Former Springbok flyhalf Naas Botha has suggested a drastic overhaul of the Currie Cup format.
Once the crown jewel of South African rugby, the Currie Cup has been reduced to a development competition for the country’s Vodacom URC franchises.
The Vodacom Bulls, Sharks and Western Province all fielded youthful line-ups this season while their first-choice squads prepared for the URC, and they finished sixth, seventh and eighth on the log respectively.
The table-topping Lions were the only URC union to consistently select their best players and will contest the final against Griquas after beating Boland 67-19 at Ellis Park on Saturday.
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Botha, who won the Currie Cup nine times with Northern Transvaal while scoring a record 1,699 points, believes the only way to restore the tournament to its former glory is to rethink its place in the calendar and ensure the country’s top players are involved.
“What I believe might work is if the points that the four South African teams get when they play each other in the URC are transferred to the Currie Cup, and so are the points of the teams participating in the SA Cup,” he told Rapport.
“The top eight teams according to that criterion should then compete in the final rounds of the Currie Cup which, if structured sensibly, will also involve the Boks and will draw full stadiums like in the old days.
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“This would ensure strength against strength, without the situation we are now in where the WP, Sharks, Bulls and Lions have to cope without their best players in the Currie Cup, which has degenerated into only a development competition.
“In a Currie Cup final, you want to see the best against the best in action and no one or nothing can be blamed for that, except the current structure of world rugby,” Botha added.
“The rugby bosses need to seriously consider what is best for rugby as a whole and, if that involves a global season, make that decision. For the sake of rugby.”
Photo: Christiaan Kotze/Gallo Images
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