Ken Borland

Bulls coach Nollis Marais said the experience gained from a year of SuperRugby was the major positive of a campaign that ended at the weekend with his team just missing out on a playoffs spot.

The Bulls ended on a high with a 43-17 romp over the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein, their ninth win from 15 games leaving them on 42 points, in ninth place overall and just one point behind the Sharks, who took the last quarterfinal place as the third South African qualifiers.

“At the end of the day, the Sharks finished with more points than us, but we had 14 players make their SuperRugby debuts this year and 12 of them went on their first tour to Australia. They all came through and guys like Jason Jenkins, RG Snyman and Warrick Gelant are 20/21. The guys now have one Super Rugby season behind them, but we can’t use inexperience as an excuse again next year, we will have to be much better especially since we’ll be playing against the New Zealand teams,” Marais said.

The lack of bonus points picked up by the Bulls was a key factor in their failure to make the playoffs, as they collected only four, all of them from the try-scoring bonus. Home games against the Reds – where they led 27-8 but won 41-22 – and the Rebels – where they led 42-3 but conceded four tries in the final quarter, have come back to haunt the Bulls.

“It actually makes me quite emotional because I remember after the Reds game saying that I hope missing the bonus point doesn’t come back to bite us. And every time we lost a game, we couldn’t get a bonus point either, which is very disappointing, especially when you finish just two points off the playoffs.

“I still believe our best wins were against the Stormers and the Western Force away, although a lot of guys played well against the Cheetahs, the guys pitched because a lot of them are leaving,” Marais said.

It was announced on Monday that Marais will now take the reins of the Currie Cup side, which will basically be the SuperRugby outfit minus Jesse Kriel, who once again showed how good he can be at fullback without his space being cramped like it is in midfield, Rudy Paige, Lappies Labuschagne, Marcel van der Merwe, Adriaan Strauss, Werner Kruger, Grant Hattingh and Francois Brummer.

The qualifying campaign under Hendré Marnitz has been messy with seven defeats fouling their seven wins, but CEO Barend van Graan said the change was more to do with continuity seeing as though most of the SuperRugby side will be involved.

“With almost the whole Bulls squad now available for the Currie Cup competition that is starting soon, the call was made to extend the mandate of Marais, so he will now be coaching the Blue Bulls as well. It just makes sense for him to continue with the group of players that are developing so nicely under his guidance. The call to continue with Nollis in the Currie Cup was made for rugby reasons and is not a reflection on Hendré’s abilities. The progress and growth shown by the team under Nollis is something we want to expand and grow, hence the decision,” Van Graan said.

The Cell C Sharks ended the eight-match winning home run of the Highlanders, the defending Vodacom SuperRugby champions, with a gutsy 15-14 win in Dunedin on Friday, in a display that proves there is obviously great character and potential in their side.

The Sharks were helped by the 13^th-minute red-carding of centre Jason Emery, who clattered into Willie le Roux while he was in the air fielding a kick, causing the fullback to suffer a horrendous fall on to his neck and head. Fortunately the Springbok was able to return to the field after a concussion test.

The error-rate of the Highlanders was also a major factor, with the home side making numerous handling errors to stymie their often dangerous attacking play, but the scrambling defence of the Sharks was outstanding, deserving some of the credit for forcing mistakes.

The Sharks made the most nervy of starts as they received the kick-off and set a driving maul, but were immediately penalised for obstruction, flyhalf Lima Sopoaga slotting the kick and giving the Highlanders the first three points on the scoreboard.

Flyhalf Garth April, making his first Super Rugby start, then sent the restart too deep and conceded a scrum in centre-field.

The battering for the Sharks started in the seventh minute when Sopoaga was late and led with the shoulder in a tackle on Cobus Reinach. April kicked the resulting penalty to level the scores, but the scrumhalf limped off the field with a leg-injury.

The Le Roux/Emery incident happened six minutes later and the hard-working eighthman, Philip van der Walt, also left the field in the first half with an injury.

In the 11^th minute, April kicked a second penalty after the Highlanders collapsed the Sharks’ maul, after a lineout had been won five metres from the tryline thanks to a clever kick by wing Odwa Ndungane.

But despite being reduced to 14 men after Emery’s deserved ejection, the Highlanders dominated the first half. Their superior spatial recognition and the way they beat the Sharks’ first-time tacklers and dominated the collisions meant the visitors were forced to defend for long periods.

That the Sharks went into halftime 6-3 up was only thanks to Sopoaga being short with two penalties, the handling mistakes made on attack by the Highlanders and some heroic scrambling defence.

