Two provinces have dominated the Currie Cup since it was first in competition in 1892 ? Western Province and the Blue Bulls. Those two have had dynastic achievements. The closest to a dynasty after those two is Natal, who were the great side of the 90s.

Somebody great with vision, energy and personality starts a dynasty, often through contest and it is often carried on by men of vision, energy, personality and success ? whether it is all those Chinese dynasties from Xia to Qing, the Ptolemys of Egypt, the House of Macedon, the Caesars, the Tudors, Stuarts and Windsors of England, who, like the Blue Bulls, changed their name for political reasons. the Tu?i Tonga of Tonga, or the Kennedys and the Bushes of the USA. Always the inspiring leader, whether Genghis Khan or Chaka Zulu, was able to take his tribe with him to greatness, sometimes an insignificant tribe to start with.

We are going to look at three unions with four leaders and a triumvirate. Those are the unions with the dynasties.

The game in some from or another started in Cape Town and that gave the Cape a head start. Western Province dominated the competition whose tangible reward was a sponsor?s cup ? the Currie Cup, gift of Scottish Sir Donald Currie of the shipping line which did most business between England and South Africa.

Originally competition for the Currie Cup was at a centralised tournament. Western Province won eight consecutive tournaments in which it took part. In 1899, on the brink of the South African War, it did not compete in the tournament which Griquas won.

The outstanding player and leader was Barry Heatlie, a farm boy of the farm Glen Heatlie near De Wet which is near Worcester. He played in every match Western Province played from 1891 to 1904 and was the captain from 1894 to 1904. In that time he played 34 times for Western Province. No other Western Province captain has had so long a reign, nor one as successful for on each occasion when the Currie Cup was in competition Western Province won. He played in 28 Currie Cup matches for Western Province, never once on a losing side. Oubaas Markotter, the legendary Stellenbosch coach and national selector, who died in 1957, said of Heatlie: "Heatlie ? I played with him and against him ? is the greatest all-round forward South Africa has produced?. I am inclined to put him down as the best captain ever to lead a Springbok side."

Heatlie was a big man for his time. He weighed about 210 lbs and stood 6ft 3 ins. Nobody in the "jumbo pack" of Paul Roos's 1906 Springboks was taller and nobody in that side weighed as much as 200 lbs. He was the giant of his time, the man they nicknamed Fairy or Ox.

Of course there were other great players at the time ? none greater than Japie Krige, the shy genius who became the first South African rugby player to be hero-worshipped.

Western Province's Currie Cup hegemony continued between the World wars, at a time when South African rugby ruled the World. In that period the Currie Cup was up for grabs nine times and Western Province won it seven times. There were great players at the time ? Phil Mostert, the Osler brothers, Danie Craven, Boy and Fanie Louw, DO Williams, Gerrie Brand and many more. But the greatest of them was an aristocratic, autocratic man of the people ? Bennie Osler. Regal on the field, demanding in the rugby standards he set, he was the most egalitarian of men off the field. The people called the Malays worshipped King Bennie whose togs would be collected from the changing room at the end of a match and returned immaculate to the changing room before the next match with a potion or two to help the man who changed the way rugby was played, introducing tactical kicks such as the grubber, the diagonal kick, the kick into the box and dropping for goal in the best Naas Botha style. He was a great thinker of the game.

The next leader of the Western Province dynasty had two bites at the cherry ? one as an inspiring captain and once as an inspiring president ? Jan Pickard, the greatest Newlands personality of the last fifty years or more.

In the fifties he led Western Province to two Currie Cup victories (Two of three in his time) and then passed the baton on to great Doug Hopwood, the cleverest rugby player of his time, and then great John Gainsford, the best centre in the world in his time, for another two successive wins. At this time the Currie Cup did not happen every year and certainly not in the year of a tour. An unbroken line of Currie Cups starts only in 1969 and played a great role in the years when South Africa battled to get overseas competition for the Springboks.