Ken Borland

Keshav Maharaj has been one of the consistently brilliant performers for the Proteas this year and also took to the stand-in captaincy with aplomb, but he admitted that he and his fellow leaders in the squad will be restless sleepers when it comes to automatic qualification for the next ODI World Cup following their series loss in Sri Lanka.

South Africa were beaten by 78 runs in the third and decisive ODI on Tuesday night, meaning they took just 10 points out of a possible 30 from the series. That leaves them languishing in ninth place in the standings, with the top eight qualifying automatically for the World Cup in India in 2023. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have leapfrogged the Proteas into fifth place, eight points ahead of them.

“It is a bit concerning, we have to start winning series and taking care of those points. The first two games were very good in terms of how the batting approached playing spin-bowling, we scored a lot of runs. But tonight was disappointing and we need to reassess how we bat when the ball is turning a bit more. There was more turn and bounce today, but Sri Lanka bowled really well though.

“Maybe we need to change our mental strategy and approach, but I’m sure it’s not a lack of skills because the batsmen have worked very hard on that. But also maybe we focused a bit too much on spin tonight and were caught a bit unawares by their pace bowler [Dushmantha Chameera]. Not many teams lose four wickets in the powerplay and still win, even though I thought 203 was a fair score to chase,” Maharaj said after the Proteas were bundled out in only 30 overs for just 125.

Coach Mark Boucher admitted to struggling to get the right team balance on the night, with the two seam-bowling all-rounders, Wiaan Mulder and Andile Phehlukwayo, bowling just two overs between them and scoring a combined tally of only 19 runs. But a fair arbitrator would surely also point to the difficulties caused by quotas when it comes to balancing a team, especially with two Black African stars not available in Temba Bavuma and Lungi Ngidi.

And the first question Boucher was asked in the post-match press conference was whether he was happy with the balance of the side from a transformation perspective. To which he simply answered “Yes”.

“We needed to play an extra spinner and that threw us a bit. But with the rain, Anrich Nortje would have been a handful on that pitch as well. We wanted three seamers too and the batting is full of guys who have been in good form too. In hindsight, an extra batsman today would have been nice, but losing four wickets in the first 10 overs means we were always going to be under pressure no matter how deep our batting,” Boucher later explained.

The Lions have an unbelievable record against all other South African SuperRugby franchises since 2015 and they have consistently been our best team. It really is an amazing record, their dominance of South African rugby is the reason they have been in two successive finals and they have consistently scored the most tries in the competition, so you have to ask why they have so few backs in the new Springbok squad?

With only Aphiwe Dyantyi and Elton Jantjies named in the 43-man squad, there may be no Lions back in the starting line-up against England, which is quite interesting when you consider they have been beating everyone else in South Africa convincingly, and especially with their coach, Swys de Bruin, now with the Springboks as a backline consultant.

There have been suggestions that new Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is concerned with the defensive prowess shown by our SuperRugby franchises, but the Lions in 2016 had one of the best defences in the competition and you have to play, you can’t just kick the ball downfield and defend.

It’s also interesting that none of the first-choice back three from last year’s Springboks – Andries Coetzee, Raymond Rhule and Dillyn Leyds – have been selected by Erasmus.

It is true to win big competitions you need a rock-solid defence.

If you look at the points conceded figure for our teams, the four South African outfits have all leaked between 381 and 392 points, an average of 27.2-29.8 points per match. In terms of tries conceded, the figures are 49 to 52 per side, which amounts to an average of 3.5-3.7 per game.

In comparison, the Jaguares, who are strong contenders to win the South African Conference, are conceding just 26.2 points and 3.4 tries per match. Only the Sunwolves, the bottom team in SuperRugby, have worst stats than the South African franchises.

What is causing our teams to concede so many points? You can’t just say it’s because we now have an attacking mindset. Not one of our sides has been really convincing defensively, which perhaps reflects where most of them are on the overall log. At Test level, the Springboks used to work on trying to concede less than an average of 15-16 points per game, and 11-12 at the World Cup, with just one try. Then, more often than not, you would be on the winning side. It is imperative to get back to these sort of stats now going forward because big Test matches are often gain-line arm-wrestles.

