Ken Borland

As they prepare to face the Sharks in a vital United Rugby Championship derby at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, the Bulls’ focus seems to not be so much on the way they play but the speed with which they execute their plans.

Sluggish would be one of the words to describe their grinding 21-13 win over the Lions last weekend, and it is clear coach Jake White has instructed his team to lift their intensity and therefore their pace of play when they take on the Sharks.

“We will take some confidence from the Lions game, but it is clear we still have a lot to learn,” scrumhalf Embrose Papier said. “It was a very slow game and we need to work on our breakdown.

“It’s going to be a tough game and a big physical battle against the Sharks because they are a really good side with a lot of Springboks. But as scrumhalves we have to be really fast. Our forwards do too, they need to set quickly because the Sharks scrumhalves like to snipe as well.

“We have taken quite a few positives out of the Lions game but there’s also been a lot to work on. It was a slow game, but when teams come up to Loftus and the altitude here, we must lift the tempo so we make it hard, especially for teams from the coast,” Papier said.

Apart from injecting more speed into his service from the breakdown, Papier has also been putting plenty of work into his kicking game with consultant Fourie du Preez, the great former Springbok scrumhalf.

“I just played running rugby at Garsfontein school and at U19s and U21s, but I made lots of mistakes and that’s why coaches devise plans. So I play more in the system now and I can still do my own thing in the system.

“I’ve been trying different styles of box-kicks and I now feel comfortable with the way I’m kicking. I need to do the basics right and stay in the system, get the balance right between passing and kicking.

“Fourie is a legend with lots of experience and I am learning a lot with him. We work a lot on passing, kicking and running lines. Fourie was one of the best ever at those and he also had a big work-rate,” Papier said.

South Africa were too good for India in the second Test at the Wanderers, even the tourists’ coach Rahul Dravid making that admission, but the Proteas know they will need to execute a similar game-plan even better at Newlands, where the third and decisive Test starts on Tuesday.

South Africa won a thrilling second Test by seven wickets, chasing down a daunting target of 240.

“We weren’t complacent at any stage, the players were very switched on and right until the last day, we were winning the game. But South Africa played better than us on the last day,” Dravid admitted.

“We know South Africa are a very good side in their home conditions, even though the rankings might tell something else. It was always going to be a very tough series, but we have no excuses.

“We were outplayed in this Test and South Africa fully deserved the win,” Dravid said.

Proteas captain Dean Elgar, the hero of the victory with his epic 96 not out in the final innings, was already looking forward to taking their momentum to Cape Town.

“This was a massive positive move, a step in the right direction,” Elgar said. “It was a confidence-booster for a lot of players, but there are still going to be a lot of challenges in the next Test.

“We were pushed to different boundaries and the guys came up with some massive plans in tough conditions. We are emphasising the basics and we focused on the areas that weren’t good enough.

“We will have the same kind of plan for Cape Town, our game-plan is not going to change much,” Elgar said.

Dravid did mention the injury to paceman Mohammad Siraj, who strained his hamstring on the first evening, and having to bowl with a damp ball in the final session after it had rained for much of the fourth day, as also playing a role in their first defeat in six matches at the Wanderers.

“Losing Siraj and him not being 100% fit right through set us back a bit. We weren’t able to use the fifth bowler as much as we would have liked.

“And then the outfield was wet which made the ball wet. We rely a lot on swing bowling, but the seam just got wet and softer. But the South African batsmen played really well and cashed in on their opportunities.

“We kiss the pitch more, we pitch the ball up and look for swing. But the Proteas have a slight natural height advantage and that extra height on an up-and-down pitch made a little bit of difference.

“We saw quite a few balls spit up and hit the gloves, the pitch seemed to misbehave a bit more for them,” Dravid said.

Front-foot ball and the ability to control the tempo of the game and execute their game-plan were the prime reasons for the Bulls’ success as they beat the Lions 26-21 in their Currie Cup semi-final at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

A superbly-controlled first half by the Bulls gave them an 11-0 lead, but there was a second-half wobble when the gutsy Lions fought back to level the score at 14-14 with two tries. But the Bulls then regrouped, and helped tremendously by the Lions’ ill-discipline which saw both locks, Marvin Orie and Willem Alberts, yellow-carded in the space of three minutes, they scored two tries to settle the issue.

The Lions scored a consolation try after the final hooter through centre Burger Odendaal, but they were a beaten side by then.

