Ken Borland

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Daniel Greene had a feeling that his 12-year wait for a first win on the Sunshine Tour might come to an end this week at the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Humewood event and the 36-year-old never stopped believing, and his composure and skill was enough to take him to victory on the first hole of a playoff with Tristen Strydom.

Greene and Strydom both shot two-under-par 70s on Saturday to finish on five-under-par overall, and Greene parred the first playoff hole to take the honours when his younger rival, also looking for his first win, made bogey.

“You don’t really think after so long on tour without a win that it can happen, but it being windy here for the last week, I had a feeling from Tuesday that I could win and I just kept believing in myself. Even today on the 17^th hole, when I was one behind, I still had that belief. My golf has improved inland but I’m still a lot more comfortable on the coast.

“For it to happen at Humewood, where I should have won in 2010, it’s surreal. Maybe I should believe in myself more often because it shows that nothing is out of reach, even 11 years later, if you never stop believing,” Greene said after his maiden title.

Back in 2010, in the Vodacom Business tournament at Humewood Golf Club, Greene finished second as he double-bogeyed both the 17^th and 18^th holes on the last day, allowing Ulrich van den Berg to snatch the win.

This time Greene was the beneficiary of an opponent letting it slip as Strydom bogeyed the 17^th and after their respective bogeys on the last hole, the KwaZulu-Natalian had nothing but sympathy for the 24-year-old.

Strydom was ideally placed after his second shot was on the fringe of the green, but he decided to chip instead of putt and then missed a makeable par putt.

“It was unfortunate for Tristen and I know exactly what he feels like after it happened to me in 2010. He played very well and hit the ball really nicely, but all I was doing was concentrating on my score and taking it shot-by-shot. I didn’t know the score and when we both made bogey on the 18^th, I asked him if he had won because people were clapping like he had,” Greene revealed.

It turned out their final scores were the same – five-under-par 211 – and Greene still had one more hole to play to exorcise his Humewood demons.

Given that half-a-dozen of Greene’s best performances have been on the coast, it was perhaps not that surprising that his perseverance was finally rewarded at Humewood’s famous links on an awfully windy day.

Apart from blood, guts and glory, and enormous set-piece prowess, the Springboks could not bring enough to the table with ball in hand, leading to a gripping 19-17 defeat at the hands of the All Blacks in an epic 100^th Test between the two great rivals at Townsville on Saturday.

The Springboks were superb in playing their trademark pressure game. The scrum was dominant and their lineout was majestic, reducing the All Blacks jumpers to just standing and watching. When New Zealand had the ball, they were harried and bashed by a feisty defence, with the Springboks also causing the Rugby Championship winners big problems at the breakdown as well.

But pressure is meant to create opportunities to score and, apart from four penalties by Handre Pollard and a gifted try to Sbu Nkosi after a dropped kick, South Africa did no show enough intent with ball-in-hand. In fact, on a couple of occasions they had front-foot ball, in control of the game, on the New Zealand 22, and they chose to turn possession into a 50/50 contest by launching bizarre up-and-unders.

The strategy of kicking everything away cost them in the end as, after Pollard had given them a 17-16 lead going into the last 10 minutes, a frazzled All Blacks side began to get desperate and coughed up more ball. Which the Springboks kicked straight back to them.

Eventually it was a brilliant angled, long-range penalty by fullback Jordie Barrett that snatched the spoils for New Zealand with just two minutes remaining.

The All Blacks started the match in chilling fashion as, with not much on for them in their own half, hooker Codie Taylor stepped superbly and burst clear and one pass later wing Will Jordan was racing over for the try.

But as much as they tried to up the tempo, speed the game up and stretch the defence, the Springboks managed to drag them back into slow-mo rugby through sheer bloodymindedness. Siya Kolisi was immense as a harrying presence and Kwagga Smith was tremendous at the breakdown.

The kicking game tested the wits of the All Blacks three and, apart from Barrett, they did not look secure. But the Springboks were not smart enough to then capitalise on the turnover balls presented.

