Ken Borland

Prop Thomas du Toit is refusing to get bogged down in thoughts of how unfortunate he is to miss out on the World Cup but is rather focusing on ending what he called a “good year” on a high note by helping the Sharks to defend their Currie Cup title.

Du Toit must have been close to making the 31-man squad for Japan because he can play either side of the scrum – a “swing prop” which is so valuable in squads for long competitions like the World Cup. Instead, the 24-year-old will be heading to Bloemfontein this weekend for the Sharks’ semi-final against the Free State Cheetahs.

“It has been a bit disappointing realising that I’m not going to play in the World Cup, sport is not always a fairytale. But you still have to be on standby, I’m aware that there might be injuries – hopefully not – and then obviously I’ll be back in the mix. So I just want to play as much as I can and it was nice to be at loosehead again last weekend.

“Loosehead is something I’m starting to get back into because it’s not quite as familiar any more. Super Rugby was good and it gave me the opportunity to play on both sides, I learnt a lot and it was what I really wanted. I was very happy to have more time at tighthead, that was the plan from the start. And then I had an awesome time with the Springboks as well,” Du Toit said on Tuesday.

Up front is probably going to be where Saturday’s semi-final is won and lost and Du Toit reckons the Cheetahs are going to be quick to pull the tricks they are famous for.

“Maybe they’ll use that substitution tactic again, but we just have to adapt to whoever starts and not look too far ahead. They have a very good front row and Ox Nche is a brilliant scrummager. The Cheetahs love a very quick game though and they enjoy playing from anywhere. They have so many attacking threats, so it’s going to be a big challenge, but we’re excited for it,” Du Toit said.

The Cape Town-born, Paarl Boys High-educated Du Toit was an integral part of the Sharks team till he was called up to the Springbok squad, with the Sharks having a mixed start to their Currie Cup defence. But now that he has returned in the midst of a three-game winning streak that began with a last-minute win over Free State in Durban, he senses a very happy vibe in the squad.

“The mood is very positive, everyone’s very excited and there’s a good buzz, the boys are all keen to play and ready to go. There’s a very good vibe and everything is very professional. The guys are training and working hard, doing their reviews on the other teams, because that’s the Sharks culture – we work hard and we work for each other,” Du Toit said.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-african-sport/sa-rugby-sport/currie-cup/2172161/philosophical-thomas-shrugs-sport-is-not-a-fairy-tale/

Judging by some of the brilliant young talent at their disposal, the Sharks will now-now be a major force again in South African rugby; for now, their hopes of defending their Currie Cup title remain alive as their 48-40 victory over the Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night secured them a place in the semifinals.

They have been mightily impressive over the last 3 weekends in beating Free State, the Golden Lions and the Blue Bulls, but they paid for a scratchy start as wins for both the Cheetahs and the Lions earlier on Saturday means the Sharks have finished fourth on the log and will have to travel to Bloemfontein for their semi-final.

The departure of coach Robert du Preez, his three sons and other SuperRugby regulars was always going to create some uncertainty, but given some of the performances by the youngsters new mentor Sean Everitt has blooded in the Currie Cup, the future is bright for the Sharks.

Locks Hyron Andrews and Ruben van Heerden look ready to do well at SuperRugby level, Sanele Nohamba is a very exciting young scrumhalf and Aphelele Fassi is a fullback who should come into the Springbok picture in the next World Cup cycle.

And then there’s Boeta Chamberlain, a 20-year-old flyhalf who looks to have the sort of all-round game that the Sharks can build a powerful SuperRugby side on in the next couple of years.

All of these players were outstanding at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night, but Everitt was the first to admit the Sharks were given a major helping hand by the Blue Bulls having to play the last 45 minutes with 14 men after a red card to outside centre Johnny Kotze for a late, high shoulder-charge to the neck of Kobus van Wyk.

It had been a thrilling, ding-dong battle up till then, with the Sharks having pulled back to 20-21 down as the first half entered its last five minutes. There was much at stake, with the KwaZulu-Natalians needing a win to make the semifinals and the Bulls needing a bonus point to ensure they did not finish last on the log and therefore have to face a promotion/relegation match against the Griffons from the Northern Free State.

The Blue Bulls, who decided scoring four tries was the easiest route to that bonus point, were a team released, playing with a tremendous sense of freedom as they made the early running.

Inside centre Dylan Sage launched a superb counter-attack after a poor clearance by the Sharks, Kotze then blazing through on a great run for the first try in the 11th minute; and there were further tries by prop Lizo Gqoboka and flyhalf Manie Libbok, running hard and flat at the line and knifing through, just like Handre Pollard.

The Blue Bulls were 21-13 up after 33 minutes, but then Fassi took over in a top-class display of attacking fullback play.

He was the provider for flank Jacques Vermeulen’s try as he gathered a clearance kick inside his own half, but immediately spotted the opportunities a cluster of tight forwards on the one side of the defensive line provided for a man of his pace; Fassi burst through the weak spot he had targeted and sent Vermeulen charging over.

He was again prominent early in the second half, keeping the Sharks on attack after a Nohamba penalty attempt had bounced off the post, replacement JP Pietersen cleverly taking advantage of the Bulls’ back three being one man short with a grubber through that was easily converted into a try by centre Jeremy Ward.

The Sharks struck the killer blow in the 47th minute as wing Van Wyk counter-attacked off a kick and passed inside to 21-year-old Fassi, who burst through brilliantly before producing a sublime offload to Nohamba, who sent Van Wyk over for the try. Nohamba converted and the Sharks were 41-21 ahead.

