Ken Borland

South Africa’s number one women’s golfer, Lee-Anne Pace, on Tuesday cruised to her third Sunshine Ladies Tour title, and second in succession, when she won the Tshwane Open at Pretoria Country Club and she will now use this weekend’s Investec Cup for Ladies to fine-tune her game ahead of her return to the United States and the first major of the year.

Pace has played three of the events on the Sunshine Ladies Tour this summer and won all of them, which has seen her motor up the Chase to the Investec Cup for Ladies standings to third, giving her an excellent chance of defending her title at the limited-field season-finale at Millvale and the Lost City this weekend.

The 34-year-old Pace said on Tuesday at the Investec Cup draw that this weekend’s chase for the R600 000 bonus pool will be the perfect cap for her preparations for the ANA Inspiration, the first women’s major, starting on April 2 at the famous Mission Hills Country Club in California.

“I’ve gained a lot of confidence from these last couple of weeks in South Africa, I’ve been striking the ball really well and I feel a lot more ready for the majors because I’ve been competing. This time last year I hadn’t played nearly as much and especially winning, no other feeling compares to that and hopefully I can carry that into the majors,” Pace told The Citizen on Tuesday.

The world number 31’s willingness to forego competition overseas and play in South Africa shows just what great strides the Sunshine Ladies Tour has taken.

“There’s been a lot more exposure and interest this year and a lot more players competing, including a couple from England. Hopefully they can get the word out and, with such good sponsors on board like Investec, hopefully the tour can get even bigger, maybe have some co-sanctioned events like the men,” Pace said.

Sunshine Tour executive director Selwyn Nathan said the success of the Sunshine Ladies Tour had surpassed expectations.

“The growth of the women’s tour has been unbelievable, even though it is still a work in progress. This tour is going to grow and we have fantastic plans for it. It’s been an absolute success and sponsors, fans and social media interest have all grown.

“And the appreciation from the women golfers has been amazing, there’s not been one tournament where the sponsors have received less than 30 letters of thanks from the players, and that’s from fields of less than 50,” Nathan said.

“We have so many different options that we have guys who can bowl anything, in any situation, on any pitch,” Chris Morris, the RamSlam T20 Challenge’s leading wicket-taker, said on Wednesday as he discussed the Titans’ bowling attack ahead of the final in Centurion on Saturday.

The Titans won an astonishing eight games in a row to comfortably top the log by 13 points and their bowlers have led the way with six in the top-20 of the averages, all-rounders David Wiese, Albie Morkel and Morris all being in the top four. Fast bowler Junior Dala and wrist-spinner Tabraiz Shamsi have also excelled, and the Titans have other options in Lungi Ngidi, off-spinner Henry Davids and slow left-armer Graeme van Buuren.

“It’s gone pretty well for us as a unit and it has made it a lot easier for me knowing that there are a lot of other bowlers who can step up. The new guys have done very well and there’s a lot of back-up. I’ve never been in a team before that has every base so well covered,” Morris, who has taken 18 wickets, said.

The former Highveld Lions star said the Titans will go into the final eager just to keep enjoying themselves.

“The way Albie has captained the side has been aggressive and solid and we’re always looking to take wickets. We’re looking at Albie and Farhaan Behardien to see how they handle themselves before the final, it’s finals week, it doesn’t happen often, especially at home. We must just enjoy it – my theory is that you see the best catches in garden cricket because the guys are just having fun. So it’s vital for us to enjoy the final and it’s much more difficult to play against a happy team,” Morris said.

The 1995 World Cup-winning squad enjoyed a luncheon in London on Thursday ahead of the Springboks’ semi-final against the All Blacks, and apparently they metaphorically raised their glasses to the Golden Lions team that will aim to complete a rare unbeaten campaign when they take on Western Province in the Currie Cup final at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The 1995 Springbok squad was, of course, predominantly made up of Lions (or Transvaal as they were then known) players, but it was Natal who won the Currie Cup that year and in 1996, when they went through the season unbeaten, the last team to do so.

