Ken Borland

The Springboks’ maverick approach to both game-plan and selection has certainly served them well since their third match in the 2019 World Cup, but this morning’s Rugby Championship Test against Australia was only the second time that it has been used against one of the Australasian sides.

South Africa lost 13-23 to New Zealand in their World Cup opener, using a traditional 5-3 split between forwards and backs on the bench and struggling to get much momentum in the game. An easy 57-3 win over Namibia followed, but their next match, against Italy, was a potential knockout blow.

That was when the 6-2 bench was first used and the Springboks really started to use a kicking game in order to gain momentum.

Their execution of the plan was poor last weekend against Australia and it is still early days when it comes to deciding whether the Bomb Squad replacements tactic will work against teams like the Wallabies and especially the All Blacks next weekend, sides that are used to playing at high intensity.

“We believe in the 6-2 split, it has worked for us and there’s no need to panic when it comes to selection,” assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said this week after the Gold Coast defeat.

For some though, the risks in the strategy are too great when it comes to well-matched opposition who are likely to keep the result to within a single score. There was heartbreak last weekend for the Springboks when flyhalf Handre Pollard had an off-day with the boot and his replacement, Damian Willemse, who is not a frontline kicker for the Stormers, missed the Springboks’ last kick at goal, a 73^rd-minute conversion.

There is little respite for Pollard, such a key performer for the Springboks and very seldom rested. But a 6-2 bench makes it hard for Jacques Nienaber to choose a specialist goal-kicking flyhalf amongst the replacements because both Morne Steyn and Elton Jantjies are not going to be able to provide real cover for any other backline position.

“Week in and week out, there is always massive debate about our selection and not just this week. It’s nothing new. Handre did not have his best game last week, but we did not lose because of that, it was mostly down to our discipline. He has been brilliant for us since 2018, but sometimes a star will have an off-day, he’s only human. Damian is a brilliant player and is still getting better. We did not lose because of kicks at poles,” Stick said.

The way things are going in South African cricket, CSA are soon going to have to appoint a lawyer to sit on the national selection panel just to make sure nobody’s rights have been unfairly prejudiced by not being chosen.

In the good old days, all that mattered was runs and wickets and the balance of the team – referring to having gritty batsmen capable of looking after the new ball, some strokeplayers in the middle-order, an all-rounder or two, and a bowling attack suited to the conditions.

But nowadays, being deserving of a place seems to mean you are entitled to be chosen. Never mind that the selectors can only field 11 players at a time and there are, of course, no substitutions in cricket, unless someone gets concussed.

Selection is a thankless task because you can never please everybody. And even 15 years after the fact, your selections can still be dissected and slammed, as we have seen in the SJN Hearings.

The squad selected to play in next month’s T20 World Cup caused uproar over two main areas – the sudden dropping of George Linde and the continued absence of Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris.

I do believe Linde’s omission was the wrong call, but Victor Mpitsang and his panel are spot-on when it comes to Du Plessis, Tahir and Morris.

Morris is the easiest to deal with because the selectors have been told by the all-rounder’s people that he is not available for international cricket. Despite his tendency to tell the media all about the lack of contact he has had from Cricket South Africa. And, in case you were wondering, AB de Villiers has also officially made his retirement from the Proteas final.

Du Plessis and Tahir are trickier because they are still very much available for the Proteas, provided the finances around a short-term deal for free agents are to their liking. And both have been performing well, Du Plessis playing a couple of standout innings in the recently-completed Caribbean Premier League and Tahir had a successful campaign in the same competition.

The former Proteas captain struggled at the start of that tournament though after a long layoff caused by a serious concussion and then missed the last few games with a groin injury.

It is true that the current South African batting line-up is lacking experience, but they have been together now for this year and are ever-improving. Having Du Plessis in the XI would almost certainly mean leaving out Rassie van der Dussen, who averages 36 in T20 Internationals at a strike-rate of 134, figures which are remarkably similar to Faf’s – average 35, strike-rate 134.

Both he and Tahir have been true heroes for the Proteas, but we need to accept that the time to move on has come. The 42-year-old Tahir has a ready-made replacement in fellow wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi, who for some time now has been the number one ranked bowler in T20 Internationals. And playing them both is not a realistic option because it would make an already long tail even longer.

I also find it infuriating when people rave about performances in T20 leagues and give them the same status as international cricket. These ‘mercenary’ leagues are domestic competitions and are not of international standard, simply because all of them have rules forcing the selection of a majority of local players. Even the IPL, which comes closest to bridging the gap, is still a franchise tournament.

