Ken Borland

The charismatic leadership of Jean de Villiers makes him a certainty for South Africa’s starting line-up whenever he is fit, but Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s toughest selection decision for the Rugby Championship revolves around his captain’s position.

While the return of Victor Matfield and his stepping into the captaincy while De Villiers was injured during the incoming tours certainly did not curdle the Springboks’ play nor team cohesion, Meyer made it clear on Monday that the Stormers man would return for the Rugby Championship.

But factors beyond Meyer’s control have dished up a selection quandary for the Springbok coach.

In the absence of the unavailable JP Pietersen and Frans Steyn, the injured Jaque Fourie and the out-of-form JJ Engelbrecht, there is a dearth of outside centres in the squad.

But the specialist centres who have been named – De Villiers, Jan Serfontein and new cap Damian de Allende – are all more comfortable in the number 12 jersey.

So who should play in the number 13 top? Serfontein was outstanding at inside centre during the incoming tours, while De Villiers has played outside centre several times for the Springboks. De Allende has all the attributes of a top international midfielder, but no experience at that level.

“We’ll certainly look at Jean at number 13, although I believe 12 is his best position,” Meyer said on Monday.

“Jan Serfontein was superb at inside centre during the incoming tours, while Damian de Allende has only played 13 at school. Damian can be a brilliant centre at international level, but we need to find the right position for him.

“I just know that when Jean played 13 outside Frans Steyn, although there were a few factors involved, we didn’t score many tries. I love Jean at 12 because of the way he organises play, he was probably the best inside centre in the world last year. He can crash the ball up, but he’s also got unbelievable hands and I prefer a number 12 who can move the ball and create space on the outside.

“We can’t just crash the ball up now in midfield because all the sides have big centres and I always want to get that width and get around teams on the outside. Jean is big and strong and he has unbelievable hands, but those three haven’t played much together,” Meyer explained.

But there are no guarantees yet that either De Villiers or De Allende are actually ready for Test rugby, having spent several weeks on the sidelines with injuries.

The Springboks began their camp in Johannesburg on Monday with medical examinations and, while the results of these are only likely to be known on Tuesday, Meyer admitted that there was some concern over the pair of Stormers centres.

“The players are busy with their medicals and a lot of them haven’t played for some time. Obviously Jean is a concern because although he has been training with Western Province, he hasn’t had any contact yet.

“The feedback we’ve had from Cape Town is that Damian has done well in training, but usually the problems only come out once we begin training.

“There are also guys like Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Beast and Pat Lambie who we just want to manage properly,” Meyer said.

The match readiness of Etzebeth will also decide the other main selection issue, which is the second row.

While Matfield has no real challengers for the number five jersey, who will play alongside him? Does Meyer opt for the experience of Bakkies Botha or the in-form Lood de Jager? Who then to put on the bench – Botha, Etzebeth or De Jager?

Meyer said the focus of this year’s Rugby Championship campaign will be the acquisition of the bonus points that were the major factor in 2013’s competition.

The fact that the Springboks had to chase the bonus point win in their last match against New Zealand – thereby ensuring the sort of open game the All Blacks love – was absolutely crucial in the final outcome.

“I think this year’s Rugby Championship will be the most difficult of the lot, historically the third year has been the most difficult for the Springbok coach.

“I think it’s going to come down to bonus points and if we don’t get bonus points against Argentina, like Australia and New Zealand did last year, and away from home if you don’t win, then we’re going to be under pressure to win both our games at home again. You must get bonus points to win this competition!

“We scored the most tries in world rugby last year, so we need to catch up to that momentum very quickly. I want to play total rugby, I want to play 15-man rugby, but our tactical kicking also really needs to improve. That was one of our downfalls last year, while New Zealand and Australia both had nines and 10s using tactical kicks,” Meyer said.

The absence of the injured Fourie du Preez is the major stumbling block to Meyer’s plans.

“Losing Fourie is an unbelievable setback, his tactical kicking is the biggest thing we’ll miss, but he is also the master on attack. He always picks up the right runners and last year we had a huge evolution in our attack in that we did it out of our own 22. Fourie is just an amazing tactical general,” the coach said.

“I want our scrumhalf to play more to the ball, to give the backline quick ball. We have a lot of scrumhalves in South Africa who are snipers and can score great individual tries, which is what the public sees, but we need a nine who can clean out quickly and give quality ball because we’re interested in team tries.”

The experienced Ruan Pienaar is probably the closest to Du Preez’s all-round skill set, with the utility talents of Francois Hougaard probably earning him a place on the bench.

