Ken Borland

Springbok prop Thomas du Toit will be tasked with ensuring the Sharks get in the game way quicker than they did last weekend as he has been handed the captaincy for their United Rugby Championship match against the Ospreys in Swansea on Friday night.

Coach Sean Everitt was quick to add that regular captain Phepsi Buthelezi is merely having a bit of a breather on the bench and will be back in the starting line-up next weekend.

The Sharks were horribly unfocused at the start of their match against Glasgow Warriors last weekend, trailing 19-0 in the first quarter, before dominating thereafter to only lose 35-24. Everitt believes Du Toit has the credentials to ensure that does not happen again.

“Thomas is full of confidence and playing his best rugby at the moment, he is a leader and he is certainly leading by performance at the moment. The more he plays, the better he gets and he was outstanding against Glasgow, his game has grown a lot lately.

“Phepsi is just resting, we want to take the pressure off him a bit, but he will be back next weekend. He needed a break, we just wanted to lighten his load a bit,” Everitt explained.

“Chasing the scoreboard away from home is always very difficult and if you look at the three tries we conceded early on, they were all quite soft. The guys were a bit shellshocked in the first 20 minutes, but then we managed to get some momentum for the rest of the game,” Everitt said on their poor start at Scotstoun.

The Sharks team announced on Wednesday shows plenty of rotational changes and, up front, tighthead Du Toit and blindside flank Gerbrandt Grobler were the only players to hold on to the same jersey, while in the backline, halfbacks Ruan Pienaar and Boeta Chamberlain and exciting wing Thaakir Abrahams are the only players still in the starting line-up from last weekend.

“There are a lot of rotational changes and some performance-based ones. But we wanted to freshen up the group, the changes don’t weaken the team, they are there to strengthen it. And Murray Koster, Fez Mbatha and Yaw Penxe are carrying injuries,” Everitt revealed.

Sharks: Anthony Volmink, Marnus Potgieter, Jeremy Ward, Marius Louw, Thaakir Abrahams, Boeta Chamberlain, Ruan Pienaar, Henco Venter, Gerbrandt Grobler, James Venter, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit (Capt), Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench – Dan Jooste, Khwezi Mona, Lourens Adriaanse, Le Roux Roets, Phepsi Buthelezi, Dylan Richardson, Sanele Nohamba, Werner Kok.

PORT EDWARD, KwaZulu-Natal (October 6) – The country’s leading golfers arrived at the Wild Coast Sun Country Club on Wednesday morning for the first round of the SunBet Challenge to find heavy rain pouring down, eventually leading to the postponement of the opening 18 holes.

The good news is that the Sunshine Tour have been able to push the finish to Saturday, so the R1 million event will remain a 54-hole tournament.

Tournament Director Gary Todd was hopeful of all three rounds being able to be played.

“We had to postpone the first round because of a waterlogged golf course. The golf course has had over 100 millimetres of rain over the last three days, and the water table is just too high at the moment. The forecast is good for the rest of the week and there is a bit of a breeze, so we are targeting a Saturday finish,” Todd said.

The first three-balls will tee-off at 6.40am on Thursday.

The intensity and skill on display in the new domestic structure makes the cricket very competitive, but it is the game-awareness of international players that marks them out when you move to a higher level, according to Western Province paceman Beuran Hendricks.

Hendricks was unfortunate to miss out on selection for the Proteas squad currently in the United Arab Emirates preparing for the T20 World Cup, but will instead spearhead Western Province’s efforts to try and win the CSA Provincial T20 Cup and bring some silverware to Newlands for the first time since 2014/15.

Western Province did not have things easy though qualifying for the quarterfinals from Pool A, and the Central Gauteng Lions fell by the wayside in the same group, which was topped by Division II side South-Western Districts.

“The start of the season has been brilliant and very competitive,” Hendricks told The Citizen. “It looks like a good product and it woke up a few teams. We nearly found out the hard way that the Division II teams are not mediocre.

“We were in difficult positions, the Lions were knocked out and the Titans had a big scare. We’ve seen talent come through, names you didn’t see at franchise level like Evan Jones and Clyde Fortuin.

“There’s no problem with the intensity and the guys have the skill, but where the shift to international level comes is in game-awareness. You have to make sure you have all your bases covered, not just one factor.

“The guys need to make sure they hone their skills, specifically the T20 ones like change-ups and yorkers at the death, and the awareness that the field-placings have to be spot-on,” Hendricks, who has played one Test, eight ODIs and 19 T20s for South Africa, said.

While Western Province were far from perfect in edging out the Lions by two runs and beating Northern Cape, it was pleasing that they came through under pressure, which speaks well of the environment in the squad under Faiek Davids.

“We’re quite relaxed and the guys are starting to enjoy themselves. It was quite a tough environment before because losing is never easy.

“But experienced guys like myself, Wayne Parnell and Aviwe Mgijima are trying to bring a sense of calm to the group. If the seniors take responsibility then the youngsters can just express themselves.

“Having three left-arm quicks in myself, Wayne and Nandre Burger is also good because it means it’s not easy for the opposing batsmen, who normally face so many right-armers.

“I’ve never seen three left-arm quicks play in the same team before, but we feed off each other and it’s definitely an asset to have 12 overs of left-arm seam,” Hendricks said.

“We’ll only be 100% ready as a team in 2022/23 but we will go into the T20 World Cup with quiet confidence,” CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith said on Monday.

The Proteas left at the weekend for the United Arab Emirates and yet another tilt at elusive World Cup success. As has so often been the case, form is on their side as South Africa have won their last three T20 series, including wins in the West Indies and Sri Lanka, in similar conditions to what they are expecting in the UAE.

But given the torrid years they have come through, the Proteas are not really being mentioned as contenders for the title. Smith is comfortable with that position.

“Last season there were so many challenges in terms of logistics, Covid, injuries and being in bubbles for the first time, and we kitted out 43 players with 33 of them getting on the field.

“But from the tour to the West Indies in June we’ve seen the performance curve go up and that has been a big confidence booster. As a team, we’ll probably only be 100% ready in 2022/23.

“So we’ll be going into the World Cup as underdogs, but we have enough quality in the team to be quietly confident, it’s about combinations and reading the conditions well.

“We’ve especially seen a big upward curve in terms of playing spin and it’s been great experience for someone like Aiden Markram to play in the IPL – I especially like that he’s batting in the middle-order – while we know Quinton de Kock will be integral and Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje have developed into a great fast-bowling pair,” Smith said.

The former Proteas captain, speaking at the KFC Mini-Cricket National Seminar at Zebula outside BelaBela, said the coming summer will be one not to miss for South African cricket fans.

“India coming here is a huge tour. They have won away from home now around the world but they have never won a Test series here, so that’s going to provide some real added flavour to the series.

“There have been a number of meetings about getting crowds back, we are pushing hard, we are positive and hopeful. We need that investment coming into the game otherwise we can’t run grassroots programs like KFC Mini-Cricket.

“Domestically, we’ll have the Mzansi Super League in February and we’re very happy with how the new structure has gone so far. There was a bit of apprehension at first, but it’s been great to see the Division II teams compete well.

“Players are sticking their hands up and it’s lovely to see the provincial colours back and see that provincialism again. There’ll be kids watching the Limpopo Impalas play today and see that there is a pathway for them to play first-class cricket,” Smith said.