Ken Borland

The Sharks are hoping that all their excellent programmes to assist their players with life outside rugby will clinch the deal with Eben Etzebeth, leading to the Springbok powerhouse lock joining them after the end of Toulon’s season in June.

The Sharks, thanks to their equity partners, offer enormous networking and advisory possibilities with an array of leading businesspeople and that could be of interest to Etzebeth, who has been one of the best-paid players in France and is now in the second half of his career.

Eduard Coetzee, the CEO of the Sharks, confirmed on Tuesday that the franchise are putting together an offer for arguably the best lock in the world, who was earning about R20 million a year at Toulon.

“We are speaking to Eben, he wants to come back and we will put our best foot forward,” Coetzee told The Citizen. “It’s about what we can offer him on and off the field.

“Eben will be turning 31 in October and we can give him a start for life after rugby. We can match him up with businesspeople who can help him – in the pharmaceutical world, clothing, property etc.

“Hopefully that can make up for the loss of income he will have coming back to South Africa. And with the endorsements and commercial opportunities he can get here, hopefully he can earn something that is not a long ways off what he gets there in France. So we feel there is definitely a chance that we will get him,” Coetzee said.

The salary cap (R65m) that SA Rugby have imposed on their franchises as they try to compete with the big-spending European clubs is a frustration, and the Sharks also have to ensure they do not anger the existing superstars in their squad by paying the likes of Etzebeth considerably more than they are earning.

“Of a probable current World XV, we have Siya Kolisi, Makazole Mapimpi and Lukhanyo Am, and now you add Eben Etzebeth,” Coetzee said. “And you can’t pay one of them twice as much as the others.

“You need a level of consistency in terms of what you are paying the top guys. Fortunately we have some credit still in the salary cap and Eben has got himself out of his contract with Toulon.”

The CEO also cleared up any impression that Neil Powell being parachuted in as director of rugby when he had initially been signed as defence coach would be cause for any anger by head coach Sean Everitt.

“John McFarland left for a long-term deal and Warren Whiteley stepped in as defence coach until Neil arrives in September, and he is doing really well. We felt the gap was in terms of managing the entire rugby programme.

“It has been a consultative process and Sean has a very difficult job managing two teams out of one squad. But Neil runs systems really well and he is very strong on culture and work ethic.

“So Neil will run everything outside of the day-to-day coaching. This will cause the least disruption and his strength is people-management, we need someone to run the whole system from juniors up the pipeline,” Coetzee said.

AB de Villiers has turned down the chance to play for South Africa again in this year’s T20 World Cup because of his struggle to deal with coming into the team at this late stage and taking the place of someone who has been with the Proteas for a while, according to national coach Mark Boucher.

With South Africa’s T20 side battling in recent times – they have won just five of their 19 matches in the last two years – speculation was rife that De Villiers, who is still imperious in the IPL, would come out of retirement to boost the Proteas’ World Cup challenge. Both Boucher and De Villiers have spoken recently about having talks in this regard.

But on Tuesday, Cricket South Africa announced the squads for next month’s tour of the West Indies and said “discussions with AB de Villiers have concluded with the batsman deciding once and for all that his retirement will remain final.”

Boucher told The Citizen on Tuesday that he was disappointed but the Proteas now had to simply move forward without one of the best batsmen in the world.

“AB has his reasons, which I respect. Unfortunately he’s no longer in the mix. I say unfortunately because I think we all agree that he’s still one of the best – if not the best – T20 players in world cricket. But he alluded to being concerned about coming in ahead of other players who have been a part of the system. I don’t think it sat well with him, which I understand.

“But as a coach I needed to try and get our best players, for the team and the environment. AB is an energy-booster in any environment, but I respect his reasoning. It was worth a go, but now let’s move forward,” Boucher said.

South Africa’s white-ball squad for the West Indies tour features the return of superstars Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Quinton de Kock, David Miller and Anrich Nortje from IPL duty, while Temba Bavuma is also back after missing the T20s against Pakistan due to injury and will become the first Black African to lead the Proteas T20 side.