The Sharks’ dismal SuperRugby semi-final performance – and the inaccuracy of the kicking by halfbacks Cobus Reinach and Lambie – is probably going to count against their chances of playing in the tournament opener against Argentina at Loftus Versfeld on August 16.

Theunis de Bruyn, the Assupol Tuks captain, set the opening day of the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals in London alight as his magnificent unbeaten century carried his team to the most emphatic of victories on the first day of the competition yesterday.

De Bruyn plundered a 49-ball century as Tuks, who had won the toss, slammed 205 for four in the T20 match against the University of Liberal Arts, the Bangladesh representatives in the Varsity World Cup.

The Tuks openers, Aiden Markram (22) and Gerry Pike (34), provided the stable foundation for De Bruyn to launch in the closing overs.

The 21-year-old finished on a phenomenal 137 not out off just 60 balls, with 12 fours and eight sixes, as he took 51 runs off the last three overs, including 24 off the final over bowled by medium-pacer Abdullah Imran.

Far from being wild hitting like a cur feeding frenzy, it was a clinical, ruthless display of batting by De Bruyn.

The Tuks bowlers then dished out a similarly efficient display as they restricted the University of Liberal Arts to 91 for seven, clinching a 114-run victory.

New-ball bowler Corbin Bosch (3-0-16-2) and lanky off-spinner Ruben Claassen (4-0-22-2) were the most successful bowlers, but everyone contributed. There were also wickets for seamer Johan Wessels and left-arm spinner David Mogotlane, but none of the eight bowlers used conceded more than six-an-over.

Tuks play England’s Leeds Bradford MCC today, before finishing their round-robin against Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association on Wednesday.

The West Indians won a low-scoring encounter against Leeds Bradford yesterday, so the hosts are bound to come out firing against Tuks today.

South Africa U19 captain and Big Sports Management client Aiden Markram is on his way to England with the Assupol Tuks team for the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals, effectively his second World Cup of the year.

Markram was the player of the tournament when he led South Africa to victory in the ICC Junior Wold Cup in Dubai at the start of the year, and the University of Pretoria cricket team will also be relying on his powerful strokeplay at the top of the order as they represent the country in what amounts to a T20 Varsity World Cup.

“I’m happy with my form and I know how important it is to get the team off to a good start, whether that means posting a total on the board or chasing a target. But I’m not taking anything for granted, that’s the last thing you want to do, and I’m going to keep working hard. As a batsman, I have to get the runs on the board,” Markram said on the eve of his team’s departure for London for the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals which start on Monday.

Markram will be playing in England for the first time and said he will be relying heavily on the knowledge of Tuks coach Pierre de Bruyn, who spent 10 years as a professional in the United Kingdom, apart from also playing for the Titans and Dolphins in South African franchise cricket.

“It will be my first time in England, but I’m fortunate to have coach Pierre and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I believe the ball does a lot at the start of the innings, but I’ve prepared as best as I could. We know there’s going to be good opposition, so we must just stick to what we know and not take the opposition for granted,” Markram said.

Tuks, having won the national club championships for the last three years and beating SA A in two warm-up games in the last week, undoubtedly have their sights set on next Saturday’s Red Bull Campus Cricket final.

To get there, they have to finish in the top two of their group and then win a semi-final earlier on Saturday. The student champions from the United Kingdom, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the other competitors and the eight finalists will be split into two round-robin groups of four, with the draw only being done on Sunday evening.

The round-robin fixtures will be held at the picturesque Wormsley Cricket Club ground, on the Getty family estate and a venue where South African touring teams have played in the past, while the semi-finals and final will be held at the famous Oval, the scene of Hashim Amla’s historic 311 not out in 2012.

“As a team, we’ve played well and each person knows their role and how to execute that. We’re really confident and we trust the abilities of each other,” Markram said.

De Bruyn was more forthright when he said: “Some people don’t like pressure, but we want it, we thrive on it. We don’t pretend it’s not around and we’ve coached the players to deal with it. They make sure they find a way to perform under pressure and that plays a massive role, they have belief when they’re under the pump because they’ve overcome most pressure situations in the last three years.”

The coach said it was vital his team hit the ground running when the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals start on Monday.

“How we start is going to be crucial, there’s no room for us to start slowly, there’s no room for us to try and find our feet or get into an innings or a bowling spell. We have to be on the button from the first ball on Monday,” De Bruyn said.

India have dominated the previous two Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals – the inaugural event in 2012 was won by DAV College Chandigarh, while last year’s tournament was won by Rizvi College from Mumbai.

