Ken Borland

Blistering pace and a keen nose for the tryline meant Bryan Habana was like an arrow zeroing in on its target when it came to try-scoring and the Springbok wing holds the records for the World Cup, Tri-Nations/Rugby Championship, the Springboks and for South Africans in SuperRugby. It is heartening to see the 36-year-old show the same acumen now that he has retired and is in the business world.

A graduate of the Toulouse business school, Habana is now the co-founder of Retroviral, a digital sports marketing agency with a strong emphasis on tech. It’s a career move which probably has its roots back in the early 2000s when he signed up for a BSc IT degree at the then Rand Afrikaans University. But then rugby got in the way.

The Covid-19 pandemic has drastically affected everyone’s lifestyles and is likely to force structural adjustments to the economy of just about everything. Sport has been especially hard hit with the global sports industry now projected to face losses of $62 billion.

The Lockdown has also provided much food for thought for entrepreneurs and, typical of the sharp minds of Habana, Mike Sharman and Ben Karpinski, the founders of Retroviral, they have come up with a great new idea that will assist the wellbeing of sportsmen and women as they look to navigate these tumultuous times.

MatchKit.co is a mobile tech platform that allows athletes to build their own website. And not those starchy looking ones that are never updated, have lots of photos that take forever to load and are low on substance.

Within five minutes, sports stars can build themselves a website that highlights their sponsors, automatically integrates into all the big social media channels and provides detailed stats of their engagements on those platforms, has a plug-and-play, secure e-commerce store that will enable them to sell anything from branded merchandise to video or audio shoutouts, and a portal that will enable people to donate to their foundation or favourite charity.

It has often proven a stiff task for sportspeople to promote themselves better, they tend to forget certain sponsors or, in many cases, not even have an Online presence. MatchKit.co certainly appears to be able to overcome these problems.

“I’m extremely excited, MatchKit will add tangible value to athletes and allow them to easily commercialise their brands around the world. I know I was all over the place after our 2007 World Cup win, but MatchKit now allows the athlete to control their commercial rights, it empowers them, while showcasing their sponsors.

“It came about after bouncing ideas off a South African venture capitalist who’s now in the United States and it has a simple set-up. You look at sportspeople Online and not even 10-15% will have their agent’s details there. What if corporates want to engage with them? What happens if they change their agent?” Habana said at the launch this week.

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The great news to come out of the cricketing world in the last week is that the West Indies tour of England looks set to go ahead with the Caribbean squad arriving on Tuesday to quarantine ahead of a three-Test series that will start on July 8. The matches will be played behind closed doors in a bio-secure environment, with the first Test being held in Southampton, followed by two matches at Old Trafford, starting on July 16 and July 24 respectively.

That means the series will end on July 28. South Africa were scheduled to have played their first Test in the West Indies from July 23-27, with the second meant to start on July 31. With a lucrative T20 series against India lined up for the end of August, it now seems likely the Proteas will only meet the West Indians in September and there is still no clarity on whether that series will take place in the Caribbean or in South Africa, or even be moved to a neutral venue like England. The tour of the West Indies was originally meant to be of just over a month’s duration, so it doesn’t look possible to cram in the two Tests and five T20s that were meant to be played even if the Men in Maroon plant themselves in the UK and the Proteas fly over there and quarantine in the second half of July.

Springbok great Bryan Habana spent enough time playing in Europe to know exactly what it would entail for South African rugby to ditch Sanzaar and move into Northern Hemisphere competitions, and the 2007 World Cup winner is not totally sold on the idea, he said on Wednesday.

There has been global speculation that the world champions will leave Sanzaar after the 2023 World Cup to play in an expanded Six Nations tournament as well as their SuperRugby franchises joining European competitions like the Pro14 and Champions Cup. There has also been talk emanating from Australia of Sanzaar excluding teams from both South Africa and Argentina and focusing on just a trans-Tasman competition with New Zealand.

Habana, who scored a South African record 56 SuperRugby tries for the Bulls and Stormers, finished his career spending five years playing for Toulon so he has intimate knowledge of European competition.

“There’s been a lot of debate about South Africa joining the Northern Hemisphere but right now nobody even knows when rugby will be back in South Africa. Probably the one thing most needed by rugby is a global season. But I suppose the one question is whether Sanzaar need SA Rugby, they have been an important part of Sanzaar for the last 25 years.

“For those in the UK and Europe it’s much easier to watch games in South Africa than those in New Zealand or Australia. But it’s important to see where the Springboks and SuperRugby teams could fit in and they would have to fit in with the Northern Hemisphere schedule. I don’t see our guys enjoying playing in 5⁰ in December/January and how are our rugby fans going to enjoy watching rugby over Christmas when they’re on holiday?” Habana said on Wednesday in a virtual press conference to announce the launch of MatchKit.co, a mobile tech platform intended to help athletes grow their commercial brands, set up by the Retroactive agency of which he is a partner.

There have also been suggestions South African teams could play in both Sanzaar and the Northern Hemisphere, expanding the current involvement of the Free State Cheetahs and the Southern Kings in the Pro14, but Habana said the workload on the players even if they were just involved in Europe would be immense.

“When Toulon won the double in 2014/15 they played more than 40 games and player welfare is important. If we’re going to add four more teams and include the Springboks in the Six Nations then that would mean even more matches. There are advantages to both hemispheres, the players would learn more about foreign conditions and that allows you to develop more as a rugby player and as a person.

“To say who has the better standard of play though is very subjective because what determines a good standard? The Northern Hemisphere has come strongly to the fore in the last few years: In the 2015 World Cup the top four sides were all from the Southern Hemisphere, but in 2019 it was very different [England, New Zealand, Wales, South Africa]. Hopefully our decision-makers will choose what is best for the game as a whole,” Habana said.

