Ken Borland

DULLSTROOM (Mpumalanga) – Louis Albertse hails from Dundee Golf Club and would have to travel almost exactly due north from there to get to Highland Gate Golf and Trout Estate, while Nico Mulder comes from Lydenburg, which is due north of Dullstroom, and together they combined to win the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Pro-Am in spectacular fashion on Thursday.

Albertse, a three-time winner on the Sunshine Tour, and Mulder blazed their way to 50 points on the second day of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series Highland Gate Pro-Am, overtaking first-day leaders Keenan Davidse and former Springbok rugby player Akona Ndungane, to win by two points (90 to 88).

For Mulder, the general manager of the McGee group of companies, it was a maiden pro-am victory and the highlight of his golf career.

“It’s definitely the highlight, just playing with the pros is amazing enough. You see them on TV but it’s only when you’re standing with them on the course and you realise that you’re hitting six-iron and they’re taking wedge, then you know how good they are,” Mulder said.

“Vodacom have been fantastic with the way they have hosted us. It’s been an unbelievable couple of days and they have treated us like royalty. And the friendliness of everyone at Highland Gate, the staff have smiles wherever you look, it’s like being at a resort,” the nine-handicapper said.

While the first day featured such strong winds that Albertse felt like his game and maybe even himself might be blown off one of the spectacular cliffs around the course, Thursday was much calmer at Highland Gate and the winner of more than R4.6 million on the Sunshine Tour flourished, a good omen for him ahead of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series professional event that tees off on Friday.

“Yesterday the wind was really hectic, so today I had to contribute and I felt my game was there, which was nice. It’s also very enjoyable meeting new people and you never know what doors people you meet can open. And they are also the reason we are able to play in these tournaments, I am very respectful and thankful for what they do for us.

“It’s my second time playing here and I love the course, everyone who lives close to Dullstroom wants to come and play here. It’s a very good course and it is in great condition. There are scoring opportunities for sure, but if you’re not straight off the tee then it becomes really tough. You have to try and be patient and plot your way around it,” Albertse said.

Davidse and Ndungane, the runners-up, finished three points ahead of Jason Roets and George Leolo (85pts), while Stefan Wears-Taylor and Toby Mnisi were fourth on 83 points.

Ngwako Ramohlale struck a blow for the ladies as she finished fifth were her professional, Nikhil Rama, also on 83 points.

With the first day having shown that Highland Gate is not for the faint-hearted, Mulder was taking no chances on the second morning and admitted to bolstering his confidence in time-honoured fashion before the tee-off.

“My mate and I had a little Jagermeister before the start and then it was just a matter of keeping my head down and staying humble. But the wind on the first day made all of us humble,” Mulder laughed.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt praised the major impact of the bench in their impressive 40-12 win over the Glasgow Warriors at Kings Park, saying it was exactly what he had hoped for when he loaded his replacements with a number of Springboks.

Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche, Siya Kolisi, Sikhumbuzo Notshe and Makazole Mapimpi were all substitutes against Glasgow, and it was no coincidence that the Sharks finished emphatically, turning a narrow 13-12 lead after 50 minutes into a crunching, bonus point win.

“I’m very happy, we knew it would be a difficult first half, but we showed a lot of power in the second half. The game opened up and we played well from turnover ball,” Everitt said.

“We managed to get our attack and defence together in the same game. The starting line-up did the hard yards and tired out the opposition, and then we had a big impact off the bench.”

Even Warriors coach Nigel Carolan admitted that they had been blown away in the second half.

“There was always going to be an onslaught, it was very difficult to handle that sort of power in the last 30 minutes. And because we did not have enough on the scoreboard to protect, we had to try and get on the front foot still,” Carolan said.

Debutant Eben Etzebeth was the obvious choice for the man of the match award, for the power of his carries, his domination of the lineouts and the offloading skills he showed in ensuring the continuity of attacks.

“Eben was immense in disrupting their lineout and the quality ball he and Hyron Andrews won at our lineout gave us a good foundation to attack,” Everitt said.

“He has fitted in really well, he had done his lineout homework thoroughly, he was outstanding in both attacking and defensive lineouts.

“There was also much to be admired in his all-round play, he certainly played like the best lock in the world,” Everitt said.

Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller and Dwaine Pretorius are all past their 32^nd birthdays and it was that experience that gave them the clarity of knowing exactly what they had to do as South Africa chased down a record score in the first T20 against India in Delhi on Thursday night.

South Africa’s previous highest chase was 208 for two against the West Indies at the Wanderers in 2007/8, in the first World T20 tournament. So when India piled on 211 for four, their highest ever score against the Proteas, the pressure was on.

But Pretorius, born March 29 1989, was promoted to No.3 and dominated the powerplay by lashing 29 off 13 balls, before India fought back with a couple of wickets and South Africa needed 120 to win off the last nine overs. Miller, born June 10 1989, then took over, taking the pressure off a struggling Van der Dussen, with the in-form IPL winner blasting 64 not out off 31 deliveries.

Van der Dussen, who was born on February 7 1989, exploded in the latter stages to finish with a fabulous 75 not out off just 46 balls as the Proteas won with five balls to spare.

“Dwaine was brilliant, he had clear instructions to put India under pressure and he did that superbly. He’s an intimidating figure and we know how far he can hit the ball,” Van der Dussen said.

“But it took a while for me to get the pace of the pitch, I was a bit slow with 30 off 31 balls. But David batted really well to get me through that tough patch in the middle.

“I knew if I could just get one or two shots away then the momentum would shift. We had clear plans and communicated well, the lesson is to trust the game-plan and have a clear mind regardless of your score and how many balls faced.

“We trusted each other too and we knew that if David and I were there at the end then we would be close and would probably get over the line. I’m glad we managed to do it in the end,” Van der Dussen said.

The Central Gauteng Lions star, who now averages 42 in T20 internationals with a strike-rate of 132, recognised however that what happened in the first match of the series probably won’t work every time. It was just as well Van der Dussen was dropped on 29 in the 16^th over because that would have brought Tristan Stubbs, exciting but a real baby at this level, in to try and get 63 runs from 28 balls.

“I would like to adapt a little quicker to conditions, you can’t always put yourself under pressure and catch up. It also puts the team under pressure,” Van der Dussen acknowledged.

“I will be looking at my first 15-20 balls to try and get away quicker.”

The second T20 is in Cuttack on Sunday from 3.30pm.

Like an aeronautics expert trying to ensure take-off happens at exactly the right time, Bulls director of rugby Jake White will be using the next two weekends of Currie Cup action to try and ensure his team peak at the business end of the United Rugby Championship.

The Bulls have already sealed a quarterfinal place in Europe, but their match against Ospreys in Swansea on May 20 could decide whether they will have crucial home ground advantage for that playoff match.

So basically White is looking for four straight wins in the URC to take the title. But his desire to win a hat-trick of Currie Cup crowns is also great, so he was quite happy on Friday to announce a Bulls team that is a half-and-half mix of URC and Currie Cup players for their match against Griquas on Saturday evening at Loftus Versfeld.

“It’s predominantly URC guys that I want to game-time to, but it’s a double-edged sword because we take the Currie Cup seriously as well,” White said.

“There will be another rotation next week for our match against the Golden Lions when we give some of these players the week off.

“But we can’t afford to give the URC guys two weeks off before such a vital game as the Ospreys one, it’s absolutely critical to try and get a home playoff. So it’s another hit-out for them.

“It’s an opportunity to try and get right the things we want to do at the back end of the URC and this team is the sort of ideal balance you’d want every week – seniors and youngsters playing together,” White said.

The Bulls have tended to concede the most points at the starts and deaths of games, and a team like Griquas can be lethal if you allow them a foothold in the game, so White said starting and finishing better is a work in progress for his team.

“We definitely want to start well. You work out along the way what works in terms of getting a good start – the warm-up order, your routine before the game or selection can all be factors.

“There’s no exact answer, but the more you get it wrong, the closer you are to getting it right. Once you find a formula that works, you lean on that. You try to find the right recipe, but sometimes it takes a while,” White said.

Bulls team: Canan Moodie, Stravino Jacobs, Cornal Hendricks, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier; WJ Steenkamp, Cyle Brink, Arno Botha, Reinhardt Ludwig, Walt Steenkamp, Robert Hunt, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Lizo Gqoboka. IMPACT – Schalk Erasmus, Simphiwe Matanzima, Dylan Smith, Ruan Nortje, Muller Uys, Keagan Johannes, Juan Mostert, Stedman Gans.