Ken Borland

Kagiso Rabada provided the fire up front with three wickets but it was spinner Keshav Maharaj who made the key strikes as he claimed only the second hat-trick for South Africa in Test history to send the West Indies plummeting to 109 for six at lunch on the fourth day of the second Test at St Lucia.

The left-arm spinner removed Kieran Powell (51), Jason Holder (0) and Joshua de Silva (0) with successive deliveries in the penultimate over before lunch, Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen and Wiaan Mulder taking catches of increasing difficulty to help Maharaj to the wonderful achievement.

Opener Powell looked in the mood to stick around as the West Indies went in search of a steep target of 324 for victory, but then suddenly decided to tee-up Maharaj and slog-swept him straight to Nortje at deep midwicket. The tall Holder then inside-edged his first ball on to his pad from where it rebounded quickly to short-leg, Petersen taking a sharp catch quite high to his left.

The hat-trick ball saw Mulder snatch a marvellous one-handed grab at leg-slip, diving to his right, as Da Silva tickled Maharaj around the corner.

South Africa’s only other Test hat-trick came in 1960 when fast bowler Geoff Griffin performed the feat against England at Lord’s.

Despite Maharaj’s success, the St Lucia pitch continues to be a haven for fast bowling and Rabada was outstanding up front as he had West Indies captain Kraigg Brathwaite (6) caught in the slips in his second over of the day.

A vicious, superbly-directed short ball then saw Shai Hope (2) glove a catch to the slips, while Kyle Mayers looked set for bigger things but eventually succumbed to some fine pressure bowling on 34 when he skied a wild pull at a delivery outside off stump from Rabada and Proteas captain Dean Elgar took his second well-judged catch of the morning.

Jermaine Blackwood survived through to lunch on 5 not out, while Kemar Roach is on one. The West Indies were only too happy for the sanctuary of the changeroom after their collapse from 90 for two, losing four wickets for 17 runs, left them still needing 215 runs to level the series with just four wickets standing.

Test rugby is always a high-stakes endeavour, but the series against the British and Irish Lions is going to be as tightly wound as the bobbins on the machines that used to stitch together the four panels that comprised a rugby ball, which is why the Springboks will be relying on the tried and tested experience within their squad, according to backline coach Mzwandile Stick.

The Lions’ last two Tests were a 15-15 draw and a three-point win over the All Blacks in 2017, and South Africa won the 2009 series through a five-point win in Durban and then the 28-25 thriller in Pretoria. So while there is much excitement over the likes of Aphelele Fassi, Damian Willemse, Rosko Specman, Yaw Penxe or Sanele Nohamba pulling on the Green and Gold next month, Stick preached caution on Thursday.

“There’s going to be massive pressure and we have to make sure we build the confidence of the youngsters. We can’t just throw Aphelele, Rosko and Yaw in together. We’ve still got a guy like Willie le Roux, who has massive experience and understands what it takes at Test level. We want Aphelele to feed off Willie and not wait until he retires to be able to learn that stuff.

“The new guys are all asking good questions, interacting and training with the experienced guys, and seeing what stuff they do off the field to prepare as well. If Willie can help Aphelele now, then it means he won’t take seven years to learn those things. We really want to build our depth and start from scratch at scrumhalf when someone like Faf de Klerk decides to move on,” Stick said.

The curse of the Covid pandemic, and South Africa’s hard lockdown, means the Springbok management has also had to focus strictly on the conditioning of the locally-based players in order to make sure they will be up to the intensity of Test rugby when they step on to the field at the Cape Town Stadium on July 24.

“As coaches we were never lectured in a pandemic and I think the last one was in 1918! But it’s been a tough challenge for the players as well and we had to improve our ball-in-play time. We know at Test level that it’s close to 38-40 minutes, but in our Currie Cup we were averaging 26 minutes. So we needed to control the stoppages and what happens off the ball.

“Fortunately the standard has really improved, skills-wise too. We know the last time we played together was in the World Cup final in 2019, but the last time the Lions played together was in 2017, so both teams are in the same situation. Luckily our overseas players have had tough, physical competition week in and week out. And no-one is interested in excuses anymore,” Stick said.

