Xerox Lions will go flat out in last match, promises captain Franco

October 7 - There is still the smallest glimmer of hope – and small though it might be, the Xerox Lions will be going all out to keep their hardly smouldering play-off hope alive when they host the Pumas in an Absa Currie Cup match at Coca-Cola Park on Friday night. So said Lions captain Franco van der Merwe this week as his team prepared from a season that not even the most ardent fan would have predicted after the disastrous Super 14 campaign and then the hesitant start to the Currie Cup season. The Lions were as good as the Free State Cheetahs last weekend in their must-win encounter to make the semi-finals, but two soft tries cost them the match and made the semis a near-impossibility. They should however show the Pumas that the narrow Lions win in the first round in Witbank was a scare they have taken to heart. Although the Pumas have increased in confidence and are now a better team than previously, the Lions have also grown - not only in quality and confidence but also in the quality of their play. With the boost in the past week of a new sponsor and also a new equity partners the table is set for a super 2011 season – and Friday night’s match is the first step towards ultimate glory in the new format Super competition. The Lions should win and end their satisfactory season where they have brought pride back in their game on a high – and there id of course still that very, very vague hope that the Blue Bulls or Free State would slip up against the Griquas (away) and the leopards (at home) respectively. Unlikely, but… As it is, the Blue Bulls are away against a buoyant Griquas side that have come so very close to the quarters this year, as they did last season. The Bulls sneaked to a controversial win against the Kimberley side in last year’s away match, and will be wary of Naas Olivier’s troops. The home side will field the new try-equalling hero Bjorn Basson in his last match for Griquas before he moves to Pretoria next year – and a single try will see him overtake Carel du Plessis’s record of 19 tries in a Premier Currie Cup season while Colin Lloyd has also equalled that feat for the leopards in what is now the First Division. Griquas also have the current leading points scorer in the competition in their team in Olivier who is on 169 points. Add to that the fact that the defending champions have struggled in away matches thus far with only a win early in the season against the Xerox Lions and lately the Leopards away from Loftus. They have conceded four defeats on the road against the Pumas (22-21), Western Province (15-12), Free State Cheetahs (20-14) and The Sharks (34-28). Three will battle it out for home ground advantage in the semi-finals. The Sharks will host one of the two play-off games, while Western Province, the Free State Cheetahs or the Blue Bulls are all in line to play their semi-final at home. The Cape side are currently on 44 log points while the other contenders –  Free State Cheetahs (42) and the  Blue Bulls (42) – are all still in the hunt of hosting a final-four game. WP has to defeat the Sharks at Newlands on Saturday (17:05) to secure a home semi-final. If WP lose and fail to gain any bonus points, they will still qualify for the semis, but could find themselves in fourth position and will then have to travel to Durban to play the Sharks in the semis. In that case the Free State Cheetahs, who take on the Platinum Leopards at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Phokeng on Friday (19h00), or the  Blue Bulls who are in Kimberley on Saturday for their game against the GWK Griquas (15h00), will end in second position and thus host a semi-final. The Bloemfontein side however have the inside lane on the defending champions from Pretoria, due to their superior points’ differential. Naka Drotske’s side currently have a points’ difference of 94 while the  Blue Bulls are on 51. **  Meanwhile  WP flyhalf Willem de Waal could re-write the Absa Currie Cup record books on Saturday and become the second leading points’ scorer in the history of the competition. De Waal is only six points away from equalling former Northern Free State and Free State Cheetahs flyhalf Eric Herbert’s tally of 1402 points. He is currently the leading points’ scorer (183) in the 2010 competition and has accumulated 1396 points during his career. Former Northern Transvaal flyhalf Naas Botha (1699) is still the leading points’ scorer in the history of the Absa Currie Cup.