Ken Borland

Sharks coach Sean Everitt praised the major impact of the bench in their impressive 40-12 win over the Glasgow Warriors at Kings Park, saying it was exactly what he had hoped for when he loaded his replacements with a number of Springboks.

Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche, Siya Kolisi, Sikhumbuzo Notshe and Makazole Mapimpi were all substitutes against Glasgow, and it was no coincidence that the Sharks finished emphatically, turning a narrow 13-12 lead after 50 minutes into a crunching, bonus point win.

“I’m very happy, we knew it would be a difficult first half, but we showed a lot of power in the second half. The game opened up and we played well from turnover ball,” Everitt said.

“We managed to get our attack and defence together in the same game. The starting line-up did the hard yards and tired out the opposition, and then we had a big impact off the bench.”

Even Warriors coach Nigel Carolan admitted that they had been blown away in the second half.

“There was always going to be an onslaught, it was very difficult to handle that sort of power in the last 30 minutes. And because we did not have enough on the scoreboard to protect, we had to try and get on the front foot still,” Carolan said.

Debutant Eben Etzebeth was the obvious choice for the man of the match award, for the power of his carries, his domination of the lineouts and the offloading skills he showed in ensuring the continuity of attacks.

“Eben was immense in disrupting their lineout and the quality ball he and Hyron Andrews won at our lineout gave us a good foundation to attack,” Everitt said.

“He has fitted in really well, he had done his lineout homework thoroughly, he was outstanding in both attacking and defensive lineouts.

“There was also much to be admired in his all-round play, he certainly played like the best lock in the world,” Everitt said.

Ockie Strydom had been runner-up 19 times and won just once on the Sunshine Tour, but the 37-year-old did the business in highly impressive fashion on the back nine in the final round to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship by two strokes at Leopard Creek on Sunday.

Remarkably, it was a double-bogey on the par-four ninth that sparked Strydom, as he responded immediately to losing the outright lead with two brilliant approach shots, after crunching drives, to set up back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th holes.

Strydom short-sided himself on the ninth with his approach to the left of the flag, the ball spinning back into the water.

But he recovered to produce an impeccably solid back nine, with further birdies on the 13th and 14th holes and seldom looking in any danger of dropping a shot.

“It was probably the most solid nine holes I have played,” Strydom said. “After the double, I said to my caddy Jaris [Kruger, his brother-in-law], that it’s fine, we are still in there and we can pull it back.

“And then we did it in the first two holes of the back nine and just kept the foot on the pedal after that. I’ve been in this situation a lot and I know how to manage it. I was just able to go back to the game I know.

“I’ve put in a lot of hard work on my mental toughness and Jaris is a legend who really helped me. We discussed everything and I didn’t play any silly shots,” Strydom said.

Strydom closed with a three-under 69 to finish on 18-under-par, and while the victory was relatively easy in the end – “having a three-shot lead tends to take the nerves away,” Strydom admitted – the Serengeti Golf and Wildlife Estate representative had numerous challengers to worry about through his round.

Scott Jamieson was tied for the lead with Strydom overnight and it was only after eight holes that the experienced Scotsman slipped behind never to return. Jamieson bogeyed the last three holes to post a 76 and finish in a tie for 11th on 11-under, on a final day in which he just never loosened up.

Dean Burmester, two behind at the start of the day, cut the gap to one when he curled in a 27-foot birdie putt on the 10th, but he immediately dropped a shot on the 11th and could only post a level-par 72 to finish on 13-under, tied for seventh with Louis Oosthuizen, who eagled the 11th and also picked up birdies on the 13th and 15th holes to get to 14-under and provide a brief threat. But the 2005 runner-up finished par-par-bogey.

Spaniard Adrian Otaegui, a four-time European Tour winner, produced the only bogey-free round of the day to put Strydom under the most pressure.

Otaegui, beginning the day on 12-under, moved to within a shot of the lead with birdies on the second and third holes, and picked up another shot on the par-four 11th. But crucially, he could not gather any other birdies coming in, until he scored a four at the par-five closing hole.

His 68 left him on 16-under and alone in second place, one shot ahead of Englishman Laurie Canter, whose 64 was the low round of the day. He started with a bogey, but then fired seven birdies and an eagle at the par-four sixth to claim third place.

South Africans Oliver Bekker (71) and Branden Grace (70) at times applied pressure, but both had crucial misses on the back nine as they finished on 14-under, sharing fourth place with Canadian Aaron Cockerill (69).

South African MJ Daffue and Frenchman David Ravetto rounded out the top-10 on 12-under-par, both closing with 69s.

Strydom, the man of the day, however, now has a DP World Tour exemption for two years, when his goals for 2023 were a bit lower – the Challenge Tour.

“It means everything to me, all the South Africans on the Sunshine Tour dream of winning a co-sanctioned event and I always wanted to do it here,” Strydom said.

“I had planned to play a bit on the Challenge Tour, but it has all just changed in the space of a week. I probably need to do some fresh planning.

