Ken Borland

Bulls flyhalf Chris Smith said on Monday that the team’s culture and care for each other was the source of their incredible determination that took them to a remarkable 22-20 victory over Western Province in their Currie Cup clash at Newlands at the weekend, despite the visitors having to play with 14 men for the last 35 minutes.

Smith was a key figure in the Bulls’ first triumph in Cape Town since 2009, not only kicking an angled last-minute conversion to win the match, but also shining in the final quarter with a couple of telling breaks and generally taking control of the contest.

“The hunger was obviously there in the team to fight to the end and to pull through for the win showed our desperation, our hunger and that we play for each other. That’s thanks to the culture of the team, we really care for each other. It was an incredible feeling because the Bulls have not beaten Western Province at Newlands in 11 years and I was 15 years old when Morne Steyn made the kick to win that one, at school just down the road at SACS.

“And for me to now make the winning kick was a very special moment in my career, an awesome feeling and I was very chuffed. I missed a similar one against the Free State Cheetahs, having been put on after Morne had kicked well from the start. Those are the big moments that you want to step up, but I learnt from it and moved forward, and I’m stoked it didn’t happen twice,” Smith said.

Smith admitted that it helped not having the usual passionate Newlands crowd cheering on Western Province … and trying to distract the opposition kicker at such a key moment.

“A big crowd can definitely fiddle with your mindset a bit, so it was nice to be able to kick in peace. But we’re a few games in now without having crowds so it has become normal. But a lot of players do get energy from the crowd, they find it highly motivating. The kick was a bit of a blur for me, but I tried to just stick to my process and I knew I had put in the prep.

“I’ve been very lucky to have a mentor like Morne Steyn, I learn from him daily. He’s been playing incredible rugby and is probably the form flyhalf in the country right now. So I’m just being a sponge because he’s a Springbok legend and an even bigger legend off the field, I just follow and learn from him. Having good players around me definitely makes life easier,” Smith said.

Proteas captain Quinton de Kock has been deprived of some key players that could have made a difference in the T20 series against England that has now been lost, but he is adamant that the players who have come in are good enough to have got the job done and he is not looking for any excuses.

The Proteas have been without the services of two key all-rounders in Andile Phehlukwayo, who is in Covid quarantine, and Dwaine Pretorius, who strained his hamstring just before the series started. Phehlukwayo’s Dolphins team-mate David Miller is also still in quarantine and the experienced finisher’s absence has also been felt.

“We don’t have all the options we’d like but we just have to deal with it and hope for the best in the last T20 on Tuesday night. Andile and David aren’t up to scratch yet but they will be ready for the ODIs. It has been difficult not having a specialist all-rounder, although George Linde has done well. But unfortunately Dwaine got injured at just the wrong time with Andile in quarantine, and it’s not as easy as just flying someone in because they also have to quarantine.

“I know everyone is talking about the sixth bowler, but we haven’t really needed one – in both games it was just one over that did the damage. And that was largely down to the situation, England had to have a go and they really played it well. Jonny Bairstow played an unbelievable knock and was hitting wide yorkers that were just one centimetre off to the boundary. It would be nice to have all those guys available, but the other guys coming in can do the job as well,” De Kock said on Monday.

The likes of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje have both excelled recently in sub-continental conditions at the IPL and De Kock said not much needs to change as South Africa go after a face-saving win at Newlands on Tuesday night.

“Obviously it’s disappointing to have lost the series, but I don’t think we need to change much, we’re still going to play our best team available and try to win. We do want to give players opportunities, but right now we need to win. It’s hard to tell guys how to bowl and KG and Anrich are both bowling 150+kph, so do you really want them bowling slower balls?

“We’ve got it wrong once or twice and a guy like Lungi Ngidi depends a lot more on variations. It’s about getting the right mix and it’s been difficult for us to put together the right match-ups. An extra batting all-rounder would be nice, it’s what we’re missing and then we could bat with a bit more freedom. We’re trying to do our best up top and the team is just staying positive because there’s still a lot to look forward to,” De Kock said.

