The overwhelming consensus among the top rugby coaches in South Africa is that the scheduling conflict of the Currie Cup and the United Rugby Championship (URC) has created more challenges than benefits.
While the Bulls , Sharks and Lions will be battle-hardened and overworked, the Stormers have been left desperately seeking to arrange a warm-up game before their URC campaign begins. The Bulls, Sharks and Lions will be involved in the Currie Cup semi-finals this weekend, while Western Province did not manage to make the last four.
It means the Stormers would have had game time heading into the URC, but their unexpected early exit from the Currie Cup in the group stage had presented an unusual scheduling problem.
The Currie Cup final is scheduled for September 21, while the opening round of the URC starts the same weekend. The Sharks were due to host the Lions and the Bulls were due to take on the Stormers in Cape Town on the opening weekend, before the two SA games were postponed.
We dont have the resourcesStormers coach John Dobson told SportsBoom.com : 'We are currently second bottom from the log in the Currie Cup. It has been a challenging period with the pre-season, we took a different approach to the Currie Cup and giving opportunities to as many youngsters as we can and definitely would've liked to have done better results wise.
