Rugby fans will be treated to, not one, but two north-south derby matches this week.
Kicking off tomorrow, coach Jerome Paarwater’s Western Province will be looking to make it two wins from two matches in the Currie Cup after beating the Lions last weekend when they host the Bulls at Cape Town Stadium.
Die big dogs then do battle on the weekend when the Stormers travel to Loftus Versfeld to face the Bulls in the United Rugby Championship.
And with the Bulls having dominated South African rugby in recent years, winning every single competition since the Covid-19 lockdown started, Stormers forwards coach Rito Hlungwani says they don’t feel bullied by their northern rivals at all.
Asked if they are confident that they can overturn the Bulls’ dominance on Saturday, Hlungwani says: “The word dominant is a bit of a tough one, unless it refers to the fact that they just won.
“Maybe two or three games we lost in the last minute - there’s one where Trokkie [Juarno Augustus] went over the tryline and knocked on, there’s one where [Ruan] Nortje scored with the pick-up and drive in the last minute - we thought his hands were in the ruck. The semifinal at Loftus - a depleted team against a very good team at the time.
“So you know, we look at the positives that came out of all those games. But we don’t feel they dominated at all - they have had the upper hand in terms of winning, but we don’t feel there’s a big gap between us and them.
“We definitely hope to turn the results this weekend, it will be a tough game, but don’t feel we will play against a team that has completely dominated us for the past two years.”
Paarwater, meanwhile, will announce his side for the Currie Cup clash today.