Ken Borland

The Sharks have turned down the option to play a more ‘upmarket’ team and include their returning Springboks in their United Rugby Championship visit to Newport to take on the Dragons on Saturday, instead deciding to leave them in Durban until after their tour is over.

While the Bulls and Stormers are fielding some of the Springboks who were involved in the Rugby Championship, Sharks coach Sean Everitt has made just two injury-enforced changes to the team that opened their campaign with a narrow (in the end) win over Zebre in Parma.

Lock Gerbrandt Grobler injured his bicep in training this week and will be replaced by new signing Justin Basson, with Hyron Andrews moving on to the bench.

And replacement flyhalf Fred Zeilinga has also returned home injured, with Anthony Volmink replacing him amongst the substitutes.

“The Springboks have been given a week off and will integrate themselves back into training next week in Durban,” Everitt said on Thursday. “If we need to call in some of them due to injuries for next week against Leinster, then we will.

“But I would prefer them to get up to date with what we were doing in pre-season and what we have implemented since then. It’s a bit different for us because of the number of Springboks we have.

“Fortunately they are all guys who prepare well. But they did miss part of pre-season and they need to get up to speed. They’re all quality players and we will need to introduce them for a couple of games in October.

“But for now we are leaving them in Durban to prepare for the clash with Glasgow back at home on October 15,” Everitt explained.

Having upset Munster in Newport last weekend, the Dragons are shopping for their second successive home win, having begun the season with a fearful 44-6 hammering away to Edinburgh.

What the Sharks want is a repeat of their first 40 minutes against Zebre last weekend, when they were impressively efficient in garnering a 28-3 lead. They lost focus in the second half though, and had to hang on desperately for a 42-37 triumph.

“The first half was the best rugby we’ve played for a long time and I was very happy with that,” Everitt said. “But in the second half we allowed them to get momentum.

“Zebre and the Dragons are both dangerous out wide and we struggled with our width in defence and allowed them quick ball at the breakdowns.

“Plus we never stuck to our kicking plan. So really we put ourselves under the pump. Having conceded only three penalties in the first half, not many at all, we then gave away seven in the second half when we were feeling the pressure. But those things are all fixable,” Everitt said.

Sharks team: Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Ben Tapuai, Thaakir Abrahams, Boeta Chamberlain, Grant Williams, Phepsi Buthelezi, Dylan Richardson, James Venter, Reniel Hugo, Justin Basson, Thomas du Toit (c), Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench – Dan Jooste, Dian Bleuler, Carlu Sadie, Hyron Andrews, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Cameron Wright, Marnus Potgieter, Anthony Volmink.

CAPE ST FRANCIS, Eastern Cape – The St Francis Links on a completely overcast, drizzly and blustery day on the rugged southern coastline of the Eastern Cape would probably not be your first choice for a relaxed round of golf, but 24-year-old Dylan Naidoo was beaming after his day out in the strong winds and cold on the first day of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Am.

And it’s not as if Naidoo had a stellar round of golf to smile about either: He reckons he was no more than solid and praised his pro-am partner Malcolm Subramony for having a great day.

Naidoo was just delighted to be back at one of his favourite courses, playing in the Vodacom Origins of Golf series he, and his fellow pros, appreciate so much.

“The last time I played here I was just 17 years old and it is such a phenomenal course. It tests every aspect of your game and I feel like I’m a very different player to when I was last here,” Naidoo said. “I enjoyed it so much, it tests where your game is at in a lot of different ways.

“And the Vodacom Origins of Golf series is great, as a younger golfer you are pretty much guaranteed to get in if you have your tour card. The series teaches you how to be a pro and it allows you to network with the amateurs. The pro-am is always a lot of fun and you get to know all the Vodacom people and their clients.

“It’s a lovely way to get in a practice round ahead of the Sunshine Tour event starting on Thursday, you can play with your mates and have fun, and I enjoy it a lot.

“It basically teaches you how to go about your business on tour. It was a big help when I started out as a pro and it’s a big help still now,” Naidoo, who joined the Sunshine Tour in 2019/20 after a stellar amateur career, said.

While Naidoo has made his big break by earning playing privileges on the Korn Ferry Tour in the United States, he is one of the first intake of the Papwa Sewgolum Development Class that aims to fast-track the success of golfers of colour who have been previously disadvantaged.

“I’ve been a transformation golfer for the last three years and, since the Papwa Sewgolum Class came into being in June, I have seen really nice growth in our group of golfers.

“It helps the guys realise that they are very good players, they deserve to be here, and it’s about giving them every opportunity to be successful.

“Starting out on tour can be financially very difficult, especially if you come from a disadvantaged background. Now there’s a system in place, with each of the golfers getting a bit of a stipend every month, that will really help,” Naidoo said.

