Ken Borland

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has enjoyed an excellent success rate as skipper of the national side over the last two years, but back-to-back losses have cut into his winning record a bit, if not his positivity.
Kolisi belatedly took over the captaincy in 2018 in one of Rassie Erasmus’s first masterstrokes and his record that year was understandably mixed given the depths to which Springbok rugby had sunk. In that first year South Africa won seven and lost six of their Tests under Kolisi.
But 2019 was nothing short of a triumph as the Springboks only lost one of their seven Tests with the then-Stormers flank at the helm. Five wins from eight Tests this year sees Kolisi’s overall winning ratio slip to 64%, pretty much on level terms with Jean de Villiers.

The last time South Africa lost successive Tests was back in 2018 – against Argentina in Mendoza and Australia in Brisbane, and then versus New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld and England at Twickenham. But with the losses against the Wallabies coming after two years of success and expectation, one might have thought these are the toughest times of Kolisi’s captaincy.

But Kolisi’s attitude is always team first and the 30-year-old is focused on how the team can get better.

“This has not been the most difficult time in my captaincy, although obviously it is very disappointing. But we have faced tougher challenges. I just try to take it week-by week, obviously you don’t want to lose two in a row. So our focus is on what we have done wrong and how we can improve.

“We’ve messed things up ourselves and the things we are normally good at we got wrong. So the focus is on our plan, what we are good at. We want to play our own style at our own pace. The last two weeks have been tough, but the biggest thing is that we get all our stuff right this weekend,” Kolisi said.

Kolisi was at the front of the Springboks again when they ran out to face the All Blacks haka with his usual intense stare. But within those muscular, powerful bodies, as tough and tenacious as a Staffy, beat hearts like the normal human being and the team know how important their success is to millions back at home.

“We can’t lie about it, we know how important rugby is, we know what people at home are expecting and want to see. That’s what we think about in our rooms, and it’s important to us too. We use that energy to focus on our game, it motivates us although we always give everything we can on the field,” Kolisi said.

Garreth Ewing has enjoyed an excellent trophy-winning run at both provincial and club level, making him an obvious choice as national men’s coach and now he faces his greatest challenge as he takes the South African team to the Olympic Games.

Ewing first made his name as the coach of the dominant University of Johannesburg side and stints as coach of both the Southern Gauteng men’s and women’s teams brought success at that level too. Parallel to that, Ewing has been involved at national level since 2004, as a selector, video analyst, team manager, high-performance trainer and assistant coach. Some of his most notable work, however, has been with the SA U21 side, taking them to an IPT final for the first time and securing an outstanding 10^th-place finish in the 2016 Junior World Cup in India.

And now he is the head coach of the senior men’s side, preparing for the Olympic Games. And probably no-one could have more knowledge than Ewing of all the steps in the pipeline, and all the players who have made that journey, as South Africa look to shine in Tokyo.

The Olympics will be a formidable challenge though as they are grouped with world champions Belgium, Great Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada in Pool B. But Ewing reckons some of his best work has been done under immense pressure.

“I’m very lucky to have learnt so much from all those different roles, it’s a huge advantage and I’ve coached a lot at provincial level, at every age-group and for both genders. When I first started, I was a bit hard-arsed and focused on results. But I’ve shifted more towards getting the process right, getting the players to perform at the right times, like in knockout games. I think I’m quite good at that, I think I’m calm under pressure and that would be my greatest strength. When there’s turmoil inside, it’s important how you communicate with the players.

“If you’re going to the Olympics, you expect it to be daunting, and all of our opponents, except for Canada, are ranked in the top six for good reason. Canada are in the top-10 and have earned that. But if we were in the other pool [Australia, Argentina, India, Spain, New Zealand & Japan] it would be exactly the same. The teams we are playing against have styles that we are familiar with though, so that may be an advantage,” Ewing says.

Although Ewing self-deprecatingly says he was always “the worst player in quite good teams”, he played Premier League hockey for many years for both Randburg and RAU. But he was never a sleeper when it came to the desire to coach; that yearning first began when he was at Randpark High School.

Which is where his nickname of “Springdog” originates.

“It goes all the way back to high school. We were playing at Springs Boys High and I managed to singlehandedly bugger up a whole game, which knocked us out of a tournament. It’s a helluva long drive on a bus from Springs back to Randburg and the team called me ‘Springsdog’ all the way back and it stuck.

