Ken Borland

South Africa are looking to beat England for the first time in six outings in Sharjah on Saturday for a possible semi-final place in the T20 World Cup. A lot has to go right for the Proteas to upset the form book and win against the undisputed tournament favourites.

Ken Borland highlights four occurrences that will probably need to happen for Temba Bavuma’s spirited team to prevail.

1. Quinton de Kock to fire at the top of the order – It’s been a rough tournament for the wicketkeeper/batsman. His bizarre dismissal against Australia was followed by his equally baffling decision not to take a knee and rather withdraw from the match against the West Indies. He has not passed 50 in any T20 match in eight innings, but he looks in form. De Kock is due and he is undoubtedly a potential matchwinner for South Africa.
2. Heavy dew after winning the toss & bowling first – Sharjah is known for its dew and it would be a marvellous early Christmas present for Bavuma if he could win the toss and elect to bat second. No-one would suggest England’s impressive attack are ill-equipped to handle a damp ball, but if South Africa can set themselves up to chase 140-150, and De Kock gets going, it would give the Proteas serious hope.
3. A pitch that is really tough for batting – England like to play aggressive T20 cricket, setting matches up with their dashing batsmen going hard from the outset. But if the pitch is a bit of a snakepit, say like the one the Dutch were bowled out for 44 on less than a month ago at Sharjah, then it could take them out of their comfort zone. They adapted brilliantly against Sri Lanka at the start of the week, but what if the pitch is even tougher and Jos Buttler fails? South Africa have the spinners to hound them in the middle overs.
4. Fired up new-ball bursts by Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje – Rabada was superb in the win over Bangladesh and Nortje is enjoying a magnificent World Cup. But if something can get them really cross before the England innings and they come out really firing, England could lose a couple of wickets in the powerplay to their sheer pace.

With flyhalf Curwin Bosch in sublime form, the Sharks produced an impressive 47-30 win over the Free State Cheetahs in their Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein on Saturday, going to the top of the log with the bonus point triumph.

Bosch was excellent with the boot, succeeding with nine of his 10 kicks at goal through five conversions and four penalties. He was also superb with ball in hand, sparking several of the counter-attacks that punished the Cheetahs when they kicked with a poor chase and also playing on the gainline with aplomb.

The Sharks made a horror start though. From the kickoff, the outstanding Rosko Specman’s brilliant chase led to a penalty. Although scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar missed the kick, the Sharks conceded a couple more penalties in the opening minutes and the Cheetahs finally punished them when Specman deservedly scored the first of his two tries, dotting down a Brandon Thomson grubber after a super run off a lineout by centre Siya Masuku.

It was a feisty match throughout and Pienaar then stupidly went around the side of a maul and slapped the ball out of hooker Kerron van Vuuren’s hands, earning him a yellow card. With the Free State captain off the field, the Sharks managed to get into the game.

Bosch produced two wonderful passes to firstly send impressive prop Nthuthuko Mchunu off on a storming run, and then eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi, centre Werner Kok scything over from the resulting ruck.

The Springbok flyhalf then sparked the counter-attack from a deep kick that led to the second try, on the half-hour, by scrumhalf Grant Williams, with the help of a powerful run by wing Marnus Potgieter.

The Sharks ended the first half with another wonderful counter-attacking try, wing Thaakir Abrahams this time taking a kick, evading the lone chaser and then slipping away from several other defenders, fullback Anthony Volmink completing the try to give the visitors a 24-11 lead at halftime.

Bosch added another penalty early in the second half to stretch the gap to 27-11, but the Cheetahs managed to partially dig themselves out of the hole with two tries in five minutes. Specman set up the first and then Masuku produced a brilliant run when his team were back-pedalling, leading to the second try.

The Sharks’ lead had been cut to 27-23, but Bosch quickly produced another moment of magic, dummying, slipping through a gap in the defensive line and getting his offload away in the tackle to Mchunu, who put in another great run for Williams to score his second.

Specman replied with a scintillating solo effort from 62 metres out, but the Sharks kept piling on the pressure, with Bosch kicking two more penalties and Van Vuuren scoring a lineout drive try.

Scorers

Free State Cheetahs – Tries: Rosko Specman (2), Brandon Thomson, Duncan Saal. Conversions: Ruan Pienaar, Reinhardt Fortuin. Penalties: Thomson, Pienaar.

Sharks – Tries: Werner Kok, Grant Williams (2), Anthony Volmink, Kerron van Vuuren. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (5). Penalties: Bosch (4).

Judging by his debut for the Bulls, a great sleeper talent in South African rugby may have awoken in the form of flyhalf Johan Goosen.

