Ken Borland

Alex Noren started the final round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City on Sunday six strokes behind the leader and said he didn’t feel he had any chance of winning.

But the 34-year-old Swede immediately birdied the first three holes and set about producing a dazzling front nine of just 30 strokes.

As if that wasn’t good enough, he then eagled the 10^th hole and birdied 11 to go to nine-under-par for his round. Suddenly, he was three strokes ahead of overnight leader Jeunghun Wang.

Although he completed the last seven holes in level-par, it was enough for him to double his lead by the end of the day as he signed for an incredible final round of 63 and a six-stroke win on 14-under-par.

“Honestly, I thought I had no chance at the start of the round, this is a really tricky course and the leader had shot 64 yesterday which was like 59 today.

“So I just wanted to get a good round in before the World Tour Championship in Dubai next week, to have a good positive feeling going there, work on my swing a bit. Anything under par I would have been happy,” Noren said after his astonishing victory at the Gary Player Country Club.

None of the other contenders were able to check Noren’s incredible rise up the leaderboard, with the final three-ball of Wang, local favourite Louis Oosthuizen and Andy Sullivan all struggling to get going.

Pars were the order of the day for Oosthuizen, who started the day three behind Wang, and the South African then fell six behind after a double-bogey at the par-three seventh when he got stuck in a greenside bunker.

Wang was a pale shadow of the golfer who had shot an incredible 64 in decidedly unfriendly conditions in the third round, a bogey on the fourth and two dropped shots on the par-four eighth undoing his birdies on the second and fourth holes.

Even though he birdied the par-five ninth to draw level with Noren, it was clear all the momentum was with one of the most in-form players on the European Tour.

It was a hammer blow for Wang when Noren eagled the 10^th and when he sank a superb flop-shot for birdie after short-siding himself on 11, the look of disbelief he received from Henrik Stenson’s caddy said it all.

Back-to-back bogeys on 15 and 16 thanks to wayward tee shots were the final blows to Wang’s chances as the 21-year-old South Korean had to settle for second on eight-under-par.

Sullivan birdied the second hole, but he then made three bogeys to undo the two more birdies he made, finishing with a level-par 72 and in a tie for third, seven strokes behind Noren, with Branden Grace (70), Spaniard Alejandro Canizares (68), Frenchman Victor Dubuisson (68) and Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia (67).

Noren said his putter was his most outstanding club and it was hard to argue as his birdie putts on the first, seventh and eighth holes were all longer than 20 feet, as was his eagle putt on the 10^th.

“I was a bit nervous at the start, I didn’t feel on top of my game but something happened and after seven holes I started to realise that I must believe in myself that I can win. My putter was very hot and I’ve never holed so many putts, I think on those first 11 holes, and I got a lot more excited,” Noren said.

Even though he registered his only bogey of the day on the par-five 14^th, after a visit to the infamous love-grass, his victory – his fourth in his last 11 tournaments – was already secure by then.

The win keeps him in contention to win the Race to Dubai next weekend as he has vaulted into third place behind Stenson and Danny Willett, and 2017 will no doubt offer more titles for the newest member of the world top 10.

“I’ve been able to see what sort of game I could have and what I need to do to compete with the best. Today everything worked, but I still have a lot of work to do,” Noren said.

Stenson shot a two-under-par 70 on Sunday to finish in eighth place and will take a 300-point lead into the final event of the Race to Dubai next weekend.

Oosthuizen bogeyed on 16 and then double-dropped on the 17^th to finish on five-under for the tournament and in ninth place.

Grace three-putted for a bogey on the last to slide back into the tie for third, a very costly lapse, but finished as the leading South African.

South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer did confirm that he is still determined to become the first local winner of the Nedbank Golf Challenge since Trevor Immelman in 2007.

“I was very disappointed with the three-putt on 18, but tied third is my best finish here yet, and hopefully next year I can come back and improve on that,” Grace said.

http://citizen.co.za/sport/sport-golf/1343936/noren-producing-top-grade-golf-storm-lead/

If the Sharks were in any doubt about Griquas presenting them with a tough challenge in their Currie Cup match at Kings Park on Friday night, then the fact that the Northern Cape side have won their last two matches in Durban should dispel any notions of a stroll in the park.

Although the KwaZulu-Natalians beat Griquas 45-20 in Kimberley last year, Griquas won 21-18 at Kings Park in 2014, repeating their 32-30 triumph there in 2013, and Sharks coach Robert du Preez is in no mood for complacency this week.

“Griquas are a very tough side, they’ll be very physical, and we have to bring our A game to beat them,” Du Preez said.

