Ken Borland

The Proteas left for the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and the T20 World Cup, with captain Temba Bavuma saying it will be all hands on deck as they are relying on a team effort and not individual success to do well.

With the likes of Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris not being selected, never mind AB de Villiers, the Proteas are lacking some of the global superstars of other teams, apart from Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi.

But their form in recent times has been impressive, especially their series wins in the West Indies and Sri Lanka, in conditions that are expected to be similar to what they will find in the UAE. And they have prepared well with a camp in Durban, former Proteas star JP Duminy, seconded to the team as a strategic consultant, saying he was very impressed by the attention to detail the squad showed in terms of their skills.

“We pride ourselves on how well prepared we are,” Bavuma said on Sunday. “And we are not relying on individuals to get us over the line, we will be relying on a team effort. If we all take care of our basics and the small things, if we do the right things day-by-day, then we trust the results will look after themselves.

“The team is in a good space and if you saw our performances in the Sri Lanka T20s, then you will know there was nothing inhibiting us.

“We will be trying to do more of the same, our approach will be no different to what has brought us some good success lately and we will take from those experiences.

“It’s all about how we execute our game-plan and do it in pressurised moments. We back ourselves and our chances, we do although a lot of other people don’t,” Bavuma said with his trademark determination.

In terms of the surfaces they will play on, South Africa are expecting run-scoring to be even more difficult than it has been in the IPL on the same pitches.

“It’s hard to see the wickets getting any better because they will have so much traffic on them. As batsmen, we are expecting tough times on those decks,” Bavuma said.

While the top-order batsman said the thumb he fractured in the ODI series in Sri Lanka is still “not 100%”, he has been given the all-clear by the medical staff.

“I started batting a bit this weekend, just to feel it out. Everything is still on schedule and the medical staff are all quite happy with my progress,” the skipper said.

South Africa will quarantine for six days and their first match is on October 23 against Australia in Abu Dhabi.

The second-half comeback by the Sharks will please coach Sean Everitt, but he will be dismayed by the unfocused start they made to the match as they went down 35-24 to Glasgow Warriors in their United Rugby Championship match at Scotstoun on Saturday.

From the moment the Sharks allowed Glasgow wing Rufus McLean to run almost from 22 to 22 from the kickoff, leading to a second-minute try for the home side, it was clear the visitors were not switched on from the start. And it proved crucial as the Warriors scored three times in the first quarter to rattle up a 21-0 lead. The Sharks did manage to score a tap-and-go try by lock Le Roux Roets, but they were still 28-10 down at halftime, a lead that was stretched to 35-10 three minutes into the second half. But then the Sharks belatedly cut out the ill-discipline and basic errors, and dominated the second half to show what could have been.

“We thought it was a game that we could win if we gave a good, disciplined performance. But we conceded five penalties in quick succession in the first half and that put us under the pump,” Everitt said.

“It’s very difficult on a 4G [artificial] pitch once the opposition are behind you or get ascendancy. It’s very difficult to stop their momentum.

“But the fact that we only conceded 10 penalties overall is exactly why the second half was so much better. Our lineout and scrum improved, those were pleasing aspects that made it a smoother second half.

“I thought we were unlucky not to get a fourth try and two points on the log, but there were a lot of improvements in only our second game in the Northern Hemisphere,” Everitt said.

Moving Ruan Pienaar to flyhalf certainly seemed to help, because he and Boeta Chamberlain did not really stamp their mark on the game as a halfback combination. The Sharks’ backline produced some slick attacking play in the second half, and the pack showed their power as props Thomas du Toit and Ntuthuko Mchunu both scored tries.

Everitt is confident that, in the long run, and the URC is a very long competition, these sort of experiences will be good for a young Sharks side.

“There’s a big hole left by the 12 regular starters who are not here and we have to field a lot of youngsters, but it’s really good experience for them against international players.

“We will get better and we are learning hard lessons. It’s important that we stay the course and keep improving,” Everitt said.

Scorers

Glasgow Warriors – Tries: Ross Thompson, Ryan Wilson, Jamie Bhatti, Cole Forbes (2). Conversions: Thompson (5).

Sharks – Tries: Le Roux Roets, Thomas du Toit, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (3). Penalty: Bosch.

A torrid year for the world champions is not quite over yet despite their face-saving 31-29 victory over the All Blacks on the Gold Coast on Saturday, as the Springboks still have an end-of-year tour to the United Kingdom.

