Ken Borland

With the Lions springing a surprise by employing the battering ram services of Burger Odendaal at outside centre, forming a bulky midfield pairing with Dan Kriel, much attention was focused on the Sharks’ selection on Wednesday and who they will play in the No.12 jersey when they meet the Gauteng side in Durban on Friday night.

With captain Lukhanyo Am assured of his outside centre spot, Sharks coach Sean Everitt has gone for the stockier option at No.12, preferring Marius Louw to Jeremy Ward. Although Louw is six centimetres shorter than Ward at 1.81m, he weighs eight kilogrammes more at 94kg. Of course neither Louw nor Ward have the physical presence of the Sharks’ long-time inside centre Andre Esterhuizen, the 110kg Springbok who has joined English club Harlequins, but they both have much to add, with Ward warming the bench on Friday night.

“The competition between Marius and Jeremy is always close and we had lengthy selection discussions about it. We just felt that when Marius came on against the Bulls on SuperFan Saturday he played particularly well and brought a lot of energy. But they are both very good players and leaders, and Marius just pipped Jeremy this week.

“Playing Odendaal at 13 means the Lions will have a big centre combination with Kriel at 12. We’re expecting something different from them, they may have moved away from their DNA a bit, away from continuity and ball-in-hand rugby a bit,” Everitt said.

Facing off against Odendaal as his direct opponent and not seeing him at inside centre is also going to be different for Am, who locked horns with the new Lions signing many times while he was up the road at the Bulls.

“I’ve never gone head-to-head with Burger but I have huge respect for him having played against him several times. He will bring experience and leadership to the Lions, and probably the same game he had at the Bulls – he takes on defenders and he carries the ball pretty hard. That’s what I expect from him, the Lions have quite a big centre pairing now and we expect a physical battle,” Am said.

Springbok Sevens star Werner Kok, making his official Sharks debut, has been paired with veteran JP Pietersen as the wings, with Madosh Tambwe expected to be fit for their next Super Rugby Unlocked game, away at the Bulls after next week’s bye, and Yaw Penje, signed on a short-term contract, still assimilating into the squad.

Ox Nche forms a powerful propping partnership with World Cup winner Thomas du Toit, and Everitt said he is really happy with the improvement shown in the Sharks’ scrummaging since the start of the year.

“Their great form really started early on in Super Rugby. We had a few issues at the start of the year in our scrum and there were plenty of critics. But since then the scrum has gone from strength to strength. I thought they stood up well against the Bulls two weeks ago and Ox and Thomas carried that through to last weekend’s Green and Gold game. Ox getting one over Ruan Dreyer of the Lions last weekend will add some spice to Friday night and it will be an interesting battle,” Everitt said.

Sharks team: Manie Libbok, JP Pietersen, Lukhanyo Am, Marius Louw, Werner Kok, Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Sikumbuzo Notshe, Phendulani Buthelezi, James Venter, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Dylan Richardson, Ox Nche. Replacements – Dan Jooste, Mzamo Majola, John-Hubert Meyer, JJ van der Mescht, Mpilo Gumede, Grant Williams, Jeremy Ward, Thaakir Abrahams.

The representatives of the Cricket South Africa Board tasked with meeting parliament’s portfolio committee on sports, arts and culture on Tuesday found the going so tough that they caved in and have agreed to release the full Fundudzi Forensic Report to those politicians by 4.30pm on Friday.

CSA’s seven-strong delegation included acting president Beresford Williams and independent directors Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw, Marius Schoeman and Dheven Dharmalingam, but they received a hostile welcome from the sports portfolio committee, who were miffed that a summary of the forensic report had been released publicly on Monday before the politicians had had a chance to look at it.

The self-serving nature of CSA leadership is probably only matched by those parasites in parliament, so it was no surprise when the portfolio committee, who have been waiting five months for the report, began to demand that nothing less than the full, unedited Fundudzi findings be made available to them.

It was Schoeman, the chairman of CSA’s audit and risk committee, who eventually made the concession.

“It’s a tipping point and a step in the right direction. The protocol to follow is that the Members Council will be consulted and confirm that the Board may release this report. It will be released in hard copy by Fundudzi by Friday, close of business, 16 hours 30. If this is not done by 16:30 on Friday, then I will resign,” Schoeman promised.

Acting president Williams, who was mentioned in the Fundudzi report for failing to recuse himself when there were conflicts of interest in loan discussions between CSA and the Western Province Cricket Association which he formerly headed, also committed himself to the full report being released. That will surely see him put out to grass when the AGM is held on December 5, following former president Chris Nenzani, who had initially made all sorts of promises about releasing the report and then resigned in mid-August, into the wilderness.

“On behalf of CSA I just want to recommit that we will deliver on our promise. Thanks to everyone for their contribution. We will make the full report available as committed,” Williams said.

Judging by the level of anger expressed by the sports portfolio committee and by Sascoc, it seems inevitable that they will only be satisfied once the entire CSA Board has been put out to pasture.

“I respected cricket’s leadership when they said they were waiting and processing. But the respect I have given you I didn’t see in return. You think that this report does not belong to the committee. Why should we wait, five months down the line? And instead of this committee being given the full report, a summary goes to the public.

