Ken Borland

Branden Grace and Justin Walters are the leading South Africans after the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge and both can probably count themselves as being fortunate to be in the tournament.

Grace and Walters both shot two-under-par 70s to be in share of 12^th place, and six shots off Ryan Fox’s lead, alongside Max Kieffer, Romain Langasque, David Law, Paul Waring, Dale Whitnell, Matthew Jordan and defending champion and highest-ranked golfer, Tommy Fleetwood.

Grace was one-over-par at the turn and picked up three birdies on the back nine to turn his round around, and Walters started his round on the 10^th and struggled initially, with a double-bogey and a bogey before his turn, but then he picked up four birdies on the front nine and did not drop another shot.

Grace is one of the golfers who has joined the controversial LIV Tour and is 207^th on the DP World Tour rankings, well out of the qualifying spaces, and the last South African winner of the Nedbank Golf Challenge, in 2017, relied on an invitation to be in the tournament.

Walters is 72st on the order of merit and relied on a few top golfers not coming to Sun City for his place.

“It’s very nice to be here and I’m just grateful to the DP World Tour, Nedbank and Sun International for the invite,” Grace said. “I love coming back here. It’s really nice to see your name on the walkway on the ninth and your trophy photo on the 18^th. It helps your self-belief.”

Perhaps not coincidentally, Grace’s resurgence began shortly after the turn.

“I was my familiar couple-over-par after the first couple of holes, I don’t know what it is about the front nine here. I always seem to be on the back foot, but I managed to get it together.

“My first goal was to just be level-par after the ninth, and in the end I’m very happy to be two-under. The back nine was an opportunity for me to go after things a bit.

“With my shape and length off the tee, I just have more opportunities on the back nine. But especially on a golf course like this, you are never too far away from falling,” Grace said.

For Walters, his Nedbank Golf Challenge debut is enough of a highlight for the 42-year-old, who has won twice on the Sunshine Tour.

“It’s my first Nedbank Golf Challenge. I’ve been a pro for 20 years, I’ve been around and I always wanted to play in it, so I’m just trying to put my best foot forward.

“When I was 21, I played with my Dad at Country Club Johannesburg and I shot 61. He said if I keep playing like that then I will play in the Nedbank Golf Challenge in a couple of years.

“It’s taken twenty years, but I am here now. Unfortunately I made a pretty bad start, I was rattled a bit. But then I made a few putts, starting with a 30-footer on the third, and I felt the switch of momentum,” Walters said.

“I hit some great shots coming in and golf is all about momentum – you get it going in your direction and then you must just ride the wave.”

Shaun Norris and Richard Sterne were the other South Africans under par, sneaking in with 71s, while Oliver Bekker, JC Ritchie and George Coetzee finished level-par.

It was not such a great day for Christiaan Bezuidenhout (+1) or Thriston Lawrence (+2), who could both only register one birdie, while Zander Lombard shot a 76.

The Sharks were clinical and dominant in the first half of their opening United Rugby Championship match against Zebre in Parma, racing into a 28-3 lead after half-an-hour, but the last 45 minutes saw them display the opposite characteristics as they were fortunate to escape with a 42-37 win.

Zebre looked to have snatched a stunning comeback victory in the 77^th minute when replacement wing Jacopo Trulla went over the line for the second time in two minutes, slickly finishing brilliant counter-attacks, but the officials spotted an offence on the opposite side of the field that gave the Sharks a massive reprieve.

Replacement prop Juan Manuel Pitanari had taken out Werner Kok off the ball as he chased the kickoff, and instead of potentially trailing 41-39 in the dying stages, flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain was able to kick a penalty that put the Sharks 42-34 up.

Skilful Zebre flyhalf Tiff Eden then kicked a penalty at the other end in the final minute to ensure the home side at least took home two well-deserved bonus points.

Having produced such compelling rugby in the first half, dominant forwards laying the platform and the backline rushing up in sturdy defence, it was inexplicable that the Sharks were so stuck on the back foot in the second half. The vagaries of momentum will be blamed, but there is no doubt the visitors surrendered the initiative.

The early momentum was squarely the Sharks’ as Zebre made a wild start to the game, conceding two yellow cards, one of which could easily have been a red, and a number of penalties.

Through good, cohesive team play, the Sharks capitalised and they had scored four tries by the 27^th minute, two by forwards and two by backs, which summed up the balance in their game, which would certainly have impressed independent observers.

Rohan Janse van Rensburg, playing at outside centre, looks a fine acquisition by the Sharks. He carried strongly, along with prop Thomas du Toit, for the opening try by lock Reniel Hugo, and he grabbed the fourth try with a powerful finish after his midfield partner Ben Tapuai had sent Chamberlain, who had a good game at flyhalf, slicing through with a slick inside ball.

But Zebre again made a game of it in the second half, their comeback starting in first-half injury time as they finally controlled the ball long enough to create some pressure.

The Sharks briefly managed to break free of Zebre’s second-half dominance as the arrival of replacement tighthead prop Carlu Sadie led to a penalty at his first scrum by Chamberlain, and then big front-foot ball at the second that saw flank James Venter score.

But the Sharks defence allowed the dangerous Zebre runners far too much time and space on the ball in the second half.

Scorers

Zebre: Tries – Luca Bigi, Simone Gesi, Taina Fox-Matamua, Gabriele Venditti, Jacopo Trulla. Conversions – Tiff Eden (3). Penalties – Eden (2).

Sharks: Tries – Reniel Hugo, Kerron van Vuuren, Werner Kok, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, James Venter. Conversions – Boeta Chamberlain (4). Penalties – Chamberlain (3).

The last time I was fortunate enough to attend the KFC Mini-Cricket National Seminar was five years ago in Kruger Park, so it was wonderful to see CSA’s flagship development programme has lost none of its energy or passion when I was invited to this