Ken Borland

Springbok rugby might not be setting the world alight at the moment, but six South Africans will be chasing the record for most consecutive wins this weekend in a reminder of how our talent has had an influence all over the planet.

Cyprus is not widely known as a rugby-playing nation but, with half-a-dozen South Africans in the starting team and 15 in the wider squad, they have won all three of their Tests this year to take their winning streak to 15 games since their last defeat in September 2008.

They start their new season on Saturday against Austria in Vienna with the world record of 18 successive wins, set by Lithuania between May 2006 and April 2010, firmly in their sights. Many South African fans, whose knowledge of the facts often plays second fiddle to their passion for the game, were blissfully unaware of this record, thinking Nick Mallett’s Springboks of 1997/98 held the honours with their 17-match streak.

But with the All Blacks having been held to a draw by Australia last month, ending their winning streak at 16, it is Cyprus in prime position to become the new world record holder.

Springbok rugby might not be setting the world alight at the moment, but six South Africans will be chasing the record for most consecutive wins this weekend in a reminder of how our talent has had an influence all over the planet.

Cyprus are not widely known as a rugby-playing nation but, with half-a-dozen South Africans in the starting team and 15 in the wider squad, they have won all three of their Tests this year to take their winning streak to 15 games since their last defeat in September 2008.

They start their new season on Saturday against Austria in Vienna with the world record of 18 successive wins, set by Lithuania between May 2006 and April 2010, firmly in their sights. Many South African fans, whose knowledge of the facts often plays second fiddle to their passion for the game, were blissfully unaware of this record, thinking Nick Mallett’s Springboks of 1997/98 held the honours with their 17-match streak.

But with the All Blacks having been held to a draw by Australia last month, ending their winning streak at 16, it is Cyprus who are in prime position to become the new world record holders.

They have just been promoted to European Nations Cup Division 2C, but Bulgaria, who they thrashed 94-3 in April, were promoted with them and have already beaten Austria 12-7 a short while ago.

While Cyprus are taking European rugby by storm, the reality for the team is that it is the old story of an amateur outfit struggling to make ends meet.

Coach Paul Shanks, a member of the British Royal Air Force that was based on the eastern Mediterranean island and a former Combined Services player and coach, spends an hour or two a night co-ordinating travel plans and doing other admin work that brings together a team made up of players based in nine different countries.

“The financial crisis in Europe and in Cyprus generally has had the biggest impact on us.  A major sponsor would make a major difference for us, but there’s no money. There are five to seven thousand kids involved in the Tag Rugby programme on the island, but the finances aren’t there to take that further,” Shanks says.

Most of the team have full-time jobs and they have to pay to travel to their matches and training sessions, most of which are held in England, as well as kit.

And they have also suffered at the hands of the Cypriot Sports Organisation, whose reaction to the growing sport has ranged from non-existent support to charging them for playing at home.

But the dogged determination of the Cyprus team, known as the Moufflons (wild sheep that live in the mountains), has seen them prosper and not only serves as a great reminder why most people take up the game, but also as an inspiring fairytale of how the little guy succeeds against all odds.

The incredible journey began in the late 1990s when many Cypriot families who had moved to South Africa, England and Australia after the Turkish invasion of 1974 returned home and brought rugby with them. The game had previously been played in the British military bases on the island, but in 2003 the Paphos Tigers club, made up predominantly of South African returnees, was formed.

In 2006, the Cypriot Rugby Federation was created and the team’s first international was against Greece in 2007, the new boys winning 39-3.

Azerbaijan, Monaco and Slovakia were all beaten in Cyprus’s first year in the European Third Division but the rookies ran out of pant in their promotion/relegation match against Israel, losing 23-14 to remain in the D Section for 2008.

But since then they have won every match, showing astonishing endurance as they have earned three promotions in successive years and have played a pleasing brand of rugby as well.

“We play quite an attractive style of rugby, we let the ball do the work. Our game plan is based on support play and keeping the ball alive, which worked convincingly for us last season, as shown by our big wins against Bulgaria (94-3) and Greece (72-5). But it’s also based on the forwards laying the foundation, they do the dog-work,” Shanks says.

The former hooker added that there were a trio of top-class South Africans in the backline … a reminder that we don’t just produce forwards.

While a lot of the players are based elsewhere, Shanks says three were born in Cyprus and a couple qualified to play through being resident for 36 months, but the rest all have Cypriot parents or grandparents.

And the team’s success is making a difference on an island where football has dominated but has brought far less prestige on the international stage.

