Ken Borland

Dawie van der Walt held off the challenge of the in-form Darren Fichardt to win the inaugural Tshwane Open and claim the first major tour title of his career at the Els Club Copperleaf on Sunday.

The 6’5” Van der Walt shot a 67 in the final round to finish the co-sanctioned European/Sunshine tour event on 21-under-par, two strokes ahead of Fichardt, the new Order of Merit leader who won the Africa Open two weeks ago and finished in the top-10 last week at the Dimension Data Pro-Am.

Van der Walt began the final round in a four-way tie for the lead with compatriots Fichardt and Charl Coetzee and Chilean Mark Tullo. And the 30-year-old was under some early pressure as both Fichardt and Coetzee birdied the second and third holes.

But the Paarl product made his move on the par-five fourth hole, which began the tournament as the longest in European Tour history at 626m. With the tees moved forward on Sunday, a player of Van der Walt’s length was able to reach the green in two and he nailed the 15-foot putt for eagle.

Birdies followed on the sixth and seventh holes and, although there was a bit of a wobble around the turn, Van der Walt sealed the biggest victory of his career with further birdies at the par-four 12^th and par-five 15^th holes.

There is no secrecy when it comes to what made Van der Walt successful around Copperleaf. Hitting the ball long is always useful at the Centurion course, but the U.S.-based golfer was impressively precise off the tee and especially with his irons.

“Lately I haven’t been hitting the ball so good, I’ve been playing terribly, but I found something in my swing at the Dimension Data and I felt something in my game coming here. I hit the ball really well and I missed just two fairways today and one green. It meant I hardly had to chip at all and that’s not my strength.

“It’s unbelievable to play well and win. Golf is a game where you don’t get many chances to win, some people never do, and often you play well and don’t win,” Van der Walt said.

The genial giant said his victory was all about goal-setting and not getting distracted by the bigger picture.

“I just wanted to play solid, I was aiming for five-under today and 10-under for the weekend, which worked out well. I’ve been in these situations a couple of times and if you think ahead you lose it. I just set a goal of being 10-under for the weekend and that would ensure I make a whole lot of money. I didn’t think it would be enough to win the tournament, but I would have taken second. I didn’t want to get ahead of myself,” Van der Walt admitted after shooting a pair of five-under-par 67s to finish the tournament on top.

It certainly did earn the six-year pro a whole lot of money – R2,781,675 to be precise, which translates into €237,750, considerably more than the €148,974 he had won in total on the European Tour before Sunday.

Van der Walt campaigns on the Web.com Tour in America, the level below the PGA Tour and formerly known as the Nationwide or Challenge Tour, and it presents the Kingwood, Texas resident with a conundrum in terms of where to play now that he has a two-year exemption on the lucrative European Tour.

“It definitely helps that the purses are a lot bigger in Europe! But I live in America now and I have full status on the Web.com Tour. My ultimate goal is to get on the PGA Tour but I can make my own schedule now and maybe I can go through the European Tour, that might be a lot easier,” Van der Walt said.

Van der Walt has four victories on satellite tours in the U.S., but a regular tour triumph had eluded him until Sunday. He admitted that there were times when he sat eating his cornflakes and wondering when the breakthrough would come.

“I’ve been a pro for six years and this is the first time I’ve won a big event. You see your friends doing it, you see other people winning, and you wonder when it will happen for you, whether it will ever happen for you, you wonder if you’re good enough.”

Fichardt finished at 19-under 269 and his third birdie, at the par-three fifth hole, gave him the lead on his own. But at that stage the putter went cold and 13 successive pars meant Van der Walt remained at arm’s length.

Louis de Jager shot a 69 on Sunday to finish third on 18-under, with former world number one amateur Peter Uihlein fourth on 17-under, the American also notching a three-under-par final round.

Sweden’s Bjorn Akesson, with a 65 on Sunday, Englishman Danny Willett (66) and Coetzee, who picked up a one-shot penalty for slow play at the 15^th, were tied for fifth at 16-under.

Tullo, the other overnight leader, fell away badly with a 77 which included a double-bogey 6 at the 13^th, where he twice hit into the water left of the green.

Van der Walt, meanwhile, tempered his attacking instincts with the sort of composure that turns the contenders into the champions. He showed this on the final hole when he took less club for his second shot to cater “for the adrenaline”.

