Ken Borland

It is not often that one can say a tour of Europe with a 50% winning record is a resounding success, but it is a fair evaluation that the Springboks have ended up hitting their targets for 2022.

It was after the Rugby Championship that I wrote a column saying we still did not know whether the Springboks would be genuine World Cup contenders next year as they were simply not clinical nor ruthless enough in finishing second to the All Blacks in a southern hemisphere competition that is no longer the gold standard for the global game.

There also did not seem to be much growth to their game and I ended with the hope that they would express themselves more in Europe.

It is with delight that I can now write that the Springboks have answered my questions in the affirmative.

That is despite losing to both Ireland and France. But both those defeats were by desperately narrow margins and it is fair to say that Ireland would have been beaten if South Africa had fielded a proper goalkicker, and France would surely have been seen off if Pieter-Steph du Toit had not received his unfortunate red card.

The Springboks played superbly in Marseille to dominate the World Cup favourites, and it was great to see the same ambition bear fruit the following weekend when they hammered Italy.

Last weekend’s win over England at Fortress Twickenham must rank somewhere on the hit parade of top Springbok wins, such was the all-round quality and sheer authority of their performance.

While the Springboks’ strength still undoubtedly lies in their magnificent pack – how incredible were they in the scrums? – perhaps the biggest surprise was the wonderful attacking intent shown by a backline missing their chief offensive organiser in Lukhanyo Am and playing with a relatively new, untested flyhalf in Damian Willemse.

While opposition teams might find a way to get around the physicality, defensive steel and aerial prowess of the Springboks, having that extra string to their bow in terms of the brilliant counter-attacking ability they have shown, makes them very tough to beat.

The Springboks now seem able to not only strangle or batter their opposition into submission, but also make the sharpest, most precise of surgical incisions into the heart.

Jacques Nienaber has done all this while still ensuring that he now has quality cover in all positions.

Perhaps the only negative from the end-of-year tour was the director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, copping another ban for attacking the officiating at international level.

The Springboks’ relationship with the referees is at the lowest ebb since the dark days of the early 2000s, when they had a reputation for being the dirtiest, most ill-disciplined team in the game.

When Jake White took over the coaching reins in 2004, he knew the Springboks could only start getting fair treatment from the referees if they fixed that perception. The World Cup would never have been won in 2007 were it not for the hard work captain John Smit put in to win the referees over. Nowadays, charming the referee is considered one of the staple jobs of the captain.

The smart-arse in Erasmus may be entertaining the social media hordes and he is probably enjoying the cult status he is growing there. But the continual haranguing of the referees is hurting his team.

The saying goes that nobody ever ended a war by lifting up a sword. The talk of there being a conspiracy against the Springboks may or may not be justified, but railing against the officials is only going to make it worse.

As director of rugby, Erasmus needs to put personal desires aside and make sure the Springboks take the high road. The World Cup defence could depend on it.

Leus du Plooy will make an emotional return to South African cricket as he turns out as the overseas pro for South-Western Districts in their CSA T20 Knockout Cup quarterfinal against Northerns in Kimberley on Tuesday, but it is three returning full internationals for the Titans who will probably have a greater impact.

Du Plooy’s last appearance in South Africa came in April 2019 when he scored a century for Northerns against Eastern Province at St George’s Park. He then joined Derbyshire as a Kolpak player and did well enough to receive a contract until the end of next season, as well as being chosen to play in The Hundred for Welsh Fire.

But Northerns will welcome back an even bigger star of English county cricket in off-spinner Simon Harmer, as well as batsman Theunis de Bruyn and fast bowler Junior Dala.

De Bruyn has had a wretched time with injury lately and will be eager to stamp his mark on the early-season with big runs, while Dala gives the Titans a trio of fearsome fast bowlers as he joins Corbin Bosch and the in-form Okuhle Cele.

With Dean Elgar still injured, left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso will lead the Titans. He may be 37-years-old, but he showed in the pool stages in Bloemfontein, as he took four for 52 in his 10 overs overall, that there is no mould on his skills and he is still quite capable of keeping batsmen in the dark.

