Ken Borland

Sanzaar CEO Andy Marinos said on Saturday that cross-border rugby between South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina needed to continue, but whether he was just talking about the Rugby Championship or also SuperRugby surviving in something similar to its current format seems to still be classified information.

New Zealand Rugby seem to have already taken the decision to pull out of SuperRugby, while South Africa seem to be looking more and more into throwing in their lot with European competition. Australia are desperately trying to stay joined with their Kiwi neighbours, while Argentina are probably just hanging on to whatever scraps they can get.

But Marinos disagreed with the current narrative that Sanzaar’s partners are all trying to jump ship when he spoke in an SA Rugby Legends webinar on Saturday.

“We are busy working through our 2021 plans, but the whole return-to-play is not easy to navigate, you have Product A and then 24 hours later you have to change to Product B. The challenge is cross-border rugby because of all the government and medical controls and access to flights. We have to be realistic: The individual unions are responsible for keeping rugby alive and sustainable in each of their markets and then they can look at the feasibility of cross-border competition.

“But we are working through this as a joint venture. A round-robin structure next year is not looking that optimistic because flying won’t be that easy yet. But there is a strong acknowledgement that cross-border rugby needs to be in place in the future. Playing against players from other countries only makes our nations stronger internationally, that’s what has allowed the Sanzaar nations to be the dominant force in world rugby,” Marinos said.

The former Stormers and Wales centre denied that there was anything wrong with SuperRugby as a product and said the attacking nature of the competition has played a major role in the success of the four Sanzaar nations at the World Cup.

“The impact on the bottom line has been significant but it’s not because of poor delivery or a lack of quality or interest in the product. I would unashamedly say we have some of the best players in the world and we’ve seen that at the World Cup. The strength we’ve got is that the toughness of the competition and the global expansion of SuperRugby means our players are used to adapting to different conditions and being on the road for long periods.

“The Northern Hemisphere players don’t have that benefit, they have one-hour flights and they’re away for a weekend. The conditions we play under, plus the fact we put more air on the ball – there’s a very attacking mindset and the teams are as positive as possible – has played a significant role in the World Cup results. And with New Zealand and Australia playing again, we have seen an upturn in people coming back to the game, and SuperRugby can start regenerating itself,” Marinos said.

The fact that almost all of them have international playing experience was first and foremost in fast bowler Lutho Sipamla’s mind this week when he spoke about the effect the Proteas coaching staff have had on his own fledgling career for South Africa.

Since making his Proteas debut in a T20 against Pakistan at the Wanderers in February last year, the 22-year-old Sipamla has played four ODIs and five T20 Internationals. For all his inexperience, he has been quick to recognise the value of all the experience around him.

“Guys like Charl Langeveldt, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Justin Ontong have walked the talk, they know what it takes to be a good international cricketer. It’s awesome to have them as coaches because they have been in our shoes and they have done it all before. So they can relate to what we are going through because they’ve experienced it themselves.

“Someone like Charl, when it comes to bowling at the death, he’s had to defend six or seven runs to win the game and done that. So he knows the processes involved, he’s been successful and he passes that on to the bowlers,” Sipamla said.

Bowling coach Langeveldt played 72 ODIs, but the respect he is held in by local cricketers suggests he should have played many more; head coach Boucher played 147 Tests and 295 ODIs, batting consultant Kallis is South Africa’s most-capped player ever with 166 Test and 328 ODI appearances, and fielding coach Ontong was unfortunate to play just two Tests, 14 ODIs and 28 T20 Internationals.

Last year was a pretty terrible one for the Proteas, but there were signs of the tide starting to turn when they whitewashed a powerful Australian side 3-0 in the ODI series in February/March.

“It was a great experience making my debut in the limited-overs format and it was a really good win over Australia, a wonderful experience and a great time for me. We had a very young squad but we all worked together towards our goal and gelled nicely. We all knew what we had to do, everyone knew their roles and we were able to execute.

“In that campaign we all grew as individuals and players, and it was something special to be part of it. And now we’ve had a long wait to play again and I’m really excited just to get back to practice and crafting my skills again. As my Dad always tells me when I’m having a tough time, I must just make sure I keep working hard and make sure I’m still doing all the right things,” Sipamla said.

Being unable to go out for dinner at a restaurant or a weekend braai with family and friends is what Reeza Hendricks says bugs him the most about Lockdown, but what’s also eating away at the 30-year-old Proteas batsman is the feeling that he has not yet been able to fulfil his potential at international level.

