Ken Borland

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke hinted at the end of his side’s Vodacom SuperRugby campaign this weekend at Loftus Versfeld that he hopes the squad will be boosted by some “special players” for next year’s campaign.

The Bulls finished on a high by hammering the Rebels 40-7 to end in ninth place on the log, second in the South African Conference, beaten only by the playoffs-bound Sharks. But they are painfully aware that they were just one win short of joining the KwaZulu-Natalians in the knockout rounds.

Before restoring some pride against the Rebels, the Bulls suffered successive defeats to the Lions and Stormers, as well as being beaten by the Cheetahs earlier in the season.

“Although we enjoyed the way we finished, there were some vital games where we didn’t get the result we needed. But for one or two losses, we would have easily made the playoffs. But we haven’t played well enough away from home, it wasn’t good enough and there are no excuses.

“You need special performances to win away from home and the margins are small. We created some big moments and finishing those off is how you win. We have a good squad, some great players who will definitely get better.

“But we are obviously looking at some players. In 80% of the games, nine of the starting line-up had not played SuperRugby before this year. Special players make special things happen, but I think I must stop there,” Ludeke said after the match.

The point about acquiring some marquee players was rammed home, though, by captain Victor Matfield.

“To win this competition, you need two or three players that would make a World XV and five or six Springboks. We have youngsters who can become world-class and we finished within seven points of the Waratahs in Sydney so we’re not that far off,” Matfield said.

The Bulls, beset by the overseas exodus and poor recruitment, tackled this SuperRugby campaign with too many players that were merely of Currie Cup quality. Some of the youngsters are certainly developing rapidly, but the negotiations with Adriaan Strauss should solve a problem at hooker and the management really should be on the phone to a quality openside flank as well.

The areas of strength looking to the future are amongst the backs – the midfield, with Jan Serfontein and JJ Engelbrecht possibly the future Springbok centre pairing and the most exciting young flyhalf in the country in Handre Pollard.

Up front, so much still depends on Matfield and, with fellow lock Paul Willemse heading to France, prop Marcel van der Merwe and injured flank Jacques du Plessis are the only young forwards with genuine international aspirations.

The injury-enforced absence of experienced forwards such as Pierre Spies, Deon Stegmann, Dewald Potgieter, Flip van der Merwe and Arno Botha has also greatly hindered the Bulls.

“We’ve lost a lot of loose forwards this year and half-a-dozen of our players are still U21, so if they come through, we will do well,” Matfield said.

It was also encouraging to see Francois Hougaard shrug off a season of grief for him personally and start to look like his old exuberant self on the left wing, while the Bulls looked a slicker outfit on attack thanks to the service of Piet van Zyl at scrumhalf. Springbok considerations have obviously played a part in Ludeke’s selection at nine this year, but perhaps the Bulls will start 2015 as they ended the 2014 competition.

“The new combination worked well. Francois had a lot of energy and looked for work, he was always sniffing for gaps, and Piet van Zyl played very well too.

“Francois’ first choice is to play nine and Piet was unfortunately injured while we were on tour. Only time will tell, but it’s great to keep both involved and I think it was satisfying seasons for both,” Ludeke said.

If all the young talent can continue to grow and the senior players (boosted by a couple of acquisitions) can stay uninjured, then the time of grieving at Loftus Versfeld may be over very soon.

While the Proteas are in Sri Lanka, South Africa’s next tier of internationals – the SA A side – will be heading off to Australia soon and coach Vincent Barnes says one of his most important tasks will be to mentally prepare the up-and-coming players for a country in which character assassination seems as much of a goal as taking wickets or scoring runs.

The SA A squad play their first match in a triangular series with the Australian and Indian A sides on July 20 and are busy preparing for a tough tour at the CSA Centre of Excellence in Pretoria. Barnes will be able to take fully-fledged internationals such as captain Justin Ontong, Marchant de Lange, Beuran Hendricks, Rory Kleinveldt, Heino Kuhn, Farhaan Behardien, Aaron Phangiso and Vaughn van Jaarsveld in his party, but there are numerous younger players, several of whom have never been to Australia before.

