Sharks vs WP: The Twitter race heats up

South Africa’s premier domestic rugby competition, the Currie Cup, comes to a gripping climax this Saturday afternoon with the final between the Sharks and Western Province in Durban. But even though the game is still days away, the battle is already heating up on micro-blogging platform Twitter.

Supporters of both teams are being encouraged to follow their teams on Twitter before the big final in a bid to establish cyber-dominance and gain a psychological edge.

Sharks supporters are following just_sharks, while Province supporters are signing up at JustWP. By Wednesday morning the Sharks had just over 3 100 followers, while WP was trailing by 400 with a following of 2 700.

But these totals are likely to change as the big day gets closer and closer.

Many South African sports stars have been joining the cyber battle, including Graeme Smith, Kevin Pietersen, Jordy Smith, Trevor Immelman as well as celebrities like Arno Carstens, Rob Van Vuuren, Just Jinjer and Locnville have all joined one team or the other.

Can the WP supporters get their act together and catch Natal? Time is running out.