Province wins the arm wrestle

Abe Williams

Final rugby is never champagne rugby. We know that very well but why do you have it make it so difficult for yourself WP? The Lions came into the final as the in form side but they they were always going to be tested by Western Province as they are more experienced and composed perhaps. The Lions bosted the best scrum performance in the Super Rugby Tournament and I am sure the goal for WP was to ancer the scrum against them. Well they conceded 5 scrum penalties against the Lions pack but low and behold. In the end it came down to a battle of the boot. Demetri Catrikilis missed only 4 kick the entire season and and knowing the Newlands condtions very well, he was always going to be up for a 'battle of the boots'.

Positives for the Cape Townians is that even though Jaco Taute, known for his match deciding errors, yet again could not hold onto a ball with men on his outside after a Nizaam Carr break down the middle of the field. Taute however made up for his handlling error by holding onto a beauty of a pass by Demetri Catrikilis after some good hand skills, to dived over and score. Talking about Nizaam Carr, he has once again been outstanding tonight. He placed pressure on the opposition and kept them guessing with his misleading runs. He was solid on defence and created opportunities to the players around him. Another player that deserve to be mentioned is Nic Groom. I have always considered as the best scrumhalf out of the scrumhalves in the squad. On the night he was just outstanding. He was on point with clearing quick ball from the rucks, great awareness and good tacktical kicking.

A lot can be said about the execution of game plans, or lack therof. This was a final and it had to be treated as such. It was all about control, composure, handling the pressure and decision making. Credit then has to go to Wetern Province as they were the better side in ticking these boxes. It was clear that Allister Coetzee was well pleased with his chargers meaning that they gave him what he asked for. They can no go into the break and come back to plan for Next year's Super Rugby competition. Well done and congrats to Western Province