Ken Borland

Madosh Tambwe had few opportunities to shine in the United Rugby Championship semi-final against Leinster, but he is determined to end his stint with the Bulls with a bang in the final on Saturday to pay back coach Jake White for his belief in him.

The 25-year-old has already played for a few clubs in his short career – spending three seasons at the Lions and one at the Sharks – but it is since joining the Bulls last year that he has developed into a genuine international-class wing. And on Tuesday he expressed his gratitude to White for that, as he will now be joining Bordeaux-Begles in France.

“Coach Jake has been tremendous,” Tambwe said. “He has challenged me in various ways and brings out the best in me, not just on the field but as a team guy.

“I have a great relationship with Jake and working with him has been the highlight of my career and hopefully I can finish my time with the Bulls on a high on Saturday.

“When I told Jake I was joining Bordeaux, he understood why I wanted to play in the Top 14 and the reasons behind it. Every good thing comes to an end, but I want to give back to him for uplifting my career.

“The one thing I can do is play out of my socks in the final to help give him and the team the win,” Tambwe said.

While Tambwe had a quiet semi-final against Leinster, he has certainly made his mark this season with his power and pace, and aerial ability on the wing. The battle of the back threes is going to be a fascinating contest within the final on Saturday because the Stormers wings and fullback have also excelled this season.

“When I moved here from the Sharks, Jake had Stravino Jacobs and Kurt-Lee Arendse as his wings and I had to work on having a point of difference, putting effort into my craft and my qualities.

“I help bring extra speed to the attack, retrieving the high ball and getting position back because that is the way rugby is moving. You need to relieve pressure in your half and put it on the opposition.

“It puts a smile on my face when a team like Leinster makes sure they don’t give me any space because that means I’m doing something right.

“And you have to credit the Stormers back three as well, they have played really well, they are great players. But it all comes down to Saturday and we’ll approach them like every other dangerous back three – if we close down their space then we will be in good hands,” Tambwe said.

A flamboyant flyhalf who can kick well with either foot versus an unassuming No.10 who makes few mistakes: This will be the matchup on Saturday in the United Rugby Championship final between the Stormers and Bulls, and Springbok legend Joel Stransky believes the weather in Cape Town could decide who comes away with the spoils.

Manie Libbok is the adventurous Stormers flyhalf who overcame a poor semi-final to throw the pass for the equalising try and then slotted the touchline conversion.

Chris Smith was his typically consistent self in the Bulls’ shock win over Leinster, bringing a maturity and calmness under pressure to the flyhalf position.

“Both flyhalves control the game well,” Stransky said on Tuesday, “but in very contrasting ways. What they both do very well is manage space.

“Chris is rock-solid, brings nothing special, no scintillating breaks, but he defends well, he’s a bit bigger, and he frees up the talent outside him. The Bulls have actually scored seven more tries than the Stormers.

“Chris kicks very well and he doesn’t make mistakes, which will be quite important if it is wet, because errors can cost you in a final. He could be the difference if there is parity up front.

“Manie kicks well with either foot, he runs well and defends his channel. That last pass over the top was because he is confident due to the faith put in him and the liberty he’s been given to play what’s in front of him,” Stransky, a celebrated flyhalf who scored all South Africa’s points in the 1995 World Cup final, said.

While Stransky, who brought an appealing mix of skilful kicking and exciting attacking play to the Springbok team, would love to see a dry evening in Cape Town on Saturday, the weather forecast does not look good and he believes rain will favour the Stormers.

“I hope rain does not put a dampener on the final. Rain would suit the Stormers with their big, strong front row and bench. The Bulls will have to move the ball around a bit because of the Stormers’ strong pack and midfield.

“But as much as we backs would like to think differently, the game will be won and lost up front. The scrum plays such a massive part and if it’s wet then you would expect more mistakes and more scrums.

“You would expect Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe to have a bit more dominance, so you have to look at the Stormers if it’s a tighter game.

