Ken Borland

Veteran Springbok fullback Willie le Roux may have ceded the No.15 jersey to Damian Willemse for the first Test against Wales in Pretoria on Saturday, but he will still be on the bench, with coach Jacques Nienaber saying he is “crucial to our attacking game-plan”.

The 32-year-old Le Roux, who gets more than his fair share of criticism, could earn his 73^rd cap on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld and statistics prove the value he adds in often being the spark for the South African attack.

Acoording to a tweet released by Opta statistics on Tuesday, Le Roux has made the most offloads (40) and try-assists (35) of any Springbok since making his Test debut in 2013.

“Willie has lots of experience and he brings a lot to the team through the week,” Nienaber said on Tuesday. “He has knowledge to impart for the youngsters.

“I know people have lots to say about Willie, but look at how many times he makes the last pass to allow us to score a try. You must be able to see space and create to do that.

“What Willie does for our attack is outstanding. Sometimes he looks average in other areas and he always gets criticism, but the reality is he does lots and is crucial to our attacking game-plan,” Nienaber said.

While South African fans have been loving the exciting new talent that has exploded on the scene through the United Rugby Championship, Nienaber said youth will have to wait to be given its head.

“It was a tough selection to get to the final 23, but we have a plan in terms of what we want to achieve. We could have selected other players who would not have dropped the team,” Nienaber admitted.

“Hopefully we will see those guys operating in the near future for the Springboks. To get youngsters into the team is always a balancing act. You want to do it when you have momentum, because that makes it easier for them.

“And the only way to get momentum is by winning. It’s not easy to bring new guys into the team when the confidence is low.

“Sure, new faces will bring a bit of energy and renewal to the team, maybe some creativity, but you also want to be able to build that momentum,” Nienaber said.

Bulls Currie Cup coach Gert Smal has made clear how disappointed he is in how the once-great competition has been “devalued” and it seems sponsors Carling Black Label are also concerned about the “loss of prestige” in what was once one of the strongest brands in South African rugby.

The Bulls, trying to contend in two tournaments at the same time, made it to the semi-finals with their mix-and-match squads, but eventually the URC had to take priority and they went down 30-19 to Griquas last weekend at Loftus Versfeld.

Smal’s point was that unless the top players in the country are involved, the Currie Cup becomes devalued. And next year it is likely to be even worse because the top five franchises will have an extra European competition to contend with.

Arne Rust, the Carling Black Label Brand Director, told The Citizen the situation with the URC and the Currie Cup taking place concurrently was not ideal.

“It’s been hard to manage and it seems the Currie Cup has lost a bit of prestige. We would love to get that back,” Rust said.

“We would like to see the importance of the Currie Cup heightened rather than it becoming a development tournament.

“We’re not worried there aren’t any Springboks, but we would like the premier local players to take part, we want to see the next generation of Springboks in the Currie Cup.

“The possibility of it becoming an U23 competition is a question we’re not sure about, we want the Currie Cup to be a showcase, to still feature the premier players,” Rust said.

With the European season running from September to June, and with 2023 World Cup arrangements also coming into the reckoning, there is a growing groundswell of opinion that perhaps the Currie Cup should be played at a different time.

With the Springboks usually off-limits for the Currie Cup anyway, there should be a way that SA Rugby can fit the famous event into the second half of the year.

“If SA Rugby can create more daylight for the Currie Cup then that is always good for us,” Rust said. “We are going to have some detailed calendar conversations in future.

“We would like to see the Currie Cup come into its own, it has such a rich heritage and history. We would love it to be more esteemed and prestigious,” Rust said.

With Smal using words such as “sacred” to describe the Currie Cup, and suggesting SA rugby should “rather put the famous trophy away in a glass box or a museum unless they restore its respect”, it is clear there is still a strong emotional connection to the tournament.

*Rugby fans wishing to select their team for the Carling Champions Match against Italy A on July 2 in Gqeberha can still do so by buying a 750ml quart or 500ml can of Black Label and follow the instructions on the pack, or go to carlingblacklabel.co.za or use Facebook Messenger.

