Ken Borland

Even though the British and Irish Lions are a ruthless, top-class outfit that inflicted plenty of pain on them in midweek, Sharks coach Sean Everitt said on Friday that his team is delighted to get a second chance against them when they meet in a hastily-arranged rematch at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

With the Bulls having to postpone their scheduled match against the tourists on Saturday due to Covid cases in their squad, and the Sharks having been in a bio-bubble in Johannesburg since last Friday, the KwaZulu-Natalians have agreed to step up again and ensure the Lions don’t miss out on valuable game-time before their Test series against the Springboks.

Having been hammered 54-7 at Ellis Park, the Sharks are hopeful of putting on a better show, with Everitt naming a vastly-changed side thanks to them having 36 players up on the Highveld due to Covid precautions.

“There’s massive excitement in the team, we’ve only been playing against South African teams so it’s great to have fresh opposition, even though they are a world-class outfit. It’s an opportunity for us to learn from our mistakes and rectify those. When we did the review, we saw the opportunities we created, but also the errors and soft moments that ruined those.

“It was surprising to see how we put the Lions through their paces, normally it’s all doom and gloom when you take a 54-7 hiding, but there were actually lots of positives. I think we have a shot at redemption but we have to tidy up and cut down on the errors when we were in good positions. They were mostly unforced errors and a hard pill to swallow when they happen on the Lions’ tryline,” Everitt said.

Captain Phepsi Buthelezi retains his place at eighthman and he and scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse were two of the few players to show some fire in the first match against the Lions; together with the experienced Lionel Cronje, who has replaced the misfiring Curwin Bosch at flyhalf, they will provide the backbone of the Sharks’ effort.

The Sharks will certainly need strength of character to bounce back from their Ellis Park mauling, but they also need to lift their intensity.

“The Lions tour has taught us a lot, it has showed us where we are in terms of conditioning and we need to get our ball-in-play time higher to at least 35 minutes, that’s what it takes to withstand the intensity of a team like the Lions. It make sense to give everyone an opportunity to have a taste of that, it will be a great learning experience of international rugby.

“You can see the intensity of the Lions, but until you’ve experienced it on the field and tried to match it, you don’t really understand it. But it will make us better players to see how an international team punishes your mistakes. But we did manage to keep the ball through numerous phases, we had two passages of close to three minutes, we must just not turn over the ball,” Everitt said.

Sharks: Anthony Volmink, Marnus Potgieter, Werner Kok, Murray Koster, Thaakir Abrahams, Lionel Cronje, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi (c), Mpilo Gumede, Dylan Richardson, Reniel Hugo, Le Roux Roets, Wiehahn Herbst, Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench – Dan Jooste, Mzamo Majola, Khutha Mchunu, Thembelani Bholi, Juandre Labuschagne, Cameron Wright, Boeta Chamberlain, Jeremy Ward.

The British and Irish Lions will remain in Gauteng until Sunday and will now be playing against the Sharks in Pretoria on Saturday, with the organisation’s managing director Ben Calveley saying he still believes it was the right decision to come to South Africa and they are okay at the moment to stick as close as they can to the original schedule.

The Lions were meant to be playing against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, until Covid breaking out in their host’s camp saw that match being postponed. The virus has also struck the Springboks, who are isolating in their rooms in Johannesburg, and Georgia squads, causing the cancellation of their second Test, to be played at Ellis Park on Friday night.

And then the Lions themselves returned positive tests, leading to their match against the Sharks in Johannesburg on Wednesday night only being confirmed two hours before kickoff. Calveley revealed on Thursday afternoon that one management member is definitely positive and they and four close contacts, including two players, are isolating. The player who initially tested positive is now believed to be a false positive and if Thursday’s negative test is repeated on Friday morning, and there are no further cases in their camp, then their match on Saturday can go ahead.

And the Sharks, because they are still in Johannesburg and have 36 players with them, have agreed to take on the Lions again.

“It is a challenge, it’s definitely not easy, but we are determined to make this tour work. We have a very strict bio-secure environment and protocols and we are as protected as we can be. The decision to play now in South Africa was made back in March and I still believe it was the right decision. There are no plans to change that and it’s not as simple as just hopping on a flight back home to play on British soil.

“There is no arbitrary benchmark in terms of the number of cases for the Test series to be in doubt, we just have to make sure we continue to demonstrate the right behaviours. I’m confident that if we do that then we have the best possible chance of making it right through the series. There are contingency plans currently being discussed with SA Rugby, but no deviation from the schedule yet,” Calveley said.

There was speculation that the Lions would move to Cape Town as soon as possible, but the desire to have more rugby action means they will stay among the largest population of Covid cases in the country until Sunday.

“We always intended to go to Cape Town on Sunday, that was the original plan and we are sticking to that. All of the squad will remain together and we won’t be splitting up. The decision to play in Pretoria was made from a rugby point of view – we need to prepare for the series against the Springboks,” Calveley said.

