Ken Borland

“We will take a lot of confidence from beating one of the top sides in the world with our first XI not in place,” Proteas coach Mark Boucher said after his team completed an astonishing 3-0 series whitewash of India with a thrilling four-run win at Newlands on Sunday.

Even without pace spearheads Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, and with ace spinner Tabraiz Shamsi sitting out the last game, South Africa dominated the ODI series in conditions that were more suited to the Indian team, following their memorable Test series triumph.

“There has been a great progression in the field, both on the field and off, in terms of the environment – it’s a happy changeroom and the results show that,” Boucher said.

“I believe we turned the corner a while ago, before that we gave lots of players opportunities and we are reaping the rewards now. When players are injured or sitting out, the guys are coming through.

“I like the look and balance of our batting, they did really well, we are getting hundreds and it is a powerful top six. We have a couple of all-rounders who have put in solid performances.

“In terms of our fast bowlers, Anrich and KG still have to come back, Marco Jansen has a lot of potential and Lungi Ngidi did a fantastic job leading from the front. And we have world-class spinners,” Boucher said.

One of the biggest positives from the series for Boucher was the way India, renowned both for playing spin and their own slow bowlers, were outplayed by both the Proteas batsmen and their spinners, Shamsi, Keshav Maharaj and Aiden Markram, whose selection for the sixth bowler role paid off.

“We’ve put a lot of hard work into playing in subcontinental conditions and the heatwave in the Western Cape meant the pitches played a bit like that.

“We played spin really well in Sri Lanka and we have a good batch of spin bowlers now, with Aiden doing a good job too. So I’m not surprised we did so well.

“That’s the big positive for me – the way we played spin and the way we bowled it. From a spin perspective, we outplayed and outbowled India,” Boucher said.

Normally before the great North/South derby between the teams based at Loftus Versfeld and Cape Town, Bulls coach Jake White has enjoyed making a few mischievous digs at the opposition, like the harlequin in early pantomime, but on Friday he was refusing to take the bait and very much focused on his own team ahead of their United Rugby Championship match against the Stormers in Pretoria on Saturday.

As White correctly pointed out, the Bulls, while so dominant in domestic rugby, have fared the worst of the South African franchises so far in the URC and are second from bottom. The Stormers are two points and two places above them in 13^th.

“This is a chance for us to get off the bottom of the table,” White said on Friday. “It’s our second North/South derby this week, but our first home game in the URC. I don’t think many teams have played five away games.

“We have some momentum from the two Currie Cup wins, but it’s not just about preparing for Saturday, we’re building for three years’ time. We are still a work in progress, we are still looking to fill certain positions.

“It’s about playing teams like Leinster and Munster; we’re not a long way off but we are off. We have to find some depth and the right player profiles.

“And we’re looking forward to playing a couple of home games now. It looks as if Europe is getting back to normality and the competition will become more balanced. Hopefully by mid-tournament we’ll be more in it in terms of the table,” White said.

Because White has been willing to field many of his URC players in the first two rounds of the Currie Cup, his whole squad for Saturday have had game-time and he is hoping they start well against a Stormers side that has been inactive since being hammered by the Lions 37-19 in Cape Town in early December.

It also means the likes of flyhalf Chris Smith, hooker Johan Grobbelaar, props Gerhard Steenekamp and Mornay Smith and 19-year-old debutant flank Reinhardt Ludwig all have experienced and in-form cover on the bench.

“We have a bit of experience that can come off the bench,” White acknowledged. “We’re trying to balance the whole team and the players coming off the bench will help someone like Reinhardt.

“Playing at 5pm in 30° and at altitude and all our players have played recently – hopefully that will give us a head-start. But the Stormers are just ahead of us on the table and they will back themselves.

“Obviously they’ll be disappointed with the Lions game. If you look at their backline, there are a lot of Sevens players, so they won’t be scared to play. They’ll want space and time though … ” White said.

Bulls team: David Kriel, Madosh Tambwe, Lionel Mapoe, Cornal Hendricks, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier; Elrigh Louw, Reinhardt Ludwig, Arno Botha, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Impact – Bismarck du Plessis, Lizo Gqoboka, Jacques van Rooyen, Janko Swanepoel, Marcell Coetzee, Zak Burger, Morné Steyn, Harold Vorster.

