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Ken Borland



Notshe has the x-factor gene, but his focus is on the basics 0

Posted on April 25, 2022 by Ken

Sharks eighthman Sikhumbuzo Notshe certainly has the x-factor gene in abundance, but he says his focus is on the basics as he continues his comeback from serious injury. It is an attitude the profligate Sharks team in general would probably benefit from after their embarrassing lack of finishing cost them against Edinburgh last weekend.

Notshe ruptured his patella last May and only returned to action at the beginning of February. Starting in the Currie Cup, his form has been good enough to see him reinstalled as the Sharks’ first-choice eighthman in the United Rugby Championship side.

“There are always a lot of extras one can focus on in rugby and I know I’ve got x-factor,” Notshe said on Tuesday. “But that’s not my focus going into games.

“I just try and get into as many battles as I can, make as many tackles as I can, make sure I set the maul properly if that’s my job.

“I just try and do the industrial work first, my other abilities will come naturally. In terms of my best, I’m not there yet and I am still working hard.

“The road to recovery was tough, but I had the best rehab and support I could get here at the Sharks in Dean Macquet [head physio] and Jimmy Wright [head biokineticist]. But it was a helluva road,” Notshe said.

In terms of fixing the disgraceful finishing shown in their last match, when they spent much of the game in the Edinburgh 22 but could only score one try, Notshe said you needed to look at individual errors, which can only be fixed on the training field.

“Our conversion rate in the 22 has not been great, we know how to get there but we just can’t finish off our opportunities.

“It comes down to individual errors and we need to clean up our own personal games. You can only do that through time in the saddle, on the training pitch. We need to put ourselves in those situations over and over again.

“And you can never make the weather an excuse. We’re playing at home, in front of our people, so we must always have energy. We can control that but we can’t control the weather.

“We don’t want to be a side that makes excuses and you can’t wait for a sunny day in Durban. We must always express ourselves,” Notshe said.

Bulls show character to stay the course in tight win over Pumas 0

Posted on July 09, 2021 by Ken

The Bulls showed pleasing character as they rebounded from their embarrassing loss in the Rainbow Cup final, staying the course and pulling off a tight 32-27 win over the Pumas in an intriguing Currie Cup match at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

The Bulls dominated the set-pieces in the first half and two clinical tries by centre Harold Vorster, through a chip and regather with his first touch in a Bulls jersey, and Madosh Tambwe, who breezed past the last two Pumas defenders, gave the home side a 17-3 halftime lead.

Of course the ever-committed Pumas were going to fight back and some soft moments by the Bulls, letting wing Tapiwa Mafura to bounce off a couple of tackles down the right and then Tambwe allowing a grubber to go through his legs, saw excellent left wing Etienne Taljaard get a well-deserved try.

But Bulls centre Cornal Hendricks showed great game awareness as his long pass to Stravino Jacobs found the wing in space, although the Pumas reacted well. But the visitors tried to counter-ruck, Hendricks picked up the ball and went scooting down the blindside and scored to give the defending champions a 25-10 lead with 15 minutes remaining.

But far from setting up a comfortable finish for the Bulls, that’s when things started to become really tough for the home side. The Pumas began to exert pressure on the scrums and flyhalf Eddie Fouche flourished.

He firstly chipped over the top and regathered to score as Jacobs could not take the ball cleanly under the pressure, and then, after a particularly big scrum, Fouche’s wonderful long pass to Devon Williams saw the fullback come screaming through midfield and then pass out wide for Mafura to score.

It was suddenly a one-point game, but the Bulls managed to keep calm. Captain Marcell Coetzee burst down the blindside off a scrum, the Bulls then went left to exploit the space and good hands allowed replacement fullback David Kriel to step inside and score the matchwinning try.