There was no better example of their courageous defence than in the last three minutes when the Highlanders piled on the pressure and the yellow-carding of lock Stephan Lewies was a potentially crippling development. But the Sharks held on magnificently and twice held the opposition up over the line.

Early in the second half, the Sharks showed some improved attacking ability, their forwards – especially Van der Walt’s replacement Jean Deysel – carrying the ball powerfully and the backline showing super ball-retention, trapping the Highlanders offsides and allowing April to stretch their lead to 9-3 with another penalty.

Lewies returned but the Sharks were only able to enjoy their 15-14 advantage for half-a-dozen minutes as the Highlanders piled on the pressure with good attacking play, leading to two penalties by Sopoaga and a yellow card for outside centre JP Pietersen, who showed ill-discipline in playing, while he was on the ground, scrumhalf Aaron Smith.

The Sharks did regain a 56^th-minute lead through another April penalty (12-9), but, two minutes later, wing Matt Faddes managed to stretch his 1.85-metre frame and dot the ball down in the right-hand corner, having evaded Le Roux’s last-ditch tackle.

The Highlanders were 14-12 up going into the last five minutes; as a team, they have an attacking framework, but what followed was utter madness as they tried to run the ball from their own tryline and were forced to concede a five-metre lineout.

They stopped the driving maul and the Sharks, although they enjoyed a dominant scrum in the final quarter thanks to the introductions of Lourens Adriaanse and Chiliboy Ralepelle, were not able to exploit the extra space out wide with the Highlanders missing a centre.

But there was a penalty for them, which April slotted for a perfect five-from-five record with the boot, and a timely, shock victory for the embattled Sharks.

Even then, the Highlanders duffed a chance to snatch the win through a missed drop goal by Sopoaga and then a forward pass as a fitting final act.

There is still a lot of work ahead for the Sharks, even though they have kept themselves in touch with the leaders in the South African Group. But the attitude and commitment are clearly there, and that will be highly encouraging for coach Gary Gold.

Scorers

Highlanders: Try – Matt Faddes. Penalties – Lima Sopoaga (3).

Cell C Sharks: Penalties – Garth April (5)

http://citizen.co.za/1085900/sharks-end-highlanders-home-run-with-sheer-character/

The Titans recently took leave of one of their most inspirational players when they held a farewell function for batsman Jacques Rudolph, who has ended his South African career in order to focus on his commitments as captain of Glamorgan.

Rudolph, a compact left-hander whose 49 first-class centuries show his ability perhaps better than his Test average of 35, gave a moving address in which he was often in tears and which showed why he was one of the most popular players on the domestic circuit.

“One can dedicate one’s life to an institution and walk away with only a handshake, so this is a great evening to end a great journey,” Rudolph said. “The agreement is that next October I will be sitting on the grass embankment with my son, who will hopefully be starting to walk, and hear Loslappie [the Titans’ team song] roaring out from the changeroom.”

The 34-year-old tried his hand at international cricket with decent success, scoring six Test centuries and 11 fifties in 48 Tests, as well as averaging 35 in 45 ODIs, but what happened at the very start of his career with the national team, when he was pulled from the team by then UCB president Percy Sonn on the eve of his debut Test, probably did not help the confidence of a 21-year-old as he was back then in Sydney.

“There’s a strong perception that my career was marred by politics, what with the interference in selection in 2001/02, but I’m thankful for that because it gave me resilience and perseverance, it enabled me to overcome any adversity. I have no regrets, it only made me stronger,” Rudolph said with typical magnanimity.

He was indeed able to handle any attack on his day, but he has also made a massive difference off the field at Centurion.

“The stats only tell half the story. He’s one of the nicest okes to work with and there are so many people he’s touched while he’s been here. Junior players come to me and say what an inspiration he’s been. Scoring 20 000 runs is one thing, but he’s also provided a much-needed lift in the changeroom,” Titans CEO Jacques Faul said.

The inspiration continued in his parting words as Rudolph gave some worthy advice to the young cricketers present.

“Arrogance comes before a fall. I remember when I was 21 and I had just scored a double-century for South Africa and I came back to the Titans. Gerald Dros had to call me aside and tell me that I needed to come down a peg or two before I had become arrogant. That was life-changing.

“You won’t succeed if you are arrogant. The All Blacks are a great example, they beat a lot of teams but they are very humble and always spend time with the opposition. Make friends and learn from them, treat people with dignity and respect, South Africa creates a certain environment, but we need to break barriers and reach out.

“You can’t start soon enough to save money because before you know it, your career can be taken away. I learnt too late sadly about financial discipline because life is expensive.

“Teams win championships and not individuals – individuals win you games. And your identity musn’t be linked to how you perform or your abilities. The best batsmen only reach fifty once in every three innings, so you fail a lot more than you succeed in this game. Don’t link your value as a person to how you perform or what people think of you,” Rudolph said.

The applause should ring out for Jacques Rudolph for all the pleasure he gave local cricket fans and the contribution he made to South African cricket.

South Africa had to dig deep into their stores of reserve players and patience, but they still ended the third day of the first Sunfoil Test against the West Indies in firm control at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Friday.

Having ended the West Indies first innings on 201 shortly after tea, they had reduced the tourists to 76 for two in their follow-on by stumps, still trailing by 275 runs.

South Africa captain Hashim Amla may be rueing his decision to enforce the follow-on, however, given the spate of injuries that left him with four substitute fielders and only two pace bowlers.

The hosts began the day two down with Faf du Plessis taken to hospital to have abdominal pains and fever looked at – a conclusive diagnosis is yet to be made according to Dr Mohammed Moosajee, the team manager – and Quinton de Kock rolling his ankle in the warm-up.

Dale Steyn then bowled five balls in the West Indies second innings before leaving the field with “tightness in the groin” and when Vernon Philander exited with a troublesome hamstring, Northerns cricketer Sean Phillips had to come on and join Temba Bavuma and Robin Peterson, with Tshwane University of Technology star Danie Rossouw following on to the big stage soon afterwards. Bowling coach Allan Donald had his whites on for much of the day but unfortunately for the festive crowd, didn’t make an appearance on the field.

“It’s been a challenging day. The guys haven’t played Test cricket for four months and the outfield is unusually thick because of all the rain,” Moosajee explained.

Stiaan van Zyl, who made a memorable debut with the bat, may never bowl as many as 10 overs again in his Test career, doing a tidy job with some medium-pace swing.

Philander bowled three maidens up front before going off, claiming the wicket of Devon Smith for five. The South Africans had initially appealed for lbw, but Smith was given out caught as umpire Aleem Dar spotted a little inside-edge on to the pad and Bavuma was alert at point, rushing in to take the catch.

Kraigg Braithwaite (20) fell just over an hour later, edging a drive at Morne Morkel to second slip where, although Alviro Petersen was not able to take the catch cleanly, he completed a spectacular dismissal by snapping up the rebound inches from the ground as he tumbled over.

South Africa were not able to make any further breakthroughs before stumps as Leon Johnson (33*) and Marlon Samuels (13*) dug in against part-timers Van Zyl and Dean Elgar.

There was no lack of application from the top-order in the West Indies first innings, with the top four all getting past 30, but not being able to push on.

“It was very frustrating for the first four to all get 30s but nobody carried on. It’s something we need to sort out in the second innings. If you’re there for a period of time and you get in and then get yourself out, then it points to a mental lapse,” Johnson admitted.

Some credit, however, must go to the South African bowlers, especially Philander, who finished with four for 29 in 15 excellent overs. His stock delivery seemed to be the one pitching on off stump and darting off the seam, making him extremely difficult to play.

“The pitch is quite slow, so you have to be tight with your lines and lengths. It’s about game plans and staying patient,” Philander said.

Morkel bowled some typically fearsome deliveries on his way to three for 55 in 15.2 overs and his dismissal of Marlon Samuels, jagging a delivery back from around the wicket to bowl him off the inside-edge for 33 was particularly impressive.

There was some controversy as well with Smith (35) and Jermaine Blackwood (12) both falling to contentious decisions by TV umpire Paul Reiffel.

There was definitely some doubt – whatever flimsy spike Snicko showed – that Smith had edged his pull at Philander in the 22^nd over and on-field umpire Billy Bowden’s decision should never have been overturned. It was a crucial moment as openers Smith and Braithwaite (34) had drawn the teeth of the fearsome South African pace attack in an opening stand of 72.

Blackwood fell to what turned out to be the catch of the day by Petersen, who dived forward in front of first slip Amla to claim a dipping edge after the batsman had played with soft hands at yet another Philander off-stump special.

Even with the usual problems of camera foreshortening, there seemed a hint of the ball touching the ground just before Petersen could get his fingers underneath it, but the history of Reiffel shooting down West Indians continued.

The ball of the day was Philander’s dismissal of Shivnarine Chanderpaul, the rock of the West Indian batting.

The left-hander had been in for 89 minutes, scoring 21 when he pushed forward to a delivery that pitched on off stump and then moved away, the safe hands of Petersen diving low at second slip ensuring the edge was punished.

The up-and-down nature of the fourth-day pitch and the prospect of a revitalized, rested South African attack means the prospects of the West Indians taking this Test into the final day are obviously not good.

 http://citizen.co.za/296682/sa-v-west-indies-day-3/