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We are slowly but surely heading towards the play-offs in the Currie Cup and with 6 rounds behind us, only 4 remain. In Round 7 we see 3 very defying match-ups. In the first match, Western Province take on Griquas at home to determine which of the two teams takes the next step towards the play-offs. Both teams are tied on 15 points and are in 3rd and 4th place. The strength of Griquas is obvious. They have scored 19 tries so far, tied with the Golden Lions and more than the other 4 teams. WP is strong on defense, which shows in the least number of points conceded of all 6 teams (142). When the two teams met in round 2, WP won 20-25 in Kimberley, making them the only team so far to win there.
The second game will see the two lowest ranked teams match up. The Blue Bulls are hosting the Free State Cheetahs at Loftus and will try to win in order to move away from the bottom spot on the log. After 3 consecutive losses, they are stuck on 9 points. Last weekend they only won their first bonus point this season, but still lost. The Cheetahs have struggled with injuries but Brussow is back and he makes a huge difference! If the Cheetahs win this weekend, the Bulls are almost certainly heading towards a promotion/relegation play-off. The have to win, but conceding 23 tries already this season shows the weakness. The Cheetahs have been struggling on attack with only 14 tries though so this match is not easy to predict.
The final match of the day will determine which team will top the log after this weekend. The top-2 teams are meeting each other at Ellis Park. Looking at the achievement of the two teams shows how equal they are this year. The Lions have scores 7 points more, the Sharks conceded 1 less. The Lions scored 1 try more, the Sharks conceded 4 less. The teams are tied at 20 points but the Sharks are not playing well when travelling to Ellis Park. The last time the Natal Sharks beat the Golden Lions was 3 years ago. In 2009, the Durban team won 19-30. Since 2004, the Natal Sharks have only won twice at Ellis Park. The two teams met in last years final and they are heading towards the top spots again this year. The Lions are playing with a full Super Rugby team though while the Sharks are missing 15 players due to injury or Bok duty. The impressive play of the youngsters in Durban shows there's a bright future ahead of the Sharks organisation.
The vBookie event for this round will be Western Province - GWK Griquas
Round 7 Fixtures
Newlands, Cape Town (14:00 GMT)
Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria (16:05 GMT)
Ellis Park, Johannesburg (18:10 GMT)