Ken Borland

Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee always wants to win trophies, which is why even in his delight after beating Leinster for the first time at the weekend, he stressed that his team had still not completed their job.

Coetzee, who suffered playoff pain at the hands of Leinster during his five years with Ulster, made it clear that there was one remaining task for his team: To now beat the Stormers in the United Rugby Championship final in Cape Town on Saturday.

“My emotions are running high, four or five times I have come up short against Leinster,” Coetzee said after their epic semi-final win in Dublin. “So it’s a proud moment and definitely a highlight of my career.

“But we want to lift the trophy in any competition we play in. So we still have one more job to do. Our job is not done yet, there is still one game to go and we will go 100% in the final.”

The loose forward star, undoubtedly one of the best players in the URC this season, also knows that prowess in the scrums and lineouts is always crucial in semi-finals and finals. Having blunted the might of Leinster, the Stormers pack will now present another formidable challenge.

“If you’re going to have a chance of winning in playoffs then your set-piece has to function,” Coetzee said. “Credit to our forwards coach Russell Winter and the other coaches because we had done our homework.

“Leinster are all international stars and we said we have to play at that level, we had to win physically. Mentally we were also switched on.

“Our lineout was exceptional and we managed to adapt at the scrums. The pack showed their composure and we were able to get in the right positions, which is what we’ll need again,” Coetzee said.

Like the best choirmaster, Bulls coach Jake White has his charges singing in unison with perfect timing and blending of talents, and they undoubtedly played their best game of the season in the semi-final against Leinster.

“It was all about the plan, executing that correctly, getting in their faces, making sure our kicking game was good and getting our chase-line going,” Coetzee said.

The Bulls will no doubt bring the same strategy to Cape Town, as Stormers coach John Dobson mints a new generation of heroes to play in the blue-and-white.

The Stormers’ decision-making under the pressure the Bulls will exert on them on the gain-line is going to be the key factor in the final.

When Bulls director of rugby Jake White returns to his Loftus Versfeld office on Monday morning, it will be with a sense of delight over how his team got the job done in Swansea and great excitement for the future of what is still a largely young squad.

The Bulls beat the Ospreys at the weekend, 38-31, a bonus point win that was more convincing than the scoreline suggests and which ensured a home United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against the Sharks on the first weekend of June.

“We played really, really well at times and we could have won 45-24 if the ball had gone to hand when Juan Mostert threw a pass that was intercepted and Ospreys scored,” White said after the Bulls overtook the Sharks in the standings to finish fourth.

“It was a comprehensive win and I was happy with everybody. I thought we played really well tonight – the shape of our attack, the speed of our game and the quick ball from the rucks, our understanding of space and where to go.

“At times we made it look so simple against a really good team that was vying to be the top Welsh side. We did that by creating space, carrying through the middle and using tip-passes.

“To be able to do that under pressure makes it even more gratifying. I’m really looking forward to how good this team is going to be. The confidence we showed is going to be important for the next couple of years too,” White said.

While outside centre Cornal Hendricks ran the Ospreys off the park in the second half with a hat-trick of tries, there were heroes all over the field for the Bulls.

“Cornal was outstanding and I was very happy he got Man of the Match, but Canan Moodie showed why we put young guys in these positions, he knocked on in his own 22 and Ospreys scored, but then he set up his try and one for Cornal.

“Ten seconds before Mostert threw the intercept pass, he made a try-saving tackle. Ruan Nortje was very good. If he keeps playing like that, it’s going to be difficult to leave him out of the Springbok squad.

“I wouldn’t have been surprised if Gerhard Steenekamp had got Man of the Match, at times he was outstanding as well, and a guy like Johan Grobbelaar does so much for us.

“I’m just really happy to see how we have grown as a team and that the guys now get a chance to play at home, having shown we can win away if we play well enough,” White said.

There was deserved delight for the Pumas at Kings Park at the weekend, but dismay for the Sharks as their dismal showing saw them go down 20-10 to the Mpumalanga side in their Currie Cup match in Durban.

Dejected Sharks coach Etienne Fynn had no qualms about the Pumas being worthy winners, but clearly he was more focused on the work his team have to do to ensure they do not drop out of semi-final contention. The Pumas are now just five points behind the Sharks, with a game in hand, while the KwaZulu-Natalians also have to keep an eye on Griquas, who trail them by just three points in fourth place.

