Ken Borland

With the Bulls having the experience of Arno Botha and Jacques van Rooyen on the bench, and a Springbok scrumhalf in Embrose Papier sitting alongside them, and the Lions fielding six forwards amongst their reserves, five of them relatively inexperienced, Bulls coach Jake White said on Thursday that he is confident his team will have the edge when it comes to the closing stages of their Currie Cup semi-final in Pretoria on Saturday.

The Lions will have a well-travelled reserve prop in Ruan Dreyer, but Jan-Henning Campher, Carlu Sadie, Reinhard Nothnagel, Wilhelm van der Sluys and Francke Horn are all still making their way at this level and White quickly seized on the composition of the visitors’ bench.

“When I look at the Lions, I see six forwards on the bench so that’s how they’re going to finish and I don’t think those guys have played a game together as a pack. They said they’re going to run the ball but they only have two backs on the bench. So it’s going to be hard for them to play from side-to-side and it’s a big risk with six forwards who haven’t played together before.

“So that will present opportunities for us as well, our preparation has been very good and we are full of confidence. We’ve won most second halves in the matches we’ve played, so by that measure we are a team that finishes well. We can change things around and not just be one-dimensional. We’ve beaten the Lions, Sharks and Western Province twice so there’s no reason for us not to be confident,” White said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Bulls starting line-up announced on Thursday is pretty much the first-choice team White would have had in mind a few weeks ago. The exceptions are at lock and hooker, where Sintu Manjezi and Schalk Erasmus have cracked the nod.

Promising 25-year-old second-rower Walt Steenkamp is still fighting his way through the Covid return-to-play protocols, while Erasmus is the heavier of the two hookers – 108kg to the 98kg of Johan Grobbelaar – and thus will start to bolster the scrum, where the Bulls will have to weather an early onslaught from the Lions.

“Walt is still not 100% in terms of the return-to-play protocols. Our medical team is very proactive and has lots of concern for the players, so his welfare comes first, we won’t take a chance and they are 100% sure that he’s not quite back where he should be. Schalk scrummed with Lizo Gqoboka and Trevor Nyakane last game and I just thought it was easier to keep them together.

“With Grobbies, Jacques and Arno on the bench we have a bit more senior, experienced heads to finish. We have the luxury of having Jacques on the bench, who is a great asset, but Lizo is a Springbok and has played many times with Trevor. They’ve been working with scrum coach Daan Human and the feeling was they are a settled combination,” White said.

Bulls: David Kriel, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Duane Vermeulen (C), Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Sintu Manjezi, Trevor Nyakane, Schalk Erasmus, Lizo Gqoboka. Bench – Johan Grobbelaar, Jacques van Rooyen, Mornay Smith, Jan Uys, Arno Botha, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Marco Jansen van Vuren.

Coming to Loftus Versfeld is normally a daunting experience for Stormers teams, but captain Siya Kolisi said the build-up to their SuperFan Saturday match in Pretoria was more like a throwabout in the park. Until the actual rugby started, of course.

Rugby returned in South Africa after six months, with the Stormers beating the Lions and the Bulls thumping the Sharks behind closed doors at Loftus Versfeld. No spectators meant little atmosphere, but the players made up for it, not only through their obvious enthusiasm to be back playing again, but also in surprisingly good skill levels after all that time without contact.

The Bulls were especially impressive, running in seven tries in a dazzling 49-28 win over the Sharks, while the Stormers’ powerful first-choice pack set up a 34-21 win over the Lions, whose young second-stringers actually pulled the three-time Super Rugby finalists back into contention.

“I actually told the guys during the warm-up before the game started that it doesn’t feel like we are at Loftus, but it rather felt like just another training exercise until the actual match started. Previously playing at Loftus for the Stormers there was always interaction and chats with the fans, which added to the atmosphere, but this time there was no real banter there.

“Even sitting on the bench one could feel there is no crowd noise and it showed us we should never take anything for granted. It showed us once again how special our supporters are and how much we miss them, but it was also good to start playing again after being out of the game for six months, which wasn’t easy,” Kolisi, who finished clinically for a try while standing on the wing, said.

Bulls captain Duane Vermeulen said the lack of spectators meant he had to generate his own ardour, but the Springbok eighthman was soon back in business smashing opposition ball-carriers away from the gain-line.