Nollis Marais and Pine Pienaar are old friends who have been up and down the Bulls’ coaching structures ever since they arrived at Loftus Versfeld in 2011, but now they have been reunited on the SuperRugby coaching team as director of rugby Jake White announced his overhaul of the senior staff on Wednesday.

Marais was the Bulls’ head coach in 2016-17, a period marked by poor results and an even worse working relationship with high performance manager Xander Janse van Rensburg, who has subsequently been investigated for fraud and corruption. Marais was demoted when John Mitchell arrived at Loftus, but White has now elevated the man with probably the best junior rugby record in the country to the new position of dedicated breakdown specialist for the Bulls SuperRugby team and all sides representing the union.

Pienaar has been the Bulls’ defence coach but has now been shifted to the role of technical advisor, with Joey Mongalo, a former Bulls Currie Cup player, taking up the defence role he fulfilled at the Lions under both Johan Ackermann and Swys de Bruin.

“Teams have always had consultants or forwards coaches addressing the breakdown as part of their broader roles. This will become a key focus area for us going forward, especially with the breakdown laws being changed.

“It also speaks to the type of rugby we will be looking to play. Nollis has been around the block and knows exactly what we need. I have no doubt that he is the perfect man for this job,” White said in a statement released by the Bulls on Wednesday.

White had previously announced the appointment of Russell Winter, formerly with the Lions and Stormers as the forwards coach, and former Springbok flyhalf Chris Rossouw will continue as backline coach.

The Bulls have released Daan Human, who helped turn Lizo Gqoboka and Trevor Nyakane into one of the best propping pairs in SuperRugby last year, to the Springboks and White said a new scrum coach would be announced “in the near future”.

CJ van der Linde, who played 75 Tests for South Africa and was a member of White’s 2007 World Cup winning Springbok squad, and subsequently coached with him at Montpellier, is favoured to replace Human.

In the last week the Bulls have also boosted their playing resources by confirming the return of Springbok wing Travis Ismaiel and the signing of talented youngsters in former Western Province hooker Schalk Erasmus and Walt Steenkamp, a 2.03m, 121kg lock who has played for both the North-West Leopards and the Free State Cheetahs.

Africa is certainly a continent of extremes and millions of her inhabitants have scant resources when it comes to basic necessities we take for granted. The situation is only going to become worse due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And although we all miss the game, not being able to play or watch rugby in this time of crisis is a minor hardship compared to those who are living in poverty, in horribly overcrowded conditions, suffering from malnutrition and a lack of running water.

And we can be proud of our South African rugby community because they certainly get this, and the paycuts they have willingly taken and the number of charitable initiatives they have supported or started themselves shows they are not just champion sportsmen but champion human beings.

It’s amazing how far a simple act of kindness can go and this was rammed home for me recently by the work of the One Cup of Pap initiative.

It all started at the beginning of Lockdown in late March when former Sharks and Stormers lock Wayne Boardman, together with his father and domestic worker, decided to put some money together to feed at least one family in need. It started out as one cup of pap and a sachet of soup being dished out at an informal settlement in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, with a budget of R250 a week.

But seeing desperate people fighting over what little he could give – “We were overwhelmed and the last few people were like hyaenas fighting over the food before it ran out,” Boardman says – he decided to reach out to his friends, local community and his rugby network.

In the last eight weeks, the One Cup of Pap feeding scheme has mushroomed to an R80000-a-week operation, feeding approximately 2000 hungry people with two tons of pap, between 500 and 1000 loaves of bread, and one ton of polony, soup and tinned food.

“We started slowly with not a lot of food, but with the help of a couple of influencers and getting social media full of it, it has grown to a size we never expected. To get one or two big names involved like John Smit and Joel Stransky, who are close to everyone’s hearts, automatically gave us big pull and credibility. Their involvement and that of other Springboks like Trevor Nyakane and Dave von Hoesslin has really seen it grow,” Boardman says.

The project has also spread its reach to areas such as Munsiville in Krugersdorp, Midrand and the Tshuma Stingers development rugby club, Roodepoort and the Feed Thy Kids Creche, the Chilli Lane Community in Sunninghill, the Waste Pickers at Megawatt Park, those living under the bridge at Braamfontein Spruit, Ivory Park and Parkmore. Community involvement is essential because it’s not as if the One Cup of Pap initiative have a census of informal settlement residents to work with when calculating the numbers they need to cater for. The South African Police Services, especially Sandton Police Station, have offered considerable support along with TRSG Security and Security Web.

Stransky is famous for his charitable initiative, the LumoHawk Foundation which specialises in testing the eyesight of underprivileged children and giving them glasses. But with Covid-19 having stopped all testing, Stransky has now taken over sponsoring all the children’s food packs for the One Cup of Pap scheme. “I just want to see these kiddies get a proper education that will prepare them for life and give them hope,” he told Saturday Citizen.

Smit has had his own charitable foundation, Barney’s Army, since 2012 and they have also thrown their weight behind Boardman. “If we all do a little bit then we can make it through this crisis. I’m able to leverage off my profile and I’m sure there are plenty of others doing great work, but we need to highlight everyone doing their bit,” Smit said.

Nyakane, who completed the hat-trick of World Cup winners involved, was moved by the experience.

“Lending a hand has made me realise how poor so many people are, it was a no-brainer to help out and hopefully make a difference in their lives. Every little bit helps and it hit me seeing hundreds of people lining up, all needing a lot of help, even if it’s just shelter and being able to get food. I would urge every South African to just lend a hand, it goes a lot further than you realise,” Nyakane said.

To get in touch with the charity: Wayne Boardman 084 545 1717

Banking details:

A Knowles

Nedbank

1969043962

Rivonia Branch

Ref: One Cup Pap