Make or break clashes in Currie Cup on Saturday

With the Currie Cup now firmly into the business end of the competition it is make or break for the Lions, Bulls and Griquas who harbour hopes of finishing in the top four and reaching the competition knockouts.

The Lions are fifth on the log, Griquas sixth and Bulls seventh, all separated by just two points, as they chase fourth placed Western Province above them.

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It is thus a massive weekend as the Griquas travel to Welkom for their match against the Griffons (kick-off 1pm) and the Lions host the Bulls at Ellis Park (kick-off 3pm) on Saturday afternoon.

For the Lions and Bulls they know that a loss for either team could see them drop out of the running as they could slip too far behind the other teams with three pool rounds remaining.

Bulls flyhalf Chris Smith, who is playing off the bench this weekend with Johan Goosen the starting pivot, admitted that the squad was confident and that this weekend’s match is a must win.

“After the disappointment of the URC our focus is now on the Currie Cup. We had a good win against the Griquas, so we have filtered in nicely. It has been a smooth transition and we are looking forward to this weekend’s game,” said Smith.

“Our mindset over these last couple of games is we can’t afford to slip up and lose one fixture. I think if we lose just one of our last four games we will be out of the Currie Cup. So it is of the utmost importance that we get a result against a quality Lions side.”

Team focus

Lions skipper Jaco Visage echoed the sentiments of Smith, but said that his team’s focus was more themselves and not looking too far ahead.

Both teams need to win this weekend to stay in the race for the top four. But we can’t be too focused on the end result at the end of the day,” explained Visagie.

“Our focus this weekend is on getting the small things right, because it’s usually those small things that make a big difference. So we are focusing on the basics and not looking too far ahead of ourselves. “

For the Griquas they have a great chance of putting pressure on the teams above them as they take on the bottom of the table Griffons.

The Griffons have won just one match so far this season, so the Griquas will be confident of bouncing back from their mauling at the hands of the Bulls over the past weekend, with a big win over their Welkom counterparts.