While the Sharks at their best are able to keep ball in hand and stretch most defences, it will be up front in the trenches where Friday night’s game will be won or lost.

“We’re looking to keep ball-in-hand for longer and play more rugby, but the forwards need to create the space on the outside, they need to be direct and dominate contact. You have to earn the right to go wide.

“Griquas are always gutsy, they did well in the qualifiers and I think we’re up for a hard game. They’ll come out and play good rugby, with a lot of energy running on to the ball. They enjoy playing with the ball, they’re unpredictable and they also have their maul and their direct forward play,” loose forward Philip van der Walt said.

Griquas were the leading qualifiers from the preliminary stage, with 11 wins in 14 games, but the whole EP Kings saga has hampered the momentum they would have wanted to take into the Premier Division.

They were originally going to play the Kings in last weekend’s opening round of fixtues, but then it was going to be the Leopards and then they ended up eventually having a bye.

“It has been an unbelievably frustrating couple of weeks, it’s been difficult. We have been doing analysis on three different teams, focused training with a team picked to play the Leopards and then we did not even have a game last week. Some key players were rested for the last game of the qualifiers and the result is some players have not played for over four weeks!

“Mentally it has been difficult and after finishing as the first qualifiers we did not expect this, but we have been training hard, we refocused and will ensure we give everything to make our supporters proud of Griquas,” Peter Engledow, the coach of Griquas, told the side’s website.

The Emirates Lions shrugged off any suggestions that they might fade after returning from their epic tour of Australasia as they snatched a last-minute 22-18 win over the Vodacom Bulls in a dramatic SuperRugby match at Ellis Park on Saturday.

For 79 minutes there weren’t any tries, but there was no shortage of intensity nor excitement as the two neighbours went at each other tooth, claw and horns, flyhalves Elton Jantjies and Jacques-Louis Potgieter trading the penalties that came from hard-earned, narrow advantages.

There also cannot be any doubts about the belief within this Lions side either as, having controversially seen Jaco Kriel called up for a marginal late tackle by the TMO, the penalty being advanced into range for Potgieter to give the Bulls an 18-15 lead with less than a minute to play, they came storming up in defence to set themselves up for the dramatic winning try.

Hooker Armand van der Merwe is the sort of employee any union would want – he sits long hours on the bench but never fails to make an impact when he comes on and is a constant source of inspiration for his team-mates. The stocky 23-year-old merely added to his growing legend at Ellis Park as he barged over for the winning try after the Lions had tapped the penalty they earned after counter-rucking the Bulls off the ball from the restart.

For most of the first half, it looked as if the slow poison of the Bulls would get the better of the Lions. The visitors had dominated territory and possession, and although the attacking play of the Lions had looked sharp, they simply never had enough of the ball.

The effects of the strangulation took a while to be reflected on the scoreboard, however, as Potgieter missed an early drop-goal attempt and two long-range penalties, while Jantjies took six points from the Lions’ two forays into Bulls’ territory.

But the ferocious work of the Bulls at the breakdowns and in defence eventually took its toll.

The scrums were a terrific contest throughout and the Bulls gained an early confidence boost with a massive effort that shoved the Lions back 15 metres, earning Potgieter’s first successful kick at goals in the 26^th minute.

The powerful driving play of Trevor Nyakane, Pierre Spies and Deon Stegmann earned another three points eight minutes later and then the power of the rolling maul allowed Potgieter to put the Bulls 9-6 ahead at the break.

The Lions started the second half with all the verve they are famous for, lifting the tempo and stretching the Bulls. But eventually the stout defence forced the error and the Bulls swept upfield. They looked set to score the opening try in the left corner, but the ball went astray and they could not add to their lead.

It was obviously a crucial moment as the game then “regressed” into a tremendous arm-wrestle, with penalties the only concessions either side was willing to give.

The scrum took centre stage and the penalties went this way and that as the reserve front rows came on.

Jantjies first levelled the scores at 9-9 in the 57^th minute and then claimed a 12-9 lead after Morne Mellet lost his bind  and scrummed in on the loosehead side.

But the Lions were then penalised for hands in the ruck (12-12) and then the Bulls scrum won another penalty for Potgieter in the 70^th minute.

The Bulls’ 15-12 lead only lasted four minutes, however, as the Lions’ maul then steamrolled their way to another penalty, kicked by Jantjies.

But the controversial Kriel penalty in the 79^th minute seemed to have decided the outcome, before the Lions showed the spirit and belief that characterised the matches overseas to claim the spoils from the most dramatic of matches.

