Ken Borland

Despite the daunting task ahead of them and the fact that they are playing away from their Kings Park haven, coach Sean Everitt said the Sharks are as excited as puppies about taking on the British and Irish Lions at Ellis Park on Wednesday night.

“We spoke about the opportunity to make history and if we win we will forever be in the history books as the first Sharks or Natal team to beat the British and Irish Lions. The guys are excited and have watched a lot of Northern Hemisphere rugby so they know the players and there are no false pretences of the challenge in front of us. But if we can stop their momentum and power game then we are in with a chance.

“Unfortunately we can’t play in Durban, but we’ve been in Johannesburg since Friday so our acclimatisation will be spot-on and we’ve generally done pretty well up here, we feel comfortable playing on the Highveld. Personally I remember watching the 1974 Lions playing against Border, so I have a lot of respect for the team and I’m just so glad that the game is going ahead,” Everitt said.

The Lions, meanwhile, have added a pacy, marauding loose trio to their mix for the meeting with the Sharks, selecting Tom Curry, Josh Navidi and Sam Simmonds.

Behind a top-class tight five, they will certainly have plenty of opportunity to fulfil coach Warren Gatland’s mandate to “express yourselves”.

A hamstring strain to Robbie Henshaw, who added plenty of muscle to the Lions’ midfield against Japan, has given a chance in the outside centre berth to Elliot Daly, who has mostly been a wing or fullback under England coach Eddie Jones.

Everitt knows that the only way to counter the individual star quality in the Lions team is through a concerted team effort; the sum of the Sharks’ performance must be greater than its parts.

“The focus is always on team first and if anyone goes off programme we will pay the consequences. We need all 23 players on match day to reach our peak performance and I don’t think anyone will go off-programme because we all know we need a massive team performance and not playing as individuals.

“We have to manage the ball well in our own half and not just throw the ball around and expect things to happen. They have three very good loose forwards and good lineout jumpers and we need to survive at the set-pieces and then look after the ball when we have it and then make sure we are playing in the right areas,” Everitt said.

The Bulls will once again be led by Nizaam Carr from eighthman and coach Jake White said he is excited by the attacking possibilities of the “athletic” team he has chosen to open their Rainbow Cup campaign against the Lions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Lions have traditionally enjoyed moving the ball wide and White on Friday announced a team to ensure that they are not stretched to breaking by their Gauteng rivals on Saturday.

“Obviously guys like Duane Vermeulen and Trevor Nyakane are not available because they are having their one-week off as requested by the Springboks, and Stedman Gans has joined the Sevens camp, but it’s quite an athletic team we’ve chosen. Prop Gerhard Steenekamp was an eighthman at school, Johan Grobbelaar and Mornay Smith are both mobile, we have two ligther locks together [Ruan Nortje & Janko Swanepoel] and Nizaam Carr is at eight.

“There are good athletes in this side and ball-players, and hopefully the sun comes out on Saturday and it’s dry. If we play the way we can, then we can keep the ball alive for long periods and get some nice attacking rugby going,” White said on Friday.

The well-travelled coach said he was disappointed that the Rainbow Cup would no longer have an overseas component, but that another double round of local derbies will allow him to work more on his combinations for later in the year.

“It’s disappointing for me that we won’t be going to Europe because I wold like to see different opposition. But one year ago we weren’t playing rugby at all, so let’s rather play each other again than nothing at all. It’s not first prize but at least we are playing rugby. We want to keep winning and keep our momentum going, keep growing as a team.

“We have three Springboks on the bench this weekend because I want to challenge the players and it’s nice to see other combinations. From our perspective it would get a bit boring just to play the same old guys over and over, and when we lose players to the Springboks or we’re playing in the rain, we need to see what combinations are suitable,” White said.

Bulls: James Verity-Amm, Madosh Tambwe, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Chris Smith, Embrose Papier, Nizaam Carr, Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Janko Swanepoel, Mornay Smith, Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Joe van Zyl, Lizo Gqoboka, Jacques van Rooyen, Walt Steenkamp, Arno Botha, Zak Burger, Morné Steyn, David Kriel.

Faf du Plessis has seen the Proteas crumple in more World Cups than is probably fair for one player to have to go through and yet the veteran former captain is still excited about the prospect of playing in two T20 World Cups in the next 20 months and even maybe the next 50-over tournament, scheduled for 2023.

It was revealed on Tuesday that Du Plessis will no longer be one of the 16 contracted Proteas for the coming year, but he told The Citizen on Wednesday that this was expected because he is only available for T20 cricket this year.

“I’m only available for T20 cricket this year as I mentioned in my Test retirement statement. I haven’t heard any communication from CSA regarding contracts, but I know they are looking into getting us involved in T20 cricket because there are two World Cups in that format in the next two years. Two T20 World Cups in a row is going to be fire [emoji],” Du Plessis said in a WhatsApp.