The horrors of recent weeks – he said his father suggested he visit a sports psychologist, to which he replied “he’s not going to be able to tell me I’m hitting the ball straight when it’s going sideways” – are now a distant memory.

What is still fresh in Van der Walt’s mind though is the long, hard road he had to take to the podium at the Els Club Copperleaf.

“Playing on the mini-tours, where you have to pay your own fees, makes you hard. I have the instinct to win, every time I play, I’m trying to win,” the newest South African European Tour winner said.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-03-04-tshwane-open-dawie-van-der-walt-wins-by-sticking-to-his-guns/#.UpnR4NIW29B

So was the Sharks/Stormers match an intense, gripping local derby between two powerful sides or an error-strewn bore-fest that should alarm all those concerned with the health of South African rugby?

You will find supporters for either option, and an array of shades in between, with the 12-6 victory to the Sharks proving highly entertaining for those purists who have an appreciation for Test rugby.

You probably won’t find a more brutal, physical game of rugby in this year’s competition, with the Stormers’ defence at its famous best and the Sharks not giving an inch either.

But while both defences were rock-solid and the two packs thundered into each other from close range, the two coaches, John Plumtree and Allister Coetzee, may want to consider whether they ever tried to move their points of attack away from the edges of the ruck.

Sure, the ball may have been slippery due to the humidity and the high stakes may have forced them both to play the percentages, but the overall impression was that the skills of the players (and we know they have them) were being stifled.

Never mind kicking for position, the boot was also over-used in attacking situations and, with the two sides’ similar game plans cancelling each other out, all innovation and finer skill was choked out of the contest.

The Sharks’ triumph was built on the supremacy of their scrum. Stormers fans will perhaps complain that referee Jonathan Kaplan was hard on them with a string of penalties for hinging (shoulders below the hips), but Tendai Mtawarira and Jannie du Plessis, on the auspicious occasion of his 100^th SuperRugby game, were clearly on top of their younger opponents in the Stormers’ front row.

With the result of the match hinging on just two penalties, those scrum infringements were crucial, allowing the Sharks to kick the Stormers back into their own territory.

“The Stormers hit you so hard that you can go away from your plan and then you end up on the back foot. So we just had to be patient, everything was about pressure out there and it came down to who could cope with it,” Plumtree said after the game.

If you like your rugby simple and bloody then the Loftus Versfeld clash between the Bulls and the Western Force also had much to offer.

The Bulls are famous for not playing with any airs or graces and the Force, written off by most after their stunning upset at the hands of the Southern Kings, took the hosts on at their own game and were actually better at it for long periods.

In the rarefied atmosphere of Loftus Versfeld, visitors need a kicker who can match the Bulls’ aerial bombardment and the Force had the big boot of Sias Ebersohn, a refugee from the Cheetahs.

The Force led 26-19 after the hour mark but sadly could not even hold on to gain a losing bonus point as the Bulls scored twice in the last 10 minutes.

The Bulls are a schizophrenic side at times, showing some superb attacking skills in setting up tries for Morné Steyn, in the second minute, and the impressive debutant wing, Sampie Mastriet, as well as a disallowed try by Bjorn Basson. But then for long periods they would revert back to 10-man rugby, with the boot dominating.

But in the 52^nd minute, the Bulls were sorry they didn’t take a kick at goal from a penalty right in front, opting to set up the lineout instead. But the Force defended superbly, stopping the rolling maul and then getting off their line quickly to force a turnover.

Moments later, lock Toby Lynn was burrowing over the tryline and leaving the Loftus crowd sadly contemplating defeat, conned into believing the Force were also-rans, despite the fact that they had won three of their six previous encounters with the Bulls.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke confided to the media afterwards that he felt the first-half display had been their worst performance in five years, but he would also have been thrilled by the way his team pulled themselves together in the last 15 minutes and returned to their strengths.

Their tightly-knit rolling maul earned another impressive debutant, replacement flank Jean Cook, a try, and prop Werner Kruger then scored in the shadow of the poles in the final movement of the game.

“The way we came back in the second half, the way players adjusted on the field, that was a special effort from the team,” Ludeke said.

“Last year against the Blues we were in exactly the same situation, we couldn’t get out of that grip and tonight we got back. All credit to the captain [Pierre Spies] for the way he got us back to things that are working for us, the maul started working, we managed the high ball, we forced some turnovers and we converted pressure into points,” he added.