But there is so much anger aimed at the Proteas these days that I have no doubt that if the trio of veterans had been selected, then there would have been an outcry over choosing old cricketers who have not been part of the team for the whole year.

Of course, the controversy has also been used by those whose rage is always directed at Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher to rant about their supposed shortcomings and unfair treatment of players.

At some stage we have to move on from the past and the Proteas are heading into this T20 World Cup in far better shape than I think most people expected.

Captain Siya Kolisi said on Friday that the Springboks have been measured by themselves and they found themselves wanting in last weekend’s defeat to Australia, which is why they will be running out with great determination to rectify that when they meet the Wallabies again in a Rugby Championship Test at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane on Saturday.

South Africa went down 26-28 to Australia last weekend in an unfocused, error-strewn and ill-disciplined performance. Kolisi said the world champions and the team clinging on to the number one ranking under pressure from the All Blacks know they are much better than what they showed on the Gold Coast.

“We know exactly where we went wrong, it was very upsetting to lose like that. The mistakes we made with things that are normally a given, it was so tough to see that on the review. They were simple errors. Just on the day, we were not at our best in the physical part. We have our standards, but we made fewer tackles and especially less dominant tackles, Australia dominated their hits with ball-in-hand.

“We compared ourselves to how we played against Argentina and the British and Irish Lions and the standard was definitely not the same. We need to make that better first before we complain about anything else. So we are going to be more determined on Saturday to bring what we did not show on the field last weekend,” Kolisi said.

To make matters tougher, the Springboks have a very disappointing record in Brisbane. Since the return from isolation, South Africa have won just once there in 12 attempts against Australia. Kolisi, along with Willie le Roux, Eben Etzebeth and Duane Vermeulen, is one of the players who featured in that memorable 38-12 hammering of the Wallabies in 2013.

“We’ve only won once at Suncorp and we want to change that, but the most important thing is for us to stay in the competition and defend the Rugby Championship. So we are going to throw everything into this game. We’ve spent the week asking ourselves why we did not get to where we are meant to be in the previous game and I’m confident we will pitch up this weekend.

“Winning is what we care about, that’s the only way we can maintain our number one ranking. But the ranking is not our focus, we want to get back into the competition and give ourselves a chance of winning it again. But if we’re not disciplined then we won’t get the result we want,” Kolisi said.

DURBAN, KwaZulu-Natal  – Brazilian Adilson da Silva has been dogged lately by an inconsistent putter and a struggle to maintain focus on the course, but he put it all together in fine style on Thursday as he claimed a share of the lead after the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate.

Da Silva opened the third leg of this season’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Series with a polished four-under-par 66, sharing the lead with Dundee Golf Club’s Louis Albertse.

The 49-year-old Da Silva started at the 10^th on Mount Edgecombe’s The Woods course and moved to two-under with back-to-back birdies on the par-three 12^th and par-four 13^th.

There was a bit of a wobble though when he bogeyed the 18^th and second holes, sandwiching a birdie on the par-four first, but Da Silva said his efforts to stay mentally focused have started paying off as he picked up three more birdies, returning to the clubhouse in 32 strokes.

Playing in the wet, it was easy to get frustrated and allow a promising round to fritter away, but the experienced Da Silva regrouped brilliantly.

“With all the breaks between tournaments due to Covid, I was really struggling to concentrate on the course, but playing events now every couple of weeks has helped a lot. I’ve pushed myself to focus my mind on the target and not worry so much about my swing. Otherwise it’s a strange feeling of not really being there. So I’m trying to visualise, put more emphasis on the shot, keep my mind focused on the present.

“I missed a couple of putts and then made silly bogeys on 18 and two, you’re getting wet and it’s easy to get frustrated. But I just told myself to hang in there, I hit most of the fairways and greens after that and made some key putts.

“My putting has been on and off lately, which is so frustrating when you’re hitting the ball well but you feel like you’re not playing well because you can’t make a score. But today was better – 28 putts and I can feel something building,” Da Silva said.

The 13-time Sunshine Tour winner also shared the lead after the first round of his previous event, the Sunshine Tour Invitational at Centurion Country Club two weeks ago, before finishing in a tie for 12^th after closing with a pair of 71s. This time, with his putter playing along, Da Silva is hoping to maintain his first-round momentum. But he warns “You can’t just run after it here, this is a course that gives you nothing.”

Chasing Da Silva and Albertse, who coincidentally also finished in a tie for 12^th at Centurion, are Siyanda Mwandla and Riekus Nortje, who shot 67s on Thursday.

Eleven golfers are two shots back on two-under-par, including Alex Haindl, winner of the second leg of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series at Sishen at the end of last month, Ockie Strydom, Lyle Rowe, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Anton Haig.