“But I was very influenced by Garth Neilson [a leading figure in both education and coaching] and so I became a student coach to earn some pocket money. I started to take it a bit more seriously when I got to Varsity and was playing first team for RAU. And then I was very involved for a very long time at UJ – from 1999 to 2019. The set-up there was so good and we had extremely strong players, so my profile increased.

“I did enjoy playing but I liked coaching more and I can remember the turning point came when I was double-booked – I had league games as both a player and a coach at the same time, and the decision was pretty simple. I haven’t picked up a hockey stick in anger in a long time,” Ewing said.

Just a look at the prices of hockey sticks these days will give an idea of the challenges facing South Africa’s largely amateur set-up in taking on fully professional teams on the international stage. Without much official backing from either SA Hockey or Sascoc, they had to resort to crowdfunding to raise the R3.5 million required to prepare and go to Tokyo.

But a wonderful new relationship forged with the award-winning digital brand specialists Matchkit.co has proven very fruitful and Ewing believes it points to the way forward for South African hockey.

“Matchkit have been a really good partner. The money raised is a drop in the ocean compared to what we need to remain competitive going forward, but the short-term opportunities have been very favourable and it’s very encouraging. I don’t think we have put enough value in PR, and working with those professionals has been really refreshing,” Ewing says.

The lack of proper marketing of the national hockey teams bugs the keen cyclist and golfer because he worked in public relations before he became a full-time coach.

And it is not the national team that pays his salary either. Like many other hockey coaches, Ewing has had to go back to school to earn a living.

“Since I was around 30 I’ve really tried to do fulltime coaching as much as possible and I’m very privileged to work in a wonderful sports department at St John’s College. That gives me the flexibility to work at national level.

Before that I was fortunate to have two stints overseas. The first was as a player/coach in the UK at Holcombe. I wasn’t really ready then but I learnt from my mistakes. Then I took a post for a year at the University of North Carolina, before spending two years at North-Eastern University in Boston. They had very strong operations environments, big budgets and extremely hard-working athletes.”

The two things Ewing wishes South African hockey could have in the near future are for the national teams to spend more time together and for club hockey to become more professional.

“An element of centralisation would allow for more time together as a national team. Even three months spread out through the year would be a help, it would make such a difference from a high-performance point of view.

“I would also love to see our club leagues become more professional and serious. Our top clubs nationally should be a bit more aware of the big world out there that their top players will be facing. I love the social aspect of hockey, that’s a huge part of the game, but performance is not taken seriously enough.

“We don’t train enough, we get away with practice twice a week and we don’t do any conditioning work. I don’t want to lose the social side of hockey, but we also need to focus more on high-performance,” Ewing says.

Not that he believes his Proteas minnows are going to be squashed like bugs in Tokyo.

“There was really intense competition for places in the squad and I’m very optimistic that we have a good core of players. There are definitely enough young guys who can go to the next Olympics and probably the next one after that as well, plus a core of experienced players who have been consistent. It’s a pretty balanced squad.

“When I committed to high-performance coaching, I decided I wanted to go to the Olympics, so it’s a personal milestone for me. As a professional you always want to test yourself against the very best, so the Olympics and the World Cup are that.

“So it’s a big thing for me but it’s not about me. I’m very humbled to have the opportunity and I’m very aware of the significance and how important it is for the players. So I feel a lot of responsibility on my shoulders,” Ewing said.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt praised his new-look outfit for an excellent performance as they beat the Lions 33-21 at Ellis Park to set themselves up for a virtual semi-final against the Bulls in next weekend’s final round of the Rainbow Cup.

Needing to win with a bonus point to keep their hopes alive, the Sharks fielded a team with 10 changes to their starting line-up and scored five tries to three to hold off a Lions side that showed impressive tenacity and intent, but struggled at the breakdowns and at lineout time.

“It was a massive challenge with all the changes and Covid disruptions, and it’s never easy coming to Ellis Park and beating a Lions team that is on the up and playing some superb rugby. But we have worked hard on the things that were not working in our game and it was a really pleasing performance by the pack and the backs did well with the platform laid for them.