Before Saturday’s impressive win, the Springboks, after nearly 18 months of not playing a Test, had endured a torrid, albeit triumphant series against the British and Irish Lions, beaten Argentina twice, but then seemed to be running out of steam as they lost both Tests against Australia and then succumbed to a narrow defeat against New Zealand, to lose three in a row for the first time since 2016.

South Africa will face Wales, Scotland and England on that tour but they will now do so with some confidence following an epic victory over the No.1 ranked team in the world and their greatest rivals.

“To have some momentum is massive, you need it if you’re going to build a team and rotate your squad,” Nienaber said.

“The margins are so small when numbers one to three play each other, but the players never doubted, they never lost focus and never veered off what we wanted to do. We’re not back at our 2019 level yet and we are still learning.

“But it’s been unbelievable for us to play against our Sanzaar partners again after we missed out in 2020. They bring a different style and mentality, and it’s nice to compete against a different skill-set and appetite for risk.

“We had a tough time when we lost some momentum, but in the end we have some back,” Nienaber said.

Man of the match Duane Vermeulen, whose trademark turnover in the final minute kept the Springboks’ hopes alive, said the victory had been a massive boost and gave an insight into just how hard bubble life in Australia has been for the last six weeks.

“It’s been a difficult time, away from our home and families, not seeing your kids or spending time with them, which is vital for your mental state. For the first two weeks we were in a hard bubble, making our own beds and cleaning our rooms.

“We’ve just had to keep on adjusting and we got it all together at the end. There are good vibes and energy now, which we can take into the end-of-year tour.

“We only have two weeks off and then it’s another five or six weeks on tour. But we are in a good mental state at the moment,” Vermeulen said.

Vermeulen and the rest of the pack were superb in exerting their alpha-male dominance on the All Blacks, but in the end it was some vital touches from substitute backs Elton Jantjies and Francois Steyn that made the difference.

Nienaber was full of praise for his bench.

“Last week I wanted to bring Elton on but didn’t because of Marco van Staden’s injury, and I probably should have bitten the bullet and done it. He was excellent when he came on and Frans was brilliant, he has unbelievable ability with those 50/22 kicks which we utilised.

“We have quality players on the bench, they are there to fulfil a role, once the starters have done their specific jobs and emptied their tanks,” Nienaber said.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Daniel Greene had a feeling that his 12-year wait for a first win on the Sunshine Tour might come to an end this week at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Humewood event and the 36-year-old never stopped believing, and his composure and skill was enough to take him to victory on the first hole of a playoff with Tristen Strydom.

Greene and Strydom both shot two-under-par 70s on Saturday to finish on five-under-par overall, and Greene parred the first playoff hole to take the honours when his younger rival, also looking for his first win, made bogey.

“You don’t really think after so long on tour without a win that it can happen, but it being windy here for the last week, I had a feeling from Tuesday that I could win and I just kept believing in myself. Even today on the 17^th hole, when I was one behind, I still had that belief. My golf has improved inland but I’m still a lot more comfortable on the coast.

“For it to happen at Humewood, where I should have won in 2010, it’s surreal. Maybe I should believe in myself more often because it shows that nothing is out of reach, even 11 years later, if you never stop believing,” Greene said after his maiden title.

Back in 2010, in the Vodacom Business tournament at Humewood Golf Club, Greene finished second as he double-bogeyed both the 17^th and 18^th holes on the last day, allowing Ulrich van den Berg to snatch the win.

This time Greene was the beneficiary of an opponent letting it slip as Strydom bogeyed the 17^th and after their respective bogeys on the last hole, the KwaZulu-Natalian had nothing but sympathy for the 24-year-old.

Strydom was ideally placed after his second shot was on the fringe of the green, but he decided to chip instead of putt and then missed a makeable par putt.

“It was unfortunate for Tristen and I know exactly what he feels like after it happened to me in 2010. He played very well and hit the ball really nicely, but all I was doing was concentrating on my score and taking it shot-by-shot. I didn’t know the score and when we both made bogey on the 18^th, I asked him if he had won because people were clapping like he had,” Greene revealed.

It turned out their final scores were the same – five-under-par 211 – and Greene still had one more hole to play to exorcise his Humewood demons.

Given that half-a-dozen of Greene’s best performances have been on the coast, it was perhaps not that surprising that his perseverance was finally rewarded at Humewood’s famous links on an awfully windy day.