Ken Borland

Proteas Test captain Dean Elgar admitted on Monday that getting his beloved fast bowling spearhead Kagiso Rabada fully fit for the first Test against England is now their main focus as they prepare for the series, which starts on August 17, in Canterbury.

Rabada injured the ligaments in his left ankle 10 days ago and missed the third T20 against England and both matches versus Ireland. Elgar’s relationship with Rabada can almost be described as a love/hate one because the skipper clearly relies on his great fast bowler, but has also used some interesting tough love motivational tactics to get the best out of him.

“KG’s fitness is one of our top priorities,” Elgar said. “He has bowled again in the nets, but his workloads are the biggest concern at the moment, ensuring he can handle the intensity and carry himself through several days of Test cricket. But there are still eight days to go before the first Test.”

Elgar is backing his bowling attack to counter the powerful England batting line-up’s ultra-aggressive, sensational ‘BazBall’ approach.

“Good for them [England]. They’ve obviously taken a few risks that have paid off, but in conditions that have helped that style of cricket. ‘BazBall’ has caused a few conversations around the world.

“But I’m not too concerned, I’m just focused on my squad. It’s great to have Anrich Nortje back, we’ve missed him because he was injured for most of the last year. He’s big for us, he brings a whole different aspect in terms of pace.

“Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj give us more options coming to the UK, and it’s by no means off the table playing two spinners, they may well start again. But we could also go four seamers and one spinner too,” Elgar said.

And the skipper says he will not be cussing at his Proteas team-mates in the build-up to the first Test.

“I will give the players more love going into the Test match. I like to think what we’ve created and what I’ve learnt over the last year has given us a lot more resources.”

And amongst those resources are batsmen fresh off good form in the white-ball part of the tour, as well as players who have shone in county cricket – Ryan Rickelton, Harmer and Keegan Petersen.

“We have some brilliant options, we tick all the boxes, with guys from county cricket who have done pretty well. So that’s a massive asset, their experience in these conditions, knowing how the ball will react,” Elgar said.

“Plus our white-ball batsmen have been pretty successful and they’ll be bringing confidence into the series. It’s like a breath of fresh air.

“I’m very much inclined to have those players around who have vast experience in county cricket and use them to our advantage. It would be stupid not to use them even if they’re not playing.

“The biggest thing about Ryan Rickelton is that he was given opportunity and I felt he took it with both hands. Now what he has done on the county circuit with Northamptonshire will be a massive confidence boost for him.

“How we view him is that he’s obviously a massive contender to keep his spot. He’s done everything the right way, he’s put numbers on the board,” Elgar said.

The Canterbury Crusaders have been cleared off all charges of eye-gouging by SuperRugby ruling body Sanzar following the issuing of two white cards against them after allegations made by the Northern Bulls in their match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

Although there has been no official word from Sanzar, Bulls spokesman Ian Schwartz issued a statement on the franchise’s website on Monday saying “no evidence of eye-gouging was found by Sanzar’s judiciary system”.

According to the statement, no evidence was found by citing commissioner Freek Burger by analysing various video replays of the two incidents in which Bulls hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and lock Flip van der Merwe claimed they were fouled by the Crusaders.

Schwartz said there would be no apology by the Bulls, despite comments by Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder after the game that he expected an apology if the allegations were not proven.

“For them to suggest we must now apologise, just because there is no video evidence available, would mean we have lied. It is ridiculous to suggest that every time there is a citing and there is not enough evidence, the other team should apologise,” Schwartz said.

“The rules are clear and we applied them 100% correctly. We had the right to raise the matter with the referee and we accept the fact that there was no video evidence.

“I just want to say that our players’ integrity is just as important to us as the Crusaders’ players integrity is to them. I feel the players will not make unfounded accusations unless something has happened,” Schwartz added.

Canterbury Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder backed his team against charges of eye-gouging against the Northern Bulls during their 32-30 SuperRugby loss at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, saying he was concerned the new white card system could be manipulated by teams.
South African referee Jaco Peyper issued two white cards against the Crusaders after Bulls hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle, on the stroke of half-time, and eighthman and captain Pierre Spies, on behalf of lock Flip van der Merwe from the second-half kick-off, made allegations of eye-gouging at rucks.
Sanzar, SuperRugby’s ruling body, introduced the use of white cards this season for when referees suspect foul play but have not seen the incident or are unsure of the culprit. The card alerts the citing commissioner to view television replays of the incident and check whether it requires judicial action.
“Personally, I’m bemused. If the allegations made are shown to be false then I expect an apology because they’re pretty serious allegations and otherwise anyone can make allegations and we’ll have white cards all over the place. I’m not sure the system is designed for that,” Blackadder told a news conference after the game.
“There’s a process in place, but I would be very disappointed if the allegations are shown to be true. I know my players well, they’re guys of character and there’s no way they would do that [eye-gouge]. I’ll be interested in the outcome.”
The former Canterbury captain, who led his team to a hat-trick of Sanzar titles between 1998 and 2000, said he was proud of his team’s fightback after they had trailed 16-32 with just seven minutes remaining.
“We were right there at the end and I was really pleased by the fightback and we’ve gained a lot of self-belief here. We took a point from the game, there was a huge improvement and we’re back on track,” Blackadder said.

