Ken Borland

Curwin Bosch was considered a mint talent when he arrived at Kings Park in 2016, but is almost a forgotten Springbok these days. The 24-year-old’s latest comeback will happen on Wednesday night as he has been named as the Sharks’ starting flyhalf for their Currie Cup match against Western Province in Durban.

The Eastern Cape prodigy has played two Tests for South Africa, but the last of those was in June 2018. Bosch has not appeared in the United Rugby Championship since the Sharks’ match in Cardiff on October 16.

The rumour mill has been rife with speculation that the Sharks want to offload the bright and still young talent, despite their five-year investment in him, but CEO Eduard Coetzee has denied this.

“Curwin has had a bit of an unfortunate run, he had a hip flexor injury, but he’s back this week,” Coetzee said at the Sharks’ media weekend. “With the British and Irish Lions defeat and the Currie Cup final, he lost a bit of confidence.

“But we are looking to get him back in the team, even though he thinks his future may lie outside of the Sharks. We’ve given him time to get his head right and if he wants to stay with us then that would be cool.

“Curwin is an unbelievable rugby player who has won games for us. But sport is cruel. He’s a great kid though and it’s important that we look after him,” Coetzee said.

The presence of one Elton Jantjies at Kings Park over the weekend – ostensibly to visit his nephew who is at the Sharks Academy – could indicate there is further pressure, however, on Bosch’s future in Durban.

Adding the skills and trickery of Jantjies, all of it done flat to the gainline, to the powerful Sharks backline would be a mouthwatering prospect.

And Coetzee has admitted that they need to bolster their squad in order to challenge for URC honours and beyond.

“We gave away the most penalties at scrum time of any team – 3.8 per game – hence our signing of Globis [Georgian scrum coach Akvsenti Giorgadze] and Bongi Mbonambi.

“We had to ask ourselves, if Thomas du Toit goes down, we have another tighthead? So we are looking to bolster our tight five. I don’t think we’ll be signing any wings …

“It’s a balancing act because there are also transfer fees to consider and we have to wait for the right guy to come up. But by July 1, I’m confident we will have a squad that can win the URC.

“We are a global competitor and we are ambitious. We want to enter the Heineken Champions Cup and win it. We need older heads for that because age is the big difference between our teams and the overseas ones,” Coetzee said.

Following an encouraging set-piece display in the win against the Lions at Ellis Park last weekend, Sharks prop Ox Nche is confident his team will be able to deliver the goods again when they host the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship match in Durban on Saturday.

The Sharks do seem to have settled down in terms of their scrummaging and much of the credit for that must go to their scrum coach, Akvsenti Giorgadze, the former Georgia hooker who joined the franchise at the start of the URC season. The home side will need to be at their best in the set-piece to counter a strong Stormers scrum led by powerhouse Springbok loosehead Steven Kitshoff.

“The Lions average four or five penalties a game won and at 2-2 last weekend at Ellis Park, it was fairly even,” Nche said on Tuesday. “We were pretty happy, being our first match back.

“We can only get better and there’s not much difference between the guys coming off the bench and the front row that starts, we have all worked hard and put in the same effort.

“We have a good system in place with Akvsenti, he keeps it fairly simple. It’s an all-eight effort and he is very good with the little things like our shape and technique. He brings confidence.

“And he insists on attitude as well, he expects forwards to be forwards! He tries to bring the best out of every player and he’s doing that, we have a good relationship,” Nche said.

The Sharks scored six tries in beating the Lions 47-37 and some of them were dazzling efforts showcasing the brilliant skills of their Springbok-laden backline. Nche, wearing the No.1 jersey and playing an important role in winning the time and space for the backs to flourish, knows the whole team will have to take another step up against the Stormers, who lead the way in the South African franchise, two points ahead of the Sharks.

“The Springboks really put their hands up against the Lions and kept their form, which was good to see,” Nche said. “We have some really special backs.

“But it’s going to be a good challenge this weekend against Kitshoff and the boys. We were shocked when we saw they were 18-0 up in the first half at Loftus Versfeld. We expected the Bulls to come out steaming.

“This Saturday, whoever pitches on the day and executes their plan will come out on top and it’s going to be a pretty good challenge. The Stormers will come here with big confidence.

“We have to man up and be at our best. If we can pull it off, it would be a major win for us, and especially for me because it will be the first time I’m playing with fans back at home,” Nche said.

Two new caps have been called up to the Sharks Currie Cup starting XV for their match against Griquas at Kings Park on Wednesday in flank OJ Noa and wing Eduan Keyter, and how the loose forward landed up in Durban is a long and winding tale.