Hendricks has been one of the key figures in the dominance of the Central Gauteng Lions in recent seasons, but he has only played 21 ODIs, averaging 26.68, since making his debut in August 2018. He made his debut in T20 internationals in November 2014 though and has enjoyed more success in that format with four half-centuries in 23 innings and a strike-rate of 120. It’s a far cry from his domestic performances though, in which he averages 40.65, with five centuries in 30 innings, for the Lions in 50-over cricket and 36.50 in T20. His four-day average for the franchise is 36.72.

“My greatest ambition is to fulfil my talent to the best of my ability. I want to play consistently at the highest level in all three formats, winning trophies would be an added bonus. I feel I played fairly well domestically last season, contributing in all formats, but it was an emotional roller-coaster season personally, with a lot of ups and downs, but I guess sport is full of those.

“I was very disappointed in the international set-up, I only got a handful of opportunities and I couldn’t understand why. The disappointment was something I had to deal with and I learnt a lot about myself last season, how to overcome difficult situations and challenges, how to adapt. You have to keep being persistent to get through them and stay on a level because one day you’re a hero, the next you’re not,” Hendricks said.

The Kimberley product was the most unfortunate player not to go to the World Cup last year and he only featured in three ODIs against England and three T20s for the Proteas last season. He averaged 26 in the ODIs and had scores of 6 and 28 in T20s against India and 14 versus Australia.

Nevertheless, he is hungry to make next season really count. Hendricks still dreams of playing Test cricket and he has collaborated with Lions batting coach Justin Sammons in sharpening his technique.

“There’s always pressure, it comes from within. So I’m looking forward to next season, I’ve set goals and I just want to do well for whatever team I play for, contribute as well as I possibly can. I haven’t played Tests yet but I’ve been working hard on my red-ball cricket, I’ve felt I’ve done fairly well for the Lions in the last three years, I’ve made good progress.

“I would describe myself as being a traditional, textbook, classical batsman with a dash of flair, and I’ve developed a good relationship with Justin Sammons at the Lions. For anything technical or cricket-related, he’s someone I’ve trusted. I haven’t done too much technical work, it’s just touching up those areas where I’m lacking. Things like my movements towards the ball,” Hendricks said.

Aiden Markram said on Monday that his first objective is to get back into the Proteas team and then he can start thinking about the possibility of captaining the national side again, a prospect that always seems to be in the conversation when the 25-year-old batsman is mentioned.

Markram has already had a taste of the Proteas captaincy, leading the team in five ODIs against India in early 2018. But South Africa were hammered 4-1 with a weakened team and it was a premature move, given that he had only played one ODI previously, against Bangladesh in East London, that stunted the progress of one of the best young batsmen in the country and he has only averaged 27.95 in the 26 50-over internationals he has played. His Test average has also dropped to 38.48 since then.

Since his pair against India in Pune in October 2019, Markram has played just one Test, due to injury, and there are even some question marks over his place in that team after Pieter Malan did reasonably well in his place against England.

“My main focus is to get back in the side and stay on the field. My main ambitions are for the Proteas to be the number one Test side and to establish myself in the white-ball Proteas team, it’s a dream to be in a World Cup winning team. I really enjoy the responsibility that comes with captaincy and I would love to do it, but I’ve never given it much thought.

“It’s more like a shot in the dark for me at the moment, although my name has been put in the hat by writers, so it’s something to consider. I would give an arm and a leg to do it, but it’s not the be-all and end-all for me, I don’t want to become desperate for it. It would be a great honour, amazing if it happens, but we have plenty of leaders in the squad,” Markram said from his Pretoria home on Monday.

The lack of international runs in the last couple of years – he has gone 39 innings for the Proteas across all formats without a century – has obviously weighed on Markram’s mind and the Titans star said the Covid-19 Lockdown had allowed him to work on the mental side of the game for when the return of cricket happens.

“It was very frustrating to miss quite a bit of the last season and the most challenging thing while being out of the game was not to let your mind run off, that’s when you tend to overthink and delve too deep into things. I tried to keep my mind calm and strong and the mental game is the difference between the Greats and the Goods in international cricket.

“It’s very difficult to keep in a positive frame of mind as a batsman because generally you fail more than you succeed and you’ve got to deal with that and keep positive. I try to feed off my past successes, that keeps my belief going, but I have certainly doubted myself, especially when you’re out of form. After a few bad knocks, people want you out of the team and the last year was quite a struggle,” Markram said.