Panicking and chopping and changing after one setback are not how successful businesses or sports franchises operate, which is why the Titans will take an unchanged squad into their CSA 4-Day Domestic Series match against the Cape Cobras at Centurion from Monday, despite their poor performance in losing to the Warriors last week.

The Titans are still top of their group with a lead of more than 17 points over the Warriors, who beat them by three wickets last week at SuperSport Park.

While Aiden Markram was sheer perfection with the bat, scoring a century in each innings, he lacked support from the rest of the batsmen, so that is something the Titans will need to rectify. But it is the bowling that was especially untidy against the Warriors, and the likes of Lizaad Williams and Okuhle Cele need to rediscover the intensity and accuracy they had when the Titans won their first two matches.

The Cape Cobras are the only winless team in the competition, so they have problems of their own.

The Imperial Lions have gradually been building their way back into top form in the defence of their title and they snatched a remarkable come-from-behind win over the high-riding Knights at the Wanderers last week. So Wandile Gwavu’s charges will be eager to dominate from the start of the game this time as they travel to Port Elizabeth to take on the Warriors, who are steadily improving as well after the start of their season was severely disrupted by Covid-19.

What will be particularly pleasing for coach Gwavu is the way his stand-ins for the Proteas performed in the last game and the Lions are certainly cultivating some impressive depth.

The fourth round’s other game sees the Dolphins hosting the Knights and trying to mount a serious challenge for top spot in Pool B. They are currently trailing the Knights by more than 15-and-a-half points.

Knitting together a team that could win the Super Rugby Unlocked competition was coach Jake White’s first job, but this weekend the Bulls showed that they also have incredible character as they opened their Currie Cup campaign with a stunning victory over Western Province at Newlands despite playing with only 14 men for 35 minutes.

The Bulls were already up against it as Western Province’s powerful Springbok front row put plenty of heat on them at the scrums, and the home team were thoroughly dominating both territory and possession. And then loosehead prop Jacques van Rooyen was harshly red-carded for a poor tackle that was a bit late and didn’t have a lot of arms being used, but it was not the head-high cheap shot referee AJ Jacobs talked TMO Rasta Rasivhenge into seeing.

But the cruel blow galvanised the Bulls and they snatched a 22-20 win at the death to win at Newlands for the first time since 2009.

“It shows a lot of character to play with 14 men for 35 minutes against Western Province and still get the result. The players can be exceptionally proud and this result will probably stay in the memory banks for a long time. I told the players afterwards to just enjoy it. That sort of character comes from within, from the group itself.

“If everyone is happy and everyone feels part of the team then you can get that sort of result. People talk about the culture of a team and we are clearly a tight unit. I’m very proud of what they did. When we got the red card, I just said we must keep believing, I’ve been in similar positions before and I remember when I was with the Sharks we beat the Crusaders with 14 men in Christchurch. So I know it’s possible, but if you don’t believe, it won’t happen,” White said after the game.

While White, and most observers including a died-in-the-wool Western Province supporter like Schalk Burger senior on social media, felt the red card was not a fair decision, the Bulls coach seemed more concerned about a breakdown in the machines that are meant to relay all the officials’ decisions into the coach’s box.

“I heard the conversation between the referee and TMO and then all of a sudden it was switched off. But it sounded almost as if there was not agreement between the two. I don’t think a red card was justifiable, I’m not happy with the decision because Warrick Gelant was not hit on the head but on the shoulder.

“I was confused about the conversation the referee had with the TMO and then they turned the referee’s microphone off. But if you’re not 100% sure then it surely can’t be a red card … and then suddenly it was. There was a bit of inconsistency with other penalties as well, the breakdown was untidy, but we understood we weren’t going to get reward there and you have to take the good with the bad ones,” White said.