Ken Borland

Gio Aplon may be only 1.75 metres tall and weigh just 78kg but he is a feisty individual who is able to produce moments of magic on the rugby field, often enough to convince a famous ‘sizeist’ like Jake White to sign him for the Bulls.

While White was Springbok coach between 2004 and 2007 he made no secret of his belief that a good big ʼun was always better than a good little ʼun, but it seems Aplon first convinced the resolute coach of his merits while playing for Grenoble in France between 2014 and 2017, when White was coaching Montpellier.

When The Cistuses and White split ways not entirely amicably, the coach went to mentor Verblitz in Japan, and signed Aplon early on in his stint.

And now that White has been appointed director of rugby at the Bulls, he has once again brought Aplon with him. The Pretoria-based franchise announced on Wednesday that Aplon will join the team from June or as soon as he is able to travel back to South Africa, saying in their statement that he “epitomised the phrase ‘size doesn’t matter’ with his explosive speed and nimble feet allowing him to score tries from almost anywhere on the field, taking on the biggest and the best the game had to offer”.

Aplon has played 17 Tests for the Springboks, scoring five tries. But his last appearance for South Africa was back in late 2012, although he was part of Rassie Erasmus’s training group in 2018, without making a match-day squad.

The Bulls have developed something of a penchant for bringing veteran players to Loftus Versfeld, from Victor Matfield to Adriaan Strauss, Duane Vermeulen and Schalk Brits, and Aplon continues the trend as he is 37 years old.

Aplon spoke of his respect for the Bulls and what the brand has achieved in the statement, while he has previously spoken of how much he enjoys playing under White.

“The Springboks won the 2007 World Cup because he is such a fantastic coach. System-wise he is exceptional, he has implemented a good programme. He isn’t just there to fill up the post as head coach, he is there with the purpose of making Verblitz better and, as players, we feed off that. Jake is a serial winner and to be coached by him was one of the reasons I went to Japan,” Aplon told SA Rugby Mag.

Cheslin Kolbe, who is even smaller at 1.71 metres and 74kg, has made a massive impact with the Springboks and White will be hoping Aplon, although 11 years older, will prove of similar benefit to the Bulls while also serving as a mentor.

One has to admire the Lions Rugby Union for the way they have been able to dig their way out of the abyss of financial ruin that faced them when they were relegated from SuperRugby in 2013. Just five years later and they are unquestionably South Africa’s premier franchise, the one most young players probably want to play for and producing a very popular brand of rugby.

But amidst all this success and SuperRugby trailblazing, there have also been messages coming out of Ellis Park that paint a picture of a franchise that is still anchored in the past in many ways and does not seem able to be the standardbearer of a future game all rugby fans should be hoping becomes truly the sport of all South Africans.

As much as the Lions deserve huge credit, one has to call them out for some of the mixed messages that they have sent out recently; as we have seen after another week of anguish caused by awful social media messages, perceptions are vital when it comes to inclusivity.

With Swys de Bruin jetting off overseas with the Springboks, the Golden Lions needed a new head coach for their Currie Cup campaign. But instead of heading for the safety of port and elevating one of the assistant coaches in Philip Lemmer or Joey Mongalo, or even promoting Bafana Nhleko, who has coached the SuperSport Rugby Challenge team as well as the Lions U19s and U21s and been an assistant with the Junior Springboks, they chose strength and conditioning coach Ivan van Rooyen.

Now Van Rooyen has undoubtedly played a very important part in the Lions’ success over the last few years, but his helicoptering into the head coaching job was inevitably attacked as being anti-transformation in certain quarters.

At this delicate stage in our country’s history, organisations really need to be sensitive about how their actions will be perceived by the majority. I am not saying it was wrong to appoint Van Rooyen, who played for the Lions at junior provincial level, and has gained some insights from Rob Walter, the former Proteas strength and conditioning guru who then became head coach at the Titans cricket team and enjoyed great success.

But the reasons for Van Rooyen’s appointment were never fully explained and even more shade is thrown at the Ellis Park hierarchy when Van Rooyen himself says he won’t be doing any actual coaching but is in more of a managerial role.

Why was this not explained properly on the day of his appointment, thus avoiding plenty of bad publicity?

The prospect of getting involved in rugby in Gauteng for a young Black player or coach is daunting enough without considerable barriers being put in their way, like the recent acquittal of Roodepoort U21 players on charges of racism during their April match against Wanderers.

While acknowledging that Sanele Ngcobo of Wanderers was “an honest and truthful witness” who testified that racial slurs had been made, the Golden Lions Rugby Union disciplinary tribunal ruled that because he could not prove who had specifically spoken the words, a not guilty verdict was appropriate.

For the physical abuse that degenerated into a mass brawl at the end of the game, one Roodepoort player was effectively handed a one-match ban! Talk about a slap on the wrist … and another slap in the face for Black rugby players.

To add insult to injury, when Wanderers were on their way to Roodepoort to play a later fixture, their bus broke down and they missed the game. The GLRU docked them five points, meaning Roodepoort now qualify for the Gold Cup instead of them!

Having reinvented themselves so spectacularly on the field, the Lions rugby union now really need to focus on the message they are sending out to their future market.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20180825/282518659358786

Watching the swashbuckling David Miller blazing away at the crease, it seems to be all about enjoying the game for the left-hander and the Proteas star said on Tuesday that the fun factor had been a major part of his decision to return to KwaZulu-Natal to play for the Dolphins.

Miller returns to the province of his birth after just two seasons with the Knights, the central franchise having also lost another key batsman in Theunis de Bruyn back to the Titans.