The really good news for the Springboks though is that England have just conceded nine tries and 63 points against a scratch BaaBaas XV, both record lows for them at Twickenham. So their defence is in real trouble and in their last four games one began to notice some real cracks both in terms of their system and individual tackles.They really are sitting before the tackle which causes them to miss so many and any ‘backdoor’ second-line plays cause total disconnection and confusion.

Eddie Jones turned on his players viciously, saying some of them couldn’t cope with the pace of international rugby, but he picked them in the first place, and it will be even harder on super-fast highveld fields with altitude as a factor.

To get back to our Lions, their win over the Stormers at the weekend was so vital because it maintains a buffer between them and the Jaguares, who have a game in hand but are six points behind. It was an exciting battle with the Stormers exploiting the Lions fullback getting into the defensive line early with attacking kicks and the Lions exploiting the home side’s flimsy defence of the rolling mauls and around the edges – the way Nic Groom dummied Ramone Samuels to score was way too easy.

There is also a difference in the way the Lions use the rolling maul these days, they are prepared to wheel it more in order to exploit space and take out the defenders stopping the maul. It is really good use of forces and you have to credit Philip Lemmer for bringing in something different and innovative.

You have to praise the Lions for the win, but the Stormers will rue the red card to Raymond Rhule. You just can’t do what he did anymore on a rugby field, although the nature of his suspension and those of other players in recent weeks does raise fresh questions over exactly how the judiciary works in SuperRugby. How can the ban cause them to effectively miss no rugby?

The Sharks were really outplayed by the Jaguares in Buenos Aires but they also did some sloppy things.

Coach Robert du Preez also made a massive statement during the week that they would be in the final either this year or next, which smacked of desperation and false news from a side scrambling for a quarterfinal place, and about to come up against one of the form teams in SuperRugby.

The Sharks’ pillar defence was just not good enough last weekend, the guys were either too wide or too upright. You can’t allow yourself to just be cut so easily next to the ruck, that should be the strongest part of your defence because that’s where the ball is, but for the Sharks, it was their weakest area.

The Jaguares did finish well and wing Ramiro Moyano scored three tries and they were backing up the ball-carrier well. The try they scored just before halftime to go 17-0 up would have hurt the most for the Sharks because they were slow to react, players had their backs to the ball and conceding a try from a quick-tap penalty is the sort of thing you can’t afford away from home.

It’s a very long trip to Buenos Aires and they had a quick turnaround from their last game, but the Sharks looked sluggish. The Bulls had similar problems the week before and how to manage that trip is something the South African teams have to sort out. When I was involved with the Springboks, we found it better to train in South Africa for two sessions, then fly over, have a captain’s run and play.

It is pleasing, however, to see the Jaguares hit their straps and when SuperRugby resumes they will have three vital games left in which to clinch their playoff place. Their Australasian tour proved that they can win on the road and they have been really impressive in their recent bonus point wins at home, so they are building nicely. It will still, however, be a big test for them to host the Stormers and then play the Bulls and Sharks away after they have played Tests against Wales and Scotland.

The Bulls were also really disappointing last weekend and they will look at their game against the 14-man Brumbies and really rue their defeat – it will probably be the game that loses them a playoff place.

They did some really good things on attack – Handre Pollard’s show-and-go try and Roelof Smit scoring out wide – but their defence is just not good enough for them to be playoff contenders. An example of that was when they had three defenders on two attackers after the restart turnover, but they all just rushed up and opened the space for the Brumbies on the outside. They will also be disappointed with the try when fullback Tom Banks ran the whole length of the field to score.

The Bulls are just not able to stop momentum close to the rucks, their opponents get go-forward too easily, and especially in the 22 that generally means seven points against you because it leads to space around the pillars, something which Brumbies scrumhalf Joe Powell exploited.

The Bulls have certainly been more entertaining this season but they need to step up over the next few weeks. Pretoria only really comes out to the stadium for winning rugby. The Bulls have a lot of talent in key areas, the locks are the envy of every team and the fetchers are second to none, and they have real X-factor in their outside backs.

Pollard has played plenty of Tests and is at the peak of his powers, Jesse Kriel too, and they have more players in the Springbok squad than the Lions, so how come are the Southern Gauteng side so far ahead of them? The Bulls are certainly an enigma, they do a lot of good things in every game, they just need that consistency of performance, they are too up-and-down at the moment.

On a parting, more positive note, my heartiest congratulations to Siya Kolisi on his well-earned appointment as captain for the England series. I am sure he will fly the South African flag high and do the position proud.