Bulls coach Gert Smal was quick to deflect a question over how it is going to feel for him to return to Cape Town and take on arch-rivals Western Province, a team with whom he enjoyed considerable success as a player, coach and director of rugby, in their Currie Cup match on Wednesday night.

But it will be a poignant moment for the former Springbok loose forward and World Cup winning assistant coach to Jake White. In answering the question, Smal did give an insight into how quickly allegiances can change in the world of professional rugby.

“Ja, it’s funny. In the past week-and-a-half I’ve been having one-on-ones with the players and some of them are guys I contracted at Western Province and now they are at the Bulls,” Smal, who was director of rugby at Newlands from 2014 to 2018, said. He coached the Western Province and Stormers teams between 2000 and 2005.

“There are others here who I was looking at, wanting to bring them to Western Province. But it’s always nice to see talent growing, on both sides. Western Province played well too over the weekend.

“I’m looking forward to the contest, I’m really excited to see how it pans out. It’s a new, big match for us and it’s important we put the game together that we want to see on the park,” Smal said.

And Smal is not the only Springbok who will be visiting Cape Town with the Bulls. He has been able to name fellow internationals Bismarck du Plessis, Marcell Coetzee, Morne Steyn and Lionel Mapoe in his side.

Smal was cagey when it came to the question of whether they are just on loan to him until the United Rugby Championship gets back into full swing.

“It’s a new dynamic, running with two teams and it’s a nice challenge to get the balance right. It’s important for some guys to get some game-time and it’s nice to have them with us at the moment.

“They bring great experience and the youngsters around them are getting experience, in terms of intellectual property and leadership, from the senior players.

“It’s about managing the squad, giving everyone some game-time. The beauty of us being one squad is that all the players feel they are part of it, in with a shout.

“Obviously our big names in the team are going to motivate Western Province quite heavily. The challenge for us is to keep our concentration and processes going for 80 minutes,” Smal said.

Bulls team:James Verity-Amm, Canan Moodie, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Sibongile Novuka, Morne Steyn, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Muller Uys, Cyle Brink, Marcell Coetzee, Janko Swanepoel, Sintu Manjezi, Robert Hunt, Bismarck du Plessis, Simphiwe Matanzima. Replacements– Schalk Erasmus, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Sebastian Lombard, Reinardt Ludwig, WJ Steenkamp, Keagan Johannes, FC du Plessis, Stedman Gans.

The Proteas have passed the test of their character and fighting spirit when put under pressure, especially after losing the first Test, coach Mark Boucher said after South Africa sealed an epic 2-1 series win over India in the third Test at Newlands on Friday.

Chasing a testing target of 212, South Africa won by seven wickets thanks to three successive half-century partnerships between Dean Elgar (30), man of the series Keegan Petersen (82), Rassie van der Dussen (41*) and Temba Bavuma (32*).

Having been beaten so thoroughly by the world’s No.1-ranked side in the first Test at Centurion, it was a remarkable comeback by a team that is still in transition.

“The team showed great character and fight, but that did not surprise me because Dean Elgar is a captain that leads from the front and Temba Bavuma too,” Boucher said after his biggest triumph as coach.

“That fight showed in Dean and Temba’s batting as well, so the guys will certainly follow that. When you have real fighters like that as leaders, then that will probably be the character of the team as well.

“This is a team that is on its own mission and it is a special, driven changeroom to be in. It’s fantastic that the results are starting to come in now. There were lots of ebbs and flows in the last two Tests.

“But we played those pressure moments pretty well and if we lost a session, we didn’t lose it too badly so we were still in the game. We are playing good pressure-cricket at the moment,” Boucher said.

As the new-look Test side’s most notable triumph, the players are going to take away enormous confidence and belief from what is one of the best results for South African cricket sine the return from isolation.

“It was a really hard-fought series, and certainly one of the best, top-five, we’ve ever had in South Africa,” Boucher said. “We lost all three tosses and lots of people wrote us off after the first day of the first Test.

“But we need to see this result through the perspective of where this team is and where India, probably the best team in the world, are. Our youngsters will take a lot of confidence from this.

“There’s nothing like winning games when you know you’ve had to play very, very hard Test cricket. But our feet are firmly on the ground and we know we are not the finished product.

“But from where this team has come from, in terms of the on and off-field stuff, they have been through a lot as a unit. But we have had solid chats and we are a close-knit group that has worked very hard,” Boucher said.