Ken Borland

The ability of Ruan Nortje to tear around the rugby field in indefatigable fashion in the heat of summer has been one of the features of the season, but the Bulls lock said on Thursday he was grateful for the Covid-enforced break his team had to take, even though he is well aware and sad for the heartbreak the virus has caused for many.

The Bulls will certainly be relying on Nortje to bring unrelenting work-rate in their Currie Cup semi-final against the Lions in Pretoria next weekend and he is confident he will be firing on all cylinders. The 22-year-old has shown himself to be a player in the same mould as Springbok lock Franco Mostert, who was a key part of the Lions side that dominated local rugby between 2016 and 2018.

“The heat at this time of year definitely gets the better of you sometimes, but thanks to Covid – although I am sad for how much suffering it has caused – I had a really good off time over Christmas with the family, which helped a lot. Now I can prepare well and get my energy right for the semi-finals. I’ve been very blessed with natural fitness, or something like that.

“I’m not sure why I play the way I do, it’s just instinct, it’s how I grew up – just play as hard as possible even though I’m not the biggest guy. When I get on the field, I just want to go. I’m trying to add a bit more meat to my body and our conditioning coach says I mustn’t run as much on my own so I don’t lose weight. But I still run every now and then when I’m off,” Nortje said on Thursday.

And Nortje knows that the focus of the Lions challenge will be up front – in the scrums and lineouts. The Bulls struggled in those departments when they played their Gauteng neighbours last week and were trailing 9-0 after the first quarter. But the pack then stood up and led the SuperRugby Unlocked champions to a 22-15 win and ensured first place on the log and home advantage for the semi-final and final (if they qualify).

“The Lions have a very good scrum and lineout and they will definitely target us in those facets again. So it’s for us to put in the hard work over the next week to counter them. It’s the knockout rounds now so it’s a new game and we’ve put the previous game behind us. The Lions are a very good side, they can beat anyone on their day, so we’ve put a bit more focus on our systems and processes.

“To make the Currie Cup final would mean the world to me. As a little boy, we didn’t have DsTV, so we would go to my grandfather for prime time and watch the Bulls and every final. It was such a special time and I would kick the water bottle around in the garden. I guess I was imagining myself more as a flyhalf back then, kicking the winning penalty goal,” the two-metre, 113kg Wonderboom dynamo said.

National coach Mark Boucher confirmed on Thursday that he has his sights set on getting Jacques Kallis back into the Proteas fold but in the short-term he is looking forward to his batsmen capitalising in Pakistan on the confidence boost the series win over Sri Lanka has given them.

Kallis has just started a controversial stint with England as their batting consultant in Sri Lanka. But South Africa’s most prolific run-scorer was almost forced into the position by the negative reaction he, Boucher and director of cricket Graeme Smith received when he was appointed Proteas batting consultant in late 2019 and by a subsequent Cricket South Africa decision that White consultants were no longer allowed.

That ruling has subsequently been put on ice by the interim board that is now running cricket.

“Losing Jacques to England is a bitter pill to swallow. He was working with our guys on an individual basis, someone like Temba Bavuma would Skype him and spoke very highly of his work. But then we were getting messages that we could no longer use him, so it was a massive loss. Jacques was a very good cricketer, he can add a lot of knowledge, so why wouldn’t you want him in the set-up?

“But I picked up from the media that Judith February [interim board director] said we were allowed White consultants again so the rules have changed a bit and I would certainly like to get him back in some sort of role, maybe even against Australia after the Pakistan tour. A lot of players have spoken highly of the knowledge he imparted in a short space of time.

“So Jacques is on my radar, but we need to treat it with care because he has a lot of other opportunities around the world. I know he would love to work with South African cricket again, but we must make sure we don’t mess him around,” Boucher said on Thursday.

The Proteas depart for their two-Test series in Pakistan on Friday and Boucher said it has historically been a good place for batting, something which a rebuilding South African batting line-up will welcome.

“They’ll take a bit of confidence from the Sri Lanka series where most of the batsmen had some good time in the middle. Historically the pitches in Pakistan have been pretty flat and Mickey Arthur [the previous Pakistan coach] said they were pretty good for batting. But you score in different areas over there and a lot of adjusting needs to be done, especially against reverse-swing, which a lot of our guys haven’t seen before.

“Pakistan have a very good bowling line-up, but the message to our batsmen is that if you apply yourself and spend a long time at the crease, then there are a lot of runs to be had. We are well aware of the technical adjustments that are needed over there and it’s not like India or Sri Lanka. It will be very foreign, but we expect nice and flat pitches, good cricket wickets,” Boucher said.

