Preview: Currie Cup, Round Eleven

Just four rounds remain in the Currie Cup and the race heats up this week with six teams still vying for a place in the play-offs.

Just four rounds remain in the Currie Cup and the race for last-four spots heats up this week with six teams still vying for a place in the play-offs.

Friday's fixtures see Griquas hosting a hapless Leopards outfit in Kimberley, while the Pumas entertain a now back-on-form Western Province.

Both ties will be seen as foregone conclusions, however, while the Leopards are unlikely to trouble Griquas, the Pumas have proved a formidable force on home soil and could provide Allister Coetzee's men with a stern test.

The highlight of the weekend's action will come on Saturday with two mouth-watering encounters as the top-of-the-table Sharks welcome an in-form Cheetahs side and an out-of-sorts Blue Bulls team host a Lions side who are unbeaten in their last five games.

Fixtures:

Friday, 17 September
Griquas vs Leopards
Pumas vs Western Province
Saturday, 18 September
Sharks vs Cheetahs
Blue Bulls vs Lions
Standings:
1 Sharks 41
2 Western Province 33
3 Cheetahs 32
4 Lions 30
5 Blue Bulls 29
6 Griquas 25
7 Pumas 17
8 Leopards 5

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Previews:

Griquas v Leopards

Griquas will be eager to recapture their winning form against a Leopards side who have failed to win this season and face an uphill battle to remain in South Africa's elite competition.

Dawie Theron's men, who are currently in sixth place on the standings, have suffered back-to-back losses against the Sharks and the Lions and a bonus-point win is crucial if they want to keep their hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive.

Theron has made three changes to his side as scrum-half Sarel Pretorius and hooker Ryno Barnes return to the starting XV in place of Marnus Hugo and Simon Westraad, while Burger Schoeman comes in for Davon Raubenheimer.

Leopards coach Chaka Willemse, whose job is on the line following his side's failure to make an impact in the competition, has made four changes to his team. Tiaan Dorfling replaces Theo van Wyk (injured), Christo van Niekerk comes in for Wilhelm Koch (injured) and Gavin Williamson's suspension gifts Marthinus van der Westhuizen a start at hooker.

Willemse has also opted to rest Jovan Bowles and Cornelius Rautenbach is set to be handed the number thirteen jersey.

Prediction: Despite a poor run of form, Griquas should run out comfortable winners by at least 20 points, picking up the four-try bonus point in the process.

The teams:

Griquas:15 Riaan Viljoen; 14 Rocco Jansen, 13 Wilmaure Louw, 12 Barry Geel, 11 Bjorn Basson; 10 Naas Olivier (c), 9 Sarel Pretorius; 8 Burger Schoeman, 7 Justin Downey, 6 Johan van Deventer, 5 Cecil Kemp, 4 MB Lusaseni, 3 Jean Botha, 2 Ryno Barnes, 1 Steph Roberts.
Replacements: 16 Simon Westraadt, 17 Jacobie Adriaanse, 18 Edwin Hewitt, 19 Davon Raubenheimer, 20 Marnus Hugo, 21 Jean Stemmet, 22 Rudi Vogt Human.

Leopards: 15 Danie Dames, 14 Deon Scholtz, 13 Cornelius Rautenbach, 12 Walter Venter, 11 Dumisani Matyeshana, 10 Clayton Durand, 9 Tiaan Dorfling, 8 Riaan Swanepoel (c), 7 Reginald Kember, 6 Christo van Niekerk, 5 Brad Mockford, 4 Anthonie Gronum, 3 Barend van der Walt, 2 Marthinus van der Westhuizen, 1 Bennie Uys.
Replacements: 16 JC Oberholzer, 17 Johan Coetzee, 18 Edrich Linde, 19 Victor Joubert, 20 Charlie King, 21 Cecil Dumond, 22 Jovan Bowles.

Venue: GWK Park, Kimberley
Kick-off:19:00 (17:00 GMT)
Referee: Jason Jaftha

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Pumas v Western Province

Western Province will try to make up ground on Currie Cup leaders the Sharks when they travel to the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit.

Allister Coetzee is confident that his side have turned the corner after they got back to winning ways with a 59-17 victory over the Leopards following a run of three consecutive defeats and he has made five changes to his side that did the business at Newlands last week.

In the backline Conrad Jantjes moves to full-back with Conrad Hoffmann dropping to the bench, JJ Engelbrecht takes over on the right wing, while fly-half Willem de Waal returns to the starting line-up for the injured Lionel Cronje.

Up front, Wicus Blaauw comes in at loosehead for JD Moller and Pieter Louw replaces Nick Koster on the flank.

The Pumas will be hoping to rekindle some Nelspruit magic as their first visit to the Mbombela Stadium produced a shock 22-21 victory over the Blue Bulls.

The hosts though will have it all to do as they've been decimated by injuries, which has forced coach Jimmy Stonehouse to make eight changes.

Conrad Marais replaces Braam Pretorious at right wing, Shaun Venter and Ricardo Croy takes over from Tiaan Marx and Aswhin Scott in midfield, while Hendrik van der Nest takes over from Tian Meyer at scrum-half.

There are also four changes in the pack with the most noteworthy seeing captain Hannes Franklin dropping to the bench and Torsten van Jaarsveld taking over at hooker.

Prediction: It's a tough ask for the Pumas to beat Western Province with so many first-team players out injured. The visitors should win by at least 15 points.

The teams:

Pumas: 15 Johan Jackson, 14 Conrad Marais, 13 Shaun Venter, 12 Ricardo Croy, 11 Allister Kettledas, 10 Elgar Watts, 9 Hendrik van der Nest, 8 Christo le Roux, 7 Jaco Bouwer, 6 Corné Steenkamp (c), 5 Andries Kruger, 4 Eduan van der Walt, 3 Ashley Buys, 2 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 1 Ronnie Uys.
Replacements:16 Hannes Franklin, 17 Dawie Steyn, 18 De-Jay Terblanche, 19 Willem Jacob Serfontein, 20 Juan Visser, 21 Ashwin Scott, 22 Vainon Willis

Western Province:15 Conrad Jantjes , 14 JJ Engelbrecht, 13 Juan De Jongh, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Gio Aplon, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Anton van Zyl (c), 4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements:16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 JC Kritzinger, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Nick Koster, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 Gary van Aswegen, 22 Paul Bosch

Venue: Puma Stadium, Witbank
Kick-off:19:10 (17:10 GMT)
Referee: Andrew Lees

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Sharks vs Cheetahs

The Sharks, who will 'go pink' on Saturday as part of their Cancer awareness programme, looked unstoppable until they came up against the Blue Bulls.

However, their confidence should once again be sky high after their convincing victory against the Pumas. They will also be bolstered by two key players who have regained full fitness.

Coach John Plumtree is able to recall Louis Ludik and the ever-impressive Keegan Daniel. Ludik's return to full-back means captain Stefan Terblanche returns to centre while Jacques Boets drops to