Ken Borland

With the first-choice Springbok pack hit by injuries, it makes little sense for the squad for the British and Irish Lions series to be loaded with outside backs, but that’s exactly what coach Jacques Nienaber and director of rugby Rassie Erasmus have done.

Their 46-strong Springbok squad contains eight outside backs, the most well-stocked department of all with one more player than either the loose forwards or props. The allocation of seven loose forwards includes Duane Vermeulen, who suffered what looked like a serious ankle injury at the weekend, and amongst the six locks named for the series, two of them – Lood de Jager and RG Snyman – are still injured.

There are two utility forwards included in Jean-Luc du Preez and Rynhardt Elstadt, but the cynical might surmise that the outside backs have been overstocked in order to get the transformation numbers up – there is only one White player amongst the back three in fullback Willie le Roux.

“Local derbies are like Springbok trials and when you play strength versus strength week in, week out, like the Rainbow Cup has been, then you expect a number of injuries. So every weekend has been quite nervous for us, fortunately there haven’t been too many injuries, but there are many niggles in the squad. We’ll have to reassess after the first couple of weeks.

“But the good thing is our local players will be used to physical rugby, which will be a big part of the Lions series. The big question is when is a player 100% ready for Test rugby, when do we experiment? We play Georgia twice, but we have not played together since the World Cup, so we don’t want to experiment there,” Erasmus said.

Erasmus admitted that he was not optimistic that Vermeulen will be available for the Lions series, and the uncapped Jasper Wiese is likely to replace him at eighthman, with the World Cup winning coach saying the 25-year-old’s form for the Leicester Tigers in the English Premiership cannot be ignored.

“Duane has to be doubtful with his ankle. He’s on his way to Cape Town for scans. I spoke to Jake White [Bulls coach] and it looked bad. For Duane to limp off so early in a match is very unusual, so we are fearing the worst,” Erasmus admitted.

“But Jasper Wiese can play eighthman and we cannot ignore the form he is in, he was outstanding in the Premiership and he knocked the door down weekly. He is explosive and we’re really lucky that he’s versatile, he can play openside as well.”

In just 14 Premiership appearances, the former Free State Cheetahs player has made 701 running metres, beaten 54 defenders, has a 90% tackle success rate and has made eightline-breaks.

Tighthead props have always been the pearl in the crown as far as Bulls coach Jake White is concerned when it comes to picking his teams, but unfortunately the World Cup-winning coach is going to have to do without his first-choice No.3, Springbok star Trevor Nyakane, for their opening Rainbow Cup match against the Lions on Saturday.

According to the injury report released on Monday evening by team doctor Herman Rossouw, Nyakane has a rib injury and “will in all likelihood miss the first game but should not be out for too long”. Rossouw described it as a “new injury”, so Nyakane must have picked it up in training.

Springbok Marcel van der Merwe has been released to play for La Rochelle in France as a medical joker, so Nyakane’s replacement is likely to be 23-year-old Mornay Smith, who is considered a highly promising young tighthead.

Regular captain Duane Vermeulen has received much well-deserved adulation for his role in reviving the Bulls but the Springbok hero also won’t be available on Saturday, although he has begun light training after knee surgery, along with outside backs Gio Aplon and Travis Ismaiel.

Wing Stravino Jacobs, another rising star, is also back in training, while lock Walt Steenkamp as fully recovered from the heart problems he had after contracting Covid and has been given the green light to start training again. Fans will also be happy to see exciting loosehead prop Simphiwe Matanzima is back on the field again after tearing his achilles tendon eight months ago.

George Linde and Aiden Markram may not be first-choice white-ball players for the Proteas, but it was their brilliance in the early overs that enabled South Africa to thrash Pakistan by six wickets with six overs to spare and level their T20 series at the Wanderers on Monday.