The same squad will do duty for the T20s and ODIs in Ireland, with the addition of Maharaj, who has been a major figure in the Dolphins’ 50-over success.

Off-spinner Prenelan Subrayen and pace bowler Lizaad Williams have both been added to the Test squad that played in Pakistan, with Faf du Plessis having retired and seamers Lutho Sipamla, Daryn Dupavillon and Dwaine Pretorius all having been left out.

The arrival of tighthead prop Wiehahn Herbst at Kings Park on a short-term deal perhaps shows where the Sharks’ focus is this week as they prepare to take on the Stormers in Cape Town on Saturday in their opening Rainbow Cup match.

With an all-Springbok front row of Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe believed to be lined up to play the Sharks, countering the scrum threat that Western Province will pose is obviously a starting point in the planning for coach Sean Everitt and his team.

Thomas du Toit, also a World Cup winning Springbok, is the first-choice tighthead at the moment, but the drop off in quality when the Sharks’ first-choice front row does not play was one of the worrying aspects for Everitt last season.

Herbst, who was at training on Tuesday, was a stalwart of the Sharks side between 2009 and 2014, making 40 Super Rugby appearances and 52 in the Currie Cup. The well-travelled 32-year-old has also played for the Bulls and Lions and has turned out 80 times for Ulster, earning a reputation as a powerful scrummager.

Which Du Toit acknowledged on Tuesday is exactly what the Sharks are going to need against the Stormers on Saturday.

“The Stormers are always a quality side and seem to be in a better space now than previously. They’re a fantastic side with a great pack and good game-plans, they are definitely still going to be a proper challenge to play against. They never shy away from the physical side, they look to dominate in the scrums and mauls.

“It’s a nice challenge to come up against the first-choice Springbok front row because you always want to measure yourself against the best and this is an awesome opportunity to do that,” Du Toit said.

The former Western Province U16 and U18 player said the Sharks have also noticed that Western Province have worked hard on their all-round game.

“We anticipate they’re going to bring both sides of the game, we’ve seen them play more in the preparation series. So we’re ready for both – the physical game and a more ball-in-hand, all-out attacking game. But we always stay the same, there’s a certain DNA at the Sharks which we always try to live out on the field,” Du Toit said.

When Lizo Gqoboka arrived in Montpellier on a short-term deal in September 2019, he was very much the new kid in town but there was a friendly South African fellow prop and man about town who helped him out considerably in Jannie du Plessis.

Gqoboka was signed by the French club as cover for the duration of the World Cup and stayed with the good doctor and his family in the city near the Mediterranean coast, and not only did Du Plessis show him the ropes at the club, but they also spent a lot of time discussing scrummaging.

And now on Saturday the Bulls loosehead prop and the veteran Springbok tighthead will be going to town on each other if they are both on the field at the same time when the Lions visit Loftus Versfeld in the opening round of the Rainbow Cup.

“I enjoy scrumming against Jannie, I did it a lot in training at Montpellier and we played against each other in the Currie Cup semifinal in January. So we know what each other can bring at scrum time, but with such experience, Jannie always has something in his back pocket. It’s difficult to scrum against a guy like him who has the attitude of always learning and getting better all the time.

“With Jannie there at the Lions, he plays a massive role in their scrum, he’s so experienced and very smart. It’s not just about power with him, you can feel it, he is very technically sound. So the young guys at the Lions like Carlu Sadie are really learning from him. The Lions scrum is very good, they have a good system and it’s going to be a nice challenge,” Gqoboka said on Tuesday.

But the Bulls scrum certainly have the credentials to win the crucial scrum battle this weekend, as they showed when they had the upper hand against the Lions in that Currie Cup semi-final and when they dominated the set-piece against the Sharks in the final. The home side might be without Springbok tighthead Trevor Nyakane due to injury, but Mornay Smith showed his ability to step up when he performed strongly off the bench in the two decisive Currie Cup matches.

“We know we can’t relax, every scrum is going to be a war so we have to show up and concentrate,” Gqoboka added.