John McFarland was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded an average of just one try per game and the least line-breaks in the tournament. He is now the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and before that, McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.

The Golden Lions said before the Currie Cup final that they would have to fix the defensive errors that made things close in the semi-final against the Free State Cheetahs, and they did that to great effect while consistently breaking through the Western Province lines on their way to a 32-24 victory and the title at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The scoreboard was a one-sided 29-10 two minutes into the second half, but the lopsided score masked how well the Lions had defended and how soft a couple of their tries had been.

There were nerves all around at the start as both kickers made mistakes, Lions flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff missing two early penalties, but the home side were looking dangerous, making inroads as Western Province tended to tackle around the chest and were also quick to fan out in defence, making them vulnerable to the inside-pass.

These two factors came together perfectly for the Lions in the 14th minute as exciting new outside centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg muscled through the too-high tackles of Juan de Jongh and Sikhumbuzo Notshe in midfield and broke clear into Western Province territory.

He held on to the ball too long and it was knocked loose by the tackler, but livewire fullback Andries Coetzee was on hand to pick up and continue the attack. From the next ruck, Warren Whiteley passed out to Boshoff, who immediately passed back inside for the eighthman to burst through a big gap and score the opening try.

Six minutes later, another crucial missed tackle by the visitors saw Coetzee go around the outside without much trouble. Western Province again ignored the close-in channels at the ruck and scrumhalf Ross Cronje threw a short pass and then got the ball immediately back on the inside, dashing over for a try without a hand being laid on him.

Western Province were missing tackles and making basic errors like not finding touch on penalty kicks, losing their own lineouts and kicking turnover ball like tightheads from their powerful scrum straight into touch.

Flyhalf Robert du Preez did kick a 27th-minute penalty to get Western Province on the board, but the Lions threatened to make the final one of the less thrilling spectacles of the season when they scored their third try to claim a 19-3 lead.

Scrumhalf Cronje might not be one of the most highly-rated players in this impressive Lions outfit, but he is an important cog in their fluent attacking play and he will always remember the 2015 Currie Cup final as he scored his second try on his way to winning the man of the match award.

Cronje threw a lovely dummy from the base of a ruck and fought his way through another high and ineffectual tackle to score.

Boshoff then kicked a 38th-minute penalty and the Lions were in firm control with a 22-3 lead and threatening to run away with the final.

Western Province badly needed a way back into the match and it came via their powerful scrum, providing the perfect platform close to the line for Du Preez to knife through for a much-needed try and then convert to bring them back into the game at 10-22 at the break.

The Fat Lady had certainly not sung yet, but she did begin warming up again as the Lions scored two minutes into the second half.

Janse van Rensburg was again a muscular presence in forcing his way between two poor tackle attempts to dot down and round off a strong attack that featured a mini-break by flank Kwagga Smith.

Boshoff converted and the Lions’ lead was back to 19 points (29-10) and the situation was desperate for Western Province.

Once they managed to hang on to the ball for a while, they were able to bring their lethal back three into the game and fullback Cheslin Kolbe was able to scythe through an outside gap to put WP in the red zone, from where eighthman Nizaam Carr’s pace, power and nifty stepping was too much for even the Lions’ defence.

Du Preez converted and suddenly the visitors were two tries away (17-29) with half-an-hour remaining.

Boshoff, however, slotted a crucial long-range penalty from 51 metres after replacement prop Oli Kebble had been penalised for a dangerous tackle, which forced Western Province to score three times.

Their powerful scrum forced a penalty, which was kicked to touch, allowing Western Province’s rolling maul to surge over the tryline, Notshe getting the try.

Coleman converted to make it 24-32, but Western Province continued to lose lineout and breakdown ball to stymie their comeback, and a harsh yellow card to replacement lock Chris van Zyl, for not using his arms in clearing out a ruck, was the final blow.

To go through a Currie Cup season unbeaten is a remarkable achievement, not seen since the Natal Sharks did it in 1996, and the Lions and their coaches deserve enormous credit.

Johan Ackermann has honed their pack into a tremendous unit, but locks Franco Mostert and Lourens Erasmus stood out on Saturday in their efforts to ensure momentum for the Lions.

Their hard-working loose trio brings tremendous presence to the breakdowns and Janse van Rensburg and Coetzee took the attack to the opposition most effectively.