Ken Borland

Leinster gave an emphatic demonstration of why they are considered by many to be the No.1 side in Europe as they scored 17 points in the first 13 minutes and went on to demolish South Africa’s top team, the Bulls, 31-3 in the opening round of the United Rugby Championship in Dublin on Saturday.

It was not even the Bulls’ first experience of European rugby as they travelled to Treviso for the Rainbow Cup final in June. They got hammered that day and they weren’t competitive on Saturday either. Especially after a nightmare first quarter in which they conceded two tries.

It was one mistake after the other from the start as flyhalf Johan Goosen sent the kickoff straight into touch and the Bulls were then penalised at the resulting scrum. Jonathan Sexton set the lineout and then knocked over the penalty that resulted from that to give Leinster an early lead.

Three minutes later, a good dart by former Kiwi wing James Lowe put Leinster on attack and a superb run by flank George van der Flier brought the first try.

The second try came six minutes later as the Bulls won a lineout – which did not happen as often as it should have – but there was no halfback to take the tap-down. Leinster claimed the ball and a little dink over the top was regathered before the brilliant outside centre Garry Ringrose fed Andrew Porter, a Bulls defence in disarray allowing the prop to cross an open tryline.

The Bulls showed good tenacity to stay in the contest after such a torrid start, and they produced some excellent rugby. But they lacked the polish and clinical efficiency of their opponents, who just did everything quicker and better than they did. There as a noticeable gap in skills under pressure, especially at the breakdown, where Leinster went hard and pounced on every little inaccuracy.

The Bulls wasted two excellent try-scoring opportunities in the second quarter. But the brilliant Van der Flier stripped Cornal Hendricks of the ball on the tryline after great work by wing Madosh Tambwe, who had a fine game. Goosen was at least able to kick a penalty, but then the Bulls were pressing hard when the ball was just left unguarded next to the line and Leinster pounced and were able to clear their lines.

Leinster, with classy flyhalf Sexton pulling the strings, varied their game in impressive fashion and, in the second half, replacement hooker James Tracy scored from a lineout maul. The Irish powerhouses then completed the scoring with an excellent try to Sexton’s replacement Ross Byrne that showcased their superb support play, offloading skills and use of space.

Scorers

Leinster – Tries: George van der Flier, Andrew Porter, James Tracy, Ross Byrne. Conversions: Jonathan Sexton (3), Byrne. Penalty: Sexton.

Bulls – Penalty: Johan Goosen.

The first ODI between South Africa and Ireland may have been washed out, but it did provide the Proteas with a valuable demonstration of how accepting that conditions are going to be tough for batting up front and not pushing too hard in the first powerplay is going to be crucial when the second match is played at the same Malahide ground in Dublin on Tuesday.

Ireland had reached 195-4, after being sent in to bat, in the 40.2 overs that were played before the rain ended matters, and were well-placed to post a decent total. That was partly due to, and not despite, a fairly painstaking start in which they scored just 28 runs in the first 10 overs but did not lose any wickets.

It is the exact opposite situation to what the Proteas experienced in the West Indies, where batting up front in the powerplay was the time to cash in and the best chance to score quickly.

“The pitch was a tad slow, but it was a good wicket. We’ll have to assess again for the next game, but up front was the toughest time to bat. So you have to be very watchful the first 10 overs and then the ball doesn’t do as much. The game gets easier and then you can press on.

“It’s definitely the right thing to field first because then you know what score you’re chasing and you know the conditions better. We need to show what we’ve learned from the West Indies and be clinical with the bat. We bowled pretty well, but we just need to remind ourselves that we need to execute day in, day out. It’s about being consistent, that’s the key word, we need to repeat the good performances,” all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo said on Monday.

Given that South Africa never got to bat, any changes to the batting line-up are going to be unfair on the likes of Janneman Malan and Kyle Verreynne. But if Quinton de Kock is ready to go after his rest, then who wouldn’t want him in a game that has crucial World Cup qualification points at stake?

Consistent fast bowler Anrich Nortje was also rested for the first game and he could return at the expense of left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, who did not get any wickets but was tight, conceding just 38 runs in his nine overs.

In what the Ministry of Sports, Arts and Culture has described as “an extraordinary demonstration of patience”, Minister Nathi Mthethwa on Tuesday agreed to give the warring factions in Cricket South Africa another week in which to sort out their differences and adopt a new Memorandum of Incorporation for the new Board that is meant to be installed after the AGM on April 17.

The Interim Board have proposed a new MoI which seeks to rectify the poor governance in cricket by having a board with a majority of independent directors, as well as an independent chair. But the Members Council, made up of the provincial presidents, has refused to accept this and the impasse has grown uglier by the day.

Mthethwa, who put the Interim Board in place in October last year, met with the two parties on Tuesday night and his department then issued a follow-up statement on Wednesday morning that would have left no-one in doubt as to who the sports minister is backing.

The statement said: “In an extraordinary demonstration of patience, Minister Mthethwa said, ‘it is important not to allow boardroom disputes to trump player welfare. I am being dared to take executive action. In my opinion, it is clear that the court of public opinion shows no appetite for any unnecessary delays and own-goals, especially at a time when sponsors have demonstrated unbelievable loyalty and patience.

“Despite clarification on some misinterpretations and being provided with cricket best practice elsewhere in the world, the Members Council still clung to the 2013 CSA stance of ‘cricket needing to be run by cricket people’. Amongst the points of clarification were the fact that ‘independent’ does not necessarily translate to ‘cricket illiteracy’.”

In an environment that currently features as much intrigue as in a Sydney Sheldon novel, the Members Council are still deeply suspicious of having a majority of independent directors, but it was pointed out to them that a majority could mean as little as 51%.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt praised replacement wing Sbu Nkosi for his performance against the Pumas in their Currie Cup match in Durban on Friday night, saying his brace of tries were a fitting demonstration of why the 24-year-old Springbok is a World Cup winner.

Nkosi has had his share of injury problems this year as well as a brush with Covid-19 that forced him into quarantine, necessitating Everitt’s decision to play him off the bench. But it seems inevitable the Sharks coach will be finding a way of fitting him into the starting line-up when they return to action against the Bulls in a fortnight.

Nkosi scored with his first touch in the 53^rd minute when he spectacularly claimed the restart after the Pumas’ only try and then blazed away to score, and then he scored again with 10 minutes remaining with an intercept try completed with impressive pace.

“Sbu’s performance tonight was definitely the highlight with his two tries, he was phenomenal and showed why he is a World Cup winner with the Springboks. What a difference he made for us, he’s world-class in the air. He helped us win in Kimberley as well against Griquas. We scored some good tries through big defence tonight and we’re ecstatic with scoring seven tries,” Everitt said after the impressive 45-10 victory.

Because the Currie Cup fixtures have merely been a continuation of Super Rugby Unlocked, the Sharks now quirkily have a bye after just one Currie Cup match. They then host the Bulls at Kings Park on December 12 and they will certainly need to be more consistent in maintaining the level of performance they showed in the first half against the Pumas for the full 80 minutes against the log-leaders.

“I’m very proud with how we stood up in the first half, conditions were not easy but we were brave enough to move the ball around and score some good tries through big defence. I’m very happy with the way we played in the first half, the forwards laid a really good platform and there were three maul tries, we scrummed well and stuck to the plan.

“For the second half, the plan was to stick to our processes but unfortunately the Pumas put us under the pump at the set-pieces. You have to give them credit for that, putting us under pressure in the second half, especially at the scrums. But we also put a lot of pressure on ourselves and we certainly could have been better in the second half. But to win 45-10 definitely deserves credit,” Everitt said.