Ken Borland

Call it belief or blind optimism, but Bulls star Cornal Hendricks is so sure that his team will not be culled from the United Rugby Championship in this weekend’s semi-final against Leinster that he packed enough clothes for two weeks on the road.

If the Bulls do manage to upset favourites Leinster in Dublin on Friday night, then they will either travel to Cape Town to take on the Stormers, or make a short hop from Dublin to Belfast to play Ulster, depending on who wins the other semi-final on Saturday.

But the 34-year-old Hendricks is adamant he ain’t going back to Pretoria next week.

“You can’t have that mindset where you are thinking that you’re going to finish second. I even packed two bags for this trip because, whatever happens, I’m not going back home to Pretoria next week,” Hendricks stated.

“Next week we will either be playing in Cape Town or Ulster, or I will stay here. I have packed my extra undies.

“We honestly have the belief that we can be winners. It’s going to be a tight battle and the team that makes the right decisions on the day will end up winning.

“We are only going to get a few chances and we must take them to win. Leinster have a lot of internationals, but our team has grown so much, we are a different team now,” Hendricks said.

Leinster centres Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose are probably the best centre combination in the competition, but Hendricks rates his partner Harold Vorster very highly and it should be an intriguing midfield clash. The Bulls know they need to be slowing down the Leinster tempo to ensure they don’t run amok in midfield.

“Henshaw and Ringrose are quality players and they have certainly earned respect,” Hendricks said. “But we’ve got Harold Vorster, I have a lot of confidence in him and I’m not worried about facing them.

“We’re looking forward to the battle, we are ready, we’ve done our homework. We expect Leinster to run the ball, but they always have a good balance between kicking and running.

“The fact they scored 12 tries against Glasgow Warriors last weekend indicates the need for us to be physical and to slow down the pace of their game.

“Before that, La Rochelle were very physical against Leinster in the Champions Cup final, they slowed the game down and stopped them getting quick ball at the ruck,” Hendricks said.

The Proteas have been swearing blind that they will give their all in the T20 World Cup and they certainly did in the field after their batting failed, but it was still not enough to deny Australia victory in the opening match in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.

Having posted just 118 for nine with the bat, South Africa made Australia sweat as they reached their target with five wickets down and only two balls remaining.

Anrich Nortje, save for a short penultimate delivery that Marcus Stoinis swatted away for a crucial boundary in the 19^th over, was outstanding as he took two for 21 in his four overs.

The four other South African bowlers all backed him superbly, but Marcus Stoinis (24* off 16) and Matthew Wade (15* off 10) added 40 off 29 deliveries to see Australia home and fend off a wobble when they lost two wickets for one run in the 15^th and 16^th overs.

Steven Smith top-scored for Australia with 35 off 34 balls before he fell to a wonderful running boundary catch by Aiden Markram off Nortje.

South Africa were sent in to bat and Temba Bavuma made a great start by driving Mitchell Starc through the covers for two boundaries in the first over.

But Bavuma then hung back in his crease to off-spinner Glenn Maxwell in the second over and was bowled for 12 and Josh Hazlewood (4-1-19-2) then struck two major blows by having Rassie van der Dussen caught behind with his first ball and then bowling Quinton de Kock in his next over.

De Kock made just seven and tried to paddle the paceman fine, but edged the ball on to his thigh pad and then it bounced on to his stumps, with the batsman unaware where it was and unable to knock it away.

From 23 for three, the Proteas were indebted to Markram for his 40 off 36 balls, putting away boundary chances with ease, that gave them an almost defendable total.

Heinrich Klaasen (13) and David Miller (16) hung around for a bit, and Kagiso Rabada landed a couple of good blows at the death in his 19 not out.

But with Pat Cummins (4-0-17-1) and leg-spinner Adam Zampa (4-0-21-2) both excelling, there was no let-up in the pressure on the Proteas.