Having been so below par last weekend in Italy, coach Jake White will be delighted the Bulls not only played with some confidence but also dealt with concerted pressure from the Pumas in the final quarter. Flyhalf Chris Smith, after a horrid time against Benetton, was especially impressive, succeeding with all six of his kicks at goal, getting stuck in on the gain-line and showing some superb hands as he got his backline away smoothly.

For all their impressive efforts, the Pumas seem cursed to continually just fall short at Loftus Versfeld.

Scorers

BullsTries: Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Cornal Hendricks, David Kriel. Conversions: Chris Smith (4). Penalties: Smith (2).

PumasTries: Etienne Taljaard, Eddie Fouche, Tapiwa Mufura. Conversions: Eddie Fouche (3). Penalties: Fouche (2).

Jake not one to massage players’ egos, but he wants his Bulls to go out & have a go 0

Posted on July 05, 2021 by Ken

Bulls coach Jake White is not one to massage the egos of his players, but he said on Thursday that he hoped their “embarrassing” defeat in the Rainbow Cup final does not make them fearful and he wants them to go out and have a go when they return to action with a Currie Cup match against the Pumas at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

The Bulls were hammered 35-8 by Benetton Treviso in Italy, leaving them shellshocked. But White is hoping they will not be “gun-shy” against the fired-up Pumas side that never stands back, especially not with the confidence gained from their bonus point win over the Lions.

There are only a handful of players taking on their neighbours on Friday night who did not play in the Benetton ambush.

“There could be that fear factor, the guys could go into their shell because of the damage done last weekend, which would not be good. We’ve got to bounce back, we are still one of the top sides in South Africa, the Currie Cup champions, and there’s massive motivation. But the true test will come when the guys run on the field. I’m hoping what we learnt about intensity in Italy is taken a step up.

“We worked hard to get to 8-8 against Benetton but then we did not fire a shot. It was a different level of intensity and I want us to play and not be scared against the Pumas. We’re not going to lose the competition on Friday night and I want us to have a go after we were a bit gun-shy last weekend. The captain said they were a bit embarrassed and people expect us to rebound and react,” White said.

White said his search for something to “spark” the team was behind the selection of veteran Gio Aplon at starting fullback and the call-up of new signing Harold Vorster, the powerful former Lions star who has the chance to nail down the No.13 jersey.

“Gio is unbelievably important to us, after seven months out with a knee injury he makes a great try-saving tackle against the Sharks and he had three or four phenomenal touches in last week’s final. And that’s not mentioning how much work he puts into the wings, Madosh Tambwe and Stravino Jacobs, it’s like having a senior coach out there.

“Harold was phenomenal for the Lions and hopefully he and Gio can spark something because we were flat last week, a bit reluctant to play. They are experienced and hopefully they will have a go because they don’t feel as much pressure. I would like to see what we learnt in Italy translated into our game against the Pumas, we must make sure we take that pace and intensity forward,” White said.

Bulls team: Gio Aplon, Madosh Tambwe, Harold Vorster, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Chris Smith, Ivan van Zyl, Marcell Coetzee (C), Ruan Nortje, Nizaam Carr, Janko Swanepoel, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Schalk Erasmus, Lizo Gqoboka. Bench – Sidney Tobias, Simphiwe Matanzima, Jacques van Rooyen, Muller Uys, WJ Steenkamp, Zak Burger, FC du Plessis, David Kriel.

Seniors embarrassing the full-time pros 0

Posted on January 07, 2013 by Ken

It’s always embarrassing when the temps do the job better than the full-timers, and a similar scenario was developing at Sun City as the Nedbank Golf Challenge reached the halfway stage on Friday.

Germany’s Bernhard Langer had stayed ultra-cool in the hot, testing conditions to grab the lead in the secondary Champions Challenge for senior golfers, but the 55-year-old had played so well that his nine-under-par tally would also have been enough to give him a five-shot lead in the main event.

The regular tour pros have failed to set the world alight, with Paul Lawrie leading the Nedbank Golf Challenge after two rounds on four-under, one stroke ahead of Martin Kaymer, with South Africans Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen amongst four golfers on one-under.

