Ken Borland

As they prepare to wade their way into turbulent European waters, Bulls coach Jake White said the heavy defeat his team suffered at the hands of the Sharks in Durban this weekend was a valuable “learning curve” for his youngsters.

The second-string Bulls emerged from their Kings Park clash like up-country visitors battered by the Ballito breakers as they were on the wrong end of a 45-12 scoreline.

“After 25 minutes we were 31-5 down but we did not let them score again until the 74^th minute when we only had 13 men on the field. It’s never nice to be on the wrong end of that sort of result but there was fighting sprit and we can build on that. The Sharks played really well and they created some really good tries with their catch-and-pass style. But it was almost their exact team from the Currie Cup final.

“We were a bit inexperienced and it was difficult weather. But if we’re not winning then we’re learning and I’m very chuffed with the way we came back, you’ve got to be proud of the effort and commitment. It could have been a 70-pointer, but we’ll take it as being all part of the learning curve for these guys. Overall I’m very happy with the preparation series,” White said.

So impressive was the Sharks’ handling in the sodden conditions of a Kings Park swamp in those opening stages that it seemed some voodoo must have been involved.

“I thought it was an outstanding first half-hour and then unfortunately things went a little awry. But they were very difficult conditions – humid and wet – and the guys were very brave with ball in hand. We wanted to play quickly, we moved the ball around and the skill level was very high. Our plan was to up the pace as much as we could.

“There’s a certain style of rugby we want to play and we counter-attacked really well. We did not play much in our own half, but it’s not all about kicking, it’s about getting the balance right and from turnover ball you have about a 10-second window to move the ball and we managed to move it so quickly. Our set-piece also did really well at the start,” a pleased Sharks coach Sean Everitt said.

Cricket South Africa on Saturday evening confirmed that former England captain Karen Smithies has lodged a grievance against the organisation in the labour court for how her interview for the position of team manager of the national women’s team was handled, but stressed that director of cricket Graeme Smith will not be involved in the matter despite “mischievous” attempts to embroil him in it.

The Citizen earlier on Saturday reported on how Smithies has alleged she was discriminated against in her unsuccessful application because recordings of the post-interview discussion between the panellists revealed that disgraced former CSA head of human resources Chantal Moon had raised her sexuality as counting against her.

Moon said there was a risk that Smithies would get “involved in some darling-darling relationship with one of the players” despite captain Dane van Niekerk being married to team-mate Marizanne Kapp, as well as there being other ongoing relationships between squad members. Head coach Hilton Moreeng is a man, but no-one has ever cautioned against the possibility of him having a relationship with one of the players.

Smithies confirmed to The Citizen that Smith had been a member of the interview panel but left before the offensive conversation took place. Unfortunately, a report in The Times of London has painted Smith, presumably because of his high profile, as having a major role in the dispute.

“The article has mischievously attempted to sensationalise the role of Smith in the dispute by incorrectly reporting that [he] has been served with legal papers in relation to Smithies’ claim, whereas Smithies has instituted proceedings in the Labour Court against Cricket South Africa. The article further misleadingly and incorrectly infers that Smith was party to discussions subsequent to Smithies’ interview process, whereas Smith had left the meeting directly after the interview was concluded,” CSA said in a statement on Saturday evening. 

Former CSA acting chief executive Jacques Faul, who was at the helm when Smithies’ interview took place last June and has been her long-term boss at the Titans, confirmed to The Citizen that he had reported her complaint to the CSA Board’s Social and Ethics Committee under former director Steve Cornelissen.

The flow of what happened next though becomes as murky as the Hennops River, with Smithies saying she was bitterly disappointed that to this day she has received no reply from CSA to her complaint.

Faul stood down as acting CEO soon after the incident and it is believed his replacement, Kugandrie Govender, was then tasked by the board with sorting out the issue. No progress was made during her four months in the role and the Interim Board then apparently took over handling the matter.

Sources say former chairman of the Interim Board, Judge Zak Yacoob made the decision to fight against Smithies’ claims in court. This is despite the recording of the discriminatory slurs being on the record.