The Blue Bulls managed to eke out that crucial bonus point in the 51st minute as wing Cornal Hendricks sliced through for their fourth try and the final quarter saw replacement flank Ruan Steenkamp and eighthman Tim Agaba both scoring as the home side earned respect for their character in hanging on in the contest despite being a man short.

While Fassi was a deserved man of the match, Chamberlain also caught the eye with a polished display. He has an astute boot and superb handling skills.

Soon after Kotze’s red card, it was Chamberlain who produced a moment of magic to ensure the Sharks took a 27-21 lead into halftime. Andrews stole a Bulls lineout after the hooter and Chamberlain then committed two defenders before a brilliant offload to Esterhuizen saw the Springbok cruise over for the try.

Then, with the Blue Bulls having closed the gap to 33-41, Chamberlain chipped ahead into a gap, regathered and quickly whipped the ball away to replacement Rhyno Smith, who raced over for the try.

While the Sharks look like a team on the up, with a pool of talent that is delivering, the Bulls are a side with surely just as much talent, but seemingly without the wherewithal or consistency to be a title-winning force.

If ever there was proof needed that South Africa’s entire rugby system is back-to-front, upside-down or just plain broken, it came with the news that Griquas Currie Cup coach Peter Engledow has been snapped up by Paarl Boys High.

The move from one of our top eight senior teams, and a region that is set to become a Pro14 franchise, to admittedly one of our best school rugby set-ups, highlights how the coaching pipeline in South Africa is entirely haphazard and more like a game of snakes and ladders than a smooth path from A to B.

I don’t blame Engledow at all for the decision, because the truth is that Griquas had already told him they were not going to renew his contract at the end of the season, despite his successes with the team and the bigger challenges that surely await them.

What is infuriating, however, is that yet another highly promising young coach is heading in the wrong direction. He joins a list that includes Dave Wessels, now coaching in Australia, Paul Treu, who has gone from huge success with the Springbok Sevens to being defence coach of the Stormers and now an assistant with the Western Province U21s, and even Nollis Marais, who took the Blue Bulls to the Currie Cup final in 2016 and won numerous age-group titles, but is now back languishing in the junior ranks.

South African rugby continues to pay far too much attention and spend way too many resources on the game at a few elite schools, which is not going to fix the problems that are increasingly becoming apparent the higher up the ladder you go. Rugby needs to become far more inclusive in order to grow the talent base, while at the same time, systems need to be refined at senior level such that the development of our best players is way more targeted and streamlined.

Unfortunately, putting schoolboy rugby in its rightful place – it should be a feeder to club rugby and not the focal point – is going to step on a few toes and shake up some ‘empires’ that have been built; there are some big fish swimming around in those small ponds. One also gets the feeling that many people who are resistant to transformation have set up ‘home’ in the schoolboy game, where their selfishness in trying to keep rugby as their sole preserve comes under less scrutiny from the authorities.

When schoolboy rugby was truly amateur, there were still little empires here and there, but they were based on power and ego. Today, the schoolboy game is awash with money and unscrupulous, greedy agents and administrators abound, the welfare of our children counting for nothing.

It seems some of our leading rugby schools are more fully professional than some of our senior provincial sides, and with that focus on money, there is going to be increasing pressure on our children. In particular, they are being coerced into focusing on rugby alone – basically choosing the sport as their career – to the detriment of their education. Never mind what playing win-at-all-costs rugby at that age does to their skill levels.

It was heartening to recently hear AB de Villiers, one of our greatest cricketers and a phenomenal all-round sportsman at school, say he was definitely not in favour of specialising too soon.

“I don’t believe a kid should choose too early what they’re going to do, at school you want to be participating in as much as possible. It worked for me, I didn’t just play cricket at school and I only decided that was the way to go later on. I was passionate about playing rugby for the Wit Bulle and I was a scratch golfer, plus I played tennis until I was 15 and I think it was a mistake giving it up then.

“Any sport that gets your feet and hands going is going to be good and I don’t believe schoolchildren should specialise too soon,” De Villiers, a product of Affies in Pretoria, said.

Sharks assistant coach Ryan Strudwick thinks there may have been some underestimation of the Pumas by some of the inexperienced members of their squad, leading to their chastening 33-24 defeat in Nelspruit in their Currie Cup opener last weekend.

“We spoke all week about them taking it to us physically, but I don’t think the guys expected it to be that hard. They underestimated the Pumas, there were eight guys in our side who were new to Currie Cup rugby, and I think they were shellshocked to some extent.

“Nelspruit is not an easy place to go and the intensity of a match situation is a lot different to whatever you’ve had in the warm-ups,” Strudwick said.

The former Sharks, Harlequins and London Irish lock said the major problem area for the Sharks was the set-pieces, while the biggest plus was the second-half comeback that saw the KwaZulu-Natalians close a 7-27 gap at the break to just nine points.

“It was a very disappointing start to the campaign, both in terms of the result and the way we played. They outmuscled us and we made way too many mistakes. But we won the second half so there are a lot of positives from that, that got the confidence up a bit. The defence let through three tries though and the lineouts and scrums were massive problem areas,” Strudwick admitted.

Flank Khaya Majola and wing S’Bura Sithole are both on the doubtful list with niggles for the Sharks’ match against the EP Kings in Durban on Saturday, with the team set to be announced on Thursday.

The shoulder and ankle injuries suffered by Lourens Adriaanse and Thomas du Toit respectively have seen the Sharks issue an SOS for Leopards prop John-Roy Jenkinson, a Glenwood High School product and 2011 Junior Springbok, to join them for the remainder of the Currie Cup campaign, while the loose trio could also be shuffled with Jean-Luc du Preez having a leg injury.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20150813/282445642786223/TextView