The hard-hitting Donovan Ferreira and opener Jandre Pretorius are two young guys who grew their reputations in Bloemfontein.

The Free State Knights take on Western Province in Tuesday’s other quarterfinal, while Wednesday morning’s clash between the high-flying KZN Dolphins and the aggressive Eastern Province Warriors should be fun.

The Boland Rocks play the last quarterfinal against North-West in a match that will showcase what CSA are hoping are two growth areas of the game.

The fact that the Springboks will be missing the defence of their Rugby Championship title – and any international rugby at all this year – is obviously terrible but it is a courageous and correct decision by SA Rugby.

The fact that, for once, the players were not thrown under the bus, sacrificed on the altar of financial gain, speaks volumes for the integrity and willingness to do the right thing for the game of the people who made that extremely tough decision.

Yes, not playing in the Rugby Championship is going to mean South African rugby, already bleeding due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is going to lose out on millions of rand. Fortunately some of the financial blow will be mitigated by some clever work in negotiation that has a clause written into the Sanzaar contract that if a country is unable to play due to circumstances beyond their control, then they still get a share of the revenue.

It is precisely that sort of integrity and willingness to act for the greater good of the game that is entirely missing from the Cricket South Africa Board.

What can we say about a person’s integrity and service to cricket when the forensic report they personally played a role in instituting implicates them in wrongdoing; and when both Sascoc, the controlling body for all high-performance sport in this country, and the Minister of Sport call for them to stand aside to allow for a proper investigation; but they stubbornly refuse to go, even at the risk of the ICC suspending the Proteas from international action?

As someone who has covered top-level cricket and rugby in this country for more than 25 years, I cannot escape the irony of where SA Rugby stands at the moment in terms of public credibility in comparison to Cricket South Africa.

CSA used to be leading the way in terms of transformation and good governance, and the Proteas, despite their miserable World Cup record, were consistently amongst the top three in global cricket. Rugby, slow to transform and with the tail (all the minor provinces) wagging the dog in terms of decision-making, delivered World Cups in 1995 and 2007, but there were many dark times on and off the field in between and after.

One of rugby’s lowest moments came when they tried to take on government, even forcing Nelson Mandela to testify in court. They took a long time to recover from that disgrace.

But with Rassie Erasmus and Jurie Roux leading the way, a third World Cup title was won last year with a marvellously transformed team that was loved by the public at large.

Rugby has learnt the lesson that you should never pick a fight with the sports minister: you might win a battle, but you will definitely ultimately lose the war. The arrogant CSA Board, judging by the awful letter acting president Beresford Williams sent to sports minister Nathi Mthethwa, clearly still need to learn this lesson.

The ICC may be the global governing body of the sport, but they are generally reluctant to get involved in the affairs of their individual members. In fact, they will only step in if a member complains to the ICC itself, which is why there have been numerous thoroughly dysfunctional administrations about which nothing has been done.

Haroon Lorgat, the former chief executive of both the ICC and CSA, has also drawn the important distinction between government interference and intervention. By forewarning CSA and the ICC – he gave them a very generous two weeks grace – Mthethwa has signalled that his stepping in is an intervention rather than interference. There are very few people other than the CSA Board who will not consider it a welcome intervention, so long and revolting this imbroglio has become.

Mthethwa issued his statement, which is one of the most dramatic in South African cricket history, on Wednesday. By Friday afternoon we were still waiting for any response from CSA to what amounts to a massive motion of no confidence in the organisation.

Perhaps they don’t know what to do, given the rank incompetence of so many of their directors. Well here’s a suggestion for the obstinate CSA Board: Do the right thing.

In my mind that involves anyone implicated in the Fundudzi Forensic Report immediately standing down, so Sascoc can do a thorough investigation of CSA’s affairs without these self-serving, power-hungry administrators  continually being in the picture.

That’s the sort of compromise that might just get Mthethwa off cricket’s back and stop him from doing something that could really lead to catastrophe for the sport.

For the sake of cricket, the game you have all professed to love so much, please just stand aside.