“The tour is designed to give our fringe players top-quality opposition and it’s a fantastic opportunity to play in Australia even though it’s winter. There are four recent Proteas [Hendricks, Phangiso, Kleinveldt & Behardien], but it’s a nice blend with a lot of senior players and quite a few young debutants.

“I’m doing a lot of mental work with them because I want us to go across there with presence, our body language is important. The biggest challenge in Australia is mentally and quite a few of the guys are on their first tour there. They’re going to have to deal with those mental pressures and learn how to overcome them,” Barnes told The Pretoria News on Wednesday.

Warriors opening batsman David White and Highveld Lions pace bowler Kagiso Rabada are two of the rookies in the squad, but they are both excited by the learning opportunities they will have in Australia.

“It’s a great honour to be chosen for the A side, I feel very privileged and I’m very excited. I want to learn as much as I can so I can build on my game for the Warriors, after I put in some nice performances for them in four-day cricket last season. Obviously the goal is to play Test cricket for the Proteas, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

“I have huge respect for the guys I’m playing with, there are some great cricketers and I’m going to learn as much as possible from them. Especially Justin Ontong, because he’s been around the block and has a lot of information to share,” White said.

Rabada was shining for the SA U19 Junior World Cup-winning side at the start of the year and his selection in both the four-day and limited-overs squads completes a whirlwind six months for the St Stithians product.

“Everything has happened so quickly, I went straight into the franchise team from the U19s and now I’m playing for SA A. I hope to learn from it and become a better cricketer. If I just play my best then the other things will take care of themselves, but my main goal is to play for the Proteas and long-term to be one of the best fast bowlers in the world,” Rabada said.

Five members of last season’s SA A squad – Kyle Abbott, Stiaan van Zyl, Dean Elgar, Hendricks and Phangiso will be involved in the Proteas’ tour of Sri Lanka and Barnes is excited by the possibilities that lie ahead for this year’s intake.

“Having so many young players has been refreshing and they’ve brought a lot of freshness and energy to the squad,” Barnes said.

And let’s not forget that next year’s World Cup will be held in Australia and history suggests a player or two from this A squad could well be involved with the full national team by then. While the wintry conditions in the sub-tropical far north will be different to those experienced at the height of the 2014/15 summer, it will do them the world of good to acclimatise to the abrasive Australian way of playing the game and all the other off-field quirks over there.

SA A squads

Four-day squad: Justin Ontong, Temba Bavuma, Marchant de Lange, Simon Harmer, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Rory Kleinveldt, Heino Kuhn, Eddie Leie, Mangaliso Mosehle, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Hardus Viljoen, David White, Khaya Zondo.

Limited-overs squad: Justin Ontong, Farhaan Behardien, Cody Chetty, Marchant de Lange, Simon Harmer, Beuran Hendricks, Reeza Hendricks, Rory Kleinveldt, Heino Kuhn, Mangaliso Mosehle, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Mthokozisi Shezi, Vaughn van Jaarsveld.

Itinerary: July 20 v Australia National Performance Squad (Northline); July 22 v India A (Gardens Oval); July 24 v Australia A (Northline); July 26 v India A (Gardens Oval); July 29 v Australia A (Marrara); July 31 v Australia National Performance Squad (Gardens Oval); August 2 1v2, 3v4 (Northern Territory); August 7-10 v Australia A (Tony Ireland Stadium); August 14-17 v Australia A (Tony Ireland Stadium).

Man of the Match Warwick Tecklenburg scores under the poles having started the sweeping move with the turnover deep in the Lions’ half.

Turning a 14-17 deficit midway through the second half into a convincing 34-17 victory over the Melbourne Rebels was a “very satisfying” proof of the character in the Lions’ team, their coach Johan Ackermann said after their weekend Vodacom SuperRugby match at Ellis Park.