“We’ve realised through our development that the average Cypriot wonders what rugby is all about and football still very much dominates the island’s thinking. But by continuing to win, it’s had a knock-on effect and the world-record chase has definitely proven to be a tool to attract young players. The in-country recognition is starting to stir and government is also getting interested,” Shanks says.

Rugby is also mending old wounds. Lefkosia is the world’s last remaining divided capital with a United Nations buffer zone separating the self-declared Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Greek Cypriot-controlled south. But the Moufflons have had Turkish Cypriot players from the outset and three members of that community are integral members of the squad.

The world record is one thing, but Shanks has his eyes set on Cyprus having a go for World Cup qualification.

If they can win Division 2C, then they will enter the qualifiers and five knockout matches will stand between them and the repechage playoff and a place in the 2015 World Cup.

“I have to pinch myself sometimes, but it has been a lot of hard work. But after the game every Saturday, it’s all worth it,” Shanks says.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-16-shanks-a-bunch-the-fairytale-of-cyprus-rugby

You can say what you want about the Springboks’ skills and style of play, but there is no doubting they are a team of excellent character, as proven by their come-from-behind 16-12 victory over Ireland in Dublin at the weekend.

Trailing 3-12 at half-time – a scoreline which flattered them, if anything – the Springboks produced a wonderful second-half display to allow coach Heyneke Meyer to claim his first away victory.

It was a victory built on magnificent defence. To keep Ireland scoreless in the second half, allowing them just one missed shot at goal, was a superb effort and testament to enormous discipline and commitment.

That defence was at its best in the last 25 minutes, when three Ireland attacks of 14, nine and 13 phases respectively foundered on the resolute green-and gold-wall.

The first half was totally different.

The locals were undoubtedly contemplating kegs of celebratory Guinness as Ireland thoroughly dominated the first half. The Springboks were ill-disciplined and were made to pay as referee Wayne Barnes seemed to have his eye on them, penalising them 11 times in the first 40 minutes.

And apart from conceding four penalties to flyhalf Jonathan Sexton, the Springboks could get nothing going themselves, having just a solitary Pat Lambie penalty to their name at the break as their moves came to naught due to handling errors or turnovers at the breakdown, where Ireland dominated in the first half.

The Springboks’ tactical kicking was also poor and on the several occasions they did try something ambitious with ball in hand, it was often from the wrong positions and without the hard work having been done first on the inside. The result was one-off runners isolated out wide and either a penalty or a turnover to Ireland.

It was one of those days when nothing seemed to go right for the Springboks. They had even lost their talismanic and hugely popular loosehead prop, Beast Mtawarira, to heart palpitations on the morning of the Test. (He has since been released from hospital and should be fine to continue with the tour).

Even JP Pietersen was harshly yellow-carded for a tackle that was a split-second too early, the refereering team undoubtedly being swayed by the howling of the capacity crowd.

It would have been so easy for this largely inexperienced team to have lost their composure and crumbled to an embarrassing defeat, but instead they came out in the second half and produced a compelling 40 minutes of rugby that were devoid of the errors that had blighted their first half.

A fiery start to the second half saw a penalty kicked to touch – credit to captain Jean de Villiers for that – and an impressive rolling maul was launched which Ireland captain Jamie Heaslip could only bring down illegally, earning himself a yellow card.

Shortly thereafter, scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar sniped over under the poles for the only try of the match.

That cut the deficit to 10-12 and the Springboks played the percentages much better thereafter. The ball was kept in hand, but it was also kept tighter with short passes from the rucks, and eventually Ireland cracked under the barrage of ball-carriers, going offsides and allowing Lambie to grab the lead with his second penalty.

The Ireland offensive plan was based on the possibility of earning penalties within kickable distance rather than any obvious threat to the tryline, but the defence of the Springboks was nevertheless magnificent.

The skills of openside flank Francois Louw on the ground also helped tremendously, as did the introduction of loosehead prop Heinke van der Merwe in the 64^th minute, the Ireland-based prodigal son earning crucial penalties in his first two scrums.

The return of Van der Merwe to the Springbok fold after playing just one Test against Wales in 2007 could well be one of the major success stories of the Meyer tenure. The former Lions prop was rated as one of the strongest scrummagers in the country before joining Leinster in 2010 and he can also play tighthead, a position where there is a serious lack of depth in South African rugby.

The performances of all four props who played was impressive, while hooker Adriaan Strauss was an almost manic presence all over the field as he won his family battle with cousin and Irish debutant Richardt Strauss.

Lock Eben Etzebeth’s work in the lineouts was once again of the highest quality, while the physical presence he and loose forwards Willem Alberts and Duane Vermeulen brought to the contest was also instrumental in the defensive steel of the Springboks.