The 28-year-old has already played 13 times for the Springboks, but the last of those appearances was nearly five years ago. Goosen has been out-of-sight, out-of-mind in France, apart from when he made headlines for all the wrong reasons by getting out of his contract with Racing 92 by retiring from the game, only to pop up less than two years later for Montpellier on an even bigger contract.

But his first game back for the Bulls last weekend was an unqualified success as his brilliance in the final quarter carried them to a shock win over the Springbok-laden SA A team.

“I took a couple of decisions that I regret, but I’m not looking back, I’m looking forward. I’m just trying to play better and better, if I can play at my best then maybe returning to the Springboks would be the cherry on top. But it was a massive honour to start at flyhalf for the Bulls and the match was one of the highlights of my career, I was very happy.

“For a franchise team, it was a massive opportunity to see where we stand. If we are going to be honest, the whole land expected us to lose by 30-40 points because SA A had a very good pack. But the team worked so hard, in the end it was a relief and it was lekker to win and bring the group even more together as a team. I still feel I have something to offer for the Bulls,” Goosen said on Tuesday.

Goosen admitted that being over-emotional at times had given him something of a brittle temperament, but there is now an element of steeliness to him and he certainly showed his mettle in Cape Town. It stems from when he moved to France as a 22-year-old and joined Racing 92 in Paris. He was not alone there – All Blacks legend Dan Carter and Irish great Jonathan Sexton were there too and they provided precious guidance.

“I had always been a flyhalf but when I played in France I was moved to outside centre and fullback because Dan Carter was there. It was a no-brainer and I learnt a lot from him. As a youngster at Racing, Jonny Sexton was there too for my first year and they are both top-class flyhalves that I could learn from. I asked a lot of questions and they were both very helpful.

“I can sometimes be a bit emotional so I asked Dan how he looks so calm and collected at pressure kicks. He said he just follows his processes, he just tries to stand back and take the emotion out of it. He’s not a very emotional person anyway. And then it was difficult at Montpellier because they just throw you the ball and expect you to play. You can sign the best players but you still need a coach to steer you in the right direction,” Goosen said.

Cornal Hendricks has not only been the form inside centre in South Africa for the last year but he is acknowledged as the most amicable of team men. But all that does not seem as if it’s going to be enough to get him into the Springbok squad for the series against the British and Irish Lions.

While the likes of first-choice No.12 Damian de Allende, Francois Steyn, Jan Serfontein and Andre Esterhuizen can all justify their selections through their on-field displays and pedigree, there have been hints that Hendricks will not be chosen no matter how well he plays. That’s because he is still pursuing a legal case against SA Rugby for terminating his contact at the end of 2015 when medical tests showed he had a heart defect.

Hendricks has since obtained several other opinions that say playing rugby does not put him at risk of a heart attack; and he has been producing heart-stopping rugby for the Bulls for the last couple of years. He believes SA Rugby’s doctors erred, but the organisation’s medical advisors are standing firm that playing Hendricks would be too much of a risk.

It would be a great pity if the 33-year-old had to miss out on selection simply because of a decision made in an office and not because of what happens out on the field, where Hendricks has played a key role in the Bulls’ dominance of local rugby, and he would have to be the unluckiest player to miss out on on the Lions tour, even though there is plenty of depth at inside centre.

As far back as one goes through the mists of time in Springbok rugby, there has always been a surplus of loose forward talent and there are bound to be some unfortunate contenders in those positions who Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber are just not going to be able to squeeze in however much they would like to have them.

Sikhumbuzo Notshe has already lucked out with a knee injury, while Marco van Staden looks set to miss out even though he has been an outstanding openside flank for the highflying Bulls. Kwagga Smith is a World Cup winner who has dropped off the radar a bit in Japan, and his place could be at risk. There could well only be room for one of the Du Preez brothers, Dan or Jean-Luc, who have been starring for Sale, and powerhouse Jacques Vermeulen has shown his hunger for a Springbok call-up by playing a major role in the Exeter Chiefs’ success last year in winning both the English Premiership and the European Champions Cup.

Sharks tighthead Thomas du Toit is another member of the World Cup squad whose place is not assured. That’s because the three leading tightheads are surely Frans Malherbe, Vincent Koch and Trevor Nyakane, and Steven Kitshoff, Lizo Gqoboka and Ox Nche should be the frontrunners for loosehead. But Du Toit, who was a late replacement for Nyakane at the World Cup, is the obvious choice if the Springboks want a seventh prop, who can swing both sides of the scrum.

Even then, there are hardcore masters of the mystic art of scrummaging like Wilco Louw, Coenie Oosthuizen and Jacques van Rooyen who are set to lose out, while it is difficult to see where the Lions pairing of Carlu Sadie and Sti Sithole, who are rapidly moving to the forefront of the local game, can fit in.