Lock Mark Andrews was a pivotal figure and he said the main similarity between the Natal Sharks of 1996 and the Lions of today was their ability to create and sustain momentum.

“We were just talking about it at our ’95 World Cup lunch today,” Andrews told The Citizen on Thursday, “about how we spent a fair amount of time as forwards on ball-handling drills, but you have to have momentum on the field to use those, because that’s what gives you more time and space. You can’t really use those skills if you’re under pressure because then you’re always struggling to clear the ball away.

“Our Natal coach Ian McIntosh instituted a game plan based on momentum, the forwards getting over the gain-line and having good ball-skills and an ability to link with the backs, and I’m also impressed with the way the Lions can create momentum and sustain it. They do it by keeping ball-in-hand and they’ve shown that you can win games doing that, even from their own 22.

“In general, South African teams try and kick from their own 22 and put pressure on the opposition in their own territory and try and win penalties. The Lions have shown a different skill-set, it’s a refreshing approach for a South African team, much like we had an innovative strategy back in 1996,” Andrews said.

One big difference though between now and 1996 is that the Currie Cup doesn’t feature the leading Springboks anymore.

“All the provinces had all their Springboks back then, but you still have to give the Lions credit for their consistency. You need some luck too, but it comes down to preparation and belief in your structures. You need some kicks to go over as well to win the tight games, but if you are consistently getting over the gain-line and making your tackles, then you are very hard to beat,” Andrews added.

Natal went through 14 consecutive Currie Cup matches unbeaten in 1996 and beat Transvaal 33-15 in the final at Ellis Park, leading rugby writer John Bishop of The Natal Witness describing it as a display of “devastating brilliance”.

Legendary Springbok flyhalf Naas Botha says he is concerned that he is not seeing Handre Pollard empowered with more decision-making responsibility in the Springbok team ahead of the World Cup.

While Botha said he was encouraged by the style of play produced by the Springboks in the last two weeks against Australia and New Zealand, both games were ultimately lost and he said better decision-making would have avoided the final-quarter fade-outs.

At the start of the final quarter against the All Blacks, South Africa laid siege to the try-line against 14 men and yet couldn’t score, with Damian de Allende, who had spent the whole match bumping tacklers off, standing unused in the backline.

“We saw that we have enough talent last weekend, but we couldn’t get over the final hurdle in the last two games. The performance against the All Blacks was totally different to what we’ve seen over the last few years, but it should have happened two years ago. Under pressure, we just need to calm down, especially in the last 10 minutes.

“But I feel strongly that the flyhalf should be empowered more. In that crucial period when we just couldn’t cross their tryline, he should make the call to change the game plan because just going to the forwards wasn’t working. But too often the ball is not going to a decision-maker, in that zone you just need to relax and allow someone to take the lead and 99% of the time that should be the flyhalf,” Botha said on Wednesday at the launch of Creative Rugby, a book he has collaborated on with Dr Kobus Neethling, an expert in the field of creative behaviour.

“Handre is a fantastic player, the Bulls’ season hurt him in terms of his confidence, but we saw last weekend that he’s getting that back, his play was good. We’re fortunate to have him, but I’d like to see him take more control. Instead of the scrumhalves kicking up-and-unders from our 22, the ball should go to him to kick long because you don’t want to play in your own half,” Botha added.

The undisputed king of flyhalf play in the 1980s said if South African rugby in general could start thinking creatively rather than going “overboard on game plans”, then the Springboks would once again be world-beaters.

“The All Blacks scored a creative try to win the Test, that 74^th-minute lineout has to be called creative, and the first thing we do is question the legality with Law such-and-such. All international players are equally strong and fast these days, what makes you better then is what you have between the ears. Our players just need to play what is in front of them more.

“We need to think differently. In South Africa, if a team wins they say it’s because they stuck to the game plan, then if they lose it’s because they didn’t stick to the game plan. But great players become bad players because of game plans. You can’t just rock up without a plan, but that should just be a guide, we tend to go overboard on game plans.

“Five years later we’re still doing what worked before, we’re stuck while everybody else has moved on. We have to start thinking differently and think outside the box,” Botha said.