Ken Borland

It’s all a bit low-key, but another South African women’s sport enters into World Cup combat this weekend as Giles Bonnet’s hockey team take on Belgium on Sunday in their opening match in Terrassa, Spain.

South Africa, ranked a lowly 15^th in the world, are in Pool D with Australia, Belgium and Japan, with the top side qualifying directly for the quarterfinals and the second and third-placed teams going into cross-pool playoffs to make the final eight.

Belgium, ranked second in the world in men’s hockey, may be an understated force in the women’s game, but they are No.5 in the world and the game has made great strides with the ladies in that north-western European kingdom as well. Bonnet had much to do with the growth of Belgium into a global force, coaching the men’s side for seven years.

With Australia being the third-ranked team in the world, it is crucial South Africa try and take some points off Belgium and 10^th-ranked Japan if they are to make the quarterfinals.

It is South Africa’s seventh consecutive appearance at the World Cup and Bonnet, back as coach for the first time since 2014, has chosen a squad featuring a number of Olympians, including Lisa Deetlefs, a veteran of three Games who has reversed her decision to retire from international hockey.

Bernadette Coston, who played in the 2012 London Olympics under Bonnet, who guided them to 10^th place, is also included.

Jean-Leigh du Toit, Kayla de Waal and Christa Ramasimong were members of the SA Junior World Cup team that performed admirably in Potchefstroom to secure a seven^th place finish and will also have the remarkable honour of playing in two FIH World Cups within six months.

“I have seen tremendous effort and energy from the team since my return to the post,” Bonnet said. “We know we face a tough challenge at the World Cup against some superb opponents, but we are excited for the opportunity.

“I am really pleased with the team we have put together, there is a healthy mixture of youth and experience. We believe that we have the right tools at our disposal to compete against the best.”

With half of the tournament being played on their home turfs in Amstelveen, the prices are low that the Netherlands will complete a hat-trick of World Cup titles, although Argentina have form behind them, having won the recent FIH Pro League and they have appeared in five finals before.

South Africa play Japan on Tuesday and then Australia on Wednesday.

SA squad –Quanita Bobbs, Marizen Marais, Erin Christie, Phumelela Mbande, Bernadette Coston, Edith Molikoe, Kayla de Waal, Kristen Paton, Lisa-Marie Deetlefs, Hannah Pearce, Lilian du Plessis, Christa Ramasimong, Jean-Leigh du Toit, Nepo Serage, Robyn Johnson, Shindre-Lee Simmons, Tarryn Lombard, Bianca Wood, Hanrie Louw, Onthatile Zulu.

The Proteas are always a bit hesitant about what they will find on the opening morning of a Test at Kingsmead and they will go into the first Test against Bangladesh starting in Durban on Thursday with even more uncertainty as a newly relaid pitch will be used for the match.

South Africa have lost seven of their last 10 Tests at Kingsmead, dating back to 2008, with just two wins and a rain-ruined draw against New Zealand in 2016. Their last Test there was the infamous one-wicket loss to Sri Lanka in 2019.

The Proteas have seldom found the sluggish pitch to their liking, their bowlers struggling to drag much life out of it, and their strokeplayers also unsure of themselves. The home side was happy to see a fair covering of grass on the wicket on Wednesday, but it was of a hue that left even KZN Dolphins star Keshav Maharaj confused as to how it might behave.

“It’s difficult to know how the pitch will play because we have not seen this colour of grass here before,” left-arm spinner Maharaj said on Wednesday. “It is a newly relaid surface and it is difficult to read.

“From my point of view, I hope it does spin of course. We’re expecting it to be a good four-day pitch and I’m sure there will be some thought of playing double spinners.

“I’ve never played a match with Simon Harmer, so I will be really excited if he does get the opportunity. He’s been an exceptional performer at domestic and franchise level, and he’s followed that up this season.

“He’s also done well when he played international cricket,” Maharaj said of the off-spinner who took 20 wickets in the five Tests he played up to 2015 before his Kolpak departure, at an average of 29.40.

With some new faces in line to take the place of the players unavailable because they are at the IPL, Maharaj is expecting the Proteas to play with great energy as they look to win their first Test at Kingsmead since 2013, when Jacques Kallis signed off his Test career with a memorable century against India.

“We’ve had a phenomenal year since touring the West Indies. Yes, there have been some lows, and the ODI loss to Bangladesh has hurt, but this is a different unit and hopefully we can carry the confidence from the Test series against India,” Maharaj said.

“This team has come a long way, we make training uncomfortable to try emulate what we will come across in terms of conditions, and we are ready to turn the tide at Kingsmead.

“There’s a new buzz in the camp because there are a lot of youngsters, hopefully those new faces help us start on the front foot because it will be difficult in a two-Test series if we make a slow start,” Maharaj said.

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has enjoyed an excellent success rate as skipper of the national side over the last two years, but back-to-back losses have cut into his winning record a bit, if not his positivity.
Kolisi belatedly took over the captaincy in 2018 in one of Rassie Erasmus’s first masterstrokes and his record that year was understandably mixed given the depths to which Springbok rugby had sunk. In that first year South Africa won seven and lost six of their Tests under Kolisi.
But 2019 was nothing short of a triumph as the Springboks only lost one of their seven Tests with the then-Stormers flank at the helm. Five wins from eight Tests this year sees Kolisi’s overall winning ratio slip to 64%, pretty much on level terms with Jean de Villiers.

The last time South Africa lost successive Tests was back in 2018 – against Argentina in Mendoza and Australia in Brisbane, and then versus New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld and England at Twickenham. But with the losses against the Wallabies coming after two years of success and expectation, one might have thought these are the toughest times of Kolisi’s captaincy.

But Kolisi’s attitude is always team first and the 30-year-old is focused on how the team can get better.

“This has not been the most difficult time in my captaincy, although obviously it is very disappointing. But we have faced tougher challenges. I just try to take it week-by week, obviously you don’t want to lose two in a row. So our focus is on what we have done wrong and how we can improve.

“We’ve messed things up ourselves and the things we are normally good at we got wrong. So the focus is on our plan, what we are good at. We want to play our own style at our own pace. The last two weeks have been tough, but the biggest thing is that we get all our stuff right this weekend,” Kolisi said.

Kolisi was at the front of the Springboks again when they ran out to face the All Blacks haka with his usual intense stare. But within those muscular, powerful bodies, as tough and tenacious as a Staffy, beat hearts like the normal human being and the team know how important their success is to millions back at home.

“We can’t lie about it, we know how important rugby is, we know what people at home are expecting and want to see. That’s what we think about in our rooms, and it’s important to us too. We use that energy to focus on our game, it motivates us although we always give everything we can on the field,” Kolisi said.