“My Dad said he would be satisfied if I win one of these co-sanctioned events, I’ve finally done it and to do it at Leopard Creek feels extra good.

“‘Winner of a co-sanctioned event’ has a nice ring to it, but I’m not sure I’m ready for it,” the perennial bridegroom laughed.

Judging by his performance on Sunday afternoon, Strydom looks ready for anything.

The Paarl Royals have emerged from this week’s SA20 Auction with the most impressive roster of players, benefiting from a bold start to the auction and then a strong finish as they kept valuable bid money in reserve.

Having pre-bought T20 stars like David Miller, Jos Buttler and Obed McCoy, Paarl then netted two marquee bowlers from the first set of players to go under the hammer, getting Proteas lynchpins in Tabraiz Shamsi and Lungi Ngidi.

Jason Roy, Dane Vilas and Bjorn Fortuin, all with strong T20 pedigrees, came from sets two, three and six respectively, before a late flurry of bidding saw Paarl emerge from the express rounds at the end with half-a-dozen fantastic signings.

Former England captain Eoin Morgan was their penultimate pick for R2 million and the Royals have gained some great local talent in Boland stars Ferisco Adams and Imraan Manack, and hard-hitting batsmen Wihan Lubbe, Evan Jones and Mitchell van Buuren.

JP Duminy, in his first year as a head coach, said he will benefit from the experience of players like Morgan, captain Miller, Buttler and Roy.

“The team has an inexperienced coach so it needs a good bunch of leaders,” Duminy said with characteristic modesty. “Fortunately it played out that way.

“There’s a lot of leadership quality in the squad, Eoin Morgan is a World Cup winning captain, and David Miller will gain traction from that as he gets exposure to the captaincy.

“We know Jason Roy will be destructive up front and I’m sure he will find form in the next few months. We had planned for Donovan Ferreira, but that did not work out and then it was about who will fill the finisher role?

“Eoin is one of the leading finishers in world cricket and Evan Jones is someone for the future as well, and he will have the opportunity to learn from Eoin,” Duminy said.

While the Proteas’ leading run-scorer in T20 cricket said much of their success at the auction in Cape Town was ‘the rub of the green’, there is little doubt the Royals executed a carefully thought-out strategy, aiming for players who have done well in Paarl before.

“Bjorn Fortuin and Tabraiz Shamsi were pivotal to the success of the Paarl Rocks in the 2019 MSL, and I’ve already seen a pic on social media about how excited they are to play together again,” Duminy laughed an hour after the auction.

“And it’s good to see locals like Ferisco and Imraan in the squad; Ferisco sent me a message saying he will be bringing the whole of Robertson to our home games!”

Watching T20 cricket at Boland Park is set to once again be a real earful as well as an eye-catching experience.

Paarl Royals squad – Jos Buttler, Jason Roy, Wihan Lubbe, David Miller, Eoin Morgan, Dane Vilas, Corbin Bosch, Bjorn Fortuin, Tabraiz Shamsi, Lungi Ngidi, Obed McCoy, Evan Jones, Ferisco Adams, Mitchell van Buuren, Imraan Manack, Ramon Simmonds, Codi Yusuf.

Rilee Rossouw batted with power and precision and Tabraiz Shamsi bounced back superbly from his mauling in the first match as South Africa levelled the T20 series with an impressive 58-run win over England at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff on Thursday night.

Given how comprehensively they were outplayed in the first T20, the Proteas surprisingly fielded an unchanged XI and Rossouw, who scored just 4 in his comeback match, made the most of his second chance with a fiery 96 not out off 55 balls leading the tourists to a sizeable 207/3 after they had been sent in to bat.

Wrist-spinner Shamsi, who went for 49 runs in three overs in the Bristol battering, was the key bowler for South Africa, taking 3/27 in his four overs. That included the key wicket of Moeen Ali, who blasted England’s fastest ever T20 half-century in the first match and looked in similar touch in Cardiff as he blitzed 28 off 17 balls before Keshav Maharaj took a brilliant catch, running and diving at long-off.

It typified a vastly improved fielding effort by the Proteas as well, and when Sam Curran (2) fell to the same combination in the same over, England had slipped to 92/5 after 11 overs.

Earlier, Reeza Hendricks continued to fulfil the desire of the Proteas management for more aggression up front, stroking a fluent, impressive 53 off 32 balls up front.

He dovetailed brilliantly with Rossouw, the pair adding 73 in 7.4 overs for the second wicket.

The left-handed Rossouw showed his power game as he launched five sixes, but he also produced some superb touches that created some of his 10 fours.

Captain Jos Buttler gave England the rapid start they wanted with 29 off 14 balls, but Andile Phehlukwayo, another who rebounded extremely well with three wickets, had him caught off a leading edge.

Spinners Shamsi and Maharaj, with the important wicket of Dawid Malan (5) then did their job, and it was left to the outstanding Lungi Ngidi (2.4-0-11-2) to wrap up the game, England being bowled out for 149 inside 17 overs.