Ken Borland

Keegan Petersen and Kyle Verreynne may have felt like they were frozen out of the Test team given how long they have had to wait for their chance, but like London Buses two gaps have come along at the same time and they have both made their debut in the first Test between South Africa and the West Indies at St Lucia.

Petersen has been part of the squad since December 2019 and Verreynne was first called up in ODI cricket a couple of months later. They have both come through the fertile ground of Western Cape cricket, although Petersen comes from the Boland and Verreynne hails from Wynberg Boys High School and Western Province Schools.

With the West Indies winning the toss and choosing to bat first, they will be hoping the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium pitch becomes nice and flat as they look to make their mark in a South African batting line-up that has lost a vast amount of experience in the last few years. Petersen is the replacement for retired former captain Faf du Plessis and Verreynne gets his chance due to new vice-captain Temba Bavuma having a hip injury.

The 27-year-old Petersen has been pretty much permanently piling on the runs in franchise cricket in the last four seasons. In that time he has not once averaged less than 44 and has posted eight centuries in 39 matches for the Knights and Dolphins, who he joined last season. He left the Cape Cobras in 2017 due to limited opportunities, the elegant right-hander playing only seven matches for them.

While there has been disappointment in some quarters that Verreynne has had to wait until now for his Test debut, as the back-up wicketkeeper to Quinton de Kock his chances are always going to be limited. But four hundreds and 16 fifties in 32 matches for the Cobras are not to be scoffed at, and many of those big innings have come when the Cobras have been struggling and conditions are hard.

The 24-year-old embodies the grit and determination so many South African middle-order batsmen are famous for and he will want to lift what has been a disappointing output by the Proteas batsmen recently.

Apart from the daunting task of trying to make the Rainbow Cup final, the Sharks are adamant that they cannot brook the thought of the Bulls beating them on their home turf when they meet in the crunch final round of South African Pro14 fixtures in Durban on Saturday.

In order to top the South African standings and get to travel to Italy to take on Benneton Treviso, the Sharks have to win the game with a bonus point and deny the Bulls any log points. And they need to do that with a side weakened by what coach Sean Everitt described as “a few niggles we are trying to push through”.

Because of that, their bench will only be announced on Friday, “once we have more clarity on injuries”, but the starting line-up revealed on Thursday is missing wing Sbu Nkosi and loose forward Henco Venter and there are concerns over the two reserve props, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Wiehahn Herbst.

But Everitt says the Sharks will not be lying down even if their Rainbow Cup hopes are dashed because they have endured some painful defeats in Pretoria over the last year and they don’t want to suffer the same fate at home.

“Psychologically it’s important that we lead on the scoreboard at the end of the day, and I’ve told the players that we first have to win the game anyway and then go for the bonus point. The players want to make Kings Park a fortress, although we narrowly let that slip against the Stormers. They were disappointed with how we went down in the last 20 minutes of the last game against the Bulls in Pretoria.

“But we have also won games coming from behind at the death and the players want to show their character. It’s important we get one over the Bulls regardless of whether we qualify for the final or not. We were narrowly beaten by the Bulls in the Currie Cup final and we want to bounce back and turn the tide against them. The energy and motivation this week is the best it’s been,” Everitt said.

After the impressive win over the Lions last weekend, it has taken a bit of finesse in selection for Everitt to both reward the players who shone at Ellis Park and reintegrate his Springboks.

“We took a changed team to the Lions, where we had to get the bonus point win which is never easy, and the guys really turned up and did very well. So this is another opportunity for many of them and they are good enough for that, we just want to build on that performance.

“But it’s also about my relationship with the international players and I never question their efforts. They got us to where we are now, many of them are world champions and a guy like Lukhanyo Am is our captain who has played well every week,” Everitt said.

Sharks – Aphelele Fassi, Anthony Volmink, Lukhanyo Am (C), Marius Louw, Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Thembelani Bholi, Siya Kolisi, Hyron Andrews, JJ van der Mescht, Khutha Mchunu, Kerron van Vuuren, Khwezi Mona. Bench: *To be confirmed.

Marcell Coetzee will no doubt come out roaring at Kings Park on Saturday as he leads the Bulls officially for the first time in their decisive Rainbow Cup match against the Sharks, but coach Jake White says there is no feeling of anger at his shock omission from the Springbok squad to play the British and Irish Lions.

Coetzee took over as captain on the field when Duane Vermeulen suffered his serious ankle injury against the Stormers last weekend, despite being on debut for the Bulls, and he was praised by White for doing “an unbelievable job”.

