Whether you're a Sharks fan or a Bulls fan this weekend, Saturday's result won't detract from this being a wonderful week of sport. Partly because a glorious celebration of domestic rugby draws to a close with two outstanding teams contesting a trophy continues to give history and meaning to the South African game; but more importantly, because a week in which Australia lose a Test match by 320 runs is one to cherish.

South Africa's own cricketers will now be eyeing up their summer opponents almost as hungrily as the product of their new sponsors (I still think that the link-up between KFC and our rotund national XI is an elaborate practical joke; if not, product support alone is going to cost Colonel Sanders a small fortune); there's rugby to be settled before the cricket season proper unfolds, however, and while the Springbok tour will be an interesting one even by South African standards, it's the Absa Currie Cup final that holds particular intrigue.

The same refrain rings out at the beginning of every Currie Cup season — with glamour of the Super 14 barely settled (and the Cats already planning to build for the following year), and the winter internationals depriving unions of their star assets, domestic rugby's death knell is cheerfully sounded across the country, players outnumbering spectators as the competition gets underway.

But it never takes long for South African fans to remember that the Currie Cup is deeply entrenched in our rugby heritage, and that the provincial allegiance that carried the local game through isolation's dark days, still remains the bedrock of our rugby. Interest piques, support grows, and by the time the Springboks filter back into their squads, the competition is once again reaching a crescendo. Cue the final weekend of this year's league program, and Province's desperate battle with the Lions. Sport doesn't get more compelling.

And if the fans feel strongly about the competition, then players do in even greater measure. Bryan Habana has spoken this week about the one medal to elude him thus far — he is a World Cup winner, a Super 14 winner, a South African and World Player of the Year, but he has no Currie Cup triumph on an otherwise dazzling CV, and is something he's desperate to rectify.

That the Bulls and Sharks are contesting the final only adds to the sense of occasion, and the passion and commitment we can expect in the final. The Currie Cup is rugby's Holy Grail in Pretoria, more so than the Super 14; for the Sharks, taking so long to finally win it has only deepened the meaning of the Currie Cup in Durban. Add the Super 14 result from last year, the scars of which will never fully heal at the Absa Stadium, and the Sharks-Bulls rivalry now matches the Province-Bulls derby for intensity.

None of which guarantees the final will be a spectacle; big matches rarely are. But will be hard, unforgiving rugby between two teams laden with exceptional talent, giving South Africa's oldest, proudest competition the finale it deserves. And it will go further: in the wake of the Luke Watson furore, Pieter de Villiers and his video, and Bhutana Khompela and his anti-Springbok campaign, Saturday offers us 80 minutes to focus on just why we love this game; 80 minutes to focus on the good of South African rugby. For that alone, the Absa Currie Cup has had another great season.

  • iafrica.com columnist Robbie Fleck — fresh from contributing five stableford points to his fourball at yesterday's JAG Foundation golf day at Clovelly, where Christian Stewart's shirtless haka was one of the more entertaining things I'll see this year — is Bob Skinstad's star guest on LuvSport on SuperSport tonight, and joining them are the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition models. Throw in the creative genius of Seth Rotherham, the Camps Bay spiritual guru who rescued Skinstad from his internship at Saatchi and Saatchi and got him back into rugby, and a cracking show's in store. Especially if Bob has any footage of Christian...

  • Fleck, Bob, Monty, Kempson, Elana Meyer, Fiona De Souza (Karen from ‘Will and Grace') and co. at Clovelly yesterday; Jacques Kallis and the cricketers at Jacques's Foundation day at De Zalze today; and at San Lameer this weekend, mercurial former Boland scrumhalf Gary Van Loggerenberg, heading up the field at the final of the Sanlam Cancer Challenge, which has raised over R20-million since its inception. Expect another sizeable contribution this weekend; and with Nic Lanham back from a stint on London's West End to run the entertainment, San Lameer will rival Durban for the weekend's biggest party.

  • Contact Dan at dan@metropolis.co.za
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