Ken Borland

Coach Jake White praised his bench for doing the business and claiming another late win in the Currie Cup final against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, but this time the Bulls left it the latest of all their comebacks as they won with a try with just 72 seconds of extra time remaining.

Replacement loose forward Arno Botha, the senior member of the Bulls’ version of The Bomb Squad, scored both of their tries in the final, but it is the second one that will be remembered for many years to come as he reached over the line to break the 19-19 deadlock and seal a 26-19 win.

“It was incredible, with Covid, no crowd, the lightning stopping play in the first half; the team just had to adapt all the time and it will definitely be a final that will be remembered for a long time. I’m so proud of the team and I really enjoyed the way the bench came on and handled the pressure. Arno is one of our ‘captains’, he spoke well to the team and helped keep them calm.

“We’ve given guys like flyhalf Chris Smith and the reserve front row a lot of game time this season, where other teams have played their key guys for 80 minutes every game. I felt the time we have given the bench was a telling factor today, especially in injury time and extra time. They have grown as a group and they again showed their composure because this is not the only game they’ve come back to win,” White said after the gripping final.

The scrum was one of the few amenities where the Bulls had a clear advantage over the Sharks, but with referee Jaco Peyper, who controlled the feisty match extremely well, deciding not to make the final a penalty fest, the home side were only rewarded once with a penalty at the set-piece. It did come at a crucial time though as it set in motion the events that would lead to Botha’s first try, cutting the deficit to 16-19 in the 64^th minute.

“There were times we had go-forward at the scrum and in previous games we would have had the penalty advantage and been able to play. But today we never had that, we had to use the ball coming out. We had to adapt to that interpretation and I would have liked one or two scrum penalties. But we made life too easy for the Sharks at times, we gave them field position.

“The line-speed of the Sharks is also probably the best in the competition and maybe we tried to play a bit too much rugby in our half at times. Maybe we could also have chipped over the line a few times because we were caught behind the gain-line quite often. But the character we showed was amazing, it wasn’t our best game but it’s very good for the team to still win in that situation,” White said.

Another outstanding all-round bowling display by the Imperial Lions backed the Warriors into a corner and saw them defend a mediocre total of 210 to win their Momentum One-Day Cup match by 42 runs in Potchefstroom on Sunday.

On a tricky pitch which rewarded straight lines, the Lions pacemen were extremely disciplined and the spinners were once again excellent as the Warriors were bowled out for 168, exactly the number the Lions required for a bonus point.

The Warriors only just failed to prevent the Lions from getting their second successive bonus point win thanks to the gutsy efforts of their tail, with Glenton Stuurman (10), Mthiwekhaya Nabe (14*) and Stefan Tait (9) ensuring the last two wickets added 36 runs.

Swing bowler Eldred Hawken (9-1-29-2) struck two big blows up front when he bowled both Yaseen Vallie (5) and key batsman Jon-Jon Smuts (0) with successive deliveries.

The Warriors’ other vital batsman, Rudi Second, also fell for a duck as his cramped attempted pull off paceman Sisanda Magala (9-1-34-2) was smartly caught by Wesley Marshall, moving quickly from a short midwicket.

Opener Lesiba Ngoepe (33) and Aya Gqamane (29) did pose some difficulties for the Lions, but Malusi Siboto (8-1-26-2) removed them both.

All-rounder Delano Potgieter (5-0 19-2) also chipped in with a couple of wickets and it was left to Wihan Lubbe, who fought for two hours for his 42, to keep the Warriors hopes alive.

But the Lions attack once again delivered under pressure.

The batting of the Lions, though, obviously left something to be desired as they crashed to 47 for four.

But the experience and determination of Nicky van den Bergh, who played some fine strokes in collecting nine fours in his 73 off 92 balls, with the help of Potgieter, saw them to a good enough total of 210 all out.

The left-handed Potgieter showed impressive composure as he added 129 for the fifth wicket with Van den Bergh. Normally not shy to show his attacking tendencies, he batted within himself to score 57 off 67 deliveries.

The loss of Van den Bergh and Potgieter, when both were about to launch, obviously reduced the final Lions total considerably, but it was still enough considering the brilliance of their bowlers and the submission of the Warriors batsmen.

Seamer Nabe removed both Van den Bergh and Potgieter on the way to highly creditable, career-best figures of four for 31, while left-arm spinner Smuts was tight and probing as he took three for 40 in his 10 overs.

