Ken Borland

The big question in the world of rugby this weekend is how quickly the All Blacks can bounce back? I have no doubt they will still be a force in next year’s World Cup, but can they beat the Springboks at Ellis Park on Saturday?

Coach Ian Foster and captain Sam Cane will be putting their positions on the line on Saturday, desperate for the team as a whole to stand up and play like the All Blacks normally do. As bravely as they have tried to put a positive spin on the situation this week, the pressure and the strain on them has been clear.

Top of their wish-list for Ellis Park will be finding a way to handle the quick-rushing Springboks defence and their blitz-like kick-chase. Fans of the All Blacks from back in the day will be dismayed by how ragged the backline was under pressure last weekend in Nelspruit.

While South Africa’s rush defence was superb, it is not a new tactic and previous New Zealand teams have had the skill to counter it – remember wonderful players like Conrad Smith, Sonny Bill Williams, Dan Carter and Christian Cullen?

Foster said after the Mbombela hiding that it was his team’s best performance of the year, and even on Thursday he said “we have certainly seen the team grow”. Springbok fans will be reminded of a similar state of denial when Allister Coetzee said there were positives to be taken out of their 57-0 thrashing at the hands of the All Blacks in Albany in 2017.

But this is a New Zealand team that seems desperately low on confidence, even their haka at Mbombela was subdued.

Their attack, in the face of outstanding offensive-defence from the Springboks, has been more jalopy than Porsche. But be warned, the All Blacks team that runs out on Saturday will still have a cutting edge if players like Richie Mounga, Caleb Clarke, Rieko Ioane and Aaron Smith find their mojo, along with Beauden Barrett coming off the bench.

It is not too much of a leap to say New Zealand rugby is suffering from a lack of exposure to South African teams following their departure from Super Rugby.

That competition between the Kiwi, Australian and Pacific islands teams is now even more about attacking, free-flowing rugby. Structured defences bringing massive physicality and constantly being in the face of the ball-carriers is not something regularly seen, and I believe the New Zealand backline has been shocked by the lack of time and space they have been given by both Ireland and the Springboks.

They also seem to be struggling to come to terms with the fact that they are no longer world champions, they are ranked only No.5 in the world and are no longer the referees’ pets. They seem astonished that they are not getting more protection from South Africa’s nasty kicking game.

Having been allowed to briefly watch All Blacks training this week, the number of passes going to ground and the number of dropped kicks I saw was startling.

But no-one outside of the camp can really know what is going on in the interior of the team. Are the Crusaders players, so dominant in Super Rugby, really busting a gut for their coach and captain?

Perhaps the minimalist, grimy décor of Ellis Park and surrounds will bring out the warrior spirit of what remains, on paper, a top-class team. Backs to the wall, will it be a case of fight rather than flight? If ever there was a time to throw out the form book, to be so desperate that confidence doesn’t matter, then it is Saturday.

Last weekend was a bizarre armchair ride for the Springboks, on Saturday it could be a whole different ball game.

One of the triumphs of this current Proteas team has been the way they have been able to bounce back from disastrous performances relatively quickly and they will need to do that again on Sunday as they play the English side that tore their batting apart to level the series in Manchester, in the decisive third ODI at Headingley.

South Africa, having impressed with the ball to bowl England out for 201 inside their 29 overs at Old Trafford, were bundled out for just 83 in reply. Having made their highest ever score [333/5] in England in the first ODI, the Proteas then slumped to their joint-worst total against the hosts. Their 83 all out in Nottingham in 2008 and Manchester on Friday night are their second-lowest totals in all ODIs, behind their 69 against Australia in Sydney in 1993.

But South Africa’s two highest run-scorers, Heinrich Klaasen (33) and Dwaine Pretorius (17), were both exuding positive vibes after wasting a good chance to win the series.

“We don’t need to change anything, our blueprints are good and we bowled extremely well. With the bat, if our risks come off on Sunday then it will be a different ball-game,” Klaasen said.

“We are playing good cricket, they just bowled extremely well up front, put us on the back foot and we never recovered. We still believe in our plan.”

Pretorius, who led an outstanding bowling display with career-best figures of four for 36, echoed Klaasen’s view.

“All our options to take a risk with the bat just did not come off, but I’m sure we’ll bounce back. It was our first innings here under lights and that definitely had an impact.

“The next game is a day game and it will be interesting to see if that swing England found is still there. The batting unit has really been on fire and it was just one of those days.

“They mustn’t let it go to their heads, they must stay confident. England put the performance in in this match, and we did in the previous game. So it’s going to be a great game on Sunday.

“What happened is not a massive issue, teams are allowed to play well against you and England did, they outskilled us. But the rub of the green did not go our way and cricket does not always work out perfectly,” Pretorius said.

Alarmingly, both Pretorius and Klaasen said the Proteas had practised hard at the swinging ball, which was their undoing as they crashed to 6 for four, their worst ever start in an ODI, in terms of their total when the fourth wicket fell.

