Ken Borland

Far from being an environment that alienates anyone, the Proteas camp now has a player-driven culture and everyone has bought into the new captaincy ideas of Dean Elgar, coach Mark Boucher said when asked whether the team looked so happy just because they won the Test series against the West Indies or whether there have been off-field changes that have made a difference.

Boucher said the triumph was the result of “a lot of hard work” off the field and some hard chats the team had sitting around the fire in Pretoria on their pre-tour camp.

“When we sat around the fire in Pretoria, the new captain [Elgar] asked some questions about where we are and where we want to go and there were some tough conversations about the necessity of performing for the Proteas badge again. It’s been quite a tough couple of months for certain guys. But the players are now driving the value system they put on the table in our Skukuza culture camp last year, which is why they’re so happy.

“The team have played really well. We have not won away from home for a long time and the belief taken away from that is important. We asked them to play for each other and we’ve seen that, it was really a team effort and we played the big moments very well.

“The best place to learn is in foreign conditions and we learned a lot of lessons in Pakistan. Different conditions are what develops players. The skills have been executed fairly well and I look forward to seeing how we go when we’re put under pressure because then we can judge whether we are really on track,” Boucher said.

The former captain, Quinton de Kock, was the player of the series for his 237 runs at an average of 118, and far from being angry at his demotion, the wicketkeeper/batsman responded with a flurry of runs and was a breath of fresh air in the changeroom as well.

“Quinny’s been through a tough time of late, not scoring the same amount of runs as he’s used to, but he made such an impact on the whole series. While the other batsmen did well to bat time and force the bowlers to come back for third and fourth spells, Quinny has that x-factor that means he can just take the game away from the opposition.

“I’m very happy that he’s in a very good space and he’s been fantastic off the field, funny and lighthearted. And the way he’s kept wicket has been so good too, he’s been very neat and taken some great catches,” Boucher said.

Khaya Zondo is using this T20 Challenge competition to remind everyone of his quality as he produced his second successive matchwinning innings for the Dolphins as they battled past a gutsy Knights side by four wickets at Kingsmead on Saturday.

The Dolphins were set a target of just 145 for victory – and this was only possible due to an extraordinary unbroken partnership of 75 off 39 balls by Knights captain Pite van Biljon and Migael Pretorius – but this proved challenging to the hosts as they slipped to 86 for five after 12 overs.

But Zondo, who top-scored with 59 in the Dolphins win over the Cape Cobras, showed great composure and determination as he made 35 not out off 31 balls to usher his team to victory with 11 balls to spare. He received superb support from reliable finisher Robbie Frylinck, who scored a powerful 24 off 15 deliveries with a couple of hard-struck sixes, as they added a matchturning 55 off 41 balls for the sixth wicket.

The Dolphins, who lost the toss, began the match in spectacular fashion as ace spinner and captain Keshav Maharaj took two wickets with the first three balls of the match, trapping both Patrick Kruger and Andries Gous lbw for ducks.

The Knights crashed even further from 0 for two as they were then 21 for four when Frylinck removed Jacques Snyman, well caught by a diving Zondo at slip for 6, and Farhaan Behardien, lbw for five.

That the Knights managed to fight their way back from that dreadful start can only be respected and it was their skipper, Van Biljon who led the way.

The Proteas T20 player counterpunched his way to an heroic 72 not out off 54 balls, a tremendous effort considering he was physically ailing due to some heatstroke. Van Biljon did not take the field when the Dolphins batted, wicketkeeper Wandile Makwetu taking over the reins, and said after the match that he was feeling dizzy and had goosebumps all over his body during his 90 minutes at the crease.

Ferisco Adams (18) helped Van Biljon stabilise the innings as they added 48 for the fifth wicket, but fast bowler Pretorius, bumped up the order, then showed his batting credentials. Coming in at 69 for five in the 15^th over, Pretorius feasted on some loose bowling as he bashed 38 not out off 23 deliveries.

Maharaj finished with two for 18 in his four overs and fellow spinner Prenelan Subrayen was also impressive, conceding just 25 runs in his stint. Frylinck took two for 11 but only bowled three overs, which was surprising considering how both Eathan Bosch and Kerwin Mungroo were punished at the death.

Everyone can see that the Springboks are not getting the results for the amount of effort they are putting in, but there is real pressure on them against France at the Stade de France. If they lose this weekend then that will be three defeats on the bounce which is not a good return.

