52.5 Hours till Kick off

So the time is slowly ticking to the Absa Currie Cup Final and my nerves are showing their little heads with every passing hour. Now i am not a very nervous person in general but the last two weeks and the Semi Final against the Blue Bulls are starting to create a crater of butterflies in my stomach, and all the hype and posts I have read this week about the "Star Studded WP Team" doesn't help. But i still believe heart and soul that The Sharks have what it takes to win the Currie Cup title come Saturday.

I have bucket loads of respect for the WP players, coaching staff and a handful of their supporter (arrogant they may be, but so am I). It is no easy feat to make the Finals of the Currie Cup and WP have shown that they can win games that matter! That also doesn't help the nerves, but at the end of the day The Sharks have shown that they can beat the best teams no matter the circumstances (rain, bees and all), and they (The Sharks) have been top of the log for most of the Currie Cup season witch is a big statement and stat in itself.

So come Saturday we need all of you Sharkies to be there for our team heart and soul!

Go Sharks! Make us prouder that you already have!

Sharks in the Final

Hi ya peeps!

Now it has come to that time of the year where the two most successful Provincial Rugby teams of the season take each other on in a massive head to head clash on the 30th of October in Durban. Now as we all know the Shark tank (ABSA Stadium Durban) is one of the best build, organised and run stadiums in South Africa and is a formidable fortress for any visiting team.

The Sharks boast a very successful play to win ratio at the Sharks tank and that makes Western Provinces task that much harder come October the 30th. Now people can argue past statistics until they go blue in the face, but the fact of the matter is that everything can change on the day. This past weekend's semifinals is complete proof of that statement, where the Blue Bulls had a 88% Semifinal win ratio compared to The Sharks 38%. In the other semifinal the WP was deemed as favorites and showed everybody just why they deserved to be the favorites to win their semifinal against the Cheetahs. Based on statistics the Cheetahs should have given the WP a better run for their money, but on the day the WP team worked as a mighty point scoring unit to completely smash the opposition. So therefore what it says on paper and logs means nothing come kick-off on game day.

Some might say that the WP will lift the curry cup on the 30th after their very comfortable win over the Cheetahs, but i don't agree at all with that. The whole of South Africa that doesn't support the Sharks have the tendency to write the Sharks off very easily and never really sees them as a threat when it comes to must win games, as was the case with their semi final game against the Blue bulls. The whole week people where saying that the Blue Bulls will take it considering they hold the Super14 title and the 2009 Currie Cup title respectively, and a champion side like that finds ways to win games come crunch time. But at the end of the day the Sharks managed to out play the Blue Bulls to secure a home final for themselves and their fans.

The time has come for the Sharks to step up the plate again, and defend their home ground against WP come the 30th of October 2010. With a very well working mixed team of age, experience, youth and talent, The Sharks have the ability to once again bring that intensity to the game and out play the visitors to be crowned 2010 Absa Currie Cup Champions.

Written by: Gerhard West

Sharks Forever!