Of Samoan heritage, Noa was born in Auckland but brought up in Australia. He made his professional debut in 2014, as a 24-year-old, for the Melbourne Rising in the National Rugby Championship. In 2016 he moved to the Canberra Vikings and played six games for them, before moving to Spain in 2018 and playing for SilverStorm El Salvador, one of that country’s leading teams, who also happen to play in black-and-white.

Noa began 2021 playing New South Wales club rugby, but, as a 31-year-old, it was a dramatic year that saw him finally make his breakthrough. The 1.93m, 110kg flank was chosen for Samoa to play in their two Rugby World Cup qualifiers against Tonga and was subsequently signed by the Sharks.

“It’s been a bit of a journey for OJ rugby-wise, but he is certainly physical, he has lovely silky hands and he can run all day,” Sharks Currie Cup coach Etienne Fynn said on Monday after announcing his team to meet Griquas.

The 25-year-old Keyter will be up against his previous team and the Affies and Maties product is a proven attacking force at Currie Cup level, so Fynn and URC coach Sean Everitt will be looking forward to seeing what he can bring after being out injured since his signing.

Also set to make their Sharks debuts are hooker Jason Alexander, the 21-year-old who has moved from Western Province to Durban, his front-row team-mate Dian Bleuler, who got to play against the British and Irish Lions last year; lock Corne Rahl, who went to the SA Rugby Academy in 2021; and former UCT captain Josh Moon, a loose forward who is going to follow in his delighted grandfather Mike’s footsteps and play for the Natal Sharks.

Sharks – Anthony Volmink, Yaw Penxe, Werner Kok, Marius Louw (c), Eduan Keyter, Jordan Chait, Cameron Wright, Mpilo Gumede, OJ Noa, Thembelani Bholi, Emile van Heerden, Gerbrandt Grobler, Lourens Adriaanse, Dan Jooste, Khwezi Mona. Replacements: Jason Alexander, Dian Bleuler, Wiehahn Herbst, Corne Rahl, Josh Moon, Sanele Nohamba, Murray Koster, Marnus Potgieter.

Bulls coach Jake White said before their United Rugby Championship match against the Sharks in Durban that he would like his team to move towards the Northern Hemisphere approach of using the set-pieces as more of an attacking platform than as an opportunity to get penalties.

The Sharks clearly did not get the memo though as they thoroughly dominated the Bulls in the scrums, earning eight penalties as well as forcing referee Jaco Peyper to yellow card retreaded tighthead Lizo Gqoboka, and also putting the visitors under pressure in the lineouts. That dominance up front set in motion a commanding display as they swept the Currie Cup champions aside 30-16.

“The set-pieces are always important, especially with the conditions we have in Durban this time of year,” Sharks coach Sean Everitt said. “The set-pieces really functioned well and we got a maul try.

“So it’s been a good turnaround in that department. The scrum is one of three things that have to be in place for you to win, the others being territory and defence.

“We won the territory battle, although we were not as clinical as I would have liked in the first half. Defensively we stopped the Bulls’ momentum, we won the gain-line.

“At the breakdowns we were doing more cleaning next to the ball and not over it, but we got better at it, and in the second half we were able to put the opposition under pressure there,” Everitt said.

White said the Bulls are set to boost their front-row stocks, especially at tighthead prop, given the departure of Trevor Nyakane to Racing 92 in France, and the current unavailability of Jacques van Rooyen and Mornay Smith. The inexperienced Robert Hunt started in the number three jersey and was replaced by Gqoboka, who has not played on that side of the scrum since the start of his career.

“From a personnel point of view, we obviously need to get more experienced tighthead props because there are things in the scrum we have to get right,” White said.

“On our ball, I thought we played quite cleverly, but there was no stopping the Sharks on their ball and that put us under pressure.”

Everitt also gave a big thumbs up to his returning Springboks, who were very much the heartbeat of the side, especially Thomas du Toit and Bongi Mbonambi up front, and Lukhanyo Am at inside centre.

“Having the Boks back made a huge difference and they came through really well. It’s their attitude that was really pleasing.

“I’ve been at the Sharks for a long time and sometimes you worry about the attitude of the Springboks when they come back, but they came back very well prepared and it was a smooth transition.

“Lukhanyo played yet another 80 minutes and was man of the match, while Bongi fitted in seamlessly and did really well today. He was strong defensively and the set-pieces went really well,” Everitt said.