Ken Borland

A superb middle-order effort by the Warriors took them from 33 for four to 157 for nine which proved to be enough to beat the much-touted Titans with a bonus point in a shock T20 Challenge result at Kingsmead on Wednesday.

The match appeared to be proceeding according to script for the Titans as they had the Warriors four down after seven overs, Lizaad Williams taking two of the wickets.

But Wihan Lubbe counter-attacked, hitting ace spinner Tabraiz Shamsi for three successive boundaries as he scored 35 off 29 balls to shift the momentum.

The 20-year-old Tristan Stubbs then hammered a pugnacious 44 off 31 balls and Aya Gqamane then punished the Titans bowling at the death in a superb 37 off just 17 deliveries.

Chris Morris was again the most economical Titans bowler, taking two for 26 in his four overs, but everyone else conceded expensive overs which proved crucial as the Titans let things slip when they were in a commanding position.

The Titans have a similarly talented batting line-up but they have failed to really fire in this tournament and they were very disappointing again on Wednesday, limping to 114 for nine.

The Warriors began with spin from both ends and it would have a major impact as both JJ Smuts and Wihan Lubbe took wickets to reduce the Titans to 36 for two inside the first seven overs.

But Aiden Markram scored 31 off 28 balls to take them to 63 for two at the halfway stage, allowing them to have a real push for victory.

But instead the Titans just collapsed in a heap with Mthiwekhaya Nabe ripping through the middle-order in brilliant fashion with four for 21.

Pacemen Marco Jansen (4-0-21-2) and Anrich Nortje (4-0-20-1) were also outstanding.

The Warriors, despite losing their first three matches, have given themselves a chance of making the playoffs, should they beat the Knights on Thursday and the Titans suffer a third successive loss when they play the Dolphins on Friday.

A gutted Sean Everitt praised his Sharks team for a courageous effort in the Currie Cup final against the Bulls but said a piling up of mistakes in the final stages ultimately cost his side as they lost to a try right at the end of extra time.

The Sharks were leading 19-9 with 15 minutes of regular time remaining, but the Bulls scored a converted try and then a penalty in the 79^th minute to draw level. Replacement flank Arno Botha’s try with 72 seconds of extra time left then gave the Bulls a thrilling 26-19 win and the famous trophy for the first time since 2009.

“It was very disappointing, the players are gutted and I am gutted for them. They played their hearts out for 100 minutes, to be able to push the Bulls for that long, to keep them out for so long, made me really proud. But at the end of the day we let it slip. It wasn’t an isolated moment, just an accumulation of many mistakes. Our kicking accuracy wasn’t where we wanted it to be today.

“And one can debate kicking for touch instead of the poles, making it 22-9 maybe was the right way to go, but the players have a feeling on the field and last week in the semi-final we scored a try from that and no-one questioned that. Today we were a few inches short and then we had a baulk in the lineout when we were planning a trick play,” coach Everitt said after the heartbreaking defeat.

Flyhalf Curwin Bosch also missed five of his 10 kicks at goal, but a large number of those were from a long way out.

“Curwin has done it time and again for us this season, but today he was maybe not up to the standard we are used to. It was not his day, but all the kickers struggled, Morne Steyn and Chris Smith missed kicks too. Curwin is a great rugby player, missed kicks don’t make him a bad player. He has been outstanding for us this season and his game-management was generally excellent today,” Everitt said.

With a large financial injection now on the way from equity partners MVM Holdings, the future looks exciting for the Sharks and Everitt said the 2020/21 season had been a big success despite having no trophies to show for it.

“You can’t base the success of a season on one game and a helluva lot happened in 2020/21. We’ve also given a large number of players opportunities and they have grown and matured, the culture and leadership of the team has also grown, so the season was definitely a success.

“Lukhanyo Am has been a great captain, he has tremendous respect from his peers and the coaching staff do too. Through tough times, Lukhanyo has shown outstanding leadership and I would say we have had a lot of success this season,” Everitt said.

Embrose Papier and Jade Stighling have been brought into the Bulls team to counter the pace of the Free State Cheetahs in Friday night’s Super Rugby Unlocked match in Bloemfontein, with Duane Vermeulen returning and Clinton Swart called up for his debut in an effort to negate the battering ram play of Francois Steyn at inside centre.

Johan Grobbelaar, starting at hooker, is the other player brought into the starting line-up which was announced on Wednesday afternoon. Coach Jake White has also shifted Cornal Hendricks from inside to outside centre and shuffled his bench with U21 star Joe van Zyl called up to cover hooker, Gerhard Steenekamp replacing injured loosehead prop Lizo Gqoboka, and Nizaam Carr coming in as the replacement loose forward instead of Elrigh Louw.