Pace bowlers are likely to play a much bigger role than elsewhere on the subcontinent and Boucher said he was pleased to have a bowling coach like Charl Langeveldt who has such a sound knowledge of reverse-swing.

“The pitches in Pakistan don’t turn a lot and they are more conducive to fast bowling. We expect them to go with pace and reverse-swing because it’s very flat. So there’s certainly a need for us to look at reverse as well. But you need to be able to get the ball to reverse first and in these times of Covid you have to be very careful with the ball, but there are always legal ways to scuff up one side.

“A lot of our bowlers have not had to deal with reverse-swing before and the guys sometimes can’t control the ball if they’re not used to it, so they need to adapt. Kagiso Rabada uses reverse really well, so he can pass on the right lines and lengths and fortunately Langers was a master of reverse so I’m very comfortable we’ll get it right,” Boucher said.

SA Rugby on Thursday submitted to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) that their remedies proposed in their draft findings into the broadcasting of sport by subscription television will lead to a severe reduction in the investment by these broadcasters in professional sport and will ultimately cost the Springboks the chance of adding to their 2019 World Cup victory.

Icasa have proposed that broadcast rights should not last longer than three years, that there should be no exclusive deals and that the rights should be split between multiple packages and broadcasters.

But in public hearings held virtually on Thursday, SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux said the ‘remedies’ would be an unreasonable burden on the federation and would mean they are likely to lose their fight for survival in these times of Covid uncertainty, while Senior Counsel Ngwako Maenetje said Icasa would be acting “irrationally” and ultra vires (beyond their powers) if they enforced the changes.

“If the regulations go through in their current format then we may never see a day like the 2019 World Cup win again. SA Rugby needs to produce compelling content that is commercially viable so we can develop the game from grassroots level to winning national teams. We are 99.7% self-funded, we only get 0.3% of our income from government, and broadcast rights bring in R752 million,” Roux explained on Thursday.

According to the SA Rugby presentation, broadcast rights make up 58% of their income, and sponsorships, which are largely dependent on TV exposure, make up another 26%.

“We are in a daily fight for survival, we are in financial difficulty having made losses between 2016 and 2018. We recovered a little profit in 2019 on the back of the World Cup and we looked forward to capitalising on that but no-one could have predicted what happened in 2020. Covid has pushed us into survival mode and had a massive detrimental effect. We’ve had to cut our budget by R1.2 billion.

“It has made insolvency a real and present danger, we’re on the brink, and if we had not been able to capitalise on broadcast rights, we would have been bankrupt by now. Exclusivity is the main source of our revenue and with less money it means there will be less rugby until we have to close our doors and only have club rugby. And then nobody will be interested in the game,” Roux said.

Judging by the presentation of Maenetje SC, Icasa would probably face court action if they enforce the regulations.

“No Regulatory Impact Assessment was conducted by Icasa, which makes the proposals irrational, they did not inform themselves of the adverse effect of these remedies. These effects are not proportional because they place such a burden on the rights holder, rather than broadcasters, such that they will not be able to sustain themselves. Icasa have paid scant regard to the dire impact we explained in our written submissions.

“By weakening one side of the equation you do not grow competitiveness in the market, SA Rugby will no longer be in a position to provide premium content and there will be an adverse impact on public interest. These remedies are irrational, not lawful and unconstitutional. They do not encourage investment so they undermine the Icasa mandate and exceed the statutory powers of Icasa,” Maenetje said.

Icasa launched their inquiry into subscription television services to ensure the broadcast market is sufficiently competitive, but Roux says “these remedies will have the completely opposite effect to their noble intentions”.

“The obligation is on the broadcasters and not on the rights-holders, which is where Icasa are acting ultra vires. There was no discussion of the economic impact in their draft findings,” Maenetje says.

