Ken Borland

Pieter-Steph du Toit

Q: How did it feel for the Springboks to be booed off the field at halftime?

PSdT: Well the first half was quite a shocker and being booed, well we fully deserved it. But we were 100% better in the second half and we showed what we can do. It’s difficult to describe the feeling when you get booed like that, but it made me a bit angry, I wanted to show that we are not that bad. If you play good rugby, then the crowd gets behind you.

Q: What went wrong in the first half?

PSdT: Us players were all on the field, but we just weren’t playing, we had no energy, we all just seemed a bit tired. I do not know why that happened in the first half, I have no explanation at the moment, except that our game plan was to work around the corner and we didn’t do that as the forwards.

Q: How did the Springboks manage to pull off such an amazing comeback?

PSdT: Eben Etzebeth and I spoke about it and we never doubted that we could win, and if you believe it then you can do it. There was a mindshift – we knew we had to win, so we had to lift our game to a different level and the changes helped too, a guy like Ruan Combrinck was man of the match after playing just 40 minutes, so that’s quite an effort. We stuck to the game plan more, the forwards came into the game and we cut out the mistakes. We made a lot of errors in the first half, we didn’t keep the ball, and Allister Coetzee and Adriaan Strauss spoke to us about that and said if this was our last Test for South Africa, how would we play? Of course they were upset.

Warren Whiteley

Q: How satisfying was that second-half comeback and how did you pull it off?

WW: We’re delighted with the win and the character we showed. We definitely felt the momentum swing early in the second half and that gave us a chance. We got quick ball and we were hitting the advantage line and so creating space out wide. We managed to keep that width, make holes in the middle and earn the right to go wide. It means a lot because we were extremely disappointed after the first half, but we showed our character in the second half, which is definitely going to be a massive confidence boost.

Q: Did you feel extra pressure coming on straight after halftime in front of your home crowd with the Springboks in a hole, and do you think you’ve secured a starting place now?

WW: Every time I step on to the field it’s a privilege and I try to make sure I use every opportunity. I didn’t feel any extra pressure, but I was highly motivated to make a difference. No, I don’t think I can talk about starting places because there are a lot of very talented loose forwards in the squad – Jaco Kriel hasn’t even played a game yet and there’s a guy like Sikhumbuzo Notshe also waiting in the wings.

Q: There’s been plenty of talk already about the win being down to all the members of the Lions team you captain who were on the field in the second half … is that why the Springboks won the game?

WW: There’s no way it was the Lions team who won the game, collectively we worked together on the game plan and the style of rugby we wanted to play. The first week together was tough, we did lots of work but lost, and this week was tough too. But slowly and surely we’re getting into our rhythm, we’re still reading and learning about each other. This was only my fifth Test, I’ve never had to link with Damian de Allende before, I’ve never scrummed behind Pieter-Steph du Toit before, so I’m still learning how to play with them.

The announcement of South Africa’s team for the golf component of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro is now a month away and the lack of major interest is palpable for a sport that should give the country a chance of a precious medal.

The legendary Gary Player is the captain of South Africa’s team but the two-man outfit will be chosen purely on the basis of the world rankings on July 11. Because Branden Grace is the only available South African in the top-15, we will only be able to send two players.

The great pity is that Louis Oosthuizen, currently 14^th, has withdrawn from Olympic contention, so the prospect of sending a third player in Charl Schwartzel and maybe even a fourth in Jaco van Zyl, falls away. Only countries with more than two players in the top-15 are allowed to send bigger teams.

Schwartzel has also made himself unavailable, joining the Australian Adam Scott in snubbing the Olympics.

Golf was always going to be a tough fit for an event based on such classical ideals as amateurism. Today’s top golfers care mostly about the paycheque and winning Majors, that’s what really counts for them.

But instead of harping on about why the sport shouldn’t be at the Olympic Games, here are a couple of suggestions that could make a gold medal more attractive to golfers.

Firstly, it’s going to take time.

Tennis only returned to the Olympics in 1988 and initially there seemed to be similar problems to what golf is experiencing. But now Novak Djokovic is going all out to win that gold medal and a small thing like the Zika Virus is not going to keep him away.

Roger Federer is going to play singles, doubles and mixed doubles for Switzerland, while Rafael Nadal has been given the honour of carrying Spain’s flag into the Maracana Stadium.

Secondly, to make it more enticing for golfers, why not make it into a team competition, rather than an individual strokeplay? We’ve seen what the Ryder Cup does to them, it’s one of the highlights of any European or American golfer’s career.

How about bringing an amateur component into the competition, teaming a country’s top two amateurs with their top two pros?

Or what about making the golf a mixed team competition?

One gets the feeling that the Olympic Games might be struggling to remain as one of the most important sporting events, hence their decision to extend invitations to global sports like golf and rugby, but they have to get the format right if these events are going to add to the spectacle and not detract from it.

