Ken Borland

Eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi is just 22 years old and has been playing in the shadow of Sikhumbuzo Notshe, but with the Springbok missing much of the season due to long-term injury, the youngster has been delivering quality performances on an almost weekly basis for the Sharks.

“I feel really good about my game, I’m really happy,” Buthelezi said on Tuesday. “It’s awesome for me that Sikhumbuzo is now back and I have to give credit to the whole squad because it’s easy to play well when the whole team is performing.

“So credit to our game-drivers and I’m really grateful to have such experienced Springboks with us. I feel very fortunate to be in a place where I’ve got a few games under my belt now.

“I’m now used to how things are done at this level, thanks to Sikhumbuzo’s injury. I am a student of the game and I will continue to be one, but I have taken a lot of confidence from my exposure in the No.8 jersey.

“Every time I pull that on, I just want to give it my all and I aim to deliver every game,” Buthelezi said.

But what has Buthelezi done to earn all those starts and to overtake Notshe, who has cutting-edge skills of his own?

Former Natal Sharks and Springboks eighthman Gary Teichmann spoke to The Citizen about Buthelezi’s strengths –

Who he is

“I had a bit to do with Phepsi as a person when I was at the Sharks as CEO, and he is very well-rounded and grounded for someone so young. He also has leadership ability and his style of leadership is very good. He is really committed to the Sharks, he came straight out of school and into the system, and he really pushes the team culture.”

What he brings on the field

“As a player, I initially thought he was more of a flank, but the way he has performed at eighthman has been wonderful. He’s really come through in leaps and bounds.

“His work-rate cannot be questioned, he’s dynamic, with pace and explosiveness, which always helps. And there’s nothing wrong with his ball-skills.

“This year he has really come into his own due to Sikhumbuzo Notshe’s wretched luck with injury. Phepsi has been really impressive and he certainly has a bright future,” Teichmann said.

Notwithstanding their defeat to the Stormers, playing with overseas referees in South Africa has made it easier for the Bulls to adapt to the way the breakdown is officiated in the United Rugby Championship, but Nollis Marais, their assistant coach responsible for that phase of play, says they still require much improvement in that department.

The Bulls will be looking to bounce back from their narrow 17-19 defeat to the Stormers in Cape Town on April 9 when they host Benetton Treviso at Loftus Versfeld at 2pm on Saturday. They will need to beat the Italians to ensure they stay in the playoff places, and their best chance of doing so would seem to be by tiring out the tourists through the pace and intensity of their game at altitude in the afternoon heat. And a quick game requires quick ball, and hence precise breakdown work.

“For two years we only played local sides and you see the same picture every week at the breakdown,” Marais said on Tuesday. “But you play against European sides and you see a totally different picture.

“We were a bit behind those sides and we needed to adapt very quickly. The breakdown was definitely an area where we were lacking. But it’s like ball-carries, where we are now one of the best.

“We needed to make a huge step-up at the breakdown and we’ve benefited from having overseas referees for the matches here. They give us what we’ll get overseas, which helps us adapt.

“The key is always to adapt quickly, but the Stormers put us under pressure at the breakdown, with Evan Roos and Deon Fourie doing really well. But that was a once-off, not one of our best days,” Marais said.

On an almost daily basis in their build-up to the URC, Bulls head coach Jake White was telling the players and his management team that doing well in Europe would demand a sizeable lift in performance from the team, who had been utterly dominant domestically.

“Jake White said we think we’re good but wait till we play overseas,” Marais revealed. “And then two weeks after the Currie Cup final we played against Leinster in Dublin and we found out.

“It was a bit of a humbling experience, but Jake warned us and said afterwards ‘Remember I told you!’

“Our reaction speed at the rucks was not nearly quick enough and we had to be better. There were also small technical things where they were better than us.

“We had to implement those things with more accuracy. And then there are the referee’s interpretations of what’s legal, what’s not and what you can get away with,” Marais said.

The rampant form of two South African centres based overseas has not gone unnoticed by one of the Springboks’ most celebrated midfielders, with Jean de Villiers this week heaping praise on Damian de Allende and Andre Esterhuizen.

