Ken Borland

Duane Vermeulen may have enjoyed the facilities of a fancy suite at the hotel at Loftus Park, but it was no place for a family to live and this is believed to be the main reason the Springbok eighthman decided to leave the Bulls after just one year.

Vermeulen, who played a key role in turning around the fortunes of the Bulls, leading them to their first Currie Cup title since 2009 in January, has decided to continue his epic career at Ulster in Northern Ireland. While it is sad news for the Bulls, they do have the consolation of the fantastic environment the Springbok talisman helped build and the knowledge that they have an eighthman star-of-the-future to replace him in Elrigh Louw.

“Duane’s contract with us ended on August 31 and we had plenty of chats about his plans and wanted him for another season. But he has been commuting from Cape Town, staying in the hotel, and that is not ideal when you’re trying to raise a family. His family has been back in Cape Town, he’s 35 years old now and it’s a good deal he’s been offered by Ulster.

“It make sense for Duane and his family to take up that offer. But he adds immense value wherever he goes and the stability we have in our squad now is partly due to him. He has really added to our culture and a winning environment here,” Bulls CEO Edgar Rathbone told Saturday Citizen on Friday.

Vermeulen was in top-class form before he suffered a twisted ankle that required surgery in early June. It meant he missed the series against the British and Irish Lions, a rare gap in his Springbok CV, and he only made a return to the national team, without having his usual influence, last weekend against Australia.

But the fact that the Nelspuit product has signed a two-year contract with Ulster suggests he is looking to still be a part of the Springbok set-up when they go for a second-successive title at the 2023 World Cup in France.

Meanwhile, the Bulls announced their touring squad for the United Rugby Championship that starts next weekend with a visit to Leinster, consistent European powerhouses with a handful of trophies since 2008/9. The Bulls will be taking a half-dozen high-quality loose forwards overseas with them – Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee, Jacques du Plessis, Muller Uys, Louw and WJ Steenkamp.

Veteran Duane Vermeulen has been on the sidelines for the last five massive Springbok Tests and as fantastic as their results have been, the eighthman said there are still many areas they can improve on.

“We can always improve. There have been small steps taken through the Georgia game, the SA A matches and the Tests against the British and Irish Lions. We slipped up on the first Test against them, but it’s been nice to see us get some continuity. We want to keep on improving and be consistent. It’s one step at a time but we’re heading in the right direction,” Vermeulen said.

So what are the areas the Springboks still need to work on?

Getting the back three more involved in attack

The Springboks’ five victories so far this year have largely been down to their tight five outmuscling and outworking the opposition. As effective as it has been, forward dominance alone has seldom triumphed in the Southern Hemisphere competition. It would be great to see Cheslin Kolbe, Makazole Mapimpi and Willie le Roux able to exploit space out wide more. They can also be brought into play from clever first-phase plays. Those three are all capable of breaking defensive systems and showing a clean pair of heels.

Increased tempo

One can forgive the Springboks for adopting a wear-them-down strategy against the British and Irish Lions because their lack of high-intensity conditioning after 18 months out of Test rugby made it essential. But they now have a good month of game-time and conditioning work under their belts so the time has come for them to put more speed on the ball. Unlike Argentina, Australia and New Zealand will be actively trying to quicken the game up, so the Springboks will need to be more mobile, with greater continuity between forwards and backs, and maybe even more offloads.

Better discipline

The old benchmark for Springbok teams was to concede fewer than 10 penalties per game. recently they have been in double figures most of the time. It’s not that their discipline has been bad, but under pressure they have tended to err a bit too easily. They can get their penalty count down and that will help with momentum and territory.

More accuracy at restarts

At times the Springboks have looked like a bunch of boisterous pups having a bone thrown to them when it comes to receiving the restarts. The absence of Vermeulen has been felt there and a bit more organisation and clinical execution will help make their exits smoother and relieve territorial pressure.

Improving their strengths even more

In the sage words of Nick Mallett: “It is not up to us to change the way we play because it’s not attractive. You play the way you play best in order to beat the opposition”. And the Springboks’ strengths are their set-pieces and kicking game. Which can still improve!

Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert have been immense at lineout time, but more options can be brought into play there.

Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Trevor Nyakane have excelled at scrum-time, but we are still waiting for Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe to really cut loose and destroy opposition scrums.

And the Springboks can improve their box-kicks and kicking into space.

