Ken Borland

After being out of action for three months, it is with great glee that the DP World Lions Ladies team will return to the field this weekend, as they travel to Durban to take on the HollywoodBets Dolphins in both a one-day and a T20 match.

The Dolphins will be tough opponents in the 50-over contest, where they are top of the log, three points ahead of the Titans with a game in hand, and nine points better off than the Lions.

But those tables are reversed in the T20 league. Western Province may be 12 points clear of the DP World Lions at the top of the standings at the moment, but our Pride are second with a game in hand and if they beat the Dolphins and also win their remaining three matches then it is possible for them to defend their title.

Their hosts this weekend have only won two of their six T20 matches this season and are languishing second-from-bottom on the log.

DP World Lions Ladies coach Shaun Pretorius says his team are ready and keen to get the second half of their season going, their last match having been their T20 visit to the Titans on November 19.

“All the hard work has been done in the last few weeks, the ladies have really been grafting and we have had good preparation for this weekend. They are excited to now just go out and jol,” Pretorius said.

“The T20 match is particularly vital for us because we are in a really good position in that competition. In the 50-over league, it’s about making sure we climb the log in our remaining matches, even if it’s just inches at a time. We are still going out to compete, not just to participate.”

The KwaZulu-Natal Coastal side’s reliance on spin at Kingsmead is no longer original and Pretorius said our DP World Lions Ladies are forewarned and well-prepared for the challenge.

“We have worked on plans to combat each of their bowlers and we think they’re going to have their best line-up without their Proteas. That means they will be without their formidable left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba, so that’s one threat that is away.

“We are aware that spin is their main threat down there and we are also looking at lots of spin-bowling options, depending on what the pitch looks like. The games will be all about those crucial small phases in the game and how we conduct ourselves in them will be the key,” Pretorius said.

The Dolphins will also be missing pace bowler Ayanda Hlubi, while the only member of the Lions Pride on duty for the Proteas Test squad is wicketkeeper/batter Sinalo Jafta. But the highly-promising Karabo Meso is most able to step into her shoes.

South African rugby will forever be bonded with Kitch Christie’s famous ‘high road or the low road’ scenario before the 1995 World Cup triumph, but Bulls coach Jake White says it is still too early to consider his team as being at a similar crossroads ahead of their crunch United Rugby Championship match against the Sharks in Durban on Saturday.

Coach Christie said it was crucial that the Springboks beat defending champions and favourites Australia in the opening match of the 1995 World Cup and take the “high road” through the tournament; defeat would mean the “low road” requiring victories over England and New Zealand before the final. South Africa pulled off a sensational 28-18 win, setting them up for an unbeaten run through the tournament they hosted.

The Bulls, having lost last weekend to the Stormers in Cape Town, are now five points behind the defending champions in the South African Shield, having played an extra game. If the Sharks beat the Bulls with a bonus point at Kings Park, then they could be within another bonus-point win of the Pretoria side, with a game in hand.

But White, who has called the late Christie his mentor, is not stressing about the log at this stage.

“We’re not at the high road or low road point yet and it’s not a do-or-die game,” White said on Friday. “It’s still so open, although we do know Leinster are the pace-setters, they always have been.

“We beat the Sharks with a bonus point at Loftus, and if the Sharks beat the Stormers twice and we win this weekend, then we would be favourites again to win the conference.

“There are still a lot of permutations between now and the end of the tournament, and not every team will win every game at home. Winning a couple of matches away is the premium.

“But we will be up against one of the strongest provincial sides, although one thing I enjoy about the URC is that a team can beat anyone on any given Saturday. That’s exciting,” White said.

Nine current Springboks is what the Bulls, who will field Johan Goosen at fullback and Chris Smith at flyhalf, are up against. The combination of Smith and Goosen played in the pivotal game-management positions when the Bulls beat the Sharks 40-27 at Loftus Versfeld at the end of October, which is why White has made that selection again.

“The last time we played the Sharks we did that and it worked well, and we didn’t have Kurt-Lee Arendse and Canan Moodie then,” White said. “It means we have two kickers and two passers and can move the ball away from flyhalf.

“I’ve heard it might rain in Durban too and the Sharks don’t play much in their own half, they have a good kicking game and Makazole Mapimpi is very good in the air.

“But it’s not just a reaction to them, it worked for us at home and it gives us two guys who understand how we want to play. It’s important that Bernard van der Linde can also kick with both feet at scrumhalf,” White said.