“But if it’s looser, then the likes of Marcell Coetzee, Elrigh Louw and Arno Botha are more dynamic ball-carriers. The Stormers do have the outstanding Evan Roos, but Hacjivah Dayimani is not so much a hard carrier and Deon Fourie is a proper openside,” Stransky said.

The four remaining suspects in the 2015/16 RamSlam T20 Challenge matchfixing case will be sitting uneasily after Pumelela Matshikwe was given a six-year sentence, suspended for five years, for corruption in Pretoria last Friday.

Matshikwe is the second player to be convicted for his role in the matchfixing scandal, and he pleaded guilty to unlawfully entering into a corrupt relationship with Gulam Bodi and two separate bookmakers for fixing matches in the 2015/16 season of the T20 competition.

Bodi was sentenced to five years imprisonment in 2019 on eight charges of corruption for his role as the middleman in the scheme. It was the first time the Corrupt Practices Act had been used in a sporting context.

Fellow Highveld Lions cricketer Jean Symes has also been charged and his case is pending, while Thami Tsolekile, Ethy Mbhalati, Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Alviro Petersen, who have all been banned from cricket, have not yet been charged.

But it is known that the Hawks Anti-Corruption Task Team under the guidance of the National Prosecuting Authority’s senior state advocate Willem van Zyl, is continuing investigations into that quartet of former players.

While Matshikwe, who entered into a plea agreement with the state, and Symes have kept silent over the case, Tsolekile, Mbhalati, Tsotsobe and self-styled whistleblower Petersen have accused Cricket South Africa’s Anti-Corruption Unit of racism and coercion against them. They began their campaign to have the investigation reopened on a well-known radio talk show based in the city and even repeated their accusations in the Social Justice and Nation-Building Hearings.

The SJN ombudsman, Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza, did not uphold their allegations.

Apart from causing immense pain to the South African cricket family, the four remaining suspects have increased their risk of criminal prosecution, with insiders saying the Hawks are determined to prosecute all the suspects one-by-one.

Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee always wants to win trophies, which is why even in his delight after beating Leinster for the first time at the weekend, he stressed that his team had still not completed their job.

Coetzee, who suffered playoff pain at the hands of Leinster during his five years with Ulster, made it clear that there was one remaining task for his team: To now beat the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship final in Cape Town on Saturday.

“My emotions are running high, four or five times I have come up short against Leinster,” Coetzee said after their epic semi-final win in Dublin. “So it’s a proud moment and definitely a highlight of my career.

“But we want to lift the trophy in any competition we play in. So we still have one more job to do. Our job is not done yet, there is still one game to go and we will go 100% in the final.”

The loose forward star, undoubtedly one of the best players in the URC this season, also knows that prowess in the scrums and lineouts is always crucial in semi-finals and finals. Having blunted the might of Leinster, the Stormers pack will now present another formidable challenge.

“If you’re going to have a chance of winning in playoffs then your set-piece has to function,” Coetzee said. “Credit to our forwards coach Russell Winter and the other coaches because we had done our homework.

“Leinster are all international stars and we said we have to play at that level, we had to win physically. Mentally we were also switched on.

“Our lineout was exceptional and we managed to adapt at the scrums. The pack showed their composure and we were able to get in the right positions, which is what we’ll need again,” Coetzee said.

Like the best choirmaster, Bulls coach Jake White has his charges singing in unison with perfect timing and blending of talents, and they undoubtedly played their best game of the season in the semi-final against Leinster.

“It was all about the plan, executing that correctly, getting in their faces, making sure our kicking game was good and getting our chase-line going,” Coetzee said.

The Bulls will no doubt bring the same strategy to Cape Town, as Stormers coach John Dobson mints a new generation of heroes to play in the blue-and-white.

The Stormers’ decision-making under the pressure the Bulls will exert on them on the gain-line is going to be the key factor in the final.