The Bulls often moan about the stereotype that portrays them as playing ponderous, one-dimensional kicking rugby but they did that and more in the Rainbow Cup final as they were deservedly hammered 35-8 by an underdog Benetton Treviso side that were full of vigour and invention.

The Bulls’ physicality and intensity were meant to be their trumpcards but Benetton, guided by an astute Kiwi coach in Kieran Crowley, merely speeded the game up in hot, humid conditions, getting the ball quickly out of the collisions areas, and with physical contests stripped of their importance, the visiting side were left looking like dumb brutes. Outscored by five tries to one, the Bulls embarrassingly lost by the sort of scoreline many expected to be their winning margin.

In many ways the Bulls were the architects of their own demise as they consistently failed to kick the ball into touch even if just to slow Benetton down; flyhalf Chris Smith perhaps had concussion judging by the shiner he took the field with because his head was not in the game as he constantly fed the dangerous Treviso back three.

Their lineouts were scrappy – tapped balls leading to two tries – and even their rolling maul failed to gain much traction. There were basic errors aplenty in one of the most frustrating Bulls days for many years.

The Bulls did score via a maul, and the quick thinking of wing Madosh Tambwe, to go into the last 10 minutes of the first half level at 8-8. But eighthman and captain Marcell Coetzee, who produced a strangely timid display for someone who wants to force their way back into the Springbok squad, then allowed a restart to go over his head and bounce into touch. Lock Walt Steenkamp tapped instead of catching the ball, scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl was caught between passing or dotting down, and hooker Corniel Els pounced for the try.

The former Bulls man was then the central figure as Benetton scored on the stroke of halftime to take their lead to 20-8. A clever kick behind by scrumhalf Dewaldt Duvenhage saw the Bulls again struggle to clear their lines properly, another tapped lineout putting them under pressure, and Els then burst from a rolling maul but lost the ball over the line. A penalty try was awarded though because Stravino Jacobs, who was yellow-carded, had tackled him around the neck. It was a fair decision, because either Els or Duvenhage would certainly have scored.

Benetton flyhalf Paolo Garbisi produced a masterclass at flyhalf and he continued to boss the second half as the home side scored three more tries, continuing to create space out wide with ease.

The big question the Springboks will be asking ahead of their crunch series against the British and Irish Lions is whether this feeble display by the team that has been so dominant at home was just an awful day in the office or indicative of the poor standard of South African rugby?

Scorers

Benetton Treviso: Tries – Monty Ioane, Corniel Els, penalty try, Michele Lamaro, Edoardo Padovani. Conversion – Paolo Garbisi. Penalties – Garbisi (2).

Bulls: Try – Madosh Tambwe. Penalty – Chris Smith.

The plucky scrappers from Kimberley tore into their defensive duties but ultimately the big city boys of the Sharks prevailed as they beat Griquas 30-16 in their hard-fought opening round Currie Cup fixture at Tafel Lager Park on Saturday.

It was not the most clinical display by the Sharks, but they were more composed at the key moments and better at converting the vital opportunities that came their way. And the key to their victory was probably the two tries they scored in two minutes in the third quarter that gave them a healthy 25-6 lead after they went into halftime 10-6 up.

The first try came through slick work by wing Werner Kok, who grubbered down the line for centre Jeremy Ward to dot down; the second was through a quickfire counter-attack as the Sharks attacked down the left wing, scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse was up in support as usual and he sent lock Hyron Andrews galloping away for the try.

But Griquas fought back. Wing Eduan Keyter finished brilliantly through a kick through by centre Andre Swarts and then made the break that led to his fellow wing Daniel Kasande rounding off a brilliant counter-attack. But the Griquas’ effort, feisty as it was, lacked polish and their ill-discipline and poor finishing cost them in the end.

The Sharks were under pressure in bot the scrums and lineouts, which made it difficult for them to produce sizzling rugby. But a rolling maul try by replacement hooker Kerron van Vuuren in the 79^th minute saw them escape from the frying pan with a bonus point that certainly was a bonus.

Scorers

Griquas – Try: Eduan Keyter. Penalties: George Whitehead (2).

Sharks – Tries: Phendulani Buthelezi, Jeremy Ward, Hyron Andrews, Kerron van Vuuren. Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (2). Penalty: Chamberlain. Drop goal: Chamberlain.