Proteas coach Mark Boucher would love his batsmen to go out and show more intent in T20 cricket, but he knows they first of all need to be equipped to do so and he said on Tuesday that captain Temba Bavuma will be one of the players he will be working hard with ahead of the World Cup in October.

Bavuma’s series strike-rate of just 103.38 came under the spotlight when South Africa wasted a 2-0 lead in their T20 series in India, but Boucher on Tuesday backed his captain in unequivocal fashion, highlighting that many of his problems were due to the outstanding performances of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the player of the series, up front with the new ball.

“Temba struggled, there’s no doubt about it, so as coaches we have to sit down and ask why? It was one bowler that he struggled against – Bhuvneshwar. Most guys did against him, he’s a fantastic bowler in those conditions and when the ball swings a lot then he is very dangerous. And the new ball was going up-and-down a lot,” Boucher said.

“We will look at giving him more options, but it’s quite difficult to change up during a series while you’re travelling and playing. Temba had also not played much cricket before the series.

“Against other bowlers, his strike-rate was fine, there were no issues. He wants to score quicker and his stats outside the powerplay are very good. He gets boundaries in different ways than say a Rassie van der Dussen or an Aiden Markram.

“There is space for a guy who can stabilise the innings and we see him in that mould. Temba loves a challenge, look how he has come through in Test cricket. He’s a tough cricketer and captain and we certainly do need him. I’ll be working extra hard with him and the bowling machine,” Boucher said.

The coach was also frank about the batsmen needing to embrace a new, more adventurous way of playing that he is trying to institute.

“You need the technical know-how to be able to play the shots, but your mindset also needs to be open to raising your strike-rate,” Boucher said. “By doing that you get your confidence up.

“In terms of mindset, you need to really trust the plan. And it’s not just about playing maverick cricket, we need to be smart too. It’s a new way and we don’t want to just go back to our default of a year or so ago.

“The batsmen need to commit to the new philosophy and not have doubts. You’re not going to win the World Cup if you don’t have the right mindset and the way India and England play is the way forward.

“Some batsmen are not used to taking a risk inside their first six balls, and especially in the third game we saw that, there was not enough intent. We didn’t pull the trigger to put the bowlers under pressure,” Boucher said.

The Proteas may not yet have all the answers for the T20 World Cup starting in Australia in October, but coach Mark Boucher said the 2-2 series draw in India has certainly dealt with many of the questions surrounding the side.

The fifth and decisive T20 was washed out at the weekend, and although there was disappointment that South Africa lost the previous two games and therefore failed to wrap up the series win, Boucher said he was satisfied with the overall result.

“It’s always tough coming here to play India. I know a lot of top players were not here, but the depth they have, largely due to the IPL, is really good. On the back of the IPL, those players were in good form and had been playing on these pitches,” Boucher said.

“I will take 2-2, even though we did not play our best cricket. But we asked a few questions in this series and we got a lot of answers. Our plans will probably change a bit in Australia, but we take confidence from this series.

“We had two good games and two bad games, and there were reasons for that. We tried a few options in these conditions, and there were periods we played really well and periods when there was lots to learn,” Boucher said.

The powerplay was the main area of concern for Boucher, the coach admitting that India had bossed the crucial first six overs of the innings, with both bat and ball. But the absence of Aiden Markram, who missed the entire series due to a positive Covid test, was the most disruptive blow to their plans.

“It was tough to lose Aiden before we even started. That put us under pressure because we wanted to play six batsmen with Aiden as our sixth bowling option. That was a massive loss to our batting up front,” Boucher said.

“The batting up front was probably the biggest thing to think about. We struggled to get going with the bat. We speak about it every game, the importance of intent. It’s about how we change the mindset. In the third game especially we did not show enough intent up front.

“The bowling was very good at stages, but at other times we looked a bit rusty. And our batsmen were up against quality bowling, I thought Bhuvneshwar Kumar was special the whole series, he really put us under pressure in the powerplay.

“In fact, India dominated us in the powerplay with both bat and ball,” Boucher said.