Here’s why the changes fit in specifically with the Cheetahs in mind:

Jade Stighling – White called winger Stighling “one of the quickest players in the squad” and his selection in the number 11 jersey, with the lanky and elusive David Kriel moving to right wing and Travis Ismaiel left out, is aimed to counter the Cheetahs getting too much space and time out wide.

“The Cheetahs make quite a few line-breaks and Jade has massive pace, he’s one of the quickest players in the squad. But they also concede quite a lot of line-breaks, so if we can make some then we will have the pace to get up in support and create a few nice opportunities,” White said.

Embrose Papier – While White has committed himself to rotating his two Springbok scrumhalves, he admitted Papier’s game is better suited to the pace and expansiveness of the Cheetahs.

“I always said Embrose would get game time, it’s not like he’s our No.2 scrumhalf, and he’s also one of our quickest players, which comes back to those line-breaks the Cheetahs both make and concede. I’m looking forward to seeing how he combines with that backline and Free State rely on lots of pace, so we need to see if we can counter that,” White said.

Duane Vermeulen – The looming figure of the Springbok eighthman and colossus is likely to spend plenty of time in the inside centre channel to make sure Francois Steyn’s forays end before the gain-line. Captain Vermeulen, for his part, said the swelling on his knee has gone down and he is looking forward to ensuring that the Bulls execute their plans better than they did last weekend against Griquas.

Clinton Swart – The 1.84m, 105kg Swart played under White at Toyota Verblitz and may not be a flashy centre in the mould of Cornal Hendricks, but he is very direct and ideally suited to countering the sort of game Steyn plays. He also has a very handy boot and there’s little doubt one of White’s major tactics against the Cheetahs will be to pin them in their own half and make them run from deep and he now has three accomplished kickers in Morne Steyn, Gio Aplon and Swart to achieve this.

“I know what Frans Steyn can offer and if you give him lots of gain-line then the Cheetahs will play around him, so his presence was a big influence in our selection. Clinton came from Free State so he knows them well. We’re not going to be able to get away with playing Hendricks and Gans in midfield every week and I would also like to see Cornal at outside centre – that might also be a stroke of genius and he has been running well with Clinton,” White said.

Nizaam Carr – While Elrigh Louw enjoyed himself with hall-in-hand when he came off the bench against Griquas, that role can now be fulfilled by Vermeulen. Against a team as pacy as the Cheetahs, the Bulls are going to need a more openside type flank and Carr fits the bill perfectly to come off the bench and lift the tempo.

Bulls team: Gio Aplon, David Kriel, Cornal Hendricks, Clinton Swart, Jade Stighling, Morné Steyn, Embrose Papier, Duane Vermeulen (C), Arno Botha, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Jason Jenkins, Trevor Nyakane, Johan Grobbelaar, Jacques van Rooyen. Replacements – Joe van Zyl, Gerhard Steenekamp, Mornay Smith, Sintu Manjezi, Nizaam Carr, Ivan van Zyl, Chris Smith, Stedman Gans.

The South African women’s cricket team’s hopes of playing internationally this year seem to be crumbling into dust with no real effort being made by the Ministry of Sport, Arts and Culture to pay anything more than lip-service to their stated intention of uplifting women’s sport.

On Tuesday Cricket South Africa were forced to turn down an invitation from world champions England to play five women’s ODIs and two T20 internationals next month due to government not being willing to relax their international travel restrictions.

That would be understandable if it weren’t for the fact that the England and Wales Cricket Board had offered a chartered flight with all necessary health protocols to fly the Proteas team over. Government have also already granted certain sportsmen permission to travel overseas and compete. Repatriation flights and some business travel have also been allowed.

“It is frustrating that another opportunity for our Momentum Proteas to play against top-quality opposition has again had to be cancelled, but as always the safety of our players and support staff is the prime consideration, ” CSA director of cricket, Graeme Smith, said in a statement released on Tuesday.

Clare Connor, the managing director of England women’s cricket, sounded even more frustrated.

“I am immensely disappointed. We have been committed from the outset to deliver the same bio-secure standards for both men’s and women’s international cricket, an investment that included exclusive hotel use for teams, chartered flights and medical provisions. An ECB team, with support from the county ground in Derby, has created a dedicated behind-closed-doors environment to host all of our women’s internationals,” Connor said.

While the Ministry did not respond to a query for comment, they have been users of punitive measures against sporting federations that were not in their good books before. When CSA appeared before the sports portfolio committee recently, they were castigated by Minister Nathi Mthethwa for their “all-White management”.

President Chris Nenzani and acting CEO Jacques Faul have since resigned, but it would be no surprise if the ministry, often ill-informed on events on the inside of sporting organisations, have now also jumped on the anti-Smith bandwagon and are trying to make his life more difficult.