The three teams at the top of the SA Cup log – Suzuki Griquas, the Airlink Pumas and Toyota Cheetahs – will have their credentials as frontrunners tested when they hit the road for tricky away fixtures this weekend in round five of the competition.
Especially Suzuki Griquas, currently at the top on the standings, will have a difficult encounter when they travel to the Western Cape for a Saturday afternoon clash with the improving Sanlam Boland Kavaliers in Wellington.
Three more games are scheduled for Saturday and all, including the one in Wellington, will start at 15h00. The second-placed Airlink Pumas are away to bottom-placed Border Bulldogs in East London; the Leopards welcome Eastern Province to Potchefstroom; and the Valke entertain the Phangela SWD Eagles in Kempton Park.
Sunday afternoon’s Free State derby in Welkom between the fourth-placed hosts, the NovaVit Griffons, and the visiting Toyota Cheetahs, currently in third on the log, wraps up the round.
Suzuki Griquas have been in impressive form to date which have seen them securing bonus-point wins in each of their four games for a tally of 20 league points. The men from Kimberley sit top of the league table because of a better points difference than Airlink Pumas, who have the same number of wins and points.
Pieter Bergh’s team will however come up against Hawies Fourie’s resurgent Kavaliers team, who have now won their previous two games after a slow start. The Wellington fixture will see an interesting duel between the two flyhalves – Garth April of the Kavaliers and Griquas counterpart George Whitehead, who is the current leading points scorer with 78 points.
Another exciting tussle is predicted in Potchefstroom, where hosts Leopards will aim to follow up their first win of the season last week against Border, when they welcome EP to Olën Park.
Like the Leopards, EP also have only one success to date, however, the Eastern Cape side gave encouraging performances in their defeats to suggest their hosts will not have it their own way on Saturday.
The Airlink Pumas should have too much firepower for Border, who have lost all four previous games, but it’s never easy in East London and the men from Mpumalanga will be mindful of underestimating their opponents when they run out at Police Park on Saturday.
The focus moves to Welkom on Sunday when provincial neighbours, the NovaVit Griffons and Toyota Cheetahs, will contest a Free State derby. Both teams sit at mid-table on 15 points from three wins out of four.
The hosts will fancy their chances against their youthful-looking opponents from Bloemfontein. Griffons midfielder Domenic Smit is currently the leading try scorer in the competition with seven five-pointers, two more than the Airlink Pumas duo of Darnell Osuagwu and Llewellyn Classen.
Saturday’s action will be live streamed on the SuperSport Schools App, and Sunday’s fixture will be televised on the SS Variety 4 channel on DSTV.
Match information:
Sanlam Boland Kavaliers vs Suzuki Griquas
Date: Saturday, 20 April
Venue: Boland Stadium, Wellington
Referee: Marius van der Westhuizen
SA Time: 15h00
Streaming: SS Schools
Leopards vs Eastern Province
Date: Saturday, 20 April
Venue: Olën Park, Potchefstroom
Referee: Paul Mente
SA Time: 15h00
Streaming: SS Schools
Valke vs Phangela SWD Eagles
Date: Saturday, 20 April
Venue: Barnard Stadium, Kempton Park
Referee: Griffin Colby
SA Time: 15h00
Streaming: SS Schools
Border Bulldogs vs Airlink Pumas
Date: Saturday, 20 April
Venue: Police Park, East London
Referee: Sean Muller
SA Time: 15h00
Streaming: SS Schools
NovaVit Griffons vs Toyota Cheetahs
Date: Sunday, 21 April
Venue: Down Touch Investment Stadium, Welkom
Referee: Christopher Allison
SA Time: 15h00
TV: SS Variety 4
Issued by SA Rugby Communications
