- The Cape Town Stadium pitch is set for one final rugby examination on Saturday when Western Province host the Sharks in a Currie Cup game.
- The ground’s playing surface came in for stinging criticism during the United Rugby Championship.
- Western Province won’t be playing in a home playoff and the Springboks don’t have a Cape Town Test this year, meaning the pitch will have a chance to breathe.
The pitchy business at the Cape Town Stadium will be a talking point one more time on Saturday in the 2022/23 rugby season when Western Province host the Sharks in their final round-robin Currie Cup game.
The hosts, who are on 32 log points and on the brink of Currie Cup elimination, especially with Griquas (35) and the Bulls (36) ahead of them and playing before them at home against the Pumas and the Cheetahs, respectively, won’t be back at their Greenpoint haunt after this weekend.
The 2010 World Cup venue’s playing surface has come in for stinging criticism for how it has shaped up in the past two seasons.
In the United Rugby Championship, the Stormers found a way of co-existing with the suspect surface, but in the final against Munster at the end of last month, Stormers coach John Dobson admitted that the pitch influenced the result somewhat, even though he acknowledged Munster were the better team on the day.
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After Wednesday’s rain the pitch may not be much better, but Stormers assistant coach Labeeb Levy was accepting of what may come their way at the Cape Town Stadium.
“We didn’t train there last week, so I don’t know the exact state of it, but it would have had an extra week’s rest,” Levy said.
“Also, prior to the URC final, there was also the Monster Jam, and it was also a rainy week in the build-up to one of the playoff games.
“We’ll most probably have a captain’s run, which will be very light, but we think the field should be in a better state than it was for the final.
“However, Cape Town’s weather is winter, so we may see a few droplets coming down in the next few days, which may have an effect on the pitch.
“Anyway, both teams will be playing on it and have to adapt, and a pitch is a pitch. Life’s a pitch.”
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Head of junior rugby at the Sharks, JP Pietersen, would’ve seen worse during his overseas stints, along with the old Newlands pitch that at times was suspect when battered by the weather.
However, the former Springbok winger made it clear the Sharks would play what was in front of them.
“That’s something we can’t control,” Pietersen said.
“If we have to play, we have to play there, and we’ll just have to adjust to the field and be as professional as we can.
“The game will still be played between four lines and the boys are professional enough, but I don’t think the pitch is an issue for us.”
Dobson’s admission that they should have been a bit more circumspect in the URC final hasn’t fallen on deaf ears, especially with the Cape experiencing a normal wet winter.
Levy said they would gladly tweak their game plan to adapt to the presented conditions, adding that to “over-elaborate” on the conditions would be of no use.
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“If the pitch is wet, we’ll tweak our game plan a bit to see if we can kick more and get more directness,” Levy said.
“We had a few slips in the final, even though we know a switch or a step can and will eliminate defenders.
“However, talking about the pitch is like going to Loftus and continuously talking about altitude all the time to a point where you forget about your rugby.
“We do mention the pitch, but we certainly don’t over-elaborate on it because we’ve played on it in different states and did well with the same game model.”