Converting pressure into points is exactly what the Cheetahs failed to do in the first half of their match against the Chiefs in Hamilton as flyhalf Johan Goosen continued to struggle.

He missed three penalties in the first half as the Cheetahs dominated territory and possession, and then had a clearance kick charged down early in the second half as the Chiefs extended their 10-3 half-time lead to 17-3.

All Blacks flyhalf-in-waiting Aaron Cruden then took over as he set up brilliant tries by Asaeli Tikoirotuma and Gareth Anscombe to ensure the defending champions notched a convincing bonus-point victory.

A lot has been said about how the Cheetahs are such a wonderful attacking side, but merely throwing the ball from side to side does not constitute great running rugby. Just throwing the ball wide is as one-dimensional as the worst fare dished up by the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls over the weekend and it was comfortably handled by the Chiefs.

The home side used their forwards on attack to suck in the defence, before going wide and the Cheetahs have to learn to earn the right to throw the ball around.

It’s all very well just hurling the ball out wide, but defences are cracked by the sort of skills Cruden and Anscombe showed in that superb try: changes of direction, great hands, scissors-movements and different running lines.

There was no sign of that sort of skill from the South African teams in action this weekend, which meant the wins of the Sharks and Bulls were greeted with no great fanfare.

Nobody is writing them – or even the Stormers – off at this early stage, but there is no doubt there is plenty of work to do for Messrs Plumtree, Ludeke and Coetzee.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-03-04-superrugby-wrap-unattractive-victories-by-sharks-and-bulls-win-few-fans/#.UeRI79I3A6w

With all the varieties of delivery being bowled today – and the pressure to develop them – spinners these days run the risk of falling foul of the International Cricket Council’s rules on fair actions and specifically the 15 degree stipulation.

Sunfoil Dolphins off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen was the latest to be reported for a suspicious action, leading to remedial work and a rapid return to the field for the KwaZulu-Natal side, the 19-year-old playing an important role in their Ram Slam T20 Challenge campaign.

Subrayen’s problems started last August when he went to the ICC U19 World Cup in Australia. His action came under scrutiny after he played all six of South Africa’s matches on their way to the semi-finals, taking seven wickets at an average of just 14.42 and conceding only 2.43 runs per over.

Tests by both the Australian Institute of Sport and the Sports Science Institute of South Africa deemed Subrayen’s action to be illegal and in December he was sent back to his province to undergo rehabilitation.

The doosra is normally the delivery that causes problems, but in the case of Subrayen, it was his changes of pace that caused his elbow to bend beyond 15 degrees when bowling.

“I have the leggie, but no I don’t have the doosra. I only have three different balls and it was my variation of pace that was causing my elbow to bend,” Subrayen said.

The youngster took what is quite probably the worst news a bowler can get in his stride, and the fact that he was able to play for his club and the Dolphins side in the Franchise Cubs Week as a specialist batsman made all the difference.

“It was a shock, but not in a bad way. I took it as positive criticism and it made me work harder. I’ve had issues before, I’ve been tested before and it helped in a big way that I was still able to play as a batsman. I wasn’t totally torn away from the cricket field and I was able to keep my mind fresh and in the game,” Subrayen said.

Dolphins coach Lance Klusener, who worked with assistant coach Rivash Gobind and former Natal coach Phil Russell in rectifying Subrayen’s action, said the fact that the Glenwood High School product is so mature and has a very good understanding of his action ensured that the process took less than two months.

“Prenelan’s extremely mature for a 19-year-old and he knows exactly how his body works in terms of his action. That made the corrective work much easier and enabled the problem to get sorted ASAP.

“Normally it only happens when a bowler is 25 or 26 that they work out how their body feels, whether they’re falling over or not, whether they can self-correct or not. I get the feeling that Prenelan can already do that,” Klusener said.

After spending some time under the watchful eye of the trio of KZN coaches, Subrayen then travelled to Cape Town with the Dolphins as the 12^th man for a four-day game against the Cobras, allowing High Performance Manager Vincent Barnes the chance to work with him and give the go-ahead for the Verulam lad to be tested again.

“Initially the testing is done at their home base with every bowling session being videoed and every change being monitored. You can’t do it with the naked eye, you have to go back and compare the videos. The High Performance staff then work with the bowler for four to six days and when we think he’s ready for the final test, only then do we use the better cameras at the Sports Science Institute in Cape Town,” Barnes said.

