Ken Borland

Bleak Bulls coach Jake White did not care much to discuss the nitty-gritty of the match but rather made thinly-veiled digs at referee Andrew Brace following his side’s 18-13 loss to the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship final in Cape Town.

While it was a game in which the bounce of the ball probably did not go the Bulls way, they were also penalised nine times compared to the five of the Stormers. But the home team also dominated in terms of territory (54%) and possession (55%) and, in terms of the scoreboard, the ultimate difference was that they scored two tries to one.

The Bulls also paid for not making more of their early dominance, only scoring seven points in the first half.

“We should have been up more at halftime but there were certain things that we just couldn’t control,” White said. “The referee can only blow what he sees and I thought the referee was outstanding, he saw what he saw.

“There were a lot of things we couldn’t control and you’re never going to be able to. It hurts, it really hurts, those little things. You can’t argue with the referee.

“Right before halftime, they were in our half once and they got a penalty for offsides. We were in their half six times and we did not get any penalties.

“I thought Deon Fourie and Steven Kitshoff were outstanding at the breakdown, but I don’t want to be seen as a whinger but a couple of times they went for the ball, missed, go back again and get rewarded. You can’t control that,” White fumed.

To make the 58-year-old’s mood even worse, the Bulls have also been knocked out of his beloved Currie Cup at the semi-final stage, losing 30-19 to Griquas.

“There are no positives, we lost twice in one weekend, which is the most we’ve suffered in a long time,” White said. “Other teams treated the Currie Cup as a development project, we’re going to have to do the same.

“The Stormers just kept building pressure and the game was never going to go away from them. The longer that pressure went on, the more things we couldn’t control and the game got away from us.

“We were never going to win this game,” White said.

It is often said that rugby teams don’t care how they win, but knowing coach Sean Everitt’s philosophy, the Sharks will be disappointed in their performance even though they beat the Free State Cheetahs 38-31 in their Currie Cup match at Kings Park on Sunday.

The Sharks produced a messy first-half showing but still managed to go into the break 19-18 up. They then received what should have been an enormous boost when Cheetahs flank Jacques Potgieter was red-carded for a shoulder to the head of hooker Dylan Richardson in a rash tackle.

But they just could not stamp their mark on their game due mostly to their own dreadful ill-discipline, but also a failure to do the hard yards first before trying to play fancy rugby. They also lost the territory battle and tried to do too much in their own half.

And so, when the final 10 minutes arrived, the Sharks only had a 38-26 lead when disaster struck them and flank Henco Venter and lock Emile van Heerden were both yellow-carded in the space of a minute as the Cheetahs piled on the pressure and referee Stuart Berry tired of repeated infringements.

The short-handed defence did their best but eventually cracked in the 79^th minute when Robert Ebersohn, back in Free State colours for the first time in eight years, went over for a try in the corner. Replacement flyhalf Reinhardt Fortuin missed the tricky conversion and substitute flank James Venter then won the crucial turnover in injury time to ensure the Sharks finished in front.

The Sharks had moved into a 26-18 lead straight after Potgieter’s red card as centres Marius Louw and Jeremy Ward broke through in midfield, with scrumhalf Cameron Wright on hand to round off the try, and then went 33-21 up when hooker Kerron van Vuuren went over for the second time in a lineout drive.

Another moment of ill-discipline – this time a tip-tackle by replacement lock Jeandre Labuschagne straight after he came on the field – led to a try for Cheetahs substitute prop Cameron Dawson, but the Sharks struck back when Louw’s excellent kick into the Cheetahs’ in-goal area was chased down by wing Thaakir Abrahams.

They then spent most of the rest of the match clinging on by their fingertips in their own half.

The Cheetahs have conceded plenty of points in recent weeks and, having dominated the first half, two moments of poor defence cost them two tries and the lead. The first came in the 12^th minute when they left a big gap next to a maul and Wright was able to burst clear before passing a long pass out wide to Abrahams, who showed his searing pace to score.

Then, on the half-hour, Henco Venter was able to pick up at the base of a scrum and make it almost to the tryline without being challenged, then crashing through two tackles to score.

The Sharks will find themselves up against much tougher and more clinical opposition as the Currie Cup heads to a finish in the coming weeks and will have to regain their focus.

Scorers

Sharks – Tries: Thaakir Abrahams (2), Kerron van Vuuren (2), Henco Venter, Cameron Wright. Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (3), Lionel Cronje.

Free State Cheetahs – Tries: Evardi Boshoff, Craig Barry, Cameron Dawson, Robert Ebersohn. Conversion: Brandon Thomson. Penalties: Thomson (3).

Judging by the summary of the Fundudzi Forensic Report released by Cricket South Africa on Monday, it would seem dismissed CEO Thabang Moroe failed “to act with the degree of care, skill and diligence that may reasonably be expected” on an almost daily basis and the report exposes just how shambolic the running of the game had become under his watch and that of the Board.

The Fundudzi Report was commissioned, according to non-independent director John Mogodi in his presentation on Monday, to “investigate various governance issues, lapses in CSA controls and governance oversights” between January 2016 and December 2019. And it uncovered an extensive list of actions and inactions that justified disciplinary measures against Moroe.

