Ken Borland

The surprise selection of the exciting Aphelele Fassi on the wing for the first Test against Georgia, making his debut alongside another uncapped wing in the hot-stepping Rosko Specman, does not advertise the Springboks’ intent to necessarily play expansive, attacking rugby, but is rather down to Covid leaving them with no other choice.

While Sbu Nkosi’s positive Covid test was announced at the start of the week, what wasn’t revealed is that his Sharks team-mates Makazole Mapimpi and Lukhanyo Am are isolating as well because they were close contacts, while the France-based Cheslin Kolbe only arrived in camp at the weekend.

The only other wing available in the squad is another Sharks player, Yaw Penxe. But although regular fullback Fassi is younger than Penxe, he has more experience of top-level franchise rugby and has played occasionally on the wing for the Sharks.

“We’ve had a few Covid issues, Lukhanyo and Makazole were deemed to be close contacts after we originally selected the team on Saturday. That’s why Fassi and Jesse Kriel have had to come into the mix. Aphelele is very talented, he has a massive skill set. We know he is predominantly a fullback, but he has slotted in beautifully on the wing.

“Rosko is a livewire who brings lots of energy but he is fully professional. They have both trained really well and will bring x-factor and lots of spice, and they have good guidance around them in Willie le Roux, Handre Pollard and Jesse Kriel, which is important. Hopefully the debutants can express the skills that make them unique on the day,” Nienaber said on Tuesday.

While the Springbok back three all have the ability to score that peach of a try that is like sweet nectar for rugby lovers, Nienaber knows the forwards will have to smooth their way up front first against a physically-imposing Georgian team. The Springboks have a pack with players like Bongi Mbonambi, Eben Etzebeth and Pieter-Steph du Toit that know how to get under the opposition’s skin.

And then there’s Jasper Wiese, the massively impactful Leicester Tigers eighthman who will come off the bench for his debut.

“We’ve followed Jasper closely, he’s outstanding at getting and stopping momentum, he basically knocked the door down for selection. Georgia are ranked No.12 for a reason, we’ve done our homework on them.

“In the Autumn Nations Cup their game against Wales was close for 75 minutes. So we need to work hard to get a foothold in the Test. Georgia are very good in the tight phases – scrums, mauls, lineouts and ball-carries,” Nienaber said.

Springbok team: Willie le Roux, Rosko Specman, Jesse Kriel, Francois Steyn, Aphelele Fassi, Handré Pollard, Cobus Reinach, Kwagga Smith, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Trevor Nyakane, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nché. Bench – Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Marvin Orie, Jasper Wiese, Herschel Jantjies, Elton Jantjies, Damian Willemse.

Garreth Ewing has enjoyed an excellent trophy-winning run at both provincial and club level, making him an obvious choice as national men’s coach and now he faces his greatest challenge as he takes the South African team to the Olympic Games.

Ewing first made his name as the coach of the dominant University of Johannesburg side and stints as coach of both the Southern Gauteng men’s and women’s teams brought success at that level too. Parallel to that, Ewing has been involved at national level since 2004, as a selector, video analyst, team manager, high-performance trainer and assistant coach. Some of his most notable work, however, has been with the SA U21 side, taking them to an IPT final for the first time and securing an outstanding 10^th-place finish in the 2016 Junior World Cup in India.

And now he is the head coach of the senior men’s side, preparing for the Olympic Games. And probably no-one could have more knowledge than Ewing of all the steps in the pipeline, and all the players who have made that journey, as South Africa look to shine in Tokyo.

The Olympics will be a formidable challenge though as they are grouped with world champions Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada in Pool B. But Ewing reckons some of his best work has been done under immense pressure.

“I’m very lucky to have learnt so much from all those different roles, it’s a huge advantage and I’ve coached a lot at provincial level, at every age-group and for both genders. When I first started, I was a bit hard-arsed and focused on results. But I’ve shifted more towards getting the process right, getting the players to perform at the right times, like in knockout games. I think I’m quite good at that, I think I’m calm under pressure and that would be my greatest strength. When there’s turmoil inside, it’s important how you communicate with the players.