“I have played with a lot of the Dolphins guys from about 11 or 12 years old, and it makes the game even more special playing alongside your mates. Coming back is the next step in my career and I hope that I can help the Dolphins to more success in the future while enjoying the game a lot. They have a good team spirit going and I wanted to be part of that.

“My two seasons with the Knights were great and they were just what my career needed. My time there challenged me in different areas, but it was quite an easy decision for me to come back to Durban. I do a lot of travelling as it is and so the travel between Durban and Bloemfontein became an issue and I am happy to be back where it all started for me,” Miller said at Kingsmead on Tuesday.

The 28-year-old was the Knights’ top T20 batsman last season and, given that he is one of the world’s best white-ball cricketers, the return of Miller could just get the Dolphins one step further after they were beaten finalists in the RamSlam T20 Challenge and shared the Momentum One-Day Cup title.

“The Dolphins had a good season in white-ball cricket last year and they are building something special and I am looking forward to adding to that this season. I have heard a lot of good things about coach Grant Morgan and his passion for the game and his work ethic beyond training and matches, it is exciting,” Miller said.

“You can’t put a value on having a guy like Dave back in his home environment, what sits in his heart are his family and friends and it’s in his DNA to want to do well for the Dolphins. His international experience is also invaluable, he’s played around the world in pressure situations.

“And he’s a fantastic human being. We are on the up, we’ve laid the foundation and I’m sure he can give us that extra little push to take us to the next level,” Morgan said.

https://citizen.co.za/sport/south-africa-sport/sa-cricket-sport/1946165/david-miller-returns-to-his-fish-bowl/

Lions hooker Malcolm Marx on the rampage once again. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

When the ACT Brumbies’ style of play dominated rugby in the early 2000s there were many pseudonyms for what they were doing – structured rugby, expansive rugby, multiphase play, all set up by skilful ball-carriers.

The Jaguares reminded me a bit of that multiphase play at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon as they valiantly held on to the ball for phase-after-phase. But the game has moved on since the glory days of Gregan, Larkham and Finegan and these days teams trust their defences to hold out for long periods, eventually forcing the error or a one-off runner that is vulnerable to the breakdown steal.

We saw it in the Crusaders’ victory over the Sharks in the other SuperRugby quarterfinal featuring a South African side earlier in the day, and the Lions’ defence was the biggest factor in their 40-23 win over the Jaguares.

As the Jaguares pushed and prodded with more determination, so the Lions just worked harder and with more physicality in defence, simply not allowing the Argentinians to get their game going. Hooker Malcolm Marx led the way with vital turnovers, but Marnus Schoeman also contributed valuably and Kwagga Smith was also a presence at the breakdown.

“Collectively it was a massive effort and you have to give credit for all the turnovers to the guy who makes the tackle as well because he provides the opportunity. A guy like Malcolm is then just impossible to shift, Kwagga made one or two steals as well and Marnus was excellent when he came on. At stages the Jaguares kept the ball for a long time, but we showed good patience on defence,” Lions captain Warren Whiteley said after his team had clinched their third successive SuperRugby semifinal at home.

Captain Warren Whiteley epitomises the Lions defence with this hit on Agustin Creevy. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

The Jaguares are certainly a force to be reckoned with going forward in SuperRugby, as they showed in the third quarter when they came from 9-24 down at the break to close to 23-27.

They were piling on the pressure, but Marx won three turnover penalties and those are the crucial interventions which win knockout games, with coach Swys de Bruin talking afterwards about “great defence at the right times”.

Jaguares coach Mario Ledesma spoke afterwards about how disappointing it was to concede three “soft” tries in the first half, but the Lions are a clever, innovative side on attack, able to try different things and generally pretty clinical.

All three of the tries came from different kicks: An Elton Jantjies crosskick found wing Ruan Combrinck with pinpoint precision for the first try; centre Harold Vorster followed lovely sleight of hand with a clever kick through that became even more effective thanks to the pace of Aphiwe Dyantyi getting there first to hack through and allow Vorster to score after the Jaguares made a mess of the clean-up operation; and a little dink over the top by flyhalf Jantjies was gathered by scrumhalf Gonzalo Bertranou, but his loose pass was immediately intercepted by Marx, who roared away from the 10m line for the try.

The Lions were cruising with a 24-9 halftime lead, but the admirable Jaguares were not done yet though as Bautista Delguy used his quick feet to score a fine try down the right wing two minutes after the break, and seven minutes later the visitors scored again as flank Pablo Matera crashed over. It was not the best grubber kick by the Lions that had given them broken-play possession.

Flank Cyle Brink, after a barnstorming first half, did not come out for the second half due to a shoulder ‘stinger’, but it was not a problem for the Lions as his replacement, Schoeman, played with tremendous industry. He showed terrific tenacity in the build-up to Andries Coetzee’s try as the fullback wriggled through a couple of tackles.

Lions flank Cyle Brink on another storming run. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

A typically combative Marnus Schoeman. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

Being a knockout game, coach De Bruin had deemed shots at goal acceptable and Jantjies, who produced a polished performance that included a seven-from-seven success rate from the tee, then slotted a sweetly-struck drop goal to take the Lions’ buffer to two converted tries (37-23).

The seventh successful kick at goal by Jantjies was the penalty that completed the scoring with five minutes remaining, confirming that they will host the Waratahs at 3pm next Saturday in the semifinals.

The other huge positive for the Lions was the tremendous dominance of their scrum. The number of set-pieces was relatively low, but whenever the home side needed it, their scrum won them penalties or gave them strong front-foot ball.