“I’m very disappointed with your leadership for disrespecting even the chairperson of this committee, who gave you chances when the members said I shouldn’t. You didn’t have the courtesy of thinking, five months down the line, that there is a committee of parliament that you were supposed to prioritise. I don’t take kindly to what you have done to me. I’m so disappointed in your leadership that, five months down the line, you have done this to us,” Beauty Dlulane, the chair of the sports portfolio committee, said.

The Lions are famous for the high tempo of their play, but Sharks openside flank James Venter has the gas to make their lives difficult when they restart competitive rugby in South Africa with their Super Rugby Unlocked clash at Kings Park on Durban on Friday night.

Venter, a former Lions player, said the new areas of focus in refereeing the breakdowns also favour the defender getting there first, so he is excited about the impact he could have in ensuring the Sharks have the momentum and the Lions do not. Momentum was what the Sharks most obviously lacked in their SuperFan Saturday warm-up against the Bulls, but Venter did not play in that game because he was still recovering from a concussion.

“We have a referee that’s part of our training and we’ve been working closely with him. The new interpretations really favour the fetcher staying on his feet, so it’s about setting hard and quickly. I know I have a big role to play and I’m excited about that. The forward pack as a whole has a big role to play and we need to assert ourselves early on, we know that’s our job.

“The Lions love to play, they love to play running rugby, they have a running, expansive style. But sometimes the conditions can be wet in Durban and the ball doesn’t bounce your way, and you can’t play the running game. So if we front up physically and do what we do well, then they will find it tough,” Venter said on Tuesday.

And denying the Lions that momentum up front will also make it harder for their key man, Elton Jantjies, to dominate proceedings.

“We’ve looked at the Lions depth and the games we’ve had against them recently and Elton is obviously the leader and controls their game at flyhalf. That’s where a lot of their strengths lie, so we’re going to concentrate on our efforts to try and nullify or control his abilities,” the exciting Venter, who will no doubt be at the forefront of closing down the Springbok pivot’s time and space, added.

The Sharks lost badly in that warm-up game against the Bulls, trailing 35-0 after just half-an-hour before rallying to eventually go down 49-28. Having been the form team in South African rugby before action was ended by the Covid-19 pandemic, it was embarrassing, but a valuable wake-up call before the serious games start.

“We took the Bulls warm-up in our stride and we learnt a lot. Now the camp is really excited to bounce back and the vibe is great. We learnt that rugby is an 80-minute game and if you start slowly then it’s really hard to catch up. Intensity is what we thrive on and we mustn’t lose accuracy either. In pre-season it all looked really good and we executed well, but the Bulls game was like a punch in the face,” the 24-year-old Venter said.

In an unprecedented move, Cricket South Africa company secretary Welsh Gwaza is set to be given his own personal assistant, but the controversial Thabang Moroe ally may find his empire-building cut short following the mentions of him in the Fundudzi Forensic Report released on Monday.

Asked to confirm on Monday whether CSA are busy with the appointment of a PA for Gwaza, CSA communications officer Sipho Rihlamvu said: “CSA considers vacancies based on each portfolio’s needs analysis and how the filling of such vacancies would best serve the organisation. These needs are presented to the relevant structures within CSA and signed off with the prerequisite approvals. Any consideration for the positions within CSA must satisfy the said criteria.”

Other sources have suggested Gwaza has requested a PA because of his “increased workload”, a sure sign that the company secretary is being given more responsibility and therefore more power.

But Gwaza could be one of the CSA staff members against which both Fundudzi and CSA’s lawyers, Bowmans Gilfillan have recommended disciplinary processes be started.

One of the most serious examples of misgovernance exposed by Fundudzi was the deal with Global Sports Commerce for the Mzansi Super League, which has now opened CSA up for losses of R27.5 million should GSC fail to honour the terms of the settlement. The CSA Board were given assurances by Gwaza, as well as former CEO Moroe and chief operating officer Naasei Appiah, who have both subsequently been fired, that due diligence had been done on GSC, but it was never presented to the Board, before Moroe authorised payment of R30 million to the sports management company.

Gwaza was also one of the Exco members who was aware that the South African Cricketers’ Association had not been paid the image rights money due to them from the 2018 MSL.

Other funds that CSA are trying to recover, as exposed by the Fundudzi Report, are the R3 019 244 given to ‘Service Provider X’ by Moroe and Appiah without following the Procurement Policies of CSA.

Moroe’s bungling of the step-in at the Western Province Cricket Association, with Fundudzi finding he misled the CSA Board, cost the federation R725 227 in costs awarded to WPCA by the arbitrator. His appointment of Chantel Moon, who was not qualified for the job, as head of human resources on a consultancy basis without following due process in August 2019 cost CSA nearly R1.7 million according to the report. Moon was also allegedly paid R1.25 million in 2017/18 for ad hoc HR work without a signed contract.

Appiah’s purchase of alcohol for R201 372 on the company credit card was also flagged by the forensic investigators, as was Moroe’s R64 830 booze bill.

In terms of loans to the affiliates, the WPCA owe CSA R57.7 million, while the total loan bill to all affiliates for stadium upgrades comes to nearly R169 million.

Most alarmingly, CSA could not provide the forensic investigators with documentation supporting the signing of the top 40 procurement contracts agreed between January 2016 and December 2019.

NSA Vulindlela were paid about R6.8 million for security services without a contract or Board approval, and without a tender process.