Ken Borland

The harsher critics of the Springboks are having a field day saying their reign at the top of the rugby world is going to the dogs, but assistant coach Deon Davids said on Monday that the team need to take the emotion out of their review of the back-to-back defeats against Australia as they prepare to face the mighty All Blacks this weekend.

The Springbok game-plan has been the object of much derision from their rivals who could not prevent them winning the World Cup, as well as seeing off the British and Irish Lions. But a strangely flat performance against the Wallabies last weekend, leading to a 30-17 defeat, has raised questions about how keen the Springboks are to keep chasing and tackling themselves into oblivion.

“We will be the first to say our performance has not been up to standard in the last two games and we need to look at the reasons for that. But it’s important to look objectively at our performance, we want to take the emotion out of it as quickly as possible. We need to look at how the plan was executed, did we stay in the task and then move on to the next challenge?

“We can’t dwell on things that are in the past, we have to focus on what we need to improve and what we need to do. And then prepare effectively to make sure we perform the way we need to. Obviously when you lose two consecutive games, it’s natural to get emotional and you can look for reasons that are not actually the case. We need to go back to our strengths,” Davids said on Monday.

The Springboks’ very specific game-plan needs multiple facets of their play to be working like clockwork and Davids is confident they can regain the required cohesion and fervour against the All Blacks for the 100^th Test between the two great rivals, in Townsville on Saturday.

“We understand what we want to achieve, what we want to do with the ball where and when. Against New Zealand, we’ve got to be good in all areas, especially technically. But this group of players has been in this position before, they lost the first Test against the Lions and their first game at the World Cup, but they were able to pick themselves up because there’s a lot of experience in the team.

“I’m confident we will be back at the standard we are used to, even though there are physical and mental challenges due to the circumstances caused by Covid, which will have some sort of effect. But we had an idea of the challenges before we started this campaign and we prepared to adapt to circumstances. There is nothing standing in the way of us giving our best in these next two weeks,” Davids said.

As much as success breeds further success, it also leads to jealousy and negative attention, and Springboks assistant coach Mzwandile Stick has likened the recent criticism of the South African team to dogs barking in the street.

It is not surprising that Stick should bristle over all the barbs aimed at the Springboks’ style of play, given that he is the attack coach and his team is hardly struggling to score tries or get their exciting back three into the game.

“We’re not going to lose focus on what we want to achieve, we’re not going to listen to the voices outside. We are the world champions and No.1 in the world so people will always be talking about us, it’s the nature of the position. When you’re winning, you expect that and we have made peace with that. It does not worry us and we won’t be influenced by the white noise.

“A dog only barks at a car when it is moving; it pees on the car that is parked. I’m still confused about all the criticism. Look at our wings, they are scoring a lot of brilliant tries, Lukhanyo Am is playing great rugby and Willie le Roux at the back is one of the best at seeing space. We’re scoring more points than the opposition, that’s why we’re winning,” Stick pointed out.

The backline coach was confident that talismanic eighthman Duane Vermeulen and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk will be available for this weekend’s clash with Australia at the Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.

“Duane is doing really well at training and hopefully he’ll be ready for the first game against Australia. Faf is also coming back and the only guy who’s really still struggling with injury is Rynhardt Elstadt. We still have a lot of room for improvement, but we are on the right track. We will focus on what we do best and they [the critics] must play touch rugby or champagne rugby.

“Everyone knows what to expect from Australia and we know that they enjoy having ball-in-hand and they stretch you in terms of your fitness levels. They have a lot of x-factor, skilful players, they play very expansive and entertaining rugby, that’s in their DNA. We’re still getting closer to where we want to be, but it’s going to be a nice game,” Stick said.

The Lions went at the breakdown like a pack of dogs in their opening-round Rainbow Cup fixture against the Bulls, so their opponents this weekend, the Sharks, know that the rucks are going to be a key area of their game at Kings Park on Saturday.

The Sharks were dogged by turnovers last weekend against a Stormers side whose efforts in that department were led by the excellent Nama Xaba, so eighthman Sikhumbuzo Notshe admitted on Tuesday that the breakdowns were a major area of focus for them this week.

