Sharks to choke again? Never!

The Cheetahs are fresh out of wings (and ideas it seems), just last week we dispensed of the milk dispensers formerly known as Die Bulle with a brilliant Union interpretation of “Dutch Total Football”, the Lions are battling to keep their players from the twin lures of the euro/pound and the easy-come gains of the self-medicating industry, Province have once again dispensed of any notion of forward play (building for next year’s S14 my rather well formed black rear-unit!) and the minnows remain just that. Yes, after the less than convincing start John Plumtree’s Black and White machine is clicking into gear quite nicely thank you.

And now of course our Bokke are back. It is as saddening as seeing Angelina Jolie pregnant with another man’s child to see just how inferior a Springbok-less Currie Cup has become. But such is the march of time and attendant ‘progress’ I suppose. It’s not like we are about to withdraw from southern hemisphere competitions so the Cup can regain its stature. The NPC over in the land of sheep, Maori sidesteps and quadrennial chokes is also suffering the same, though the smaller skills gap between their first and second tier players ensures it remains a better spectacle than the opening rounds of SA’s finest.

Still, times are good down here in Durban. The air is filled with optimism, we have such an embarrassment of playing riches that Springboks like Waylon Murray have to re-acquaint themselves with positions they’ve been playing their whole career, and world-class players like Frans Steyn and Ruan Pienaar have also been subject to the travails of rotation as the coach seeks to keep everyone on the boil without wearing them out. Adi Jacobs will no doubt be grateful for the downtime on the subs bench after he and Jean de Villiers’ telepathy demonstrations during the Tri-Nations. While at the same time Freddy Michalak is making this pivot lark look ridiculously easy once more. On top of all that The Beast is still to don the black and white in Currie Cup action.

Yessir, it’s good to be from the great kingdom by the coast. Of course we have been here a few times before: the heart-stoppingly thrilling Cup runs of the ’99 legends farewell tour (Jouba, Lem and Teich’s swansong) and the heady days of three consecutive finals (2000 Currie Cup, 2001 S14 and Currie Cup) under Mnr Straeuli are well remembered in these parts. Mostly for the crushing disappointment when we fell at the final hurdle when we’d done everything necessary to get there, but still … Ditto the 2003 CC final (remember that horrendous Supersport ad with its non-too-subtle reference to choking? I’d take a misguided Zapiro cartoon over that any day). Then there is still that Super 14 match, which I won’t go into lest the tears come flooding back. “Curses Bryan Bloody Habana for being so good so far before the World Cup.”

Still we are nothing if not an optimistic lot down here, the general weather and vibe of our stretch of heaven being ever SO conducive to good vibes. We’ll be packing the Shark tank out week in and week out to cheer on our boys as they try and slay a C-grade horror movie’s worth of defiant ghosts and return KwaZulu-Natal rugby to its place at the pinnacle of the professional rugby era in South Africa.