“The bowler has to groove his new action, he has to learn it, he has to feel it,” the former Proteas bowling coach said.

“It wasn’t something very difficult to change, it was more about my feet positioning. The younger you are, the better you can change because as you get older, you get more used to your illegal action,” Subrayen said.

Apart from the hard work of Klusener, Gobind, Russell and Barnes, as well as previous input from specialist spin coaches Shafiek Abrahams and Paul Adams, Subrayen said he couldn’t have sailed through the process without the support of his parents, especially father Kugan, the Level III-certified head coach of Verulam Cricket Club.

But it clearly helps that Subrayen is a player who understands his action so well and Klusener has high hopes for his young charge.

“He potentially has 20 years of spin bowling left and he’s exceptionally talented. He knows what he wants to achieve and he’s a good batsman too, people will see that in time. The key is that he knows what he’s doing with the ball,” Klusener said.

The Subrayen case was complicated by the badly dislocated shoulder he suffered several years ago, but with the shoulder now at pretty much 100%, the jerkiness in his action gone and the experience from the hard school of knocks adding to the natural talent he undoubtedly has, the future is bright for the disciplined, but passionate youngster.

Previous results certainly won’t matter as the Sharks and Stormers go head-to-head at 19:10pm on Saturday night in Durban in a repeat of last year’s SuperRugby semi-final.

The Stormers are bound to be better than the limp outfit that succumbed to defeat in Pretoria, while the Sharks will be aware that even though they were impressive against the Cheetahs, there was still much room for improvement as they allowed their opponents back into the game in the second half.

Even if previous results did mean something, it is instructive that, since 1998, the Sharks and Stormers have met 18 times, with each side winning on nine occasions.

The Sharks will certainly go into the game as favourites at home and come into the crunch match as a settled outfit, coach John Plumtree having made just one change, Jean Deysel replacing Jacques Botes at flank.

Botes was chosen as an out-and-out fetcher against the expansive Cheetahs, but Deysel will be employed as a battering ram and strong ball-carrier against the physical Stormers pack in what should be a tight contest in Durban, the expected humidity making running rugby a tough ask.

The Stormers were described as “embarrassing” by coach Allister Coetzee after losing 25-17 to the Bulls last weekend, but it would be stupid to write off a team that has such quality in its ranks and has been the form team in South African rugby over the last couple of years.

Elton Jantjies is a top-class flyhalf, otherwise Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer would not have given him a second glance, but he suffered a miserable afternoon at Loftus. The 22 year old is a loan player trying to fit into a brand new style of play and he has had a tough time of it lately, what with his father, a major influence on his career, passing away due to a freakish bee sting.

Coetzee does at least have a second goalkicking option on the field in Joe Pietersen, who comes in at fullback after Jaco Taute sustained a groin injury. Peter Grant on the bench also provides a reassuring presence and the Japanese campaigner has a history of coming on as a replacement to great effect.

Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe and Pat Cilliers are three of the most promising props in domestic rugby, but they will need to lift their game against Springboks Jannie du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira after being tamed by the Bulls last weekend.

The Stormers will also want to make better use of the lineout, where Andries Bekker, Duane Vermeulen, De Kock Steenkamp and Rynhardt Elstadt have considerable ability.

Both the Sharks and Stormers boast wonderfully attacking backlines but, at this time of year, the weather in Durban is really not conducive to flashy rugby.

The Western Force, having lost to the rookies in Port Elizabeth last weekend, are now at Fortress Loftus and will need to be at their best to beat the Bulls.

Which, funnily enough, they usually are against the three-time champions, the ledger standing at 3-3 in the six matches they have played since the Perth franchise joined the competition in 2006.

The Force team was not yet available yesterday, but one thing is certain: they will be better acclimatised and will have put the shock against the Southern Kings behind them, looking forward instead to meeting a team they do seem to have some sort of hold over.

The Bulls are still in the process of building a new dynasty to replace those stars who won the trophy three times, but there are real signs their new generation is starting to bloom.

Loosehead prop Morné Mellett made a fantastic SuperRugby debut last weekend and Sampie Mastriet will earn his first cap on the right wing on Saturday, as coach Frans Ludeke shuffles the backline due to injuries to JJ Engelbrecht and Akona Ndungane.

“Sampie had a good Currie Cup and he is an exciting player. Throughout his career, when in broken field and space, he can be devastating. This is a great opportunity and he has been working towards this for four years,” Ludeke said.