The Bulls’ dominance started with an excellent scrummaging display and, even though the Lions did win a couple of penalties at that set-piece, the home side won the scrums at vital moments. Their defence was also superb and the pressure they exerted led to the Lions simply making too many errors.

The Bulls backline, expertly marshalled by halfbacks Morne Steyn and Ivan van Zyl, also looked in prime attacking mood and their first try, in the 10^th minute, featured some superb running rugby in the build-up before Steyn, who had earlier made the break into the 22 off a deft pass from Van Zyl, stuck through a diagonal grubber which wing Stravino Jacobs gathered beautifully considering the tricky bounce and crossed over the line.

Another penalty early in the second half, when the Lions were once again punished for trying to run out of their own 22, allowed the Bulls to extend their lead to 14-0. The Lions half was the location where most of the game was played, but when the visitors did manage to string some phases together inside the Bulls half they scored a fine try as Alberts thundered over.

But even their second try came from deep within their own territory as scrumhalf Andre Warner’s box-kick came down just outside his own 22. But Jacobs missed the catch, replacement Francke Horn gathered and sent Wandisile Simelane free on his outside. The exciting outside centre had already shown great feet and hands in the match, but now he showed tremendous pace as he raced away for the try that levelled the scores.

Still the Lions conceded penalties though and the Bulls were allowed to set a lineout maul from which replacement hooker Johan Grobbelaar scored. From the restart, Orie was then yellow-carded, perhaps a bit harshly, for a high tackle inside the Bulls’ 22. It put the home side hard on attack, Alberts was then yellow-carded after the Lions were guilty of continued offsides offences, and the Bulls predictably decided to scrum with both opposition locks off the field. A delicate crosskick from replacement flyhalf Chris Smith to Jacobs provided the matchwinning try.

Location, location, location as they say in the real estate world and the Lions simply spent too much time trying to play in the wrong areas.

Scorers

Bulls: Tries – Stravino Jacobs, Johan Grobbelaar, Stravino Jacobs. Conversion – Morne Steyn. Penalties – Steyn (3).

Lions: Tries – Willem Alberts, Wandisile Simelane, Burger Odendaal. Conversions – Elton Jantjies (3).

Pressure at the highest level of sport often equates to a lack of time and space and Proteas bowling coach Charl Langeveldt is hopeful that his charges will be able to execute their skills better as they move from T20s to ODIs against England.

The first ODI in the three-match series is at Newlands on Friday afternoon and South Africa will be desperate to put their 3-0 hammering in the T20s behind them. Time is on their side, as their 50-over form has generally been better than their T20 efforts in recent times.

“Most of the guys have been playing four-day cricket and got some bowling in there, but we haven’t had a lot of T20 cricket recently and we missed out on two of our warm-up games because of Covid. It’s about match-fitness and T20 is very difficult because it comes down to execution under pressure. You can train as much as you want in the nets, but it’s not the same intensity.

“We’ve got work to do to be able to execute under pressure, but the first two T20s came down to two big moments, just two overs, and we have learnt from it to identify the big moment and embrace it. Fifty-over cricket is still high intensity but it’s longer time. The batsmen take more time to settle in so that means more time for the bowlers to settle into a rhythm and get used to the pitch,” Langeveldt said on Thursday.

There will be at least two changes in South Africa’s batting line-up with the in-form Faf du Plessis being rested for the ODIs and Reeza Hendricks released from the squad. The Proteas will be eager to get the experienced duo of David Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo back into action after they were in Covid quarantine.

The absence of the injured Kagiso Rabada means the Proteas could well bring Junior Dala in, with Langeveldt saying a big part of their ODI strategy is to be in the opposing batsmen’s faces and try to strike in the early overs.

“KG is a massive loss for us because he always strikes with the new ball and we speak a lot about taking wickets in the first 10 overs so we can shift pressure on to the opposition. We see Junior as purely a 50-over bowler because he hits hard lengths and is aggressive, he can use the two bouncers and two new balls you get in ODIs. We’ve worked on upskilling him with slower balls and yorkers.

“Junior gives us that extra pace and aggression and to have Andile back would give us six bowlers which is great for us in 50-over cricket. He has a special one-day record and is also an option bowling at the back end. We need to be clever and be able to have that next level of intensity. We must be aggressive in both our batting and our bowling, you can’t sit back against England,” Langeveldt said.