The former All Black captain bemoaned a lack of direct running, especially in the first half, when the Crusaders allowed the Bulls to claw their way back to 9-13 at the break, after the visitors had led 10-0 after 13 minutes.

“We played too far behind the advantage line, we attacked from far to deep. We moved the ball side-to-side and we did not engage the defence enough. When we fought back, that’s what we tried to do in the first half,” Blackadder said.

Spies said the Bulls had shrugged off the incidents.

“It’s just something that happens sometimes in the game and it’s in the hands of the referee and the judicial officers. We just stayed focused and as disciplined as possible, we wanted to keep the penalty count as low as possible,” Spies said.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke said eye-gouging had no place in the game and he would be upset if the allegations were proven.

“There’s no place for foul play and silly incidents like that. There will be a review and there may be nothing, but it’s not part of the game. No-one wants to see that sort of thing.

“It’s tough to say what happened, but we’ll leave it for the judicial officers, they specialise in that,” Ludeke said.

The coach praised a top-class kicking performance by flyhalf Morne Steyn, who succeeded with eight out of 10 shots at goal for a tally of 22 points, for securing a crucial win for the Bulls, after the Stormers had opened up a sizeable lead in the South African Conference with a 21-6 victory over a strong Otago Highlanders team in Dunedin earlier on Saturday.

“It was a vital win for us and Morne’s kicks just before half-time and soon afterwards were the turning point for us. It gave us a positive mindset and the momentum for that opening try. We had good moments in the last 10 minutes of the first half and that’s when the momentum changed,” Ludeke said.

The penalty just after half-time closed the gap to 12-13, after which the Bulls scored two tries and Steyn added both the conversions and two penalties to put the home side in the driving seat.

The Canterbury Crusaders wasted the early advantage and were then accused of two counts of eye-gouging by the Northern Bulls as the New Zealanders were beaten 32-30 (half-time 9-13) by the South African team in their SuperRugby match at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

South African Jaco Peyper issued white cards for further consideration of television evidence by the citing commissioner, after Bulls hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle and eighthman and captain Pierre Spies approached the referee and accused the Crusaders of eye-gouging them in the ruck in the 40th and 41st minutes respectively.

The Bulls won penalties for other ruck offences at the same time, with flyhalf Morne Steyn kicking both to bring the home side to within a point of the Crusaders (13-12).

The Crusaders had dominated the early stages of the match as they raced into a 10-0 lead in the first 13 minutes.

A crunching tackle by centre Ryan Crotty set up a penalty for the Crusaders, who kicked the ball to touch, won the lineout and then had captain and eighthman Kieran Read crashing through on a terrific angle to score the opening try, which was converted by flyhalf Dan Carter.

Carter then added a penalty after Crotty’s wonderful offload to fullback Israel Dagg, keeping the centre company on his shoulder, had taken the Crusaders back into Bulls’ territory.

Steyn kicked penalties in the 17th and 23rd minutes to cut the deficit to 10-6. Carter replied with a drop goal and missed a 28th-minute penalty, before Ralepelle stole the ball at a ruck and earned the Springbok flyhalf his third successful shot at goal, and then made the first startling allegation of eye-gouging.

Spies added to the drama straight after the kickoff when he complained of the same offence, with Steyn kicking a penalty for hands in the ruck to close the gap to 13-12.

The Bulls then surged into the lead in the 44th minute when, after a period of driving play by the forwards, flank CJ Stander burst clear and offloaded to loosehead prop Dean Greyling, who threw an outrageous dummy before charging to the tryline. Steyn converted to give the three-time champions a 19-13 lead.

Replacement centre Tom Taylor and Steyn exchanged penalties before the Bulls opened up a 32-16 lead with nine minutes remaining thanks to another penalty by Steyn and a try by centre Wynand Olivier, who was able to dot down the bouncing ball in the in-goal area after Dagg had failed to clear a Steyn chip-through, trying to kick the ball instead of falling on it.

The desperate Crusaders held sway in the last seven minutes as wing Sean Maitland’s weaving run pulled apart the Bulls’ defence and his fellow wing Zac Guildford showed good hands to take the try-scoring pass. Carter’s conversion closed the gap to 23-32.

Steyn then missed a penalty and Taylor had a try disallowed due to obstruction by Carter, but it had little influence as replacement fullback Tom Marshall burst through to score for the Crusaders immediately afterwards.

Carter converted but was left to rue his 64th-minute penalty miss from the middle of the field.

The Bulls defended stoutly in the closing moments to hold off the seven-time champions and record their fourth victory in six games, which moves them to fourth on the overall standings, four points behind fellow-South African Conference members and early pace-setters, the Stormers.

The Crusaders’ losing bonus point takes them to 19 points, seventh overall and seven points behind New Zealand Conference leaders, the Waikato Chiefs, who are second overall.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Dean Greyling, Wynand Olivier. Conversions: Morne Steyn (2). Penalties: Steyn (6).

Crusaders – Tries: Kieran Read, Zac Guildford, Tom Marshall. Conversions: Dan Carter (3). Penalties: Carter, Tom Taylor. Drop goal: Carter.