Their supporters were left praising an incredibly brave, stout effort, but also mourning what should have been if they had just backed themselves with the ball-in-hand a little more.

Scorers

New Zealand – Try: Will Jordan. Conversion: Jordie Barrett. Penalties: Barrett (4).

South Africa – Try: Sbu Nkosi. Penalties: Handre Pollard (4).

Springboks mentor Jacques Nienaber said after the loss to the Wallabies that he was content his team created enough opportunities to win, which they wasted, so there is no need to change their game-plan, a view which was endorsed by wing Sbu Nkosi.

A penalty after the final hooter by Quade Cooper snatched a 28-26 win for Australia on the Gold Coast at the weekend and it was clear South Africa may be the world champions and No.1-ranked team, but they still need some guidance in terms of getting used to that tag and the target it paints on your back, as well as factors such as playing in front of away crowds again and the greater pace of the game in Australasia.

“The loss boils down to execution and we don’t need to go back to the drawing board. We have got a solid plan in place that led to us winning the World Cup, we’ve had a lot of success with it in the past. But we are still learning to be world champions, we are still growing that extra leg which is the ruthlessness to put teams away.

“It’s hard to say Plan A didn’t work when we scored three tries. We don’t need a Plan B, it is just our discipline that lost us the game. We all have a responsibility to get our forwards into a position where they can exert their dominance,” Nkosi said.

Nienaber also pointed out that far from being the dashing advertisers of running rugby that the Wallabies like to portray themselves as, the home side also used the kicking game extensively at the Super Stadium.

“This is a tough place in which to win and Australia are a quality side with good coaches and they obviously prepared well. They can mix it up – they can play expansively or use a conservative kicking game like they did tonight. I thought we adapted well when they went to a kicking game, which they also did against the All Blacks, kicking from scrumhalf.

“The thing we didn’t adapt to though was the referee and the assistant referees’ interpretations in terms of discipline. But we would have learnt a lot of lessons about making big decisions under pressure. Sometimes you have to pay dearly for those lessons though … ” Nienaber said.

Australia is enough of a nanny state to make even your most law-abiding South African granny to want to rebel and there was a graphic illustration during Tuesday’s press conference of just how strict a quarantine the Springboks are under in Sanctuary Cove on the Gold Coast, especially after they suffered a false positive Covid scare that forced them to miss training on Monday.

Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber was interrupted by a stern voice over the tannoy saying all guests must now remain in the main building because the laundry service has now arrived. Nienaber laughed as he explained what the squad have been through since arriving in one of Queensland’s most luxurious resorts.

“We’re under a testing regime here and unfortunately the Saturday results only came back late on Sunday and there was a possible positive test so we all had to isolate on Monday and not leave our rooms. The guy was re-tested and it was a false positive because he has had Covid before. Normally we can walk around outside but there are no luxuries and we can’t use the swimming pool.

“We are in a red zone, which no-one is allowed to enter, not even the staff so we clean our own rooms. We have meals in an orange zone, we have to dish up ourselves in the two dining rooms and we eat at the same time as the Argentinians, who we are quarantining with. There is a gym on the premises though and one rugby field, so we share those too with Argentina,” Nienaber said on Tuesday.

The good news is that after quarantine, which ends on Friday, September 10, two days before their first Test against Australia, the Springboks will be able to live life normally, moving around outside, enjoying restaurants and coffee shops. They will obviously be delighted with that and Nienaber said the squad is also really looking forward to taking on the best of the Southern Hemisphere again, which they have not done since 2019.

“It’s always nice to test yourself against Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. We missed out last year, which was hard for us. Playing against these guys in Super Rugby, we are so accustomed and used to it. Without it you kind of wonder where you are currently. It’s nice to measure ourselves against Southern Hemisphere teams again.

“Not playing against them means we have not been exposed to individual players, we haven’t seen their skill sets, even though Super Rugby is different to Test rugby. The Rugby Championship is a different tournament, we know how tough a competition it is, against the best of the Southern Hemisphere, three sides in the top seven of the world rankings,” Nienaber said.