The Lions tore into the Rebels in the final quarter to score two more tries and notch a comfortable win in a match that had been closely-contested until that point. Although the Lions were frustrated not to get the bonus point for four tries, their sixth win of the campaign (their most since the Cats were dissolved at the end of 2005) means they go into the final round of fixtures in 13th position.

They take on the 14th-placed Cheetahs, who are just two points behind them, but the Lions cannot finish last on the log unless the Rebels claim an unlikely bonus point victory over the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.

“”We don’t want to be lying 13th, we want to be in the playoffs, but in January people were saying we wouldn’t win a game.

“We didn’t set winning six games as our goal, we just wanted to perform well, week by week, and we’ve shown that we can play at this level. The team has grown, they stay calm, there’s no panic. There’s a rustigheid even though you do get frustrated,” Ackermann said.

A lesser team might well have panicked when the Rebels dominated the third quarter to claim a 17-14 lead and really seemed to be getting into their stride.

But with the Rebels pressing hard deep inside the Lions half, flank Warwick Tecklenburg won a key turnover and lock Franco Mostert burst clear. A sweeping move then carried the home side into the Rebels’ 22, with replacement wing Lionel Mapoe, flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff and replacement prop Ruan Dreyer all prominent, before it was Tecklenburg who finished the thrilling move, which featured some wonderful offloads, under the poles.

The opposition then narrowly avoided – thanks to fullback Jack Debreczeni’s last-ditch tackle – conceding an extraordinary 60m intercept try to replacement hooker Armand van der Merwe, but Boshoff nevertheless extended the Lions’ lead to 27-17 with penalties in the 65th and 67th minutes.

That the tide had inextricably turned against the Rebels was confirmed in the 71st minute when eighthman and captain Scott Higginbotham, as ever one of the most physical figures on the field, was somewhat harshly yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle when clearing replacement lock Willie Britz off a ruck.

The penalty was kicked to touch for a lineout and Higginbotham’s opposite number, Warren Whiteley, who enjoyed another top-class game, swivveled over for a clinching try.

“It was a huge momentum swing when we were 17-14 up and putting the Lions under a lot of pressure, and then came a turnover,” Rebels coach Tony McGahan conceded after the match. “That put them in front and Boshoff then just kicked his goals. We could have had two more tries but both were just in touch, so it was small margins but I’m proud of the effort.”

The Lions had made a great start to the game with wing Anthony Volmink scoring in the second minute after centre Mitch Inman had dropped a regulation pass under his poles from the kick-off.

Boshoff, who succeeded with seven of his nine kicks at goal but had an even better day when it came to getting his backline away, then kicked a penalty after the Rebels sacked a rolling maul (8-0).

In the 22nd minute, the Lions came within a whisker of stretching that lead, but centre Stokkies Hanekom couldn’t gather a deft stab-through over the tryline from Boshoff. Instead, a try up the other end of the field gave the Rebels a foothold in the match.

Flank Scott Fuglistaller won a turnover penalty, scrumhalf Luke Burgess darted over the advantage line and the ball went wide where wing Tom English had plenty of space to show the Lions cover-defence a clean pair of heels.

English broke free again six minutes later, but Debreczeni missed a simple penalty that came at the resultant scrum, before succeeding in the 35th minute, sandwiched by two Boshoff penalties as the Lions went into the break 14-10 up.

When the Rebels gave the hosts a taste of their own medicine with flank Colby Fainga’a scoring from a rolling maul in the 52nd minute, Debreczeni converting, it was clear the Lions had a massive task on their hands to prevent the Melburnians from claiming their first win on South African soil.

By the end, there were no protests that the better side had not won.

“It was really good play by the Lions, they put a lot of pressure on us,” McGahan admitted.

The heroes for the Lions were their loose trio, which played like wild curs, while halfbacks Ross Cronje and Boshoff dished up quality ball for their backs.

While some critics are warning that Cricket South Africa’s new increased “targets” for players of colour – and specifically Black Africans – will curdle the milk of domestic cricket, Unlimited Titans coach Rob Walter says the new quotas won’t place him under extra pressure when it comes to selection in the season ahead.