Scorers

Lions – Try: Armand van der Merwe. Conversion: Elton Jantjies. Penalties: Jantjies (5).

Bulls – Penalties: Jacques-Louis Potgieter (6).

http://citizen.co.za/356733/lions-finish-strong-in-dramatic-win-against-bulls/

The Vodacom Bulls may have been superb in claiming the big scalp of the Crusaders last weekend, but they know it will be an error to expect Saturday’s SuperRugby match against the Emirates Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg to be any easier.

It is, of course, a local derby that will always get the blood pumping on both sides, plus the Lions have been playing with an enormous unity of purpose and will be able to draw on the confidence of a record-breaking three wins on tour, while there should be a sizeable home crowd to welcome them home.

“It would be wrong to think it’s going to be an easier game this weekend. The Lions have shown how good they are, it’s never easy winning three games on tour. They will play for the full 80 minutes, they’re fit and well-coached and they will obviously get up for this game because they’ll want to start their home stretch of matches well,” Bulls captain Pierre Spies warned.

Coach Frans Ludeke was also stressing that his team cannot afford any drop in intensity from last weekend.

“We’ve had a very good week of preparation just to add to what we did against the Crusaders, so we’re high in confidence and things are working well. But against the Lions, we will definitely need to match that performance against the Crusaders,” Ludeke said.

Spies called for his team to be clinical in using whatever opportunities they get, and Ludeke has also ensured there are no oversights in selection by choosing another specialist openside flank on the bench in Roelof Smit, against a Lions team that will almost certainly play a high-tempo game and target the Bulls’ breakdown.

Much will also depend on which tighthead – Trevor Nyakane or Ruan Dreyer – gets the upperhand in the scrums because that is such an important set-piece, especially for a team like the Bulls that will use the penalties from there to further their territory game or set up their lineout maul.

Ludeke was full of praise for the way Nyakane has not only adapted to his move from the Cheetahs but also switched to the other side of the scrum during his first three months at Loftus Versfeld. Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will also be smiling because he now has Marcel van der Merwe or Nyakane as quality back-up for Jannie du Plessis.

“His first-choice position is loosehead, but we had a lot of injuries at tighthead and he has really come through and done a job for us. He’s adding a lot, and a lot more than just scrummaging which is what we’re going to need this weekend.

“The national coach knows what he has in Trevor, he can play loosehead or tighthead, which makes it easy for a coach. Trevor now knows where he wants to go in his career,” Ludeke said.

The omission of Marnitz Boshoff from the starting line-up suggests the Lions are, perhaps unlike the Bulls, targeting tries rather than penalties, but whether they can absorb the pressure from an in-your-face Bulls defence will determine whether they can make inroads on attack or succumb to the errors that undid the Crusaders last weekend.

The Lions may have sometimes been negligent in terms of their own defence in the past, but that aspect of their game was outstanding on tour and coach Johan Ackermann is hoping that continues.

“We’ve put a lot of effort and commitment into our defence, that’s what kept us in the game quite often on tour. We weren’t really able to get our attacking game going, but hopefully at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon we’ll see better rugby on the attacking side. But defence must come with that and if we win the game because of a big tackle, I’ll definitely take that,” Ackermann said.

Teams

Lions: 15-Andries Coetzee, 14-Ruan Combrinck, 13-Lionel Mapoe, 12-Harold Vorster, 11-Anthony Volmink, 10-Elton Jantjies, 9-Ross Cronje, 8-Warren Whiteley, 7-Warwick Tecklenburg, 6-Derick Minnie, 5-Franco Mostert, 4-Andries Ferreira, 3-Ruan Dreyer, 2-Robbie Coetzee, 1-Jacques van Rooyen. Replacements – 16-Armand van der Merwe, 17-Corne Fourie, 18-Julian Redelinghuys, 19-Robert Kruger, 20-Jaco Kriel, 21-Faf de Klerk, 22-Marnitz Boshoff, 23-Howard Mnisi.

Bulls: 15-Jesse Kriel, 14-Francois Hougaard, 13-JJ Engelbrecht, 12-Burger Odendaal, 11-Bjorn Basson, 10-Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 9-Rudy Paige, 8-Pierre Spies, 7-Hanro Liebenberg, 6-Deon Stegmann, 5-Grant Hattingh, 4-Jacques du Plessis, 3-Trevor Nyakane, 2-Adriaan Strauss, 1-Dean Greyling. Replacements: 16-Callie Visagie, 17-Morné Mellet, 18-Marcel van der Merwe, 19-Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 20-Roelof Smit, 21-Piet van Zyl, 22-Tian Schoeman, 23-Jurgen Visser.