The Bulls were rescued by a 78^th-minute Morne Steyn penalty, and the fact that Henry Immelman missed one after the final hooter, as they scraped to a 33-31 win over Edinburgh in a dingdong United Rugby Championship thriller at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls made the early running and were dominant and clinical in sailing into a 15-0 lead in 22 minutes. But they were then stunned by the quality and slickness of Edinburgh’s attacking play, and ripped apart by right wing Darcy Graham’s hat-trick of tries.

The Bulls were great going forward, but once Edinburgh recovered from an error-strewn start, including a yellow card to captain Grant Gilchrist, the visitors really tested their defence, which was caught being too narrow at times and also missed one-on-one tackles.

Graham rounded the defence for his opening try in the 32^nd minute, Edinburgh cutting the deficit to 14-15 at half time.

The Bulls started the second half superbly with Cornal Hendricks scoring after being set up by the forwards – Elrigh Louw made yards over the gainline after the home side won back the kickoff, Marcell Coetzee broke through on a great inside line, and there was slick interplay between locks Walt Steenkamp and Ruan Nortje.

But Edinburgh immediately struck back as Graham followed up a long-range Mark Bennett penalty that struck the poles and bounced into unguarded territory.

A Chris Smith penalty stretched the Bulls’ lead back to 25-19, but they lost the restart and Graham rounded off a superb try that featured brilliant handling by eighthman Viliame Mata and fullback Immelman.

The Bulls, spluttering between excellence and mediocrity, scored another fine try featuring some good hands in a prolonged build-up, replacement prop Simphiwe Matanzima providing some key energy with a strong carry, before wing Stravino Jacobs ran on to a well-aimed pass from Embrose Papier and stretched over to score.

But Edinburgh just kept on coming and they finally overtook the Bulls with 11 minutes remaining. Playing off a lineout, they showed wonderful attacking skills, the slick hands of their backs working left wing Damien Hoyland over for the try, converted by outside centre Mark Bennett for a 31-30 lead.

The Bulls then conceded a scrum penalty, but Immelman missed from 54 metres out, before the home side then won a penalty at the set-piece. Their lineout was especially dominant on Saturday and they earned another penalty from a driving maul, allowing Steyn to shoot at goal. He was on the 10m line, six metres in from touch, and there was seldom any doubt he would nail the tricky kick.

But then Jacobs went in high on Bennett in a thunderous tackle, and was rightly penalised after extensive consultations between the officials.

Immelman from 46 metres out and 12 metres in from touch, was wide, the Bulls escaping a painful loss.

But Edinburgh have certainly left Loftus Versfeld with immense credit, while the Bulls will need to work on getting more defensive steel.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Johan Grobbelaar, Elrigh Louw, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs. Conversions: Chris Smith (2). Penalties: Smith (2), Steyn.

Edinburgh – Tries: Charlie Savala, Darcy Graham (3), Damien Hoyland. Conversions: Mark Bennett (3).

SOUTHBROOM, KwaZulu-Natal – Merrick Bremner’s front nine was littered with birdies and bogeys as he took the route less travelled into a share of the lead after the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf San Lameer on Thursday.

Bremner finished with an excellent 66 to share the lead on six-under-par with six other golfers, but none of Wynand Dingle, Ockie Strydom, Herman Loubser, Matthew Spacey, Doug McGuigan or Sean Bradley made quite as dramatic a start to their round as Bremner.

The 36-year-old from Bremner made par on the 498-metre par-five first hole, but then the rollercoaster ride began with two birdies being followed by a bogey at the par-three fourth, another pair of birdies before a second dropped shot on the par-four seventh, and then a birdie-four and a birdie-two to go out in just 32 strokes.

Bremner’s back nine was far more sedate as he was bogey-free and picked up back-to-back birdies on the par-four 12^th and par-five 13th holes.

“It was definitely quite an eventful front nine,” Bremner agreed. “But it was tricky because I would hit a good shot and still end up with bogey, but I gave myself lots of chances.

“I’m definitely very pleased with the round because I had a couple of weeks off and it was nice to return in a rich vein of form,” Bremner said.

A man as experienced in coastal conditions as Bremner, who grew up in Durban and has won down the road at the Wild Coast Sun and in the 2019 Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at Humewood, was not going to be troubled by the wind on Thursday, which in any case was more predictable than the blustery gales that blew on Wednesday.

“I wasn’t too fazed by the wind blowing, even though it was weird – it felt stronger than it was. But I like it when it blows a bit, it separates the field.

“I just execute my game-plan and take what comes. I definitely feel like my game is trending in the right direction, and it seems I now have the right mix in terms of when to play and when to rest,” Bremner said.

Strydom had the chance to finish the day as the sole leader on seven-under-par, but he bogeyed the par-three ninth hole, his last.

Spacey, the 31-year-old from Dainfern, started birdie-birdie but then finished twice as well with four successive birdies from the 15^th hole to shoot up the leaderboard into the seven-way tie for the lead.