India will host the next T20 World Cup in October/November this year, while Australia, who were due to hold the event last year before the Covid-19 pandemic arrived, will stage the tournament at the same time in 2022.

“There isn’t much ODI cricket this season and the ODI World Cup is only in 2023. Next season might be different in terms of games and also then the 2023 World Cup preparation, but for now with it being so far away, it’s better to build with players that can gain plenty games under their belts,” the 36-year-old added.

Du Plessis averages 57.87 in his 23 50-over World Cup appearances at the 2011, 2015 and 2019 tournaments, while he also played in the 2013 and 2017 Champions Trophy events. He also played in three T20 World Cups, in 2012, 2014 and 2016.

Du Plessis, who has been a stalwart of the Indian Premier League with 84 appearances, has previously indicated he is eager to play in more global T20 leagues around the world. Following the Proteas tour of Pakistan, he played three matches for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League before that tournament’s suspension due to a spate of Covid-19 cases.

Whatever holiday time he has had since then will be drawing rapidly to a close as the next edition of the IPL is due to start on April 9.

Jake White has always had an attachment to big, physical players, but the new Bulls coach was most excited about the attacking flair on offer from the several whippets in his squad when he named his roster on Thursday for their SuperFan Saturday match against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld.

The squad includes two Springbok Sevens players in Stedman Gans and Kurt-Lee Arendse, and there are other players like Gio Aplon and Jade Stighling who make up for their lack of size with the size of their talent.

“I’m told I usually only like big okes and that we’re only going to play like the Bulls used to,” White said ironically, “but these are little guys with lots of skill and pace and I’m really excited about them. Watch this space!”

The other selections that the former World Cup winning Springbok coach seemed particularly excited about where that of 19-year-old loosehead prop Jan-Hendrik Wessels, who is 6’3 and 120kg and spent a season with Clermont Auvergne in France, and, at the other end of the spectrum, veteran flyhalf Morne Steyn.

“Jan-Hendrik reminds me of Os du Randt and he will be a Springbok, there’s no doubt about it. We need to give him a chance to develop and playing with Springboks this weekend and learning about senior rugby will be a great experience for him before the U21 tournament starts next week,” White said of the former SA Schools and Grey College star.

“I’ve never worked with Morne Steyn before and when he was flourishing in South Africa, I was overseas. I did watch his progression at Stade Francais, where he won championships with them, and he’s just an unbelievable team guy, full of energy. He’s a lot more athletic than people think and the older he’s got, the more he understands what he can and cannot do. He looks after himself, he’s very fit and he’s a great role-model. There’s no doubt he still has a massive role to play at the Bulls and he’s exactly the sort of general we need,” White said of the 36-year-old, who has 66 Test caps and three Super Rugby titles to his name.

The Bulls will be without the exciting front row expertise of tighthead Marcel van der Merwe, loosehead Lizo Gqoboka and hooker Johan Grobbelaar, who are all unfit for play at the moment. Grobbelaar has had a particularly unfortunate time, having his appendix out seven weeks ago and then catching the Covid-19 virus, but White said the 22-year-old will be back in the fray soon.

Given the recent history of underperformance at Loftus Versfeld, the maiden season under White will see the expectation levels start at a high level. But the coach stressed that the weekend’s hit-out is not so much about the result as getting the combinations right for when the Super Rugby local competition starts and also ensuring they develop some continuity.

“We have lots of options on Saturday, but we’ll probably start with the ‘team’, see how the combinations go and then try out others in a match situation. So far we’ve been running moves with both teams knowing the plays against each other, so it will be nice to try them when the opposition does not know them. But the most important thing is the combinations.

“Saturday is all about continuity as well, especially if we lose some players to the Springboks, who have a trial next week. It’s important to remember we finished last in Super Rugby and seventh in the Currie Cup, we’ve won one out of six games this year. So we can only go up, but we do still have expectations on us. But I think the pressure is on everybody, the Sharks have been front-runners and far above everyone else,” White said.

Squad – Gio Aplon, Jade Stighling, Cornal Hendricks, Stedman Gans, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Clinton Swart, David Kriel, Travis Ismaiel, Stravino Jacobs, Morne Steyn, Chris Smith, Ivan van Zyl, Embrose Papier, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Duane Vermeulen, Nizaam Carr, Tim Agaba, Arno Botha, Muller Uys, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Juandre Kruger, Jason Jenkins, Sintu Manjezi, Trevor Nyakane, Mornay Smith, Corniel Els, Schalk Erasmus, Jacques van Rooyen, Jan-Hendrik Wessels.