Ken Borland

The personal touch is something all businesses should strive for and building contacts between people is one of the key elements of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Am Series.

That the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has built up considerable networks and lives up to its mantra of being Always Connected has been borne out this year by the arrival of another company famous for their customer experience and engagement skills – Momentum Metropolitan – as one of the series partners.

This week’s event at Humewood Golf Club will be the fourth with Momentum as partners and Carel Bosman, the financial services company’s Head of Sponsorships and Events, has been delighted with how well their involvement is going.

“We only recently entered the Vodacom Origins of Golf fold and it really is the ideal sporting platform, we’re already starting to engage and build connectivity with so many people. The series is pretty unique in that you have amateurs playing with the professionals and it has been incredibly positive for us being involved from the start of the season.

“We’ve been sending different internal stakeholders from our various business units to play in the events, and it has been a very positive experience for us as a corporate. We will certainly be looking to do more as Vodacom and Commissioner Thomas Abt and the Sunshine Tour are putting together some stunning properties. The Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has been going for so long, since 2004, and we feel privileged to be involved,” Bosman said.

Momentum’s investment in cricket, especially the women’s game, has been one of the success stories of the South African sports industry space, and Bosman had nothing but praise for Vodacom’s tremendous achievements with the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series.

“The Vodacom Origins of Golf Series has been a success for so long that you simply have to acknowledge what Vodacom have done. It’s been wonderful to meet their team at a regional level and sport really needs sponsors to do these sort of things. And Vodacom have obviously seen value in their strategy to stay involved for so long. What they have done has been incredible and hats off to them, long may it continue!” Bosman said.

The 2021 Currie Cup final will be a repeat of last season’s match-up between the Bulls and the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld, and Sharks coach Sean Everitt, while acknowledging the brilliance of the defending champions in their semi-final win over Western Province, and the errors of his own team in struggling past Griquas, says the visitors can still win the title.

The Bulls hammered Western Province 48-31 after racing to a 24-5 lead in the first quarter, while the Sharks hung on grimly at the death to beat Griquas 28-24 in Durban.

“We beat the Bulls the last time we played them and we know they have a massive pack and they were sublime in the first 20 minutes of their semi-final. We know what’s coming and the big emphasis is going to be on stopping the momentum of their big ball-carriers. But our defence has improved, I’m happy where we are and in finals, defence wins the game.

“Under pressure we did make mistakes from a skills perspective against Griquas and we should have put them to bed earlier. It’s about making the right decisions at the breakdown, our reaction time was a bit slow and against the Bulls that will be suicide. But I’m not worried, we didn’t do a helluva lot wrong, we just need to neaten up our game and be squeaky clean in terms of our discipline,” Everitt said.

Bulls coach Jake White praised flyhalf Johan Goosen, who was as elusive as a cat on the prowl on attack with the way he exploited space and spotted the gaps. The well-travelled coach said his performance reminded him of the great Australian flyhalf Stephen Larkham.

“When I was coaching the Brumbies, my assistant coach Stephen Larkham used to run the B side attack in training against us and I saw the value of having a flyhalf who did not just see the space but could put the ball there so close to the defensive line. Johan Goosen is no different and we saw tonight what he’s like when he’s on song.

“Obviously the forwards got us front-foot ball, but before that he took control of the game, he was phenomenal and we basically won the match in the first 20 minutes. I’m very happy with the way we played, some of the plays we used were outstanding and the players also chose the right plays at the right time, in the right place. We don’t want to be one-trick ponies,” White said.

The All Blacks have agreed to base themselves in Queensland in order for the Rugby Championship to be completed, which means the historic 100^th meeting between them and their arch-rivals the Springboks will take place in the unlikely venue of Townsville, in the northern reaches of the state and deep in the tropics.

The Springboks will leave for Australia on Thursday and will have to quarantine for two weeks, but in return they will have the benefit of being able to return to normal life thereafter, not needing to stay in a bubble. They can still train while in quarantine, ahead of their next match, against Australia on September 12 on the Gold Coast.

But it is their clash with the All Blacks on September 25 in Townsville that will capture the imagination, even though it is effectively being played as a curtain-raiser to the Australia versus Argentina match that follows.

“The two-week quarantine period means we will be on tour for just under six weeks, but we are looking forward to experiencing normal life after a year-and-a-half of living under several forms of adjusted Covid-19 restrictions in South Africa. This will certainly assist in ensuring that the players are fresh mentally when they take the field, which is essential for them to peak in form.

“We are pleased that the Rugby Championship schedule has been finalised and we are looking forward to continuing our campaign in Australia. We can now continue our planning to ensure that the players are ready for the next four matches from a physical and mental point of view, and we are excited about facing our old foes Australia and New Zealand again after kicking off the tournament well against Argentina,” Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber said in a statement on Tuesday.

For all the bluster about how boring Springbok rugby is and how they are unworthy world champions despite beating the British and Irish Lions recently, the Kiwis are now going to have to put up or shut up on September 25 and then again on October 2 on the Gold Coast, in what, on current form, should be the Rugby Championship decider.

Apart from the Springboks not needing to stay in a bubble after their quarantine, the other good news is that there will be spectators at all the matches. Given the level of aggression between Australian and New Zealand rugby at the moment, the local crowds could well be supporting the Springboks in their matches against the All Blacks.

Australia and New Zealand get the chance to sort out some of their issues on the field when they meet in Perth, as originally scheduled, probably next weekend.

There was bad news on Tuesday for those critics who are for some reason disappointed in the spectacle provided by the series between South Africa and the British and Irish Lions because Springboks coach Jacques Nienaber said their next opponents – Argentina – are a side that is very adept at closing down the game as well.

The magnitude of the occasion typically led to three arm-wrestles, beautifully intense and gripping in their own way, between the Springboks and the Lions, who both favoured fairly conservative game-plans. Nienaber warned that playing against Argentina is going to be far from a free-for-all with the shackles released.

“Argentina are a tough team to play against, they have the ability to disrupt your flow as a team, they are really good at that. They have good plans that can really upset you. They are tactically astute and smart, they have a phenomenal defence and a great kicking game. They can also attack and score from turnovers, they have very quick wings and can create some magic.

“They are physical, defensively well-organised and willing to put their heads in dark places. They are well-balanced across the board, quality players playing for each other. Since the Rugby World Cup they have played seven Tests, six of them against big countries like New Zealand, Wales and Australia, and their only loss was to the All Blacks. Their world ranking [7^th] does not reflect how good they are,” Nienaber said on Tuesday.

While those who are bitter over the Springboks’ success have decried the quality of rugby played in the Lions series, Nienaber, enjoying the sweet taste of victory, said rugby had been the winner.

“It was tight! We’re very grateful for the series victory, the tour is such a special thing, happening only once over 12 years, and it could have gone both ways. It was a grind, but it’s the second biggest event in rugby after the World Cup. It was a humdinger of a series, which is what you want. In my opinion, rugby was the winner and there was only three points separating the teams at the end.

“The beauty of rugby is that there are different styles of playing, it would be unbelievably boring if we all played the same way. That means there are different tactics, like we had to employ at the World Cup going from Japan to Wales to England as opponents in the knockouts. The style teams play is determined by the athletic attributes of their players, you create a game-plan to amplify those characteristics,” Nienaber pointed out.