Springbok loosehead prop Trevor Nyakane will get the chance to prove he can also be a top-class tighthead when he starts in the number three jersey for the Vodacom Bulls in their SuperRugby match against the Hurricanes at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

With Marcel van der Merwe already out with a hamstring strain and Werner Kruger suffering a serious ankle injury last weekend in the rout up front against the Stormers, the Bulls are facing something of a crisis in the tighthead position, but coach Frans Ludeke believes Nyakane can do a job there, even though he will be up against a seasoned All Black in Ben Franks.

“Trevor has really improved at tighthead, he has played Tests there, and we ended strongly in the scrums against the Stormers with him there. This selection reflects that and we are still positive and excited about what we can do in the scrums,” Ludeke said at the team announcement on Tuesday.

Morne Mellet will start at loosehead prop, while Dean Greyling is back on the bench after recovering from a foot injury. The reserve tighthead is Dayan van der Westhuizen, an SA U20 prop, but there seems to be a reluctance to use him as he was left on the bench for the whole of the Stormers game despite the obvious problems the Bulls were having in the scrums.

Ludeke confirmed that the Bulls were looking to acquire an experienced tighthead as back-up, which is probably wise given the obvious lack of faith in Van der Westhuizen.

The one unenforced change to the team comes at fullback where Jesse Kriel replaces Jurgen Visser. Ludeke said Kriel would be a better choice against the Hurricanes because “we think the ball will be in play a lot”, but confidentiality and a wish to protect Visser probably prevented the coach from saying the change was made because of the simple kick ahead that Visser dropped in the first half, leading to the Stormers’ first try and a dramatic change in the momentum of the game.

A third change to the side is enforced by the pectoral muscle injury to eighthman Arno Botha. He will be replaced by captain Pierre Spies, with both the player and management in agreement that he is ready for a full return to action after doing well off the bench against the Stormers.

“The way Pierre carried the ball, it was like the old Pierre Spies. He had a huge impact and we are very satisfied that he’s back to full fitness,” Ludeke said.

Spies’s place on the bench will be taken by young Hanro Liebenberg, who everyone agrees is destined for greater things.

Bulls team: 15-Jesse Kriel, 14-Bjorn Basson, 13-JJ Engelbrecht, 12-Jan Serfontein, 11-Francois Hougaard, 10-Handre Pollard, 9-Piet van Zyl, 8-Pierre Spies, 7-Lappies Labuschagne, 6-Deon Stegmann, 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Jacques du Plessis, 3-Trevor Nyakane, 2-Adriaan Strauss, 1-Morne Mellet. Reserves – 16-Callie Visagie, 17-Dean Greyling, 18-Grant Hattingh, 19-Hanro Liebenberg, 20-Rudy Paige, 21-Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 22-Jurgen Visser, 23-Dayan van der Westhuizen.

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For Albie Morkel, taking over the captaincy of the Titans’ limited-overs teams is a chance for him to provide the sort of encouraging, fear-free environment that he himself missed out on in so many changerooms during a career that has seen the all-rounder play for a dozen different sides.

The 34-year-old has played the second most T20 cricket out of anyone in the world with 271 matches (West Indian Kieron Pollard leads the way with 290 games), but apart from bringing plenty of tactical knowledge out on the field, Morkel also believes it is vital to make a difference in the changeroom.

“Captaincy is a new challenge and something I haven’t done since school, but I feel I’m ready. I’ve seen most things in cricket and I have lots of experience to fall back on, but I want to add my own flavour to the job as well. It’s about what happens off the field as well, as captain having an open-door policy. It’s about how to get the best out of the players, knowing them outside cricket, what makes them tick.

“There’s a lot of talk at the moment about the New Zealand way – being more aggressive, taking wickets – and with the squad we have we can play that sort of cricket. But the big challenge is to get the player buy-in. They can’t be scared that they’re playing for their place, they need to play with freedom and I will encourage them to do that,” Morkel told The Citizen.

Bitter experience has been  a good teacher for the hard-hitting seam bowler in this regard.

“I always felt when I was with the national team, rightly or wrongly, that I was playing under pressure and I didn’t necessarily have the backing, except when Mickey Arthur was coach and that’s when I played my best cricket for South Africa. I wrote a lot of thoughts down about what I didn’t like as a cricketer and I believe 90% of it applies to all players, we have the same worries and fears. I want to make them comfortable, eradicate the problems.

“Things like announcing the starting team two days before. Not knowing an hour before the game whether you’re playing or not just breaks you. I want to bring clarity, build trust with the players and be honest. In our environment, that’s the only way to get respect,” Morkel said.

The major benefit for the Titans is that it ensures Morkel, their match-winner in the Momentum One-Day Cup final last season, will be at the centre of the limited-overs campaigns next season, rather than on the periphery as he has been for various reasons in recent seasons.

“I don’t see myself playing international cricket anymore, so I want to put everything back into the Titans for the next couple of years,” Morkel said.