The broad bats of Sarel Erwee and Marques Ackerman defied the Titans for more than three hours but a jumbo-sized effort by Titans spinners Kyle Simmonds and Neil Brand then pegged the Dolphins back to 258 for seven at stumps on the third day of the 4-Day Series final at Kingsmead on Saturday.

After heavy rain meant just 10 overs of play were possible on the first two days, an absorbing day’s cricket finally began an hour into the third day. Seamer Dayyaan Galiem moved the ball around intelligently in the first hour and claimed the early wicket of Keegan Petersen for 16, bringing Erwee and Ackerman together on 47 for two.

They faced a challenging morning session but showed enormous application as they put on 135 for the third wicket. Erwee, solid and compact, was immense in scoring 100, while Ackerman overcame a really scratchy start to score an impressive 74.

Left-arm spinner Simmonds, on his Titans debut, dismissed both set batsmen – Erwee was bowled by a delivery that surprised him by turning sharply into the left-hander, while Ackerman was deceived in the flight and struck a firm return catch to the 27-year-old. Simmonds ended the day with two for 95 in 24 overs, a good effort.

Brand, also a left-arm spinner, then dismissed Eathan Bosch (12), Theunis de Bruyn taking a wonderful reflex catch at slip, and Mangaliso Mosehle, lbw for a duck, in successive overs to close with excellent figures of two for 18 in 13 overs.

Khaya Zondo looked promising in scoring 21, but he sometimes errs in getting out in soft ways and he did that again on Saturday, clipping a Thando Ntini half-volley on his pads straight to square-leg.

Ruan de Swardt (18*) and Prenelan Subrayen, who is yet to score, will continue the Dolphins first innings on the penultimate day.                                                                              

Cricket South Africa are fighting lots of legal battles at the moment, but possibly the most damaging to their reputation has just been made public as former England captain Karen Smithies has served the embattled organisation legal papers alleging discrimination during last year’s interview process for the position of Proteas Women’s team manager.

Smithies, who led England to the World Cup title in 1993, has been a highly-respected administrator and manager of the Titans team for the last 20 years and played a key role in the growth of the women’s game in this country in the early 2000s.

But Smithies has now made the shock claim that CSA rejected her application to be Proteas Women’s manager due to her being “bisexual or lesbian”, according to the organisation’s disgraced former head of HR, Chantal Moon. And Smithies has the recordings to prove it.

For an organisation that is trumpeting diversity as a core value and riding the wave of the tremendous recent success of the national women’s team, the revelations are deeply embarrassing and disturbing.

The online interview was held on June 9 last year via Teams before a panel comprising Moon, who has subsequently been dismissed as she was not properly qualified for her job, director of cricket Graeme Smith, head of player pathways Eddie Khoza and high performance manager Vincent Barnes.

Smith left the meeting after the interview, but the other three then discussed Smithies without realising that their conversation was still being recorded.

The legal papers allege that Moon pointed out that Smithies is “bisexual or lesbian”, to which Khoza responded that she “is in a life partnership with a previous South African women’s captain”. Moon then said there was a risk that Smithies would get “involved in some darling-darling relationship with one of the players”.

Barnes pointed out that it would not be right to appoint a “White Pommie instead of a Black African Male [current manager Sedibu Mohlaba].

The comments are an obvious case of discrimination against Smithies personally because national women’s captain Dane van Niekerk is married to team-mate Marizanne Kapp and there are other relationships within the squad. Coach Hilton Moreeng is a man but nobody has ever raised any concerns about him having a relationship with one of the players.

Smithies told The Citizen on Saturday that the initial hurt of the comments has been exacerbated by CSA’s steadfast refusal to respond to any of her complaints, forcing her to go the legal route.

“I felt so hurt and very disappointed that my career and achievements all came down to that one thing [her sexuality]. These are people I know well and I just wanted an apology and an acknowledgement that what happened was wrong. I’ve tried everything possible to avoid going to court, sent so many letters, but CSA have not had the decency to reply to one of them,” Smithies said.