Coach Rassie Erasmus will only have a 41% winning record if the Springboks lose to France, but we can see progress in their performances this year.

Last weekend against England was another Test that got away from Rassie and the Springboks though, who simply made too many mistakes.

In terms of Owen Farrell’s controversial last tackle, it was definitely, according to the laws, a clear penalty and yellow card. It was certainly a big shot, with the defender just trying to get his body in the way of the carrier, he made good shoulder contact but there were no arms involved. In fact, it is very hard to get the arms around when you are making that sort of tackle. The height as well was definitely penalisable.

The Springboks’ error-rate was particularly costly at lineout time and there were two main functions responsible for that – their alignment and the timing between the jumper and Malcolm Marx, who was having a technical issue with his throwing.

Having worked with Malcolm on his throwing between the ages of 18 and 21, plus being head-on with hookers throwing to the lollipop for 20 years, I can see exactly what went wrong. It’s like a golf swing and I can see if the shoulders, fingers or hips are wrong when he throws.

The Springboks used the middle pod a lot in their phase play, they play a 1-3-2-2, but after playing across the field you always eventually end up on the edge. Both teams tried to put the middle pod under pressure, but England did it better, making good reads with their defensive rush getting on top. The Springboks needed to play out the back more, while England did look to use their second line on attack and enjoyed a lot of success with that in the second half.

The Springboks were able to get tremendous field position in the first half through their scrum and maul, but the problem was, when you maul a lot, it means you get slow ball afterwards with forwards behind forwards latchers.

South Africa’s kicking game was good and with a few better bounces they would have had England under real pressure. They played two phases and kicked as they have done in their last six Tests, and found good space behind the England wingers. Scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl’s box-kicking was good, and it was a real war of the boot between him and Ben Youngs.

England regained the ball well though in the second half and they had the Springboks under pressure. In a gainline battle like last weekend’s Test, those aerial duels are crucial.

Damian de Allende found areas in which he was able to get outside the rush defence from behind the middle pod, he was able to find space, getting over the advantage line with good footwork, and he really gave the Springboks go-forward. Damian is now a regular in the team and he should consistently be putting in performances like that.

The Springboks used Warren Whiteley more in the wide channels, on the edge of the attack a lot, and Duane Vermeulen was under a lot of high balls, so they were a good loose-forward combination.

It was a very tactical game at Twickenham, with a lot of mauls, but England just had a bit more fluidity. The one real positive for the Springboks was the scrummaging, they absolutely destroyed England and got two tightheads, which is quite something at that level. The one crucial scrum penalty against them at the end was a 50/50 call though.

I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s game, I’ve gained a great respect for French rugby over the last four months. It’s going to be a big midfield battle against the two powerhouse French centres, Gael Fickou and Mathieu Basteraud. Flyhalf Camille Lopez is a great tactician and has a good kicking game, and plays flat on the gainline.

And the French forward pack is never poor.

Sbu Nkosi and Aphiwe Dyantyi were very good for the Springboks against England, but I’m looking forward to Willie le Roux and Faf de Klerk adding a bit more spark.

Stade Francais assistant coach John McFarland was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game. From 2001 to 2012 he won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. McFarland enjoyed three years with the Kubota Spears in Tokyo from 2016-18.

Everyone knows that the Cheetahs are an attacking side, but Sharks scrumhalf Cobus Reinach says his team are wary of all the little variations to their game coach Franco Smith could have up his sleeve for their SuperRugby clash in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

“Franco Smith has brought in a lot of different attacking lines, they don’t just go from wide to wide anymore. So that’s going to keep us on our feet, the Cheetahs have a lot of good attacking players and it’s a good challenge for us to have. The Cheetahs have a lot of exciting players and they can really bring anything to the party,” Reinach said.

The Sharks surprised – in a bad way – in their match last weekend against the Southern Kings, struggling to a two-point victory in which they made far too many errors and showed little fluency. While insisting that the team had moved forward since that setback, Reinach agreed that the performance was no laughing matter.

“We’ve put that match behind us, but it certainly was not the way we want to perform, it was a below-par display. It’s about attitude and we let ourselves down. We need to get our mental preparation right and make sure we’re up for every game. We train in a squad system so making changes to the team should not influence how we play, we all know the calls and when to do things and what not to do,” Reinach said.