“We have been preparing exactly for that swing, we’ve done a lot of work against the swinging ball,” Pretorius said.

“We trained hard for the left-armers and the ball coming in,” Klaasen assured. “But credit to them, they bowled extremely well, kept their lengths and swung the ball nicely.”

The third ODI starts at 12pm SA time.

Proteas captain Dean Elgar acknowledges that England are currently playing “brave and bold” Test cricket, but he is eager to see whether they can maintain that against the pace and bounce, and two quality spinners, of the South African attack when their Test series gets underway next month.

In a delirious month of four Test matches against New Zealand (3) and India (1), England’s powerful batting line-up has chased down four successive targets of more than 250 in the fourth innings with tremendous gung-ho and aggression, scoring at run-rates of 4.93 chasing 378 against the powerful India attack, and 3.53, 5.98 and 5.44 against the Black Caps.

“England have certainly been quite brave and bold, it’s been exciting and brought extra energy to Test cricket,” Elgar told Saturday Citizen. “I’m sure world cricket has been hit by surprise, especially in the way they chase.

“But it’s been on relatively batting-friendly pitches and conditions have been in their favour. There hasn’t been too much sideways movement and they’ve been allowed to play that game.

“Our seamers will also bring a lot more pace and bounce against them and we have quite a few options to exploit any pitches that do go up-and-down.

“It will be interesting to see the pitches they prepare, knowing the fast bowling arsenal we have, backed up by two quality spinners if need be. I know I would not like to face our attack,” Elgar said.

The left-handed opening batsman has brought a hard edge to the Proteas during his captaincy tenure; the more pressure Elgar is under, the more dogged he becomes. That character is reflected in his team: The current Proteas are hard-working, stubborn and they refuse to let anyone dominate them.

It is typical of Elgar’s personality that he is loving the prospect of England going all-out-attack on them and he is backing the Proteas to be able to handle the onslaught.

“It’s going to be exciting and luckily we have quite a few pace bowlers,” Elgar says. “The basics are still fundamental to Test cricket and patience is one of our strengths. We really enjoy taking it to the last day and strangling teams.

“We have done a lot of graft on our game-plan because there could be a false sense of needing to be drawn into the way England want to play. That would be a massive error and would take our strengths out of the equation. We’ve had a lot of brilliant fast bowlers going to the UK and dominating, so I’m excited about that.

“When one talks about an aggressive or positive style of play, one needs to define exactly what you mean by that. You can still be aggressive but savvy in the way you go about things. There will be times when we need to counter and times we need to absorb, that’s just the nature of Test cricket.

“Whether the way England are playing now has any longevity, I’m not sure. It has paid off for now. It’s certainly going to be a very exciting series,” Elgar said.

Proteas batsman Ryan Rickelton expects Bangladesh to use the local knowledge of their coach Russell Domingo to bounce back in the second Test against South Africa starting on Friday at St George’s Park, after the touring team’s questionable tactical approach in the first Test in Durban.

Domingo was born and raised in Port Elizabeth and first made his name in cricket coaching with the local Eastern Cape Warriors franchise. By making one of the less-resourced teams in the country a trophy-winning force, Domingo quickly rose in the coaching ranks and become Proteas assistant coach and then head coach between 2013 and 2017.

“I think Russell and Allan Donald [Bangladesh bowling coach] will have a massive say in this Test,” Rickelton said. “I was very surprised that Bangladesh bowled first at Kingsmead, where you generally bat first.

“Russell will have valuable insight which Bangladesh need to exploit, they need to invest in what he says, especially in regards to Port Elizabeth.

“Bangladesh came into the Tests with lots of momentum after their one-day series win. They do have some really good players and seamers, but unfortunately a couple of them are injured and going home,” Rickelton said.

The 25-year-old left-hander, who is also an accomplished wicketkeeper, made his debut in the first Test and hit a bright 21 in the first innings, boldly getting off the mark with a reverse-sweep for four, before he mistimed a pull shot off fast bowler Ebadot Hossain and looped a catch to mid-on.

In the second innings he showed more composure under pressure, as he batted through a collapse to finish with 39 not out.

Rickelton said it was an extremely exciting prospect to make his debut.

“It was an awesome experience, I was honoured to represent my country and to step into the Test arena is something I dreamt about since I started playing.

“My Dad came down the night before the game once I was told I was playing. We’ve been through thick and thin together since I was a little boy. He was over the moon and probably even more excited than me.

“And I was probably a bit too excited and played a few too many shots! I was a bit too expansive and gave my wicket away. In the second innings, I was a lot more composed and controlled, back to my normal self.

“I’m not sure if it was brave or stupid the way I got off the mark, but when you’re that excited it’s tough to fight it and you just have to let it happen and try and make the best decisions,” Rickelton said.

The Johannesburg-born, St Stithians product has been one of the most successful batsmen in domestic cricket this season and he has a first-class average of 51.21, having hit 10 centuries in 37 matches.