11 years of finals and disappointment,
every year waiting and hoping maybe this year we will win it, always believing
we can do it, always having the players but unable to prove themselves. This year
was different however, facing the Sharks in Durban again after an embarrassing performance
in 2010. The Sharks were undoubtedly the form team of the season finishing top
of the log and winning their semi-final convincingly. It would not be easy for
Western Province as they had many injuries this year and the team was full of
youngsters most of whom could have played in the u21 final. Most of the experts
gave Province a 25% chance of winning last night. Most of the country even
believed this, except nobody told the Province team that. From the first kick
off you could see the fire and passion Province played with, hitting the Sharks
line with venom and tackling with aggression. They showed a will to win that I haven’t
seen in 11 years. A lot was spoken before the game about Patrick Lambie and his
influence on the game and his aspiration to make the Springbok fly half jersey
his own. He did have a good game and was as dangerous as ever but he was no
match for Province fly half Demetri Catrakilis who controlled the play superbly
giving his back line great go forward ball as well as putting Juan De Jongh
through the gap with an inside ball which put him under the posts after handing
off Keegan Daniel and Stepping Lwazi Mvovo. He did also slot 2 drop goals to
put the game out of reach, one of them wit the left foot.
The confidence with which
the young team played was great, fighting to the very end and keeping cool
under severe pressure from a superb Sharks team. You cold have picked the man
of the match from any of the 15 players that took the field, Eben Etsebeth was
outstanding, stealing lineout ball, tackling like an animal and carrying the
ball up, he is an outstanding player and my pick for player of the year.
Demetri Catrakilis definitely put up his hand and maybe even caught the eye of
Bok coach Heyneke Meyer and if not well then he must be blind. Another player
who should be on the Bok coach’s radar should be the stand in Captain Deon
Fourie, a hooker who played most of the season on the side of the scrum and was
outstanding. Juan De Jongh could be the answer at outside centre for Meyer as
he adds that X-factor as well as tackling above his weight. They way they
defended together and the belief with which they played was truly amazing, they
may not have had the best season but they came good when it matters. Naas Botha
said before the game, “there are no favourites in a final, just 80 minutes and
the team that is best on the day will win”. Western Province was the best team
on the day and deserved Champions. All the talk before the game about them
being chokers and the monkey on their back is now gone and hopefully they can
use this to go on to win Super Rugby.
The only downside to the
game was the way in which the game was officiated, Nick Mallet said before the
game that 95% percent of the 50/50 calls would go the way of the home team,
this was definitely the case as the ref made many bad calls for example
Province player Joe Pietersen kicked the ball with his foot and Ref Jaco Payper
gave a knock on. Mistakes like this make the refs look amateur, this is not the
only case of poor decisions and something need s to be done on a big scale in
order to improve the officiating of the game.
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