“We wanted to just focus on what we have to do, but it was certainly a different feeling walking out on to Loftus and not hearing any noise. You would have heard a penny drop if someone had actually been there to drop one. The atmosphere is what charges you up, it gives you more energy, so it is so much nicer to play with a crowd.

“The one thing is you can actually hear the coaches shouting from the box so you know exactly where to go and what to do … ”, a smiling Vermeulen said.

Before both games, SA Rugby broadcast a statement recommitting themselves to their Rugby Against Discrimination And Racism campaign they launched last July in collaboration with the South African Human Rights Commission, stating they are “committed to an environment where all are welcome, irrespective of race, colour, creed or gender.”

The Sharks took to the field before the start of their game wearing T-Shirts that said “We say not to racism” and some Lions players took a knee in solidarity with Black Lives Matter before their match.

Many of the players who locked horns at the weekend will now be team-mates this coming weekend as two Springbok ‘trials’ teams, Green and Gold, will clash in a farewell game for the famous old Newlands stadium in Cape Town.

The fact that almost all of them have international playing experience was first and foremost in fast bowler Lutho Sipamla’s mind this week when he spoke about the effect the Proteas coaching staff have had on his own fledgling career for South Africa.

Since making his Proteas debut in a T20 against Pakistan at the Wanderers in February last year, the 22-year-old Sipamla has played four ODIs and five T20 Internationals. For all his inexperience, he has been quick to recognise the value of all the experience around him.

“Guys like Charl Langeveldt, Mark Boucher, Jacques Kallis and Justin Ontong have walked the talk, they know what it takes to be a good international cricketer. It’s awesome to have them as coaches because they have been in our shoes and they have done it all before. So they can relate to what we are going through because they’ve experienced it themselves.

“Someone like Charl, when it comes to bowling at the death, he’s had to defend six or seven runs to win the game and done that. So he knows the processes involved, he’s been successful and he passes that on to the bowlers,” Sipamla said.

Bowling coach Langeveldt played 72 ODIs, but the respect he is held in by local cricketers suggests he should have played many more; head coach Boucher played 147 Tests and 295 ODIs, batting consultant Kallis is South Africa’s most-capped player ever with 166 Test and 328 ODI appearances, and fielding coach Ontong was unfortunate to play just two Tests, 14 ODIs and 28 T20 Internationals.

Last year was a pretty terrible one for the Proteas, but there were signs of the tide starting to turn when they whitewashed a powerful Australian side 3-0 in the ODI series in February/March.

“It was a great experience making my debut in the limited-overs format and it was a really good win over Australia, a wonderful experience and a great time for me. We had a very young squad but we all worked together towards our goal and gelled nicely. We all knew what we had to do, everyone knew their roles and we were able to execute.

“In that campaign we all grew as individuals and players, and it was something special to be part of it. And now we’ve had a long wait to play again and I’m really excited just to get back to practice and crafting my skills again. As my Dad always tells me when I’m having a tough time, I must just make sure I keep working hard and make sure I’m still doing all the right things,” Sipamla said.

Stephen Cook on Wednesday stood down as the Highveld Lions captain after their disappointing 2017/18 season but the franchise are still going to enjoy the benefits of his leadership and experience, with the 35-year-old set to fulfill the role of a senior pro as new coach Enoch Nkwe looks to rebuild.

“I have captained the side for the better part of five years and we had some success, but I’ve been thinking of standing down. At the back end of last season, with all the uncertainty over coaches, would not have been the right time though, but with the changing of the guard it’s a good time now for a fresh start.

“I spoke to Enoch and my leadership will not be lost. I know what has worked effectively in the past is to have the benefit of a senior player who is not the captain, and in my career, guys like Adam Bacher and Neil McKenzie are examples of that. So it’s just a different position I’ll be filling and I certainly don’t see it as the end of my career,” Cook told The Citizen on Wednesday.

Cook denied that the captaincy had distracted him from his batting, after a mixed season in 2017/18. Although he had many failures, when he occupied the crease for some time he still scored heavily and a return of 632 runs at an average of 37.17, including three centuries, was still solid.

“I’ve played some of my best cricket while I’ve been captain, but last season was a bit patchy, I was not as consistent as I would have liked but I still felt it was a good campaign. Of course cricket is a performance sport and if I don’t get the numbers on the board now I will be in trouble like anyone else.

“But I’m excited about next season, Enoch and I played together from when we were 11, we came through the ranks together. My resigning might actually help him because I might not have been his first-choice skipper and he can now go ahead freely with the new way he wants to bring in,” Cook said.