Pakistan had won the toss and elected to bat, and the Proteas again opened the bowling with left-arm spinner George Linde. Mohammad Rizwan charged down the wicket to the first ball of the match, was nowhere near the pitch but went through with the hit over the top, Markram taking a well-judged steepler at deep mid-off.

With their nemesis getting out to the first ball, South Africa’s bowling suddenly clicked, the visitors being restricted to 140 for nine.

The other opener, Sharjeel Khan (8) fell in the same fashion, although he just stood in the crease and swiped, and Linde finished with career-best figures of three for 23 as he returned in the 11^th over to have the dangerous Mohammad Hafeez caught behind for 32. Linde also took three catches in the outfield.

Markram, playing in just his fourth T20 International, destroyed the Pakistan bowling up front with consummate ease, hammering seven fours and three sixes off the 30 balls he faced, as he improved on his 51 off 32 deliveries in the first T20 over the weekend, by blazing 54 off 30 on Monday.

Although Markram’s dismissal, caught at long-on off leg-spinner Usman Qadir, left the Proteas needing less than a run-a-ball for victory, they had a bit of a wobble as they sipped to 92 for four in the 11^th over. But captain Heinrich Klaasen (36 not out off 21 balls) and Linde (20 not out off 10 deliveries) had all the finishing power required as they added 49 off just 22 balls to race South Africa to a morale-boosting victory.

While Linde had been the best of the South African bowlers, fellow spinner Tabraiz Shamsi was again excellent, taking one for 22 in his four overs and left-arm seamer Beuran Hendricks was also tight, conceding just 27 runs in his four overs.

Lizaad Williams bowled well at the death to take three wickets and even Sisanda Magala, who bowled a horror 12-ball first over littered with no-balls and wides, came back brilliantly. Having gone for 18 runs in his first over, he conceded just 14 runs in his next three overs, including only five in the last over of the innings.

Magala claimed the wicket of Pakistan’s kingpin Babar Azam, skidding a good ball through his attempted pull to bowl the captain for 50. South Africa did well to keep him quiet though, Babar taking 50 balls to score his runs.

With the focus firmly on the Currie Cup semifinal next weekend, Bulls coach Jake White has returned the first-choice halfback pairing of Morne Steyn and Ivan van Zyl to starting action against the Pumas on Sunday, but no-one else travelling to Nelspruit is guaranteed to be involved in the team to play the Lions at Loftus Versfeld.

Having beaten the Lions in midweek in Pretoria, the result against the Pumas cannot change the fact that the Bulls will finish top of the log. With three games in 10 days, White on Saturday announced 11 changes to the team that won the Gauteng derby.

Due to the Covid infection that swept through the squad, the in-form Steyn and Van Zyl have not started a match in a month, and White is obviously looking for them to provide the guidance needed to a very inexperienced backline against the hassling strategies of the Pumas, who always look to put the opposition off their game-plan.

White has also increased the pressure on them by choosing a new-look tight five in which lock Jan Uys is the only player to retain his place.

Uys impressed against the Lions and another strong performance against the Pumas could see him force himself into the reckoning for the semi-final, depending on the fitness of Walt Steenkamp and Sintu Manjezi.

Loose forward Arno Botha, who will captain the team in Nelspruit, could also bring his physical presence to the semi-final, while wing Stravino Jacobs certainly improved his chances of playing with his solid showing in midweek.

The Bulls will at least have a more experienced replacement front row on the bench, with hooker Johan Grobbelaar and props Lizo Gqoboka and Marcel van der Merwe trying to ensure they stay in the squad for the semi-final.

Bulls: Clinton Swart, Jade Stighling, Marnus Potgieter, Dawid Kellerman, Stravino Jacobs, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Tim Agaba, Arno Botha (capt), WJ Steenkamp, Janko Swanepoel, Jan Uys, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Joe van Zyl, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Johan Grobbelaar, Lizo Gqoboka, Marcel van der Merwe, Divan Venter, Elrigh Louw, Keagan Johannes, Kabelo Mokoena, Jay-Cee Nel.