“First of all, the Pumas totally deserved their win. We were poor and we need to work on all aspects of our game,” Fynn admitted. “It’s about sticking to the plan.

“More importantly, when you get opportunities to score, you have to take advantage, and when they get into our half, we have to close them down.

“I did expect some rustiness after our long break, but not that much rustiness. We were really not sharp enough.

“It’s pretty simple to come up with a plan that works, but then you have to ask why we did not execute it and what were the reasons for that?” Fynn said.

With the Sharks still to play three games (Free State away, Lions at home and WP away) and the Pumas having four matches left, as well as the three Griquas’ fixtures to consider, the totalizator is still full of different bets as to who will join the Free State Cheetahs and Bulls in the last four.

But Fynn knows his team have to pick themselves up and bounce back fast.

“As a team, we’ve got to own this loss and move forward positively. We play Free State in Bloem on Saturday and we all know how good a side we are up against. But our season is far from over,” Fynn said.

Cricket South Africa acting CEO Pholetsi Moseki declared his delight on Monday night as fast bowlers Anrich Nortje and Shabnim Ismail were named as CSA’s men’s and women’s players of the year.

Ismail won the award for a second time, following her triumph in 2015, and joins Marizanne Kapp (twice) and Dane van Niekerk (three times) as the only multiple winners of the main women’s award.

Nortje claimed the Player of the Year honours just a season after being named Newcomer of the Year, the first player to achieve this feat.

“Genuine fast bowling remains one of the great and thrilling sights of our game and we are indeed blessed to continue to produce world leaders in this demanding skill. Anrich and Shabnim have set the highest standards that we expect from our icon Proteas players.

“Anrich’s international career to date has been remarkable. In the space of a year he has gone from being named our International Newcomer of the Year to our overall Player of the Year – an incredible achievement. The pandemic has restricted him to just 10 Test matches to date in which he has taken 39 wickets, including three five-wicket hauls, and his strike rate of 48.50 is comfortably within the world’s leading bowlers.

“Shabnim is the fastest bowler on the women’s international circuit, and she has been the leader of our Proteas attack for a long time now. She is the only South African to have taken 100 wickets in the T20 International format and she recently passed the significant landmark of 150 wickets in ODI cricket. She has played a huge role in enabling our Proteas to break into the top group of countries,” Moseki said in a statement released after the virtual awards were announced on social media.

Nortje was also voted Test Cricketer of the Year, SA Fans’ Player of the Year and shared the Players’ Player of the Year honour with Aiden Markram, while another pace bowler, Wiaan Mulder, was given the Delivery of the Year award for his dismissal of Kusal Mendis, caught by Rassie van der Dussen (who was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year), in the second Test against Sri Lanka.

Ismail also enjoyed a feast of awards, claiming the T20 Cricketer of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year prizes.

Lizelle Lee (ODI Cricketer of the Year) and Tabraiz Shamsi (T20 Player of the Year) were also the cream of the crop in the white-ball formats after seasons filled with runs and wickets respectively.

Adrian Holdstock was once again the Umpire of the Year.

The domestic awards were asymmetrically lopsided in favour of the Dolphins, who claimed five of the eight honours with Keshav Maharaj named both Most Valuable Player and Players’ Player of the Year.

Award winners

SA Men’s Cricketer of the Year:                                                        Anrich Nortje

SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year:                                                Shabnim Ismail

Test Cricketer of the Year:                                                                 Anrich Nortje

One-Day International Cricketer of the Year:                  Rassie van der Dussen

T20 International Cricketer of the Year:                                       Tabraiz Shamsi

Momentum Proteas One-Day International Cricketer of the Year:  Lizelle Lee

Proteas T20 International Cricketer of the Year:                        Shabnim Ismail

SA Men Players’ Player of the Year:                Aiden Markram & Anrich Nortje

SA Women’s Players’ Player of the Year:                                      Shabnim Ismail

SA Fans’ Player of the Year:                                                              Anrich Nortje

KFC Streetwise Award:                           Lizelle Lee        (innings of 132 v India)

CSA Delivery of the Year: Wiaan Mulder (v Kusal Mendis, SA v SL, 2^nd Test)

International Newcomer of the Year:                                               George Linde

Women’s International Newcomer of the Year:                              Black Day kit