Veteran flyhalf Morne Steyn says the circle is now complete as he contemplates leading the Bulls into another Currie Cup final as they prepare to take on the Lions in the semi-finals at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The 36-year-old returned to the Bulls last year, having appeared in four previous Currie Cup finals for them and winning in 2006 and 2009, before joining Stade Francais in 2013.

“I never really thought that I would finish my career at the Bulls, but I guess the circle is now closed nicely and I’m looking forward to the semi-final. It feels like my younger days, but a lot of the guys haven’t played in a semi-final before or even in the Currie Cup, so it’s going to be a big day. The big goal is to win on Saturday and all that’s happened before or what comes after, we will sit aside.

“For me it’s just another game and I will take it as that and enjoy every moment. Everyone is ready and it would be stupid for us to change a lot of stuff, we’ve got to do what we did to get into the semi-final, you don’t want to be trying to do what you’re not used to. Otherwise I’ll be trying to keep the other guys calm and will just tell them to enjoy every moment and embrace the pressure of a semi-final,” Steyn said.

As far as the Lions are concerned, Steyn said they are strong up front and have flair in the backs, and can play both a free-flowing game and a more strategic one. And he is particularly looking forward to the flyhalf battle with Elton Jantjies, which could have an influence on Springbok selection later this year.

“The Lions have a good pack, exciting backs and a good No.10 who controls the game. We are ready for them to play a running game or a kicking game. Elton controls the game well, he has a good tactical game at flyhalf and I’m looking forward to a lekker challenge against him. If you don’t want to be the best then you should rather stop playing rugby, and obviously I want to be better than my opponent.

“If you’re playing in South Africa then you always dream of playing for the Springboks and every game is a chance to show what I can do. You always want to add to your Tests. But my game-plan is not to try and bring magic, there are guys around me who can do that. Discipline is going to be a big focus for both teams, but we have showed our character – until the final whistle, the game is not over for us,” Steyn, who has played 66 Tests for the Springboks, said.

Like any good farmer who has planted his vegetables, cared for them carefully and patiently and then waits for a rich harvest, Hilton Moreeng believes the Proteas Women’s side is now ready to blossom as he begins another three-year stint in charge of the team.

Moreeng’s reappointment was confirmed on Wednesday, allowing the 42-year-old to continue the fine work he has done since 2012 in building a squad of talented youngsters into one of the best international teams. Under the former Free State wicketkeeper/batsman’s guidance, the Proteas have reached the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2014 and 2020 and the ICC Women’s World Cup in 2017. And in those last two final-four appearances they have come perilously close to beating both England and Australia, the powerhouses of the women’s game.

“It’s a great privilege for me to be reappointed, it shows the confidence Cricket South Africa has in the work I’ve done. This team is coming of age and it’s time we started challenging for ICC silverware. I hope to improve the team further and as a coach I am learning every day and no two days are alike. We want to be a top-three team and we are making strides towards that.

“But we cannot be complacent because the international cricket environment changes every day and we have to keep working extremely hard. But the building blocks we have are very good and in terms of skills we are now one of the best teams. We’ve had to be very patient, we want to be number one in the world one day, that’s everyone’s ambition but it doesn’t happen overnight,” Moreeng said on Wednesday.

The Proteas Women’s first assignment once they return to action will hopefully be a triangular series in England with India in September, but the 50-over World Cup in New Zealand starting next February is their priority in the short-term.

“We knew our tour of New Zealand earlier this year would be crucial in our preparation and whitewashing them on home soil shows our skills and character. Now we are seven months from the World Cup and we will focus on that. But it will be a very important series in England because it might be our only chance for competitive cricket before the World Cup. We will be working hard on what we can improve as a team and CSA are making sure we have everything we need,” Moreeng said.

Part of that is investigating the feasibility of a professional domestic women’s league. But in the meantime CSA are focusing on beefing up the women’s high performance and academy programmes.

“We believe the Momentum Proteas can now challenge the top three regularly and the results in New Zealand and Australia earlier this year show the top leadership of Hilton and Dane van Niekerk [captain]. It’s very important to CSA that this team now moves forward over the next three years and I’m very confident we’ve made the right decision in reappointing Hilton.

“We need to grow and enhance the environment. Hilton has put in a lot of hard work to grow the team to where they are, and now he has the opportunity to take them even further. He can grow them to another level and having a proper women’s league is an area of focus for us. A lot more investment has been put into the women’s pipeline and we are looking to strengthen that,” director of cricket Graeme Smith said.