Ken Borland

The Vodacom Cup – South Africa’s developmental competition for the provincial teams not involved in SuperRugby – has entered the semi-final stage with overseas visitors Kenya no longer in contention but the tournament did offer the African country the chance to further grow their 15-a-side team.

The Kenyans played as the Tusker Simba XV and although they only won a single match – their opening encounter against the Eastern Province Kings – the fact that they did not finish last in their section provided some comfort.

Kenya were invited by the South African Rugby Union, as part of their mandate to help improve and develop the game in Africa, to take the place of Argentinian side Pampas XV and the east Africans were only too happy to take part, giving a crucial boost to their preparations for the final African World Cup qualifier to be played in Madagascar from June 26.

Namibia have been the African qualifiers for all seven Rugby World Cups and so the rest of the continent are trying to close the gap with them. Zimbabwe and Madagascar are the other countries still in the running for 2015 in England.

Encouragingly for Kenya, the Tusker Simba XV performed no worse than Namibia’s Welwitschias did when they played in the Vodacom Cup in 2010/11 and lost 13 of their 15 matches, winning once and drawing the other game.

And the Tusker Simba XV also suffered some misfortune, losing two of their matches – against Border and Boland – in the final minute.

“It was a great experience and, as we try and qualify for the World Cup, the best thing is to play more games. Last year we won the Africa Cup in Madagascar, but that was only with some games before that. The only way to change that was playing in the Vodacom Cup, and it has been a huge success,” Kenya coach Jerome Paarwater said.

A lack of conditioning was one of the concessions the Tusker Simba XV had to make against almost entirely professional opposition, but the size and attacking promise the Kenyans showed was enough to suggest the 15-a-side team could follow their sevens counterparts up the world rankings.

“Size is certainly not a problem with the Kenyan players, but there is a lack of facilities in Kenya for them to work on their conditioning, which you need to be competitive against professional players for a full 80 minutes.

“But we’re getting them a bit stronger and bigger and the skills levels are improving, so those are positives,” Paarwater, the former Western Province loose forward, said.

“The sevens background of the players means they’re not afraid to attack, it comes naturally to them. It helps that our two wings [Leonard Mugaisi and Dennis Osinde] are both pacy and strong, both around 108/109kg.”

The scrummaging – built around huge identical twins Joseph and James Kang’ethe – was also solid, although they did attract some yellow cards, Paarwater explaining that “The twin props are very aggressive and I think that scared the referees a bit”.

While Kenya’s urban areas are relatively wealthy and modern, 75% of the population work in the agricultural sector and food security is an issue – 38% of the population live in poverty. So there are socio-economic issues that hold rugby back too.

While the International Rugby Board insist that the Kenya Rugby Union find their own sponsors, they are involved in growing the game amongst the youth. Programs like Get Into Rugby ensure that kids that would normally just be herding cows get a chance to experience the beautiful oval-ball game.

“The IRB are heavily involved with development and the U19 team, which is great because Kenya rugby has to step up their junior structures, that is the future. The IRB fund development programs and they’ve given our Sevens team lots of help too.

“It’s good that the Kenya Rugby Union have had to find their own sponsors, it means they don’t just ask for handouts,” Paarwater said.

The Western Province Rugby Union in South Africa, from whom Paarwater has been seconded, have also been a great help, also providing medical supplies.

There’s nothing ham-fisted about the way rugby is being grown in Kenya, as the remarkable success of their Sevens side shows, and they are becoming a growing force in African 15s as well.

“They’re quite jacked up and really serious about rugby in Kenya, including women’s rugby. They’re always trying to improve,” Paarwater said.

And it certainly looks like they are succeeding.

http://www.irb.com/newsmedia/regional/newsid=2071330.html#kenya+more+than+just+sevens+nation

Investec South Africa women’s hockey coach Giles Bonnet said on Tuesday that he had chosen the World Cup squad based on the need for continuity and pace.

And so the same 18-strong squad that bowed out in the semi-finals of the Champions Challenge – their only defeat of the tournament – last week will do duty at the World Cup in Holland from May 31 to June 15.

“We’re staying with continuity, although we’ve brought players in through the years, introducing eight U21 players since 2010. We’ve been exposing players for the last four years, bringing in future stars all the time, and we’ve played 150 games since the last World Cup, which was only possible because of the support and sponsorship of Investec.

“So the squad includes one triple Olympian [captain Marsha Cox (nee Marescia)], five double Olympians [goalkeeper Sanani Mangisa, Shelley Russell, Kathleen Taylor, Tarryn Bright, Lenise Marais] and seven who went to the last Olympics,” Bonnet said at the announcement of the squad at the sponsor’s headquarters in Sandton on Tuesday.

The squad includes 13 players with more than a hundred caps, while only goalkeeper Anelle van Deventer (10) has less than 50 appearances for South Africa.

Pietie Coetzee, arguably South Africa’s greatest women’s hockey player, is the glaring omission from the squad, but Bonnet said she had made herself unavailable, along with the injured Jade Mayne, because she did not feel physically up to the tournament.