But certain other staff members, most notably former chief operating officer Naasei Appiah, who was dismissed in mid-August, are also implicated in misgovernance and the Board itself is accused of dereliction of their fiduciary duties.

Moroe, however, is mentioned a dozen times: for contravening the CSA Code of Conduct when he revoked five journalists’ media accreditation, his failure to ensure the South African Cricketers’ Association were paid their image rights timeously which amounted to treating the players’ union with disdain and causing CSA to suffer reputational damage; several instances where he failed to follow procurement protocols and did not act in the best interests of CSA; misleading the Board when it came to exercising their step-in rights with the Western Province Cricket Association, and in failing to ensure due diligence was done in signing Global Sports Commerce for the Mzansi Super League; excessive credit card expenditure and the irregular appointment of a consultant who was not qualified for the post as head of human resources.

The fact that the CSA Board were so easily misled by Moroe and others will tickle those who have long stated that many of the directors are not fit for office.

Former independent director Mohamed Iqbal Khan and current acting president Beresford Williams were both accused of contravening the Companies Act due to a conflict of interest surrounding FinCom’s decision to make loans to the Western Province Cricket Association.

The Board also approved the agreement with GSC despite never being shown the due diligence report they had previously insisted on and GSC’s failure to provide a bank guarantee. Only 8% of the R169 million the Board has approved in loans to their affiliates for stadium upgrades has been paid back since May 2017, with several of the provincial presidents that benefit from the loans sitting on the CSA Board.

Fundudzi also found that CSA have had no effective internal audit unit for the last four years and the extension of Khan and Dawn Mokhobo’s terms as independent directors last year contravened their own Memorandum of Incorporation.

Mogodi said CSA’s lawyers, Bowmans Gilfillan, had recommended disciplinary processes against other employees of CSA and that although it was still early days in terms of those investigations, “we have already taken action on many findings and the Board are determined to act without fear or favour. We will not tolerate fraud, corruption or mismanagement”.

Fundudzi recommended criminal charges be laid in respect of the Service Provider X deal which saw Moroe and Appiah, without following the correct procurement processes, approve payment of nearly R3.5 million for services that have not been delivered.

Retief Goosen decided in 2012 that he didn’t care if he never played golf again.

It was a decision based not on any hatred for the game, but on the debilitating back injury that left him in constant pain due to a disintegrating disc in his lower back.

One of South Africa’s finest golfers and a two-time U.S. Open champion, Goosen went under the knife in August 2012, unsure if his stellar career was over.

This week Goosen was holding his own against the best golfers on the European Tour, flirting with the top-20, in the prestigious Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City, the penultimate event for the Race to Dubai order of merit. It is the first time he has played Africa’s Major since 2010, having won the event in 2004, and it is thanks to a sponsor’s invitation.

“Obviously it’s a great feeling to be back here, especially as a past champion, Sun City is one of my favourite golf courses in the world and they’ve taken this tournament to a different level.

“It’s an added bonus just to be here because I’m nowhere in the rankings, and when I got the call it was a big ‘Yes!’. Hopefully I can find some form, you never know, when you come back to somewhere you like, you tend to find some form.

“My health is very good though, the back is as good as it’s ever been. I wish I’d had the surgery much earlier. Having no pain is a major plus and everything about the back is better since the operation. I’m able to sleep again without any pain. At one stage I didn’t care if I never played golf again as long as I could get rid of the pain, I would have done anything to stop the constant pain,” Goosen said this week.

”It was impossible to go through 18 holes without getting spasms in the back and struggling to hit some shots on certain lies. At that stage, I pretty much felt like my career was over.”

Even though the titanium disc inserted in his back – he was the first professional golfer to undergo the procedure – has made him feel 10 years younger, Goosen says golf is now more of a pastime than a career for him.

“I’ve made my living so now I’m going to try and live life. Spend more time with Tracy and the kids (Leo and Ella), enjoy the things that I had to pass on before. Golf is definitely not the number one priority in my life anymore. My 48^th birthday is coming up in February and, although it was initially not easy cutting back, I’m now enjoying the few tournaments I do play, I’m not fighting myself so much.

“I’ve cut back my schedule, I’m definitely not playing 30 events a year. This year I’ll only play 16-18 tournaments and something similar next year. In a couple of years I’ll qualify for the Senior Tour and then who knows?” Goosen said.

The Polokwane product also owns a wine farm and a course-design business, as well as running a charitable foundation.

His wine estate, Ganzekraal, is the only wine farm in the Upper Langkloof district, located high in the Outeniqua mountain range, and is currently regarded as the coldest wine farm in the country. It is close to the coast and the cold sea breezes blow over the mountains and through the vineyards. The cold climate gives the grapes and his range of Goose wines unique characteristics.

The laconic Goosen is famous for his unflappable demeanour and, during his prime as one of the best golfers in the world in the early 2000s, he was much admired for the way he treated those twin imposters of success and failure with the same equanimity.

He has not won on the European Tour since 2007 and is winless in America since 2009, his world ranking having dropped to 189.

But Goosen remains a much-respected and admired golfer and his place in the record books as one of South Africa’s greatest is secure. He remains a drawcard and golf would be the poorer without him.

http://citizen.co.za/sport/sport-golf/1343430/goose-spreading-his-wings/