Ken Borland

Debutant Ryan Rickelton admitted that getting off the mark in Test cricket with a reverse-sweep for four was not the lowest-risk shot he could have played, but he felt quite comfortable doing it on the first day of the first Test against Bangladesh at Kingsmead in Durban on Thursday.

Rickelton scored a bright 21, which included four fours, the other highlight being a tremendous off-drive to the boundary off Taskin Ahmed. The 25-year-old fell though half-an-hour after tea as he top-edged a hook to mid-on off fast bowler Ebadot Hossain.

Temba Bavuma (53*) and Kyle Verreynne (27*) then took South Africa through to stumps on 233/4.

“I was a bit nervous before coming out to bat but once I was out there I was more excited about finally getting an opportunity to show what I can offer,” Rickelton said.

“I brought out the reverse-sweep a bit early, but I was a bit tense, just planting my front foot to the off-spinner [Mehidy Hasan Miraz] and patting the ball back.

“If I had still been on nought after 10 or 15 balls then things probably wouldn’t have gone in my favour, so I took a bit of a risk. But it’s not my riskiest option and I felt quite comfortable playing the shot.

“I was just sad not to make it to the end of the day, but Temba has played a great innings and set us up for hopefully a big one tomorrow,” Rickelton said.

The Central Gauteng Lions star admitted that the Proteas had greeted Bangladesh’s decision to bowl first with some interest.

“We were quite surprised because you usually bat first in Durban because the pitch starts to turn as it wears,” Rickelton said. “We were going to bat if we won the toss.

“But all our talk about not having seen a pitch of this nature at Kingsmead before maybe pushed them into it. It’s an interesting wicket.

“When the bowlers hit the deck and aimed at the top of off-stump then it did a bit. There was a bit of seam movement and there are some divots there now.

“There’s also a lot of grass on the pitch, but if the sun keeps shining then it should break up a bit,” Rickelton said.

Being 1-0 down in a three-Test series, the Springboks know what they have to do in the coming week: they simply have to find a way to win the second Test against the British and Irish Lions next Saturday and coach Jacques Nienaber believes they are still capable of doing this.

“The series is definitely salvageable next weekend, we have to, there’s no other choice. The things that have been highlighted are definitely things we can sort out – our mauls, our kicking game and the aerial contest. We also need to step up at the breakdown and we had a big discussion about our discipline, it was sad that that was highlighted at halftime and then it wasn’t great in the second half,” Nienaber said.

Scrumhalf Faf de Klerk echoed his coach’s determination that the Springboks have the capacity to win the second Test, also in Cape Town, and level the series.

“It’s not ideal losing the first Test but there are still two to go and I’m sure we can pull it back. There are a lot of things to get right, but a few of the guys had not played rugby for a bit. In the first half we played really well, we got a lot of balls back from our kicking game, we were getting good outcomes. But in the second half the Lions got the loose balls in the aerial contest.

“The Lions are a quality side and the other challenge was that the guys that came off the bench for them are as good if not better that the players they replaced. Our discipline just slipped in the second half and if we could replay the first five minutes after halftime then the match would probably have had a different outcome. But we are a proud team and we will definitely make sure we rectify our mistakes,” De Klerk said.

Another area South Africa need to look at is their bench, which had surprisingly little impact, even though Nienaber denied they had adulterated the Springbok effort, saying he was “not disappointed in them”.

The starting front row of Ox Nche, Trevor Nyakane and Bongi Mbonambi had had an excellent first half, but they were replaced en masse at the start of the second half, which turned out to be a big mistake. Nche did express some surprise that he had been taken off, particularly since he had been standing up very well to highly-rated tighthead Tadhg Furlong in the scrums.

“I didn’t think the Bomb Squad would come on that early. We practise for a full game, that’s our fitness levels. But whatever the coaches feel is right is what we go with. I did my homework on Furlong because I knew how highly-rated he is. So I knew how he scrummed, I was prepared,” Nche said.

The good news for the Springboks is that flyhalf Handre Pollard is okay to play in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions and even though he was in quarantine, he was still putting the time to good use by doing plenty of analysis on their opposition in Cape Town on Saturday.

Pollard, one of the main architects of the 2019 World Cup triumph, was one of the Springboks who tested positive for Covid, but his brush with the virus has not been serious.

“I feel good, luckily I didn’t have any symptoms and I was able to get through the 10 days of quarantine quite easily. I’m ready to go and, as a team, there’s no way we’re not going to be ready. We’re the world champions playing against the British and Irish Lions, so we will be emotionally and physically ready. We’ve had hard weeks of training, we are so ready.

“The Lions have quality players everywhere and we were analysing them as hard as we could when we were stuck in isolation. So we have a good idea of what’s coming, it helps to pick up small cues and what their individual tendencies are. I’m sure they’re doing the same on us too. So after some good time spent on mental preparation and analysis, this week it’s back to physical training,” Pollard said on Monday.