De Allende is the incumbent Springbok No.12 and still a crucial part of the Munster side that is in the European Champions Cup quarterfinals and in fourth place in the United Rugby Championship, while

Esterhuizen has been a roaring success at Harlequins. The former Sharks player is very much a specialist inside centre though, so in terms of the Springboks, he is only likely to get called up if De Allende is injured.

“Damian has been crucified at times for the way he plays and some people only see him as an abrasive midfielder,” De Villiers told a URC media briefing. “He was getting boxed into that role over here.

“But Damian has been phenomenal the way he plays for Munster and the Springboks, the value he brings is massive. He was probably one of South Africa’s top three performers at the last World Cup.

“His distribution skills are fantastic and his defence is aggressive, it’s like having another loose forward in the midfield. He’s also so good at competing on the ground, him slowing the ball down makes it easier for the rest of the defence.

“And there’s no reason to think he’s slowing down, he gave another great performance on the weekend when Munster beat Exeter. Damian is critical for the Springboks and his partnership with Lukhanyo Am is phenomenal,” De Villiers said.

The former Springbok captain, speaking in his capacity as a SuperSport analyst, was also full of praise for Esterhuizen and said his departure from the Sharks has been the reason for many of their attacking frustrations.

“Andre has been a big loss for the Sharks and has been fantastic for Harlequins, his partnership with flyhalf Marcus Smith really just works for both of them.’

“The Sharks have lost both him and Lukhanyo Am and they are lacking in midfield. And with Aphelele Fassi out injured too, they are not able to fire the way they were when those two were available.

“I think Makazole Mapimpi has been affected as well. He and Lukhanyo are just on the same wave-length and the Sharks have missed Mapimpi’s X-factor with Am,” De Villiers said.

Former Scotland lock Jim Hamilton, another URC analyst and someone well acquainted with barging over the opposition during his 63 Tests, is also a big Esterhuizen fan.

“Esterhuizen has been carving it up over here, I can’t believe what a signing he’s been for Quins. He would be one of the first names on my team-sheet,” Hamilton said.

As three South African sides chase playoff spots in the last three rounds of United Rugby Championship round-robin action, one of the northern hemisphere’s star enforcers of the previous decade has said the high intensity of their play rather than a push to play expansive rugby is what will bring success for the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls.

Jim Hamilton is currently a pundit for Premier Sports but he played 63 Tests for Scotland and was a second-row star for teams like Leicester, Gloucester and Saracens. And he is a big fan of South African rugby.

“I always say for any team, if you’re struggling to get go-forward, go and get some South Africans,” Hamilton said in a URC media briefing on Monday. “South Africans are taking over as the best players in the world.

“I’ve been surprised by how much rugby the South African teams have played: they go wide from their own half, or straight from a scrum. But the European teams are still leading the charge in terms of the stats for tries scored, carries and defenders beaten. So why don’t they just play ball-in-hand against the South Africans?

“Well it’s hard to play in those conditions, they definitely have an effect, altitude hits you like a brick wall. I saw guys who were absolutely bollocked with the hands on their knees.

“But the game now is so driven by percentages and when the South African teams come over to Europe and decide not to play how they do in the Currie Cup but more like their national team, focusing more on territory and playing in the right areas, then they will become incredibly dangerous,” Hamilton said.

The former Scotland stalwart admitted to being frustrated by the poor start the South African teams made to the URC, but now that they have been back on home turf, they have been rampant

“South African players are the whole package – robust, the humility they bring, and they are hard; everything around them is just rugby. If I was a coach, I would go look there for players. It’s unquestionable that every single one of them in Europe has been a roaring success.

“But the South African teams were a bit of a disappointment at the start. We all said how positive their inclusion was, but then it was not how we thought it would be. But a lot of it had to do with the changes brought by Covid.

“They definitely struggled around the referees over here and their interpretations, it felt like they were playing for the sake of playing. I don’t think they got a fair shot then and it was always going to take a while for them to bed in to the competition.

“But now their results are speaking for themselves, now that they are fully loaded and taking the tournament seriously. Don’t just judge them on this year, but now we’ve seen the URC works,” Hamilton said.