“Pietie doesn’t feel in shape to play in the World Cup, which basically involves running 10km every game and that has a major impact on the body. Hockey these days is about speed and endurance. We have very quick players in this squad,” Bonnet said.

Endurance is epitomised by captain Cox, for whom international hockey must be like a drug as she looks to add to her 332 caps in Holland.

“The Champions Challenge was successful, getting bronze and laying a good platform for the World Cup. We were extremely disappointed after losing in a semi-final to Ireland that we dominated, but stats don’t win you games.

“But sometimes you need to fail before you succeed and we’ve gained confidence from all the chances we created in that tournament [a tournament-leading 60 in six games]. Realistically we’re aiming to finish in the top eight in the World Cup and, with the style of hockey we’re currently playing and all the experience in the squad, that’s in reach,” Cox said.

Waiting for South Africa, however, are three of the tournament favourites in their first three games – Argentina, Germany and England – and Bonnet is hoping to get a draw from one of those powerhouses before taking full points off China and the USA.

“It will be difficult. You want to go into a World Cup with confidence and build your way into the tournament, but hopefully we can make that middle pool,” the vastly experienced Bonnet said.

Mangisa said she was confident the team would make a good start to the tournament, whatever the opposition.

“We know all the games will be tough because, along with the Olympics, this is the pinnacle of hockey. We’ve learnt from the London Olympics and we won’t repeat that bad start. We have to start well and we’ve grown a lot in the last two years. With all these caps, we can’t have a repeat … we’ll think ‘hang on there, we’ve been here before’ and tighten up. Unlike Liverpool last night,” Mangisa said.

Squad (caps in brackets): Sanani Mangisa (92), Ilse Davids (122), Marsha Cox (332), Shelley Russell (212), Dirkie Chamberlain (168), Lisa Deetleefs (187), Nicolene Terblanche (145), Kathleen Taylor (214), Tarryn Bright (263), Sulette Damons (149), Lenise Marais (228), Bernie Coston (94), Anelle van Deventer (10), Marcelle Manson (nee Keet, 133), Kelly Madsen (113), Celia Evans (89), Lillian du Plessis (58), Quanita Bobbs (56).

 

Driving from Lower Sabie to Letaba is one of the lengthiest routes (160km) one can hope to fit into a day in Kruger National Park, but the eastern sweetveld plains you travel through are richly rewarding.

This is prime birding country, travelling through the open savanna grasslands between Lower Sabie and Satara, heading into the Olifants rugged veld and then into the Mopane-dominated woodland around Letaba. Several of the roads also flirt with the Lebombo Mountains in the east, all of which adds up to numerous different habitats and a lengthy bird list.

The central grasslands around Satara are known as big-game country – there is plenty of grazing and therefore plenty of predators, whose kills attract the vultures.

And the king of the South African vultures – the Lappetfaced – is best found in this area and mine was duly spotted on the tar road (H1-4) between Satara and Olifants. It was an archetypal sighting as well – attending a kill, looking like the Red Skull with its featherless head and neck and malevolent, massive bill.

On the other side of Olifants, as the Mopane becomes more and more prevalent, Kori Bustard, another of Kruger’s “Big Five” birds, was spotted and other quintessential grassland birds seen between Lower Sabie and Letaba were Steppe Eagle, Rufousnaped Lark, Pintailed Whydah, White Stork, Wattled Starling (particularly common around Satara), Blackshouldered Kite and Swainson’s Francolin.

It’s also great raptor country and, apart from the vulture, resident Blackshouldered Kite and the migratory Steppe Eagle (in the Mlondozi/Muntshe area), Bateleur, Brown Snake Eagle, Whitebacked Vulture and Wahlberg’s Eagle were also seen.

But there are enough different habitats on the route to throw up all sorts of interesting things, and Jacobin Cuckoo, Carmine Bee-Eaters dashing around like the Red Arrows, Melba Finch (in the mixed woodland of the Trichardt Road heading into the Lebombo), Namaqua Dove, Natal Francolin and Helmeted Guineafowl were all spotted.

Late summer in the central savannas of Kruger Park are a time of feast and even the smaller birds were cashing in: just north of Lower Sabie there were a handful of Crested Francolin on the tar road, gorging themselves on a swarm of mayfly-like insects.

Aquatic habitats along the route further boost the tally; as you leave Lower Sabie you cross the Sabie River and from that causeway Wiretailed Swallow, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Pied Kingfisher and Brownthroated Martin were seen.

Temporary pans on the basalt produce Wood Sandpiper, while there was even water in the watercourse at Tshokwane and a Threebanded Plover in attendance.

The Mazithi Dam on the side of the road just north of Tshokwane was full and a Grey Heron was perched on a half-submerged log of dead tree, with a couple of Hippo for company down below.

Turning off east shortly thereafter, one travels along the Trichardt Road (S37), which takes one through highly nutritious grasslands and mixed woodland as it skirts the Lebombo Mountains, eventually coming to the Sweni River and Sweni Hide, where Malachite Kingfisher was spotted.