Pollard did a fine job of being South Africa’s general in the 2019 World Cup, where their successful strategy was built around forward power and suffocating defence to boss the gain-line, deft kicking to exploit space and then ruthless finishing to capitalise on the forced mistakes. Over the weekend, certain critics described it as being ‘boring’, to which Pollard had an excellent response on Monday.

“That’s the most beautiful thing in the world to see, apart from my wife. Throwing the ball around is nice for the people watching on TV, but ourselves and the Lions probably play pretty similar games – it’s going to come down to physicality and the set-pieces, as it usually does in these big Tests. The flyhalf always plays a big role too in providing direction, steering the ship.

“It’s going to be a big series, but nothing changes – I still have to do my job first before worrying about the other guys. I have to make sure we’re playing in the right areas,” Pollard said.

Backline coach Mzwandile Stick acknowledged that having the 27-year-old Pollard available is excellent news for the Springboks.

“We know Morne Steyn is very high quality, he manages the game so well, and Elton Jantjies had a great match against the Bulls with his kicking game and his physicality was right up there. But Handre has got massive experience, he was there when we won the World Cup final and you can’t replace that experience. As coaches, we always appreciate experience.

“They are the players who know when to switch on and you can see the guys are now in the zone in the team room,” Stick said.

When the going gets tough, this Springbok team says they don’t make excuses, they find solutions. And that attitude was much in evidence in the third Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town at the weekend when, despite not producing anything close to their best rugby, they simply refused to lose, doing what had to be done to secure a nailbiting 19-16 win and clinch the series.

With Rassie Erasmus still facing a misconduct charge from WorldRugby over his video analysis of officiating mistakes in the first Test loss, the churlish will say the director of rugby makes the Springboks’ excuses for them, but only the most biased would not have at least some grudging respect for the sheer determination and heroism this Springbok team has shown.

And speaking of heroes, the feats of wing Cheslin Kolbe and replacement flyhalf Morne Steyn were pulled straight from the pages of superhero comic books.

Kolbe scored the crucial try to overturn a 10-6 deficit, once again unveiling his superpower ability to simply vanish from the grasp of tacklers thanks to those incredibly feet of his.

And then Steyn, who had won the 2009 series with his long-range penalty, came on after 64 minutes, a 37-year-old playing his first Test since 2016. It was certainly a gamble, replacing the Springboks’ general, Handre Pollard, who has enjoyed an outstanding series but things were not going that well with his boot.

Incredibly, history repeated itself 12 years later as Steyn kicked two penalties, including the match-winning one in the 78^th minute, leaving one to wonder who exactly writes his scripts?!

“I had my head between my legs when Morne kicked, I just listened, I did not see it,” Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber admitted. “I’m really happy for him, it’s a fairytale.

“In the last five weeks, everybody had challenges, a lot of us got Covid and we lost a whole week of training. But the positive thing about this team is that they have no time for excuses, we knew we had to move on and make another plan. Those were the cards we were dealt with, they said ‘unfortunately that’s where we are, we have to move on and find a solution’,” Nienaber added.

For captain Siya Kolisi, the overriding emption was great pride in the team he has led magnificently.

“I honestly can’t explain in words what it means to us as a group to win the series. Coming from isolation, we all agreed that we would never make excuses, that’s not what South Africans are made of. When you step out on to the field, you agree that you are ready to play. That’s what I love about this team, we don’t make excuses, we find solutions,” Kolisi said.

Lock Eben Etzebeth and Steyn were the star players put up by the Springboks for media duties after the gripping match, and it turned out a friendly chat between the two at the start of the day had almost been prophetic.

“We expected it to be a close contest and we always knew that the Lions would come with a massive effort. I had breakfast with Morne and I said that it might come down to him winning the series again with a kick. He said he hoped we were a bit further ahead if he came on.

“It doesn’t matter how we won, just to get the victory is massive for us. We were able to get over the final hurdle. Apart from Morne, the rest of us knew we only have one chance to win a Lions series and we knew it was our last 80 minutes to do it. What happened is absolutely unbelievable and all credit to him,” Etzebeth, a talismanic figure in the Springbok pack all series, said.

“Just to be part of this series 12 years later was amazing and then to get on the field and then to have that kick. It was in a similar position to 2009, just a bit closer for these old legs, 54 metres then and this one was about 35 metres. For a kicker, these special occasions are why you put in all the hard work. You always dream of making a kick to win a series or a championship. All glory to God for giving me the chance to do it again.

“But credit to the whole team for building up to that moment on the field, their work softened them up. It was not our best performance but it doesn’t matter how you win. And thanks to Eben for that pep talk at breakfast!” Steyn said.