He has also chosen the uncapped duo of loose forward Jean Cook and centre Jan Serfontein on the bench, and Ludeke will be particularly keen to see how the latter, a former IRB Junior Player of the Year, goes.

Cook is a Grey College product and he gets his call-up because of injuries to Dewald Potgieter and Deon Stegmann, forcing Ludeke to push Arno Botha and Jacques Potgieter into the starting line-up.

Having won so impressively last weekend, there is little doubt the Bulls will employ the same safety-first tactics against the Force (Aussie sides don’t really like playing that way) and Morné Steyn will once again be the key man, using his boot to pin the opposition in their own territory and then capitalising on their indiscretions with his in-form goal-kicking.

Facing the Sharks last weekend was a tough task for the Cheetahs and it only gets harder for them as they take on the Chiefs, defending champions and coming off a fantastic away win over the Highlanders. And the match is in Hamilton, a daunting venue for any visitor.

Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske has made one change to his starting line-up, Sarel Pretorius replacing Piet van Zyl at scrumhalf, and two on the bench, with lock Ligtoring Landman and utility back Riaan Smit coming in for the injured duo of Waltie Vermeulen and Elgar Watts.

Pretorius should add more attacking spark and better cohesion between forwards and backs, but a massive improvement in the tight phases will be necessary for the Cheetahs to entertain thoughts of just their second victory in New Zealand.

Flyhalf Johan Goosen had a rough first half last weekend against the Sharks, before putting in an impressive second-half display, when Pretorius was on the field. The experienced former Waratahs half-back will provide the young prodigy with someone to confide in as Goosen looks to show his brilliant SuperRugby debut season was no illusion.

The Chiefs have lost two players who were integral to their triumph in 2012 – Sonny Boy Williams and Sona Taumololo – but their new arrivals, headed by Gareth Anscombe at fullback, have been able to fit in well.

It will take an upset as incredible as the one in Port Elizabeth last weekend for the Cheetahs to win in Hamilton. DM

Teams

Cheetahs: Hennie Daniller, Willie le Roux, Johann Sadie, Robert Ebersohn, Raymond Rhule, Johan Goosen, Sarel Pretorius, Philip van der Walt, Lappies Labuschagne, Frans Viljoen, Francois Uys, Lood de Jager, Lourens Adriaanse, Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane. Replacements: Ryno Barnes, Coenie Oosthuizen, Ligtoring Landman, Boom Prinsloo, Piet van Zyl, Riaan Smit, Ryno Benjamin.

Bulls: Zane Kirchner, Sampie Mastriet, Lionel Mapoe, Wynand Olivier, Bjorn Basson, Morné Steyn, Francois Hougaard, Pierre Spies, Arno Botha, Jacques Potgieter, Juandré Kruger, Flip van der Merwe, Werner Kruger, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Morné Mellett. Replacements: Willie Wepener, Frik Kirsten, Grant Hattingh, Jean Cook, Jano Vermaak, Louis Fouché, Jan Serfontein.

Sharks: Louis Ludik, JP Pietersen, Paul Jordaan, Frans Steyn, Lwazi Mvovo, Pat Lambie, Cobus Reinach, Ryan Kankowski, Jean Deysel, Marcell Coetzee, Franco van der Merwe, Anton Bresler, Jannie du Plessis, Craig Burden, Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements: Kyle Cooper, Wiehahn Herbst, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Jacques Botes, Charl McLeod, Meyer Bosman, Odwa Ndungane.

Stormers: Joe Pietersen, Gio Aplon, Jean de Villiers, Damian de Allende, Bryan Habana,  Elton Jantjies, Nic Groom, Duane Vermeulen, Rynhardt Elstadt, Siya Kolisi, Andries Bekker, De Kock Steenkamp, Frans Malherbe, Deon Fourie, Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: Martin Bezuidenhout, Pat Cilliers, Don Armand, Nizaam Carr, Louis Schreuder, Peter Grant, Gerhard van den Heever.

Other fixtures (all on Friday): 8:30 Blues v Crusaders (Auckland); 10:20 Waratahs v Rebels (Sydney); 12:20 Reds v Hurricanes (Brisbane). Byes: Highlanders, Brumbies, Southern Kings.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-03-01-superrugby-preview-throw-away-the-record-books/#.Ud6IMNI3A6w