Ken Borland

Opening batsman Lokesh Rahul was the dominant figure on the opening day of the first Test between South Africa and India at Centurion on Sunday, whether it was in partnership with Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli or Ajinkya Rahane, his unbeaten century steering the tourists to 272/3 at stumps.

Rahul went to stumps on 122 not out, showing great patience at the start as he took 21 deliveries to get off the mark, before gradually asserting himself and establishing his command over the bowling.

It was the sort of statement innings captain Kohli would have desired on the opening day of the series. Having won the toss, India made the right decision to bat first, even though it felt like a bowler’s morning: cool temperatures and a greenish tinge to the pitch.

But an underdone Proteas attack was either too full or too straight and Rahul and Agarwal batted brilliantly to put on 117 for the first wicket.

Lungi Ngidi, whose readiness for this Test was in doubt given he had only bowled seven competitive overs since July as well as having had a bout of Covid, made an understandably uncertain start with the new ball. But after lunch he had the masterstroke of using off-cutters on a dampish pitch and removed Agarwal (60) and Cheteshwar Pujara (0) with successive balls.

Agarwal was struck above the roll and the lbw appeal was turned down, but South Africa reviewed and DRS showed the delivery to be hitting the top of leg stump. Agarwal clearly did not agree, and many others were in agreement with umpire Marais Erasmus’s on-field decision of not out.

That disappointment turned to shock for India as Pujara inside-edged his first ball on to his thigh-pad, Keegan Petersen moving sharply from backward short-leg to take the catch.

But Kohli helped restore the equilibrium as he and Rahul added 82 for the third wicket. Kohli looked in fine touch as he went to 35, before Ngidi once again came up with a cunning plan to unseat the Indian captain. It was a speculative full and wide away-swinger, but Kohli went for the drive and edged it to first slip.

With the new ball less than a dozen overs away, Rahane came to the crease. The 33-year-old’s place in the middle-order has been in serious doubt, but he played with no sense of hesitancy or feeling pressure as he strode to 40 not out by the close, adding 73 for the fourth wicket with Rahul.

South Africa have not been helped by the absence of Anrich Nortje nor the recent bout of Covid suffered by Duanne Olivier. According to sources close to the team, team management were not convinced Olivier’s bowling loads since then have been enough to get him through a five-day Test.

Young Marco Jansen came in for his debut and endured a tough day with figures of 17-4-61-0.

But the Proteas will be thrilled with Ngidi’s contribution on Sunday, as he ended with three for 45 in 17 overs. He should only get better in this series.

Bulls coach Jake White seemed afraid before their match against Leinster that his team and their fans might not realise how daunting their game against the dominant side in the Pro14 competition was going to be, and the reality of what awaits South Africa’s champions was rammed home as they were hammered 31-3 at the Aviva Stadium.

On a miserable day for South African rugby on which the Springboks, Stormers, Bulls and Sharks all lost, the quality, tempo and precision of the European game was on full display, even though those sides are just starting their season. And Leinster look set to be Europe’s flagbearers once again, judging by their polished performance against the Bulls.

“I’m not that disappointed in our performance to be honest. Leinster are the benchmark in European rugby and I’m a realist. That’s the kind of pressure we’re going to have to get used to week in, week out. To give some perspective, Jamison Gibson-Park comes off the bench at scrumhalf and he’s an international. We need to get to that level of skill and depth.

“We need to be realistic where we are and where Leinster are currently. We can’t be down, it was a great learning opportunity even though it wasn’t pleasant. Leinster have Test players who have been together for a long time, guys with 30 Test caps against players with 30 Currie Cup caps. The bottom line is that they exposed us and they have done it to some of the best sides in Europe,” White said.

The Bulls started the match in terrible fashion, trailing 17-0 after just 13 minutes, but they had opportunities to close the gap in the first half, which they failed to take.

“We kicked direct into touch at the start, we gave away a penalty at the scrum, a lineout and then we’re 10-0 down in the first seven minutes. We were under pressure the whole time and it could easily have become 50 points as they ran away with it. But if we could have gone to 10-17 then we would have been a bit more confident.