“If you’re going to the Olympics, you expect it to be daunting, and all of our opponents, except for Canada, are ranked in the top six for good reason. Canada are in the top-10 and have earned that. But if we were in the other pool [Australia, Argentina, India, Spain, New Zealand & Japan] it would be exactly the same. The teams we are playing against have styles that we are familiar with though, so that may be an advantage,” Ewing says.

Although Ewing self-deprecatingly says he was always “the worst player in quite good teams”, he played Premier League hockey for many years for both Randburg and RAU. But he was never a sleeper when it came to the desire to coach; that yearning first began when he was at Randpark High School.

Which is where his nickname of “Springdog” originates.

“It goes all the way back to high school. We were playing at Springs Boys High and I managed to singlehandedly bugger up a whole game, which knocked us out of a tournament. It’s a helluva long drive on a bus from Springs back to Randburg and the team called me ‘Springsdog’ all the way back and it stuck.

“But I was very influenced by Garth Neilson [a leading figure in both education and coaching] and so I became a student coach to earn some pocket money. I started to take it a bit more seriously when I got to Varsity and was playing first team for RAU. And then I was very involved for a very long time at UJ – from 1999 to 2019. The set-up there was so good and we had extremely strong players, so my profile increased.

“I did enjoy playing but I liked coaching more and I can remember the turning point came when I was double-booked – I had league games as both a player and a coach at the same time, and the decision was pretty simple. I haven’t picked up a hockey stick in anger in a long time,” Ewing said.

Just a look at the prices of hockey sticks these days will give an idea of the challenges facing South Africa’s largely amateur set-up in taking on fully professional teams on the international stage. Without much official backing from either SA Hockey or Sascoc, they had to resort to crowdfunding to raise the R3.5 million required to prepare and go to Tokyo.

But a wonderful new relationship forged with the award-winning digital brand specialists Matchkit.co has proven very fruitful and Ewing believes it points to the way forward for South African hockey.

“Matchkit have been a really good partner. The money raised is a drop in the ocean compared to what we need to remain competitive going forward, but the short-term opportunities have been very favourable and it’s very encouraging. I don’t think we have put enough value in PR, and working with those professionals has been really refreshing,” Ewing says.

The lack of proper marketing of the national hockey teams bugs the keen cyclist and golfer because he worked in public relations before he became a full-time coach.

And it is not the national team that pays his salary either. Like many other hockey coaches, Ewing has had to go back to school to earn a living.

“Since I was around 30 I’ve really tried to do fulltime coaching as much as possible and I’m very privileged to work in a wonderful sports department at St John’s College. That gives me the flexibility to work at national level.

Before that I was fortunate to have two stints overseas. The first was as a player/coach in the UK at Holcombe. I wasn’t really ready then but I learnt from my mistakes. Then I took a post for a year at the University of North Carolina, before spending two years at North-Eastern University in Boston. They had very strong operations environments, big budgets and extremely hard-working athletes.”

The two things Ewing wishes South African hockey could have in the near future are for the national teams to spend more time together and for club hockey to become more professional.

“An element of centralisation would allow for more time together as a national team. Even three months spread out through the year would be a help, it would make such a difference from a high-performance point of view.

“I would also love to see our club leagues become more professional and serious. Our top clubs nationally should be a bit more aware of the big world out there that their top players will be facing. I love the social aspect of hockey, that’s a huge part of the game, but performance is not taken seriously enough.

“We don’t train enough, we get away with practice twice a week and we don’t do any conditioning work. I don’t want to lose the social side of hockey, but we also need to focus more on high-performance,” Ewing says.

Not that he believes his Proteas minnows are going to be squashed like bugs in Tokyo.

“There was really intense competition for places in the squad and I’m very optimistic that we have a good core of players. There are definitely enough young guys who can go to the next Olympics and probably the next one after that as well, plus a core of experienced players who have been consistent. It’s a pretty balanced squad.