With tight fairways and vicious semi-rough, the Gary Player Country Club tests golfers’ thinking and course management to the max, and the cerebral, ever-composed Langer has flourished with rounds of 68 and 67, the lowest score on both days.

“Experience has a lot to do with it. Probably nobody has played this course as much as me – it’s my 16th tournament here. I played well, just hitting fairways and greens, but it’s important to hit the ball in the right spot here,” Langer said.

American Jay Haas is second in the Champions Challenge on five-under, but he is also leading all the regular tour pros and he admitted he was surprised by the unusual turn of events.

The seniors are playing on the same course, teeing off just before the NGC golfers, and their only allowance is that their tees have been brought forward a bit.

“I’m surprised the big names are not doing better. We’re probably driving the ball where they’re driving it, then they probably take one club less from there. But the thing about Bernhard is that he does not make many mental errors; he doesn’t give strokes away.

“Having forward tees is definitely an advantage on a couple of holes and nobody in our tournament gets close to the distance of those 12 golfers in the main event. But the situation is a little unusual right now,” Haas said.

Lawrie is leading for similar reasons to Langer, the resurgent Scotsman having kept his card clean with just one bogey per day thus far.

He has deliberately minimised risk and his reward was a 69 on Friday.

“I played nicely again. I struggled with the driver so I hit quite a few three-woods, which was a strong club for me today. I gave myself chances and I putted a lot better today.

“This course is demanding off the tee and you’ve got to be in play if you hope to go for the pins. It’s important to drive well; it’s pretty tough out there. The wind is swirling, chopping and changing, and it’s difficult to get your distance right,” Lawrie said.

Kaymer, who began the day in a tie for sixth on level-par, started the second round brightly with three birdies in his first seven holes, but he then bogeyed the eighth and ninth holes, before a solid inward nine of 34 strokes would see him into second place.

The former world number one was delighted to see his countryman Langer doing so well – “He’s like a machine,” he aptly commented – and Kaymer’s approach to the daunting challenge was similar.

“Once you’re in the fairway, then you have a chance for birdie and you can score well. If you’re in the rough, it’s very difficult to go for the flags; it’s even difficult to hit the greens,” Kaymer said.

Neither Schwartzel nor Oosthuizen has managed to reproduce their pre-tournament form, but they are both handily placed just three strokes behind Lawrie with two rounds to play.

Overnight leaders Bill Haas, the son of Jay, and Nicolas Colsaerts had contrasting fortunes.

Haas tore through the back nine in just 33 strokes to join the tie for third on one-under, but Colsaerts never recovered from a pair of sevens at the second and third holes to shoot a 78 and slump to the rear of the field.

A golfer cannot afford to relax or lose focus on the Gary Player Country Club course, with the slightest mistake usually being severely punished.

“This course can grab you anywhere because every hole can get you,” Langer warned.

Those spectators heading for Sun City over the weekend will certainly be hoping Oosthuizen or Schwartzel can end the five-year wait for a South African winner.

If Oosthuizen can approach the form he showed in April when he finished as the runner-up in the Masters at Augusta – a course that is similar in many respects – then he will take some stopping.

Schwartzel’s sunny smile has only been spotted sporadically over the first two days, but if his game clicks, he is capable of dominating in a way only Langer has managed so far this week.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-12-01-nedbank-golf-challenge-pros-disappoint-underdogs-on-top

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    1 John 2:5 – “But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.”

    James 2:14 – “What good is it if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?”.

    Love without action is useless.

    If you love God unreservedly, you will offer your best to him and be willing to serve him wherever he wishes to use you.

    Love has to manifest itself practically.

    “Love requires uplifting and inspirational deeds.

    “How genuine can your love for God truly be if you are aware of a serious need and do nothing to alleviate it?”- Solly Ozrovech, A Shelter From The Storm



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