SA Rugby on Tuesday expressed their disappointment and frustration that millions of South Africans will not be able to watch the Springboks in action at the World Cup due to the SABC’s decision not to broadcast an event which lifted the spirits of the country in inspirational fashion in both 1995 and 2007.
Those were the two years the Springboks lifted the most prestigious trophy in rugby, with the 1995 triumph, on home soil and featuring the enthusiastic participation of then president Nelson Mandela, being cited as a major boost to race relations in the fledgling democracy. The current Springbok team is captained for the first time by a Black African in the hugely popular Siya Kolisi and they are rated as one of the strongest contenders when the tournament kicks off on Friday.
South Africa, who are coached by former captain Rassie Erasmus, open their campaign by playing defending champions New Zealand on Saturday in what will be one of the most important games of the tournament.
“We are looking forward to a strong Springbok challenge led by Rassie Erasmus and Siya Kolisi, and it is extremely frustrating for our sport that the national broadcaster is not in a position to show it. We share the disappointment of SABC licence-holders that they will be unable to follow the progress of the Springboks and other big matches in the tournament.
“The Rugby World Cup has been broadcast on SABC at every tournament since 1995 and like other mega sporting events has the power to bring the nation together behind a national team,” an SA Rugby spokesperson told The Citizen on Monday.
Although the television rights to the World Cup are owned by WorldRugby, SuperSport, who have bought the local rights, were willing to help the SABC show at least some of the tournament, but after months of negotiations the national broadcaster pulled out, according to MultiChoice, the owners of the sports pay channel.
“As far as television rights are concerned, the SABC, having initially made a commercial offer, subsequently withdrew that offer citing budget constraints and the scheduling of the RWC, being in Japan. Rugby World Cup broadcast rights are sold by World Rugby and its agents and all broadcasters (including free-to-air operators) are able to bid for acquiring these rights,” Joe Heshu, the MultiChoice Group Executive for Corporate Affairs, told The Citizen.
The radio rights are owned by marketing company IMG and not MultiChoice.
The Rugby World Cup would have cost the SABC $28m for broadcasting rights on television and $60 000 for radio, not factoring in production costs of R900 000, SABC CEO Madoda Mxakwe told Parliament’s portfolio committee on communications on Tuesday.

Social media reaction

Teddy Rubskins @walternatebeing
SABC was looted dry by ANC cadres, this is the real issue. In the 90s SABC showed F1, NBA, currie cup & springboks rugby as well as cricket. Also the ANC government will never break the monopoly Naspers holds as they love the tax revenue from their group companies.
The 2019 rugby world cup would have cost the SABC $28m for broadcasting rights on television and $60 000 for broadcasting rights on radio, he said. These costs do not factor production costs of R900 000.

Jy Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika  Put SA 1st
@Joy_wa_Afrika
However, a nation that is being deprived of watching the 6 @Springboks games because of money grabbing @SuperSportTV We can only afford SABC but does the greedy @SuperSportTV care Absolutely not

Cornu Perold @CornuPerold
Will Sports Minister @NathiMthethwaSA and his Communications counterpart @Stellarated help find a resolution here too as they did in the saga that saw the SABC not broadcasting any PSL matches on their platforms? Surely Rugby is a sport for ALL South Africans?

OH LOOK…Squirrel
@Travesty_Kruger
I think it quite sad that SABC hasn’t made a plan for them to air the RWC. We always seem to be united when the Bokke are playing and sadly not all of us (myself included) have DSTV.

zwelitsha @zwelitshazwe

Thulas sport is an audience driver in broadcasting, note all the satellite dishes on rooftops from informal settlements (end result of PSL rights), SABC Board, Govt must wake up Fact, Ad revenue will NEVER = Sports rights, bt loss of sports rights = audience flight

uSumpa @Konkwane_K
I feel for those people who are let down again by the SABC. The most vulnerable people who love rugby they won’t watch the Rugby World Cup because SABC is useless beyond doubt.

Riccardo Dobloni @superdoct
Money hungry, no national interest at all. SuperSport fine keep you rights, keep your advertising money, but surely you can see the benefits of letting everyone watch the national team in a world cup! go back to Open Time or sponsor SABC to show at least the #Springbok games

Cameron MacKenzie MP @CameronMacKenz2
When @MultiChoice ask for US$28million & @sabc trying to get on an even financial footing, it’s competing priorities. Why not pressure @MultiChoice instead to help out in the interests of those who can’t afford DSTV? The new SABC board are doing the right – tough – thing.

LLOYD L. MAFA @MafaLloyd
Really no broadcast of Rugby World Cup then why are we still paying the TV licence. SABC please get your act together.

Pale Rider @Pale_Rider7
Multi Choice should come to the party and as a gesture of good faith at least allow SABC rights to broadcast the Springbok games. With their messed up image lately it can only do them good.

SABC Too  @SABCtoo

Obviously, young children in South Africa don’t deserve to see a multiracial world-class national team captained by a man who came from nothing but hunger in one of the worlds largest competitions. #RWC2019

azania mboya @azaniamboya

SABC are a national disgrace by refusing to broadcast the Rugby World Cup thus leaving millions of African rugby fans without coverage. A huge blow against African transformation in Rugby. No wonder so many ppl dont want 2 pay T V Licences !!!!