don't understand my dear Lions/ Sharks/Cheetahs supporter. This is a final. It is against the Bulls. It is THE contest. The one that we as young boys sat in the children's enclosure and watched as Morné du Plessis tackled Naas Botha (late?); or as Boland Coetzee and Thys Lourens battled it out; or as Carel du Plessis scored his tries; the Divan Serfontein versus Tommy du Plessis contests. The list goes on and on. Until the drought of the early 2000s that is.
That is what the Bulls face on Saturday. Years of frustration at under-performing, knowing that on paper the Western Province team was one of the best in the competition, yet never quite getting it together. The fans will not allow their team to under value the occasion. It will be their best chance of Currie Cup success since 2001, a very long time in anyone's language. The magic surrounding Saturday's contest is as much to do with the fact that it is at Newlands than anything else. Had the match been at Loftus, the atmosphere would be electric, but the Bulls fans have had a surfeit of success during the same time the Province fans have endured a drought. Saturday is loaded with expectation. The expectation of a hungry crowd.
Yes, the Bulls have a formidable lineup. Big names, at the top of their game. Province have home ground advantage which will be a factor, but there is more at play. A captain, vilified at the beginning of the year for ill-considered remarks, who has gone about seeking forgiveness in a remarkable way, through respect. The coach, underestimated and almost unrecognised, known more as Jake White's assistant than in his own right, yet establishing himself as a more than capable head coach.
A tight five, during the lean years recognised as the weak point of the team, now resurgent and able to stand up against the powerful visiting pack. Indeed they overshadowed the Bulls pack in their previous encounter.
No matter how we look at it, the main cause for the excitement is simply the fact that it is Western Province versus the Bulls. When the teams run onto the pitch on Saturday, there is going to be a surge of emotion in each of the 50 000 spectators, be they Bulls or WP supporters. The noise is going to be deafening, reminiscent of the eighties & nineties. It is after all the era we recall, be it through personal experience or through the experiences of our fathers or older brothers.
Just like the passion one feels for a Springbok versus All Blacks clash is largely an inherited one , the excitement around a Bulls/Province clash is a combination of history and personal experience. It is what is at play here in Cape Town as the rugby public look forward to the weekend's contest. It is what these two regions have enjoyed the most through the years. A contest to the death, with the last team standing taking the crown. Yes, one more hurdle after that, but in the hearts of the diehard fans, the semifinal will be the one most cherished.
* Where does you allegiance lie?