Captain Phepsi Buthelezi suffered a head knock against Griquas and will miss the Sharks’ Currie Cup game against Western Province in Cape Town on Wednesday, but coach Sean Everitt is confident the eighthman will have recovered in time to join the squad in Johannesburg as they go into lockdown ahead of their match against the British and Irish Lions on July 7 at Ellis Park.

The focus of the Sharks is facing a testing time because they have the crucial match against Western Province to concentrate on, but also the excitement of the game against the British and Irish Lions and all the Covid protocol palaver that goes with that fixture.

“I presume Phepsi will be ready for the Lions, he feels 100% but just didn’t pass all his tests. So he’s nearly there and it wasn’t a serious concussion. Hopefully he’ll be able to join us on Friday when we fly to Johannesburg and go into a six-day quarantine. We are allowed to train on Friday, Monday and Tuesday, and we’ll have PCR tests on Friday, Monday and Wednesday before the game.

“We’ve had no clarification yet on our kickoff time in Cape Town, but I presume it will be moved from 7pm, but that will have no impact on our preparation. Our message to the players this morning was that we need to be squeaky clean and we would like them to treat it as if they are in self-isolation, just coming to the stadium and going home. Otherwise they could miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime against the Lions,” Everitt said on Monday.

The weather in Cape Town is expected to be poor, so it is excellent news for the Sharks that the booming boot of flyhalf Curwin Bosch is back.

“It’s great to have Curwin back. Everyone goes through disappointments in sport, it’s not the first time he’s had it and he’s over what happened with the Springboks. But he’ll want to make sure he puts in a good performance to show Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber that he can step up if needed. He has a huge boot and that could be a deciding factor.

“It’s beautiful weather in Durban today – 28⁰ – so it’s going to be a bit of a change in Cape Town. I see the Junior Boks were playing in torrential rain on a muddy pitch in Stellenbosch, but we have the game-plan for those conditions and we are able to do the kicking game if needed. But we don’t want to bring a one-dimensional approach either,” Everitt said.

Sharks team: Manie Libbok, Werner Kok, Jeremy Ward (c), Marius Louw, Thaakir Abrahams, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Mpilo Gumede, Thembelani Bholi, James Venter, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Khutha Mchunu, Fez Mbatha, Khwezi Mona. Bench – Dan Jooste, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Wiehahn Herbst, JJ van der Mescht, Reniel Hugo, Dylan Richardson, Grant Williams, Boeta Chamberlain.

He may be heading off to Kimberley this weekend instead of being in Treviso, Italy, but just having the joy of regular playing opportunity is giving Phepsi Buthelezi a broad grin these days and bringing out the best in the Sharks eighthman.

The unfortunate knee injury suffered by Sikhumbuzo Notshe has allowed Buthelezi to step up and the 22-year-old has been one of the Sharks’ star players in recent weeks, particularly with ball in hand. His form was not enough, though, to elevate the Sharks above the Bulls, and instead of playing in the Rainbow Cup final against Benetton Treviso this weekend, the Durbanites will be travelling to Kimberley to open their Currie Cup campaign against Griquas on Saturday.

“We would all loved to have been in Italy, it’s very disappointing that we didn’t make it. But we put ourselves in this position and now we have to make the most of it and make sure we put in a great performance in Kimberley. Although I grew up watching guys like Ardie Savea and Kieran Read play, and Sikhumbuzo and Duane Vermeulen are leading the pack here, I just want to show what I can bring to the table.

“I don’t want to be like someone else and we all bring something different and they are all very special players and unique in their own way. It was very unfortunate for Sikhumbuzo to go down the way he did and he’s a very important part of our squad. But it has given me more opportunity and I’ve been able to grow as a player, for which I’m really grateful,” Buthelezi said on Wednesday.

Amid all the disappointment of once again falling short behind the Bulls, Buthelezi says there is still a great vibe in the Sharks camp.

“The coaches always give us a lot of backing and the management behind the scenes too. We haven’t got the results we wanted in some of the games, but I think our performances are getting better. Personally, with more opportunity, I am learning and growing and I always go back and look at games to see how I can play better. I feel very fortunate to play for the Sharks and the environment allows me to be myself.

“We’ll have a very fresh squad this weekend, with a lot of different guys getting an opportunity, but everyone is hungry to play. It’s always a tough trip to Kimberley and Griquas have been on a very good run in the Currie Cup lately. We know they will be physical and confrontational, they will want to bully us up front. But it will be very refreshing to play them after just playing the other three franchises for so long,” Buthelezi said.