Ken Borland

First-half frustrations

The Springboks put on a wretched first-half display as they returned to playing in front of a capacity crowd at home. And they only grew more frustrated as the Wales pack, splendidly cohesive and determined, stymied their rolling mauls and stood up in the collisions. The home side barely fired a shot despite enjoying enough territory and possession. The maul – largely nullified by Wales – and speculative kicks seemed to be their only attacking weapons.

Elton Jantjies had a particularly poor time. His kicks out of hand were often miscued, including one penalty that went touch-in-goal. He also missed a couple of shots at goal and spilled the ball that led to Rees-Zammit’s second try.

Wales, on the other hand, were clinical in punishing whatever mistakes the Springboks made in their own half, with rampant wing Louis Rees-Zammit scoring twice.

Back from the dead, impetus from the bench

Trailing 3-18 at halftime and wondering where their next points would come from, the Springboks certainly came out with fire in their bellies, no doubt after a roasting from coach Jacques Nienaber.

Their maul was revitalised thanks to greater purpose, but especially because they introduced some variation with peels off the side to split the Welsh defence.

Willie le Roux had replaced Elton Jantjies from the start of the second half and brought some direction to the backline. But the real difference came up front where the bomb squad forwards came on and smashed. The lift in intensity was palpable and debutant Elrigh Louw made a storming run into the shadow of the poles to help set up Cheslin Kolbe’s crucial try.

Dependable Damian, desperate Dan

With Jantjies off, South Africa did not really have an ace goalkicker on the field for the second half, but Damian Willemse stepped up admirably. Solid in general play at fullback and then rotating well with Le Roux at flyhalf, as well as providing some slick attacking touches, Willemse kicked two conversions, including one from the touchline, which was crucial in a tight game.

Never mind his moment of glory, stepping up to take the angled penalty after the final hooter that won the game and spared the Springboks’ blushes after they conceded a maul try to a pack that had two forwards in the sin-bin.

This year has seen the talented Willemse blossom as a highly dependable performer.

Wales captain Dan Biggar, by comparison, had an evening that rivalled Jantjies’ for awfulness. He seemed to be having a running battle through the match with the Springboks and the referee, was yellow-carded in the second half, and then it was his deliberate knock-on which gave South Africa their matchwinning penalty.

Wiese: Prim and powerful

Eighthman Jasper Wiese was a deserved man of the match. One of the few Springboks to shine in their disjointed first half, he was a phenomenal ball-carrier, averaging four metres per carry, and made some crunching tackles. It was also most pleasing that all his ferocity did not come at the cost of his discipline. Wiese has conceded several penalties in the past, but on Saturday night he was prim and proper and kept his nose clean.

Call it belief or blind optimism, but Bulls star Cornal Hendricks is so sure that his team will not be culled from the United Rugby Championship in this weekend’s semi-final against Leinster that he packed enough clothes for two weeks on the road.

If the Bulls do manage to upset favourites Leinster in Dublin on Friday night, then they will either travel to Cape Town to take on the Stormers, or make a short hop from Dublin to Belfast to play Ulster, depending on who wins the other semi-final on Saturday.

But the 34-year-old Hendricks is adamant he ain’t going back to Pretoria next week.

“You can’t have that mindset where you are thinking that you’re going to finish second. I even packed two bags for this trip because, whatever happens, I’m not going back home to Pretoria next week,” Hendricks stated.

“Next week we will either be playing in Cape Town or Ulster, or I will stay here. I have packed my extra undies.

“We honestly have the belief that we can be winners. It’s going to be a tight battle and the team that makes the right decisions on the day will end up winning.

“We are only going to get a few chances and we must take them to win. Leinster have a lot of internationals, but our team has grown so much, we are a different team now,” Hendricks said.

Leinster centres Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose are probably the best centre combination in the competition, but Hendricks rates his partner Harold Vorster very highly and it should be an intriguing midfield clash. The Bulls know they need to be slowing down the Leinster tempo to ensure they don’t run amok in midfield.

“Henshaw and Ringrose are quality players and they have certainly earned respect,” Hendricks said. “But we’ve got Harold Vorster, I have a lot of confidence in him and I’m not worried about facing them.

“We’re looking forward to the battle, we are ready, we’ve done our homework. We expect Leinster to run the ball, but they always have a good balance between kicking and running.

“The fact they scored 12 tries against Glasgow Warriors last weekend indicates the need for us to be physical and to slow down the pace of their game.

“Before that, La Rochelle were very physical against Leinster in the Champions Cup final, they slowed the game down and stopped them getting quick ball at the ruck,” Hendricks said.