While Markram will set the tone up front with his broad bat, he will be backed by new Titans batting star Theunis de Bruyn, as well as exciting strokeplayers in Heinrich Klaasen, Sean Dickson and Johan Wessels.

The bowling will be led by Markram’s SA U19 team-mate Corbin Bosch, the man of the match in the Junior World Cup final, and left-armer Vincent Moore, backed by tidy seamers in De Bruyn, Wessels and Tian Koekemoer, and an array of spinning options – off-spinners Ruben Claasen and Markram, leg-spinner GC Pretorius and orthodox left-armer David Mogotlane.

“We’re going to be under pressure, we’re going to be tested, especially by the sub-continent teams because they have something different, like unorthodox spinners. But we’re a tight unit and this sort of environment is what we aspire to – I don’t think we could be better prepared, we’ve done the hard work and now we just need to express our skills with confidence,” captain Theunis de Bruyn said.

Participating teams: Leeds Bradford MCC (United Kingdom); University of New South Wales (Australia); University of Liberal Arts (Bangladesh); Rizvi College (India); Karachi University (Pakistan); University of Pretoria (South Africa);International College of Business and Technology (Sri Lanka); Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association (West Indies).

Tuks squad: Theunis de Bruyn, Heinrich Klaasen, Sean Dickson, Gerry Pike, Aiden Markram, Corbin Bosch, David Mogotlane, Tian Koekemoer, Vincent Moore, Nsovo Baloyi, GC Pretorius, Ruben Claassen, Johan Wessels.

– http://www.bigsportsmanagement.co.za/NewsInterviews/tabid/591/itemid/1090/amid/4719/18-july-2014.aspx

Hashim Amla is a captain who commands huge respect around the globe and South Africa’s leadership will not be perceived as a weakness, according to Dolphins coach Lance Klusener.

Amla, despite being a reluctant captain in the past, will lead South Africa’s Test team on a daunting tour of Sri Lanka next month and Klusener, who knows the new skipper well from his time with the Dolphins, is optimistic that Graeme Smith’s successor will prosper in his new post.

“Hashim will bring a lot of calmness, he has a smart head on his shoulders and he’s fairly innovative, he’s not scared to try things.

“But most importantly, Hashim has a lot of respect internationally, which is important as a captain. It means the opposition don’t see the captain as a point of weakness,” Klusener said.

Hashim Amla - globally respected

While Amla’s previous captaincy experience – a season in charge of the Dolphins in 2004/5 in which he averaged 54.38 in the four-day competition, scoring three centuries, including a superb 249 in the final against the Central Eagles – provides a clue as to whether the extra responsibility will affect his batting, Klusener said this was the only remaining question to be answered.

“The biggest question is how it will affect his game because he’s been reluctant to lead in the past. It’s a small question but it’s the most important one because he needs to prove he can do both jobs together. Someone like Morne van Wyk [current Dolphins captain] lives for that and that’s what I’d like to see with Hashim, that he can handle both being a key batsman and the captain on the highest stage.”

One of Amla’s imminent tasks will be getting the right team balance for the first Test starting in Galle on July 16 and Klusener said there were warning bells in this regard.

“We’ve been caught out in the past playing two frontline spinners. I know it’s tough for quick bowlers over there, but that is our strength. Is playing two spinners our best attack? Sometimes even when the pitches are dusty, you should play four pacemen and rely on them to get swing.

“We must play our best attack – do you field two average spinners or two good seamers, remembering too that Sri Lankan batsmen play spin very well,” Klusener warned.

“If the pitches are turning then inconsistent bounce can also be a massive factor. I would like the other spot to go to someone who can bowl 140-145km/h and will get reverse swing and inconsistent bounce,” Klusener said.

Former SA allrounder Lance Klusener

It seems the national selectors are leaning towards JP Duminy being the second spinner, leaving South Africa with the option of playing a specialist batsman at number seven or four pacemen and leggie Imran Tahir.

Klusener, who played 49 Tests and 171 ODIs in a stellar career, added he was also concerned that South Africa now had several captains – Amla in Tests, AB de Villiers in ODIs and Faf du Plessis in T20s.

“We have three captains and I would prefer just one but there are obviously demands on the body and that person’s time. But it must be easier to keep a handle on things if there is just one or maybe two captains.

“The other players are left wondering ‘does this other captain back me, where do I fit in under him?’ It does create some instability.

“I only had one captain at a time and I think it worked great,” Klusener added.

Whatever question marks still remain about South Africa’s new era, one thing that is certain is that Amla will bring tremendous conviction to his new role as captain.