The Sharks were meant to be hosting the Gauteng Lions in a Currie Cup match in Durban on Saturday, but that has now been cancelled by SA Rugby. The allocation of points is still to be decided, but if either the Sharks or the local Lions miss out on the Currie Cup final because of a couple of points, that will really set the cat among the pigeons because they are doing an enormous favour for both the British and Irish Lions and SA Rugby.

The British and Irish Lions will be coming to Loftus Versfeld after all and they have invited the Sharks to once again be their opposition in a hastily-arranged match that will take place on Saturday.

The Lions were originally scheduled to play the Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday, but that game has been postponed due to positive Covid tests in the Bulls camp.

But just as the Springboks, who have had their second Test against Georgia cancelled, are concerned about lack of game time ahead of the Test series against the Lions, so too are the tourists desperate not to miss out on any matches on their roster. Coach Warren Gatland would have carefully planned out giving his whole squad certain opportunities ahead of the first match against South Africa on July 24, and games not being played would throw all of that out of kilter.

The Sharks, who were hammered 54-7 by the Lions at Ellis Park on Wednesday night, were still in Gauteng on Thursday and have agreed to stay on the Highveld and play the tourists again. This will necessitate the postponement of their scheduled Currie Cup match on Saturday, against the Gauteng Lions at Kings Park, and SA Rugby are expected to communicate these details later on Thursday.

There had been speculation that the European Lions would want to get down to Cape Town, where they are meant to play SA A on Wednesday, as soon as possible to escape the epicentre of Covid in Gauteng. But their desperation to not lose out on game time has won the day.

And the Sharks have 36 players in Johannesburg, ready and willing to play. And hopefully second time around they will be better up to speed and able to provide more stern competition for the Lions.

Jack-in-the-box hooker Johan Grobbelaar won his second successive man of the match award as he spearheaded the Bulls’ 34-13 win over Western Province in their Currie Cup match at Newlands on Friday night.

Grobbelaar scored a fine individual try in the first half as the Bulls took the lead for the first time after 14 minutes and just generally popped up everywhere – excellent lineout throwing, winning turnovers, linking with his backs and defending stoutly.

The in-form 23-year-old’s try was accompanied by touchdowns by left wing Richard Kriel, scrumhalf Zak Burger and right wing Cornal Hendricks, as the Bulls were able to celebrate a bonus point win that takes them to the top of the log, where they will stay if the Sharks don’t beat Griquas in Durban on Saturday.

While the Bulls were slick in executing their skills, Western Province certainly pitched up for the game, but a red card to hooker Scarra Ntubeni in the 36^th minute was too high an obstacle for them to get over. At that stage the hosts were only 13-17 down and had been highly competitive as they pushed the Bulls with aggressive defence, strong breakdown work and some excellent play with ball in hand.

Ntubeni was a little high on his tackle on Burger, but there was certainly no intent to target the head, the scrumhalf dipping down as he was tackled from behind and Ntubeni making contact with his neck. There were many who felt a yellow card would have been appropriate.

Western Province’s thoroughly workmanlike display in the first half and some entertaining rugby from the Bulls had made for intriguing rugby; sadly, the second half was to become a rather dull affair as the visitors dominated but could only add two more tries to their tally.

Western Province had put their cards on the table right from the start as, in the first minute, flyhalf Tim Swiel put Johan du Toit into a hole and the flank burst through on an impressive run, before passing inside for scrumhalf Paul de Wet to score.

The Bulls quickly rustled up a response though, courtesy of one of several clever variations they had at the lineout. A high tackle gave them a penalty which they kicked into the WP 22. Grobbelaar threw long, over the back of the lineout to flyhalf Johan Goosen, who made plenty of ground over the advantage line. He was then quickly back up on his feet to get the ball from the next ruck, throwing a long pass out wide to wing Kriel, who had acres of space to go over for the try.

Ironically, Grobbelaar scored his own try 10 minutes later when Western Province had a lineout throw go astray over the back, and the Paarl Gim product brilliantly gathered the ball and knifed through the defence to score.

Playing against 14 men in the second half, the Bulls made a bit of a meal of ramming home their advantage, but credit must go to Western Province for the staunch resistance they put up.

The bonus point try came with just five minutes remaining as replacement scrumhalf Keagan Johannes tried a cross kick that went horribly wrong. But outside centre Lionel Mapoe quickly tidied up and turned it into a great attacking opportunity, freeing up Hendricks on the wing, with the Springbok throwing the dummy and then showing plenty of pace to finish the try.

Scorers

Western Province: Try – Paul de Wet. Conversion – Tim Swiel. Penalties – Swiel (2).

Bulls: Tries – Richard Kriel, Johan Grobbelaar, Zak Burger, Cornal Hendricks. Conversions – Johan Goosen (3), Chris Smith. Penalties – Goosen (2).