After a week of bluff, double bluff, talking up the opposition and talking down the influence of the crowd and ground, the fate of the second of Saturday afternoon's Absa Currie Cup semifinals will be left in the big strong hands of two of the pivotal players of this year's competition.

Wikus van Heerden and Anton Leonard are not players who are fond of bluffing.

For them, rugby is a game of huffing, puffing and blowing the house down, a physical contest of hard, straight running, harder, straight-up tackling and then arguing the toss over who played the prettier rugby later.

Rugby, despite what the marketers would have us believe, is not a beautiful game - it is a dutiful game with a work ethic embodied by the two captains who will lead their men on to the field at Loftus on Saturday afternoon.

'It's a great motivating factor for us to go to Loftus'

Their influence on the Lions and the Blue Bulls, the two best teams on show on the domestic scene in 2005, was recognised by their inclusion among the five nominees for the Absa Currie Cup player of the year, which will be named on October 25.

By then we will know just which one of them was more influential than the other. Naas Botha said this week that the Blue Bulls were a different team without Leonard and, indeed, they have been a little wayward when he has been off the park.

The same can be said for the Lions, who were shaky against the Leopards in a Premier Division game until Van Heerden, who was being rested by Frans Ludeke, was brought on and stamped his authority on the game.

He is a player who relishes the big games, who can read the critical moments and can gauge the mood of his team. The Lions, he said, are looking forward to their short trip up to Pretoria.

"It's a great motivating factor for us to go to Loftus," said Van Heerden. "Our guys have lots of experience and as it's the second semifinal for us at Loftus, we know what to expect. It's a semifinal, you don't have to psyche guys up for a semifinal.

They know what's at stake - we either step into the final or it's the end of the season."

A sobering thought, to be sure, but one that will strike a chord with those who were at Loftus last year when the Lions staged a mighty comeback in the second half.

Schalk Brits thundered over for a try one minute into the second half to give the Lions the lead for the first time in the match.

He scored another with a diving, one-handed Superman celebration that was referred to the TV ref lest he had dropped it.

In between, though, the Blue Bulls scrummed the Lions off the ball in their own 22 and Leonard picked up the ball as it spurted out of a mangled Lions scrum and scored an easy try. A year on, the Lions, said Van Heerden, are wiser than before.

"We know their players. They're the opponents that everyone wants us to beat. We simply have to go out and show that we can do it."

If the Lions are to win, and judging by the comments from around the country they are the only team who can beat the Bulls, they will be relying heavily on the confidence and calm that flows from André Pretorius, Jaque Fourie and Conrad Jantjes. Even more, though, the Lions will be counting on the leadership of their captain.

Teams
Blue Bulls: Johan Roets; Akona Ndungane, JP Nel, Wynand Olivier, Bryan Habana; Morné Steyn, Fourie du Preez; Anton Leonard (capt), Pedrie Wannenburg, Jacques Cronjé; Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha; Andries Human, Gary Botha, Kees Lensing. Replacements: Danie Coetzee, Wessel Roux, Danie Rossouw, Johan Wasserman, Heini Adams, Derick Hougaard, Riaan van der Bergh
Lions: Conrad Jantjes; Wylie Human, Jaque Fourie, Wayne Julies, Jorrie Muller; André Pretorius, Nicholas Eyre; Cobus Grobbelaar, Wikus van Heerden (capt), Gerhard Vosloo; Willem Stoltz, Trevor Hall; Marius Hurter, Lukas van Biljon, Pietman van Niekerk. Replacements: Schalk Brits, Lawrence Sephaka, Kleinjan Tromp, Ernst Joubert, Jano Vermaak, Nel Fourie, Grant Esterhuizen
Referee: Mark Lawrence
Kick-off: 5pm

• This article was originally published on page 32 of Saturday Star on October 15, 2005