“With Marco van Staden coming back at No.6, it was logical for Marcell to move to eighthman, it’s where he’s played at Ulster and it’s a like-for-like swop because he’s similar to Duane. It’s a long season and I’ve chatted to Rassie Erasmus about him. He’s been out for a while and the Springboks have ample cover, many loose forwards in camp like Marco, the Du Preez brothers, Wiese, Kwagga, Pieter-Steph and Siya.

“Marcell is a good player and I’m sure he’ll be in the mix going forward. The Springboks have a dozen Tests in a few months and Marcell is still positive because he knows all this and if he’s not with the Springboks now then he will be in the future,” White said on Thursday.

And while Vermeulen’s situation is hugely frustrating – he had to have surgery on his ankle and will be out of action for anything between five and 16 weeks – White said both he and the regular Bulls captain were optimistic.

“I don’t think all is lost with Duane. You look at Jesse Kriel getting over the same injury and, chatting to our medical staff, a lot of players get over this sort of injury and play seven weeks later. So Duane may not be 100% for the first Test against the Lions, but maybe he can play in the second and third Tests. Maybe in the last Test it will be 1-1, a must-win game and he scores the winning try.

“So he might still enjoy a moment like being man of the match in the World Cup final and he is positive. He’s mentally very tough and those are the guys who heal quicker than others, Schalk Burger was the same. I have full faith that he’s going to be okay,” White said.

The Bulls are one log point away (unless the Sharks manage to beat them by more than 34 points) from another sweet success in winning the South African leg of the Rainbow Cup, but injuries have landed White somewhat in the dark brown stuff when it comes to loose forwards with Elrigh Louw and Arno Botha also out injured.

It has led White to make the interesting selection of Ruan Nortje at blindside flank. He has only played in the second row for the Bulls to date, but the 22-year-old is way more than just a lock jumping in the lineouts though. He has the work-rate and mobility of a flank and has impressive skills with the oval ball as well. White is confident the move will bear fruit and allow Nortje to become a more versatile player like a Pieter-Steph du Toit.

Bulls: David Kriel, Madosh Tambwe, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Marcell Coetzee (C), Ruan Nortje, Marco van Staden, Janko Swanepoel, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Schalk Erasmus, Jacques van Rooyen, Trevor Nyakane, Nizaam Carr, Muller Uys, Keagan Johannes, Clinton Swart, Gio Aplon.

Jacques Nienaber is about to go into his first assignment as head coach of the Springboks and he believes his initial career as a physiotherapist is going to be advantageous as he negotiates the slings and arrows of misfortune that inevitably go with the most high-pressured job in South African rugby.

Nienaber studied physiotherapy at the University of the Free State, where he first hooked up with Rassie Erasmus. He had moved into the strength and conditioning role with the Free State Cheetahs by the time Erasmus went from player to coach in 2005, and he then became one of the most successful defence coaches in the country when he moved with the now director of rugby to Cape Town in 2008.

“I didn’t even play for my school 1^st team, in fact I played for the 7ths at Grey College, but I love the game. My pathway to here was through being a physio. That involves what we call ‘clinical reasoning’, where you trial some treatment, then you assess and see how it goes. If it doesn’t work, you don’t sulk, you just get on to the next thing. My attitude is that you at least then know what doesn’t work.

“That attitude will help as Springbok coach because there are certain things you cannot change. You can’t control destiny, things like injuries and cards are going to happen, but we’ll give it a helluva go. We know discipline will be massive in the Lions series and we’ll be concentrating on accuracy in the fundamentals – tackles and breakdowns, make sure we execute those legally,” Nienaber said on Wednesday.

While Erasmus and Nienaber won the World Cup as much through their cerebral approach as the tremendous physicality the Springboks brought on the field, the probable loss of Duane Vermeulen and the possible absence of RG Snyman and Damian de Allende will be big blows to their efforts to overpower the British and Irish Lions.

Staying true to his ‘no sulking’ philosophy, Neinaber tried to be optimistic though on Thursday.

“The most important thing is that Damian and RG’s families are fine too after the well-documented fire pit incident. And Jesse Kriel cheered me up about Duane today when he sat in front of me on the plane and told me he had a similar injury just before the 2019 World Cup and he made a quick recovery. So when I phoned Duane I reminded him about Jesse and he said he remembered he got back in time for the World Cup.

“Accidents and injuries happen, but we can’t control them and both those incidents could have been worse. Of course they’re not ideal and I would love the full squad to be training together. It’s just the Japan-based players training at the moment, six of them, but whatever we’re doing must be meaningful, and we’re doing a lot of skill-based work,” Nienaber said.