The time has come...

Gareth "the fool" Cliff held an interesting debate this morning during his 'phonecalls" (said in high pitched jewish nasel voice) and I actually waited in my parked car to hear it out. Previously the DJ of "I typically drink a bottle of jose and 24 beers when I DJ a set at high school parties" fame centres the debate around pathetic things like...but today it centred around sports.


The Cliffster raised the question of what determines which sporting team you should support? Mozeltoff Gary. Anyway he advocated the stance that you should support the team that hails from where you were born. Interesting, and very widely supported from many people who phoned off 012 numbers. One guy in fact liked his support for 'die Bulle' that had permeate through generations like his adherence to the NG Kerk. Wow.

Obviously I swim fiercely against that stream and come under much flack for it. Being born in the country and having bred through out (witty I know!) I still support the searing or freezing Hurricanes and the All Blacks. Now most of you know my position on this and have heard my arguments ad nauseam why that is so but I am going to drive it home for fun, and illustrate why I am hoping for a Blues Crusaders final next weekend.

You see old Frikkie who is a 3rd generation Blue Bull and NGK guy is so more one of two reason. Either, he is a huge fan of rucks and mauls and good forward play has the same effect on him as Annelisa Tonisson has on me, or he just does so because he was born north of the juksei and does so by default. I can laud the former reason but spit at the latter.

I am a man of choice. If I am going to spend 80minutes watching sport I am going to support the side that I enjoy watching the most regardless of whether they win or lose. Hence Christian Cullen cemented my young and impressionable mind into loving the Hurricanes and my support grew into the All Blacks from there. Win, lose, never been to New Zealand, might never go, whatever.

I associate with hard, running rugby based on skill and finesse with the correct dose of bruising physicality, not with rolling mauls and opportunist tries burgled from pressure defence.

However, with that all in mind, I recognize the fact that the later brand of rugby might favour the outcome under these conditions plus the Sharks temper that brand with a bit of flair and the probability of a final in SA is overwhelming.

Teams: 15h00 Kick Off

Sharks: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Francois Steyn, 13 Waylon Murray, 12 Bradley Barritt/Adrian Jacobs, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Butch James, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 AJ Venter, 6 Jacques Botes, 5 Johann Muller, 4 Johan Ackermann, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Deon Carstens/Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 Tendai Mtawarira/Patric Cilliers, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Warren Britz, 20 Bob Skinstad, 21 Rory Kockott, 22 Adrian Jacobs/Odwa Ndungane
Blues: 15 George Pisi, 14 Doug Howlett, 13 Anthony Tuitavake, 12 Isaia Toeava, 11 Rudi Wulff, 10 Isa Nacewa, 9 Steve Devine, 8 Nick Williams, 7 Daniel Braid, 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Troy Flavell (c), 4 Greg Rawlinson, 3 John Afoa, 2 Derren Witcombe, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Nick White, 18 Angus MacDonald, 19 Justin Collins, 20 Taniela Moa, 21 David Holwell, 22 Ben Atiga.

The teams: 17h00 Kick Off

Bulls: 15 Johan Roets, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 JP Nel, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Fourie du Preez/Heinie Adams, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Wikus van Heerden, 6 Pedrie Wannenburg, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Rayno Gerber, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Engels, 17 Danie Thiart, 18 Bakkies Botha, 19 Derick Kuün, 20 Heinie Adams/Nicholas Eyre, 21 Morné Steyn, 22 Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

Crusaders: 15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Caleb Ralph, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Kevin Senio, 8 Mose Tuali'i, 7 Richard McCaw (c), 6 Reuben Thorne, 5 Ross Filipo, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Campbell Johnstone, 2 Corey Flynn, 1 Ben Franks.
Replacements: 16 Ti'i Paulo, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Michael Paterson, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Andrew Ellis, 21 Stephen Brett, 22 Johnny Leo'o