“I’m proud of how we stuck into it, we showed our resilience and we looked like we held our own in certain passages. That’s the positive – for long periods we stayed competitive. But the challenge is not to get down on ourselves, we have to back ourselves even though things worked easily in the Currie Cup, but we weren’t playing against international opposition,” White said.

The much-vaunted Bulls pack was a bit of a sleeper in the first half of their decisive Rainbow Cup match against the Sharks at Kings Park at the weekend, but a thoroughly dominant third quarter laid the platform for a comfortable 34-22 win and Jake White said although it is the nature of coaching to always be critical of something, he was satisfied that their mission in Durban was accomplished.

With both sides scoring a try apiece in the first half, the Bulls held a narrow 13-10 lead at the break, but they had notched their crucial fourth, bonus point try by the hour mark. That assured them of their place in the Rainbow Cup final against Benetton in Treviso this weekend. The final quarter saw the Sharks fight back as the Bulls were given two yellow cards.

“I was very happy with our defence with 13 men because the Sharks have some really good attacking players, but I would have preferred to have 15 men finish the game. But our experience told at the end and it’s a difficult one to manage once we scored our fourth try because you want to protect players and give those on the bench a run, but it’s a balancing act because you don’t want to get caught out and you are also on the cusp of getting some momentum for the final.

“But we got what we wanted out of the game and the message the whole time to the players was to go for the win and play the way we always play. If it took until the 79^th minute, we had to believe that the fourth try would come, and we had to back our intensity and keeping the ball in play. I’m very happy we showed we can handle the pressure,” White said.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt said his team did not have any right to make excuses for their defeat.

“We put ourselves in position to get the four tries we needed, we had six entries into the Bulls’ 22 in the first half alone, but we only converted one of them so we can’t make any excuses. We just weren’t able to convert, losing the ball over the line, and then things unravelled in the second half with soft penalties. There was ill-discipline at times too, which the players must take responsibility for.

“We need to cut down on our error-rate. We wanted to get the ball into the wider channels, get it through the hands, like in Aphelele Fassi’s good runs and the Siya Kolisi try. Unfortunately at times we just could not get the ball there when we had the opportunity to do that, which comes down to decision-making and sticking to the plan, not holding on to the ball instead of moving it,” Everitt said.

Temba Bavuma is the right man to lead the Proteas because he took the Imperial Lions from being kittens to the roaring, dominant beasts they are now, according to his vice-captain at the franchise, Nicky van den Bergh.

History will be made at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday morning when Bavuma becomes the first Black African to captain the South African cricket team, and for wicketkeeper/batsman Van den Bergh he was the obvious choice as skipper.

“There was obviously a lot of speculation over who the best captain would be, but the Proteas white-ball teams need to win trophies and Temba has managed to do that, really stepping up for the Lions in two or three finals. He has been the most successful franchise captain over the last three years, he has a proven record that no-one can dispute. It’s about time that the Proteas have taken that punt and I think he will do well.

“Sure, he inherited a strong squad at the Lions but we hadn’t won anything. Under him we won five out of eight possible trophies which you can’t argue with. The best captains get a team effort going, there’s no secret, no aces up his sleeve, he just gets the best out of the big players and ensures they step up in the big games. Temba is very confident, he has that presence, that aura, that means he can get the best out of his players,” Van den Bergh told The Citizen on Thursday.

Both Van den Bergh and former Lions coach Geoff Toyana, who first gave the captaincy to Bavuma, spoke on Thursday of his people skills and ability to get the best out of players.

“Temba is a pretty intense character and he leads like that as well. But I feel he got the best out of me and the other players, and now he’s obviously got an even greater calibre of players and more backing. He expects the best out of you as a player and he’s never satisfied with just doing well, he expects you to do better and better. But he lets the guys play, you can see that by how attacking we are.

“That’s the kind of thing that makes the top players stand up and he does it as well, Temba’s not one to back down under pressure. He created a winning culture very quickly at the Lions and the gus now expect to win, we don’t buckle. So for me it was a move the Proteas had to make because of the success he has had at franchise level,” Van den Bergh said.

“Temba is a great leader and a people’s person who leads from the front. He gives his team confidence and backs the players, that’s the main thing that makes sure they do well,” Toyana said.