Bulls:Johan Goosen, Canan Moodie, Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Chris Smith, Bernard van der Linde, Elrigh Louw, Cyle Brink, Marco Van Staden, Ruan Nortje (c), Ruan Vermaak, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Simphiwe Matanzima. Bench -Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Gerhard Steenekamp, Sebastian Lombard, Janko Swanepoel, Nizaam Carr, Embrose Papier, Lionel Mapoe, David Kriel.

Eighthman and sometime captain Phepsi Buthelezi knows that as a leading player for the franchise he is a seller of the Sharks brand and he says the team are eager to showcase their true capabilities when the United Rugby Championship resumes with a derby clash against the Lions in Durban on Friday night.

The Sharks have certainly made a superb start to the Champions Cup, victories over Harlequins and then Bordeaux-Begles in France lifting them into fourth place in Pool A. But their URC form has been less compelling – they are currently lying in 10^th position after four wins and three defeats.

“We feel we’ve been very inconsistent in the URC,” Buthelezi acknowledged. “We haven’t shown yet what we can really do and we want to make our fans proud. We’re targeting the Lions game and the next few, to get to where we want to be.

“Improving our consistency is our aim and I feel we are getting it right. But the Lions have been on a good run, they’re just off a win against Stade Francais, and we know they are on the up and up.

“I’ve been privileged to play in many South African derbies and we know it will be very physical because it means a lot to the teams. Plus we are not where we want to be on the log.

“But we are in a really good space at the moment, on a good run having won three in a row. So the mood in the camp is very good,” Buthelezi said.

The turnaround in the Sharks’ form has, of course, come since director of rugby Neil Powell took over the coaching reins from the axed Sean Everitt. Buthelezi said the last few weeks had seen the team re-look how they go into matches.

“The big thing has been our process during the week, changing how we go into games physically, emotionally and mentally. We feel it will give us more results and we are still carrying those changes into this week.

“The travel has been really tough. But we have embraced it and we’ve enjoyed spending time with one another. We’ve shown true spirit and taken on our challenges.

“I feel fortunate to be part of this amazing squad, with amazing coaches, and I’m just trying to work hard and be consistent as a player and a leader.

“It’s going to be a massive game against the Lions, but we have a few tricks up our sleeves … ” Buthelezi said.

South African rugby teams have put the SuperRugby epoch behind them and, now that they have tasted the Champions Cup tournament, are ready to fully embrace European competition, even when it takes a team like the Sharks from the subtropical summer heat of Durban one week into the icy winter of the hilly Bordeaux region the next.

The Sharks, having marked their Champions Cup debut with an impressive 39-31 win over Harlequins at Kings Park, now take on Bordeaux Begles at the Chaban Delmas Stadium on Friday night.

“It definitely met expectations and all the hype playing against Harlequins and we made a good start, even though there was a lot for us to improve on,” hooker Bongi Mbonambi said on Tuesday from France.

“And now we take on top French players at home in front of their own crowd. The big difference is we just came from 31° in Durban to 2° at the moment and it might be zero on Friday night.

“It’s a totally different kind of cold, but we are here to make memories and make sure we are totally prepared. We’re looking forward to the challenge.

“The massive learning from the Quins game was that we can never relax, these are very good teams in this competition. They’ve been playing European Cup for longer than us, and we still have a lot to learn.

“We have to embrace it, you can’t always have home advantage. But even in tough conditions and with a hostile crowd, some of us enjoy it, it’s like what we face in international rugby. Hopefully we can teach the other players to embrace it too,” Mbonambi said.

Bordeaux lost their opening Champions Cup match away to Gloucester 22-17 in a photo finish, but the fact they were 17-5 up in the final quarter will have them extra motivated to inflict some real damage on the Sharks this weekend at home.

Bordeaux have a powerful pack and a punchy backline, and the fact that their halfbacks, scrummie Maxime Lucu and pivot Matthieu Jalibert, both played off the bench against the Springboks last month, steering France to victory, is a graphic illustration of the sort of quality the Sharks are up against.

“The French teams always hurt after losing in the Champions Cup and Bordeaux have a really good squad,” Mbonambi acknowledged. “They slipped up last weekend, so this Friday will be really tough.

“They have great loose forwards and their halfbacks played in the Test, they are really good at running the whole place, they control things.

“Their pack will definitely put our attacking breakdown under pressure and we can’t let their big forwards run at us,” Mbonambi said.