Franchises will now be required to field at least five players of colour in all competitions, two of whom must be Black Africans, an increase of one for 2014/15.

The Titans have only contracted three Black Africans – pacemen Junior Dala and Ethy Mbhalati and wicketkeeper/batsman Mangaliso Mosehle – for next season, alongside six other players of colour – Qaasim Adams, Farhaan Behardien, Henry Davids, Eden Links, Rowan Richards and Tabraiz Shamsi.

“We have quality depth in all positions and we’re not sitting around thinking we’re going to be under pressure because of the new requirements. In fact we have to find a way of playing all these guys. A lot of our players of colour are actually pushing for places in the national side and they’re all there entirely on merit,” Walter said at the weekend during the launch of the new IXU brand of cricket equipment, for which he is an ambassador.

While there will obviously be more pressure on Mosehle, Mbhalati and Dala to perform, Walter said he thinks the added expectation will bring out the best in them.

“I have massive faith in Mangi. He’s had two stand-out 50-over campaigns and I’ve seen him make hundreds. In four-day cricket, he fell short last season, but I absolutely believe that he can score runs at that level.

“The pressure might actually be good for him, he’s occupying a hugely important position in four-day cricket. That number six/seven position has been key to many of the Proteas’ successes in recent years.

“Junior Dala has worked unbelievably hard in the off season after not having the best start to his Titans’ career, but we saw flashes of what he can do. He can bowl quickly and he’s clearly got something. Ethy was always going to be around anyway for another season, but having Junior in the squad has pushed him and he’s been working very hard,” Walter said.

With David Wiese, Marchant de Lange and Richards also being key bowlers, and JP de Villiers and Vincent Moore in reserve, Walter is confident the Titans have the attack to win trophies next season, but he is hoping his senior batsmen dish up many more runs than in 2013/14.

“I think Rowan is going to do great things, he has pace and he’s a left-hander, it was just sad that he was injured last season; Marchant is doing nicely and he delivered some real heat when he played at the end of last season; and David was unbelievable with the new ball and showed real skill. So all of a sudden the seam attack looks very good, plus JP has come a long way and Vince Moore bowled particularly well in the four games he played.

“But first and foremost what we need to improve is the performances of our senior players. We’ve added Dean Elgar, who will be key as another senior player, but the guys already there – Davids, Behardien, Albie Morkel, Kuhn – they’ve been performing year in, year out and I’ll be looking to them to really deliver,” Walter said.

Apart from those established batsmen, there is real talent waiting in the wings in Graeme van Buuren, Cobus Pienaar, Adams, Theunis de Bruyn and Ernest Kemm, and that meant there was cover available should there be injuries, national call-ups or loss of form.

“The great thing is that if we lose a player, it’s not the end of the world. The young guys have been performing, showing no fear and just revelling in the opportunity to play. Graeme was a standout batsman when it came to playing under pressure and that’s huge, a really great thing. Theunis showed in his first outing that he’s ready for franchise cricket and Ernest made a fifty in his second game. So depth is not something I’m worried about,” Walter said.

The Titans started training for the new season on May 1 and have been working hard on improving their skills.

“We fell short on our ability to deliver our skills so we started training earlier and have been doing that every day,” Walter said.

And the Titans will start playing competitive cricket as early as August, with the eKasi Challenge against the Highveld Lions, two three-day practice games and the Global Softech Sixes and Northerns Bash.

Titans contracted squad 2014/15: Qaasim Adams, Farhaan Behardien, Junior Dala, Henry Davids, Marchant de Lange, JP de Villiers, Heino Kuhn, Eden Links, Ethy Mbhalati, Albie Morkel, Mangaliso Mosehle, Cobus Pienaar, Rowan Richards, Tabraiz Shamsi, Graeme van Buuren (rookie contract), Roelof van der Merwe, Shaun von Berg, David Wiese, Jacques Rudolph (One-Day Cup only). CSA-contracted – Dean Elgar, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, Morne Morkel.