“When I committed to high-performance coaching, I decided I wanted to go to the Olympics, so it’s a personal milestone for me. As a professional you always want to test yourself against the very best, so the Olympics and the World Cup are that.

“So it’s a big thing for me but it’s not about me. I’m very humbled to have the opportunity and I’m very aware of the significance and how important it is for the players. So I feel a lot of responsibility on my shoulders,” Ewing said.

You will not find a more determined person than new Proteas limited-overs captain Temba Bavuma, whose history of overcoming challenges has shaped his character and makes him the ideal choice to inspire the national cricket team to rise above their own testing circumstances at the moment.

Watching Bavuma lead his troops, ultimately to a 2-1 series defeat against Pakistan in the ODI matches that were his first appointment, determination oozes from every inch of that 5’3 frame. Leadership comes naturally to the 30-year-old and even in the most trying times of that series, Bavuma remained calm and seemed in control.

Such composure is indicative of the many testing times Bavuma has had to come through to become captain of his country.

Like most South African youngsters, as soon as Bavuma could walk, he was outside in the sun playing sport. But his arenas were not verdant lawns or spacious parks as many of his Proteas team-mates would have enjoyed, but rather the run-down streets of Langa, the Cape Town township whose name means “sun” in Xhosa. It was named after the folk hero, Chief Langalibalele, one of the earliest prisoners on Robben Island because he defied the British rulers in Natal.

Bavuma’s family were passionate about cricket and, whether it was his uncles, grandmother or parents, he had plenty of people willing to throw him balls after he first picked up a bat. His real mettle was shown though when he graduated to joining the other youngsters playing street cricket.

The small boy soon caught the eye as he took on teenagers much older than him and who were disinclined to show him any mercy on the shabby, potholed roads of Langa in the late 1990s. Thus was born one of the best techniques in the country, as well as the courage and determination that are Bavuma’s hallmarks.

His parents then showed bravery of their own as they made enormous financial sacrifices so that Bavuma, whose talent was clear, could attend South African College Junior School (SACS) at the foot of Table Mountain.

The talent was polished by the excellent coaching at SACS and, by the time he went to the big city of Johannesburg and enrolled at St David’s Marist in Inanda, he was already considered a player of enough promise to warrant a scholarship.

He spent his holidays playing for Soweto Cricket Club, where he was guided by Geoff Toyana, who would go on to become the first Black African coach to win trophies at franchise level.

“Temba was always small and people would underestimate him. He had to prove himself time and time again for whatever team he played for, but he just has this enormous drive and will to do well. That’s his biggest characteristic, but he has lots of skill as well,” Toyana told Saturday Citizen.

Having played for Gauteng Schools in 2007 and 2008, making the SA Schools team in the latter year, he made his first-class debut for Gauteng, scoring 32 in the second innings, when he was still 18 years old and before he went to study at the University of Johannesburg.

From there his career has followed the well-travelled road to success – dominating at franchise level for the Highveld Lions, becoming a Protea, scoring that memorable Test century at Newlands and now, having been dropped not that long ago, he is captain.

But it is vital that the influence of both the Langa and Soweto cricket clubs are not forgotten in Bavuma’s inspirational tale. He himself requested, upon his appointment as captain, that in the midst of all the celebrations of the first Black African skipper of the Proteas being announced, that people do not forget the journey that brought him to that place.

Bavuma knows the significance of being a symbol and the importance of his legacy, but he also stresses the importance of looking after the same grassroots that he sprang from.

And he also wants to be known as a fine cricketer, who helped the national team win many games, and not just the first Black African captain. Beating the odds and convincing people of how good he is are things Bavuma has done before, and revitalising a team as captain is also something he has done before – with the Highveld Lions.

“Temba was the most successful franchise captain over the last three years, he has a proven record that no-one can dispute. He inherited a strong squad at the Lions but we hadn’t won anything. Under him we won five out of eight possible trophies which you can’t argue with. He created a winning culture very quickly at the Lions,” Nicky van den Bergh, his vie-captain at the franchise, said.