While De Villiers received the ball almost impossibly flat in midfield and still made yards every time, the most talked-about backline player was Lambie.

The troubles of the first half aside, the 22-year-old produced a solid if unspectacular display, although he was instrumental in the impressive change of game plan in the second half that proved the mental abilities of this Springbok outfit.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-12-rugby-springboks-snatch-luck-of-the-irish

Heyneke Meyer has admitted that he tends to err on the side of the conservative, and the Springbok coach has done it again with his answer to the team’s flyhalf conundrum ahead of their Test against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.

While Meyer has taken the plunge and rewarded Pat Lambie for his outstanding Currie Cup form with the starting number 10 jersey, he has retained Morne Steyn in the match squad, on the bench, undoubtedly as a failsafe.

While Meyer’s caution is understandable – he stands to lose his job if his teams don’t win in an environment where the margin between success and failure is very small – there is the danger that his fears could rub off on the players and leave them with the feeling that the coach doesn’t have complete faith in their abilities.

Meyer has not only suggested he believes Lambie might not be up to the task by including the out-of-form but experienced Steyn as back-up, but also by ditching his plan to make a change at fullback.

Before the tour, Meyer suggested he wanted to look at Jaco Taute at fullback, with the 21-year-old being largely anonymous in his two starts at outside centre at the end of the Rugby Championship. But the coach has ultimately gone with Zane Kirchner again, the Bulls man’s tactical kicking ability saving him and again pointing to the lack of total faith in Lambie’s abilities.

Of course, Meyer does deserve some credit for going down the Lambie route at 10 when he probably felt Steyn was the totally safe choice. But the Bulls player’s confidence is gone, and it will be seriously tested if he has to be rushed off the bench in the final quarter with the Springboks in trouble.

Elton Jantjies, who was preferred to Steyn as the injured Johan Goosen’s back-up in the last two Tests, is now gone from the match-day 22 and has paid for some average showings as the defending champion Lions were eliminated from the Currie Cup.

Apart from improving his winning record, which currently stands at just 44%, the other thing Meyer is hoping to get from the Great Britain and Ireland tour is an indication of which players can shine in those conditions, with an eye on the next World Cup in England and Wales in 2015.

And they are conditions that the Springboks have often struggled in. They have just emerged from a three-match losing streak against Ireland, scraping home 23-21 at the Aviva Stadium two years ago, and they can expect the men in emerald green to come out with intense passion and commitment.

Ireland themselves have some hard knocks to recover from, their previous Test resulting in a 60-0 whitewash at the hands of the All Blacks in Hamilton in June, while they have also been hard-hit by injuries.

Centre Brian O’Driscoll, hooker Rory Best, flank Sean O’Brien and fullback Rob Kearney are all out of action for all their November internationals, while loose forward Stephen Ferris (ankle) and lock Paul O’Connell (back) failed to recover from their niggles and were both ruled out this week.

But the Irish still boast quality players, particularly in their backline. Centres Gordon D’Arcy and Keith Earls and wing Tommy Bowe just need the slightest aperture in the defence to be a major threat, but they will need a steady diet of front-foot ball to make that happen.

It is up front where the Springboks will be hoping to really dominate the Irish. There were times against both Australia and New Zealand when the South African pack overwhelmed their opponents and they will be looking to dominate the collisions again on Saturday.

Ireland’s new captain, eighthman Jamie Heaslip, will need to lead from the front but the Springboks will have Duane Vermeulen and Willem Alberts watching him closely to ensure the powerful 28-year-old does not build up momentum for his side.

Flyhalf Jonathan Sexton and his replacement, Ronan O’Gara, have both previously kicked Ireland to victory over the Springboks and they will be looking to dominate territory and grab whatever points are on offer through penalties.

The Springboks will obviously have to meet fire with fire, but discipline will be paramount with referee Wayne Barnes sometimes verging on the pedantic. Rainy weather is also expected to hit the Irish capital on Friday, making the game even more of an arm-wrestle. There will be an especially interesting clash between hooker Adriaan Strauss and his cousin Richardt, who will make his Test debut on Saturday in the unlikely colours of Ireland.

While the Test will be won and lost up front, most eyes, however, will be on Lambie and whether he can do enough to make that number 10 jersey his own. To convince Meyer of that, the young star will need to control the game with his boot as much as anything else. He managed to do it for the Sharks during their exceptionally wet October and there is no reason Lambie can’t do it again.

 http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-11-09-rugby-when-irish-flyhalves-are-smiling