Natal and the Curry Cup
The Natal rugby team are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. Their home stadium is Kings Park. They draw most of their players from the KwaZulu-Natal Province. The Sharks are the current representative team of the Natal Rugby Union, founded in 1890. The team is the fourth most successful provincial union in the country having won the Currie Cup title seven times. Remarkably however Natal wouldn’t win its first Currie Cup competition until 1990, the same year the union celebrated its centenary anniversary. Since then they have won the Currie Cup in 1992, 1995,1996, 2008, and 2010 and most recently in 2013. For most of their history the team was known simply as ‘Natal’, with a nickname of ‘The Banana Boys’ until the mid 1990s when they were re-branded as the Natal Sharks.
Early history
The Natal Rugby Union, renamed the KwaZulu-Natal rugby Union (KZNRU) in 1999, was formed in 1890, but it took 66 years for the union to enjoy its first Currie Cup final. In the interim, the province did produce its fair share of quality players, including Springboks Bill Payn, Wally Clarkson and Phillip Nel, who led South Africa on the country’s unbeaten tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1937. And whilst the 1920’s and 30’s saw Natal improve from one of the weakest unions in the Currie Cup to becoming a more competitive mid-table team, the team still struggled against the quality of sides such as Western Province and Transvaal.
Currie Cup Finals Results Season Winners Score Runner-up Venue
1956 Northern Transvaal 9 – 8 Natal Sharks Kings Park Stadium, Durban
1984 Western Province 19 – 9 Natal Sharks Newlands Stadium, Cape Town
1990 Natal Sharks 18 – 12 Northern TransvaalLoftus Versveld, Pretoria
1992 Natal Sharks 14 – 13 Transvaal Ellis Park, Johannesburg
1993 Transvaal 21 – 15 Natal Sharks Kings Park Stadium, Cape Town
1995 Natal Sharks 25 – 17 Western ProvinceKings Park Stadium, Cape Town
1996 Natal Sharks 33 – 15 Golden Lions Ellis Park, Johannesburg
1999 Golden Lions 32 – 9 Natal Sharks Kings Park Stadium, Cape Town
2000 Western Province 25 – 15 Natal Sharks ABSA Stadium, Durban
2001 Western Province 29 – 24 Natal Sharks Newlands, Cape Town
2003 Blue Bulls 40 – 19 Natal Sharks Loftus Versveld, Pretoria
2008 Natal Sharks 14 – 9 Blue Bulls ABSA Stadium, Durban
2010 Natal sharks 30 – 10 Western ProvinceASBA Stadium, Durban
2011 Golden Lions 42 – 16 Natal Sharks Ellis Park, Johannesburg
2012 Western Province 25 – 18 Natal Sharks Kings Park Stadium, Durban
2013 Natal sharks 33 – 19 Western ProvinceNewlands, Cape Town
To calculate the final co-ordinates
S26 AB CDE
E027 FG HIJ
A = the day of the 2013 Currie Cup final. Subtract the smaller number from the larger number.
B = the difference in the final score between The Sharks and Transvaal in 1992
C = Birth month of Lwazi Mvovo
D = The birth date of Patrick Lambie – Add the 4 numbers of the year he was born in, and subtract the day he was born from that answer
E = the sum of the year that the Natal Rugby Union was founded minus 14
F = the sum of the word “Sharks” (A=1, B=2, etc.) minus 76
G = Tendai Mtawarira is also known as a name referring to a fierce animal. 5 letters A=1, B=2, ect. The sum total of the letters minus AB
H = the birth month of the Sharks player that captained the Springboks to victory in the 2007 Rugby World Cup.
IJ = the capacity of King’s Park Stadium = IJ 000
HAPPY HUNTING!
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