“There are always work-ons after the first round of a competition, but the breakdown is a focus this week because of how poor we were in Cape Town. We let the stealers get their hands on the ball, our reaction-time was poor. When someone carries the ball, you have to look after them.

”We haven’t shown consistency in that area and in some games we’ve just lost concentration. Sometimes we just don’t look after our team-mate when they go into contact, but we’ve addressed that and we are working hard on that,” Notshe said on Tuesday.

While the Sharks were not happy with how they played against the Stormers, Notshe said their defensive commitment and discipline were two big positives from the 33-30 win.

“It was a 100% effort. We were 20-3 down at one stage but the energy and intensity levels stayed good, and we must never lose that feeling for each other. At the end it would have been easy to give up a penalty, but we forced them to kick a 50/50 grubber instead. Our defence was good and so was our discipline, those were the positives and the areas where we have shown growth.

“We also adapted well to the new laws. We have to make sure we start and finish well against the Lions, they are a very physical team and we also respect them because they showed in our Super Rugby Unlocked match what they can do in the second 40. Their general [Elton Jantjies] is away on loan, so that probably gives us an edge, but we respect Fred Zeilinga, he didn’t do badly against the Bulls, he controlled the game well,” Notshe said.

A South African may not have won a Major title since Ernie Els triumphed at the Open in 2012, but any suggestion our golf is going to the dogs has been refuted by the superb displays of our golfers around the world over the weekend.

Between them, South Africa’s four top performing golfers over the weekend – Louis Oosthuizen, Garrick Higgo, Ashleigh Buhai and Els himself – took home nearly R23 million in prizemoney. And that excludes the cash raked in by the top-five finishes of both George Coetzee and Retief Goosen.

The Major event of the weekend was the U.S. Open at Winged Foot Golf Club outside New York and the powerful Bryson de Chambeau unleashed his dogs of war in the final round, in which he was the only golfer to shoot under-par, to win by a massive six strokes.

Oosthuizen, who was four off the pace at the start of the round, was soon out of real contention for the title as De Chambeau began dismembering the course on his way to a 67, and his challenge ran out of steam with a three-over 73 on the final day. Nevertheless it was good enough for the 2010 Open champion to finish alone in third, two behind second-placed Matthew Wolff.

Oosthuizen took home more than R14.2 million for his efforts and he now has six top-three finishes in the Majors, including being runner-up at least once in all of them.

The PGA Tour Champions is a lucrative way for professional golfers who have turned 50 and qualified for the seniors tour to bulk up their medical aid and Els took home more than R2.6 million at the weekend when he finished third in the Pure Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach.

Unfortunately Els, who was the leader going into the final round, suffered another of his putting breakdowns as he missed a two-foot putt for par on the last that would have secured him a place in the playoff with eventual winner Jim Furyk and Jerry Kelly.

Goosen finished in fourth place, two shots adrift of Els.

Buhai (nee’ Simon) did get into a playoff in her event on the LPGA Tour, shooting a brilliant seven-under-par 65 in the final round to join Major winner Georgia Hall in the showdown for the Cambria Portland Classic title at Columbia Edgewater.

Unfortunately, Buhai’s putter, which had come to her aid numerous times earlier in the day, let her down on the second extra hole as she missed a par putt to deny her her maiden LPGA title.

The good news though for the three-time SA Open winner is that she has earned herself a place in the U.S. Open in December and she won nearly R2.7 million.

There was at least one South African winner at the weekend though and that was young rising star Garrick Higgo, who claimed his maiden European Tour title by winning the Portugal Open at Royal Obidos. In just his seventh start on the tour, a marvellous seven-under-par 65 drove the 21-year-old left-hander to the victory, Higgo beating Spaniard Pep Angles by one stroke.

Higgo was superb with the Driver all weekend, and he did not make a bogey in his last 26 holes, dropping just three shots all tournament.

While Higgo took home a little more than R3 million for his life-changing win, Coetzee continued to capitalise on his fine form by finishing in a tie for third, four shots back.