“I knew that there would be no lack of energy because there were a lot of excited youngsters champing at the bit to play. Manie Libbok and Boeta Chamberlain haven’t played for a while, Werner Kok was in a different position, Makazole Mapimpi was back and unbelievable, and Anthony Volmink was outstanding at fullback. This result gives us a lot of confidence,” Everitt said after the game.

While Everitt will have the services of all his players in the Springbok squad for the decisive match against the Bulls in Durban next Saturday, if the Sharks make the Rainbow Cup final then their resources are going to be stretched extremely thin with nine players away in the national camp.

“The depth of the squad will be tested, but on the other hand it’s great for those players to get the opportunity. We’ll choose our strongest possible team for next weekend because we are in with a very good chance of making the final. We need to score four tries and win the game and we haven’t lost yet to the Bulls in the last year at Kings Park.

“We know the Bulls have improved and they always find a way to win, especially when their bench comes on. We lost our last match against them at Loftus but you need to put the whole game in perspective. We just unravelled in the last 20 minutes and they scored four soft tries,” Everitt said.

Another Aiden Markram century, 96 from Reeza Hendricks and five-wicket hauls for both Kagiso Rabada and Lutho Sipamla highlighted an excellent day’s cricket at the Wanderers on Thursday as the Imperial Lions go into the final day of their Four-Day Franchise Series match against the Titans with a lead of 251 runs and four wickets in hand.

Resuming on 169 for five, the Titans made it to 202, a deficit of just four runs, thanks to Markram’s brilliantly composed 100, an innings of great judgement and strokeplay.

The Lions endured a frustrating time in the field, Markram enjoying a couple more lives, before fast bowler Sipamla bowled superbly to the tail as the Titans crashed from 187 for five for 202 all out.

Rabada, who enjoyed impressive rhythm throughout, bowled overnight batsman Dayyaan Galiem (17) off the inside edge to finish with five for 51 in 23 quality overs.

Sipamla then took an extraordinary four wickets in an over to wrap up the innings, including trapping Markram lbw with a delivery that jagged back and kept a bit low. The exciting 22-year-old finished with career-best figures of five for 37 in 14 overs.

Buoyed by their excellent finish in the field, the Lions top-order quickly slipped into positive mode after the early loss of first-innings hero Dominic Hendricks, who was caught behind off Lizaad Williams for a single.

Ryan Rickelton threaded beautiful drives through the infield and hooked the first ball after lunch for six as he stroked a promising 58, while Reeza Hendricks scored 96 in languid but fluent fashion.

Proteas stars Rassie van der Dussen (14) and Temba Bavuma (5) both fell to the tricky skills of Galiem.

Okuhle Cele slipped up by having Wiaan Mulder caught off a no-ball when he had 17, and although he nicked off Reeza Hendricks, the all-rounder had gone to 35 not out when the sun slinked behind a cloud and the umpires stopped play for bad light just after 5pm.

*At St George’s Park, the Warriors, resuming 146 runs in arrears, began with caution as Ed Moore and Gihahn Cloete (65) took their opening stand of 88 overnight to 145 before Cloete was bowled by Ruan de Swardt.

Moore continued to dominate in a partnership of 100 for the second wicket with Yaseen Vallie (45), but then the wickets began to tumble.

Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj was once again the most lethal bowler, taking six for 93 in 33.2 overs as the Warriors collapsed from 245 for one to 345 all out.

Moore ended a tough season for himself on a high note as he fought his way to an impressive 155.

The collapse left the Dolphins needing just 112 for victory and they closed on eight without loss, needing just 104 more runs on Friday to confirm they will be hosting the final against the Titans next week.

*Thanks to Pieter Malan’s phenomenal record-breaking innings of 264, the Cape Cobras were able to declare on 523 for eight, with a lead of 342 in the kitty, against the Knights at Newlands.

Left-arm spinner George Linde had then grabbed four wickets for just two runs at one stage as the Knights crashed to 106 for seven at stumps. Farhaan Behardien is their only remaining recognised batsman, on 36 not out.

Malan’s 264 was the highest ever score for the Cobras, in their final game, beating the 260 not out JP Duminy made against the Lions in Paarl in 2015/16. The 655-minute innings, spanning 507 balls, was a monument to Malan’s patience and hunger to go big for his team.

Kyle Verreynne took his tally of runs for the campaign to 680 at 97.14 as he supported Malan in a stand of 217 for the fifth wicket with a brilliant knock of 109.