There is unsurprisingly plenty of game along the route from Lower Sabie to Letaba as well, with 14 species of mammals, including Hippo, Elephant, White Rhino and Buffalo, seen along the way.

Sightings list

Little Swift

Blackeyed Bulbul

Impala

Blue Wildebeest

Wiretailed Swallow

Greenshank

Common Sandpiper

Pied Kingfisher

Brownthroated Martin

Hippopotamus

Blacksmith Plover

Egyptian Goose

Redbilled Buffalo Weaver

Lilacbreasted Roller

European Roller

Elephant

Lesser Grey Shrike

Sabota Lark

Redbacked Shrike

Yellowbilled Hornbill

Longtailed Shrike

Arrowmarked Babbler

Plains Zebra

Giraffe

Grey Hornbill

Waterbuck

Grassveld Pipit

Woodland Kingfisher

Spotted Flycatcher

Glossy Starling

Marabou Stork

Slender Mongoose

Brown Snake Eagle

Grey Lourie

Laughing Dove

Warthog

Brownhooded Kingfisher

Blue Waxbill

Southern Greyheaded Sparrow

Grey Duiker

Steppe Eagle

Crested Francolin

Jacobin Cuckoo

Whitebacked Vulture

European Swallow

Rattling Cisticola

Carmine Bee-Eater

Bateleur

Rufousnaped Lark

Pintailed Whydah

Wood Sandpiper

White Rhinoceros

Burchell’s Starling

Cape Turtle Dove

European Bee-Eater

Forktailed Drongo

Threebanded Plover

Greater Blue-Eared Starling

Grey Heron

Melba Finch

Malachite Kingfisher

Vervet Monkey

Buffalo

White Stork

Wattled Starling

Marsh Terrapin

Blackshouldered Kite

Lappetfaced Vulture

Namaqua Dove

Kori Bustard

Swainson’s Francolin

Natal Francolin

Wahlberg’s Eagle

Hamerkop

Chacma Baboon

Helmeted Guineafowl

Red Toad

 

The University of Pretoria’s Assupol Tuks have ended the 2013/14 summer far ahead of any other club in the country, winning their third successive National Club Championships title earlier this week, to add to their triumphs as the leading student team in the country and their success in qualifying as the South African representatives for the closest thing to a varsity world cup.

Tuks’ success – they have gone unbeaten through 18 games and three years in the National Club Championships and have won the Northerns Premier League for the last five years, including an unbeaten run of 85 matches – is down to the perfect dovetailing of wonderful talent, an inspiring coach and tremendous facilities at the same time and in the same place.

Graeme van Buuren, Theunis de Bruyn and Vincent Moore are all players who have already shown great potential at franchise level for the Titans, while Aiden Markram and Corbin Bosch are two future stars fresh from winning the U19 World Cup.

And then there are the lesser known but key players like new-ball pair Gerhard Linde and Sean Nowak, spinners GC Pretorius, Ruben Claasen, Tertius Gouws and David Mogatlane, all-rounders Johan Wessels and Tian Koekemoer, and talented batsmen like Sean Dickson, Heinrich Klaasen, Murray Coetzee and Gerry Pike.

Pierre de Bruyn is the coach who brings all this talent together and gets it performing as a phenomenal unit. A hard-nosed cricketer from Easterns and a protégé of Ray Jennings, De Bruyn believes strongly in work ethic and discipline.

“I wasn’t talented at all but I managed to string together 15 years as a professional cricketer through complete hard work. I always tried to be one step ahead of the guy next to me through focus, discipline and work ethic. I really wanted the tough situation and it helps coaching to have had a tough career myself.

“From what I’ve experienced as a player, I can teach the youngsters how to start and sustain a professional career, both of which are not that easy. I’m working with guys who have everything in terms of talent, but I can really teach them things in terms of mental preparation or how to build an innings,” De Bruyn said.

The professional approach at Tuks has led to someone like national U19 captain Markram making the strides Jennings hoped for when he suggested the batsman go to the University of Pretoria.

“I’m very happy here, the training is awesome, at very high intensity, and this is where my game will improve,” Markram said, and that was borne out by him winning the player of the tournament awards for both the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals, that saw Tuks beat Maties to secure a trip to London for the world finals, and the Momentum National Club Championships.

The considerable support of both the University of Pretoria’s sports office and chief sponsor Assupol ensures that the Tuks cricket team has facilities which are fit for a first-class team and that they have been able to spend R2.5 million on upgrading the nets.

While Tuks’ success is obviously wonderful for the team, their coaching staff and the players’ parents and supporters, it’s important not to lose sight of the bigger picture and that is the benefit Titans cricket derives from their prosperity.

“The Titans definitely benefit from the excellence of Tuks. With full-time coaching, top facilities and the support of the university and a major sponsor, they attract top players. It makes it hard for the other clubs in Northerns, but ultimately it all benefits the Titans,” president John Wright said.