Veteran Proteas all-rounder Jon-Jon Smuts will give the Dolphins much experience and quality next season as they push to steer clear of relegation from Division I, but KZN Cricket Union chief executive Heinrich Strydom on Wednesday criticised the structure of domestic cricket, saying it did not give enough credit to those teams that provide several players to the national teams.

The 33-year-old Smuts, who can bat in the top-order and bowls very useful left-arm spin (especially in white-ball cricket), will be joining the Dolphins from the Eastern Province Warriors, having been based in the Eastern Cape since his first-class debut in 2007.

Smuts has played six ODIs, averaging 45 with the bat, and 13 T20 Internationals, but his last appearance for South Africa was in April 2021, so his days of Proteas call-ups would appear to be over.

Losing players to the national team – nine Dolphins featured in Proteas squads last season – is what Strydom said played a key role in their disappointing 2021/22 campaign, which left them tied in second-last position with the North-West Dragons, six points ahead of the Free State Knights, in the promotion/relegation standings. The bottom team at the end of next season automatically goes down to Division II.

“With the amount of national players we have, never mind the SA A team, we needed another senior guy because we were just left with a few 26/27-year-olds,” Strydom told The Citizen on Wednesday.

“It was a weird season for us, we were the only unbeaten side in four-day cricket but we had three away matches washed out, and the consistency was not there in limited-overs cricket.

“With the new structure, we have players all over the country now, guys like Sibonelo Makhanya and Senuran Muthusamy even captaining their new teams.

“But it doesn’t make sense for a team to be relegated when they provide so many players to South Africa. We even had our coach and strength & conditioning coach with the Proteas for a while, and providing so many people to the national squad puts you at risk.

“The Central Gauteng Lions are in the same position with as many players involved with the Proteas. Imagine not having a Division I team playing at the Wanderers or Kingsmead?” Strydom said.

There is no doubt that, at full strength, both the Lions, who were in danger of being drawn into the relegation battle before their surprising triumph in the One-Day Cup at the end of the season, and the Dolphins are top-class teams that should not be relegated, especially when the side replacing them will almost certainly be of a lesser standard.

Strydom said he is hopeful discussions with the new CSA Board will see a change of heart.

“The basic agreement is done, but will common sense prevail? It’s not an authentic system of developing talent in this country when teams are not playing their own players.

“A lot of the provinces are not a representation of their specific area, and it’s not a level playing field when teams like the Lions and Dolphins provide a much higher percentage of national players.”

Simon Harmer’s four wickets, as well as his valuable runs, on the second day of the first Test against Bangladesh at Kingsmead on Friday certainly loans credibility to his long-term future with the Proteas side, but it also answered a few of his own questions about whether he was still good enough for international cricket.

After six-and-a-half years and a record 55 Tests missed between appearances for the Proteas, Harmer took all four Bangladesh wickets to fall, for just 42 runs in 20 overs, as the tourists closed on 98/4 in reply to South Africa’s tidy first-innings total of 367.

That the Proteas reached that score after they had been reduced to 298/8 was thanks to Harmer’s determined 38 not out, as he shared important late partnerships with Lizaad Williams and Duanne Olivier.

“Bowling puts bread on my table, but I have worked hard on my batting this season because it hasn’t really gone to plan at domestic level,” Harmer said after play on Friday.

“Taking wickets is my currency though, winning games and trophies, and I have a feeling of vindication today. Although I’ve done it for Essex and now for the Titans, you do still ask yourself ‘Am I good enough for international cricket?’

“To take four wickets certainly answers a few of my own questions and it was a very good day, which I could not really have scripted better. For us to be in this position going into Day 3 is very good.

“We expected the pitch to turn a bit more actually, but we were able to bide our time. We had to bowl double-spin because it was too dark for pace, and Keshav Maharaj and I found some turn with the older ball as the pitch began to wear more,” Harmer said.

Harmer and Maharaj, who was wicketless but bowled well, sent down 39 of the 49 overs Bangladesh have faced. With the Proteas expecting the pitch to turn more and more, they are likely to play the key roles in the South African attack.

Harmer said his time at Essex – he has taken 491 first-class wickets between his last two Test appearances – has given him the confidence that his off-spin can be matchwinning fare.

“Essex gave me the platform to find myself again. I had been dropped by the Proteas and SA A, and I did not know if I would get a franchise contract. So I had a lot of self-doubt.

“But I rediscovered what made me successful, how to be a matchwinner and be more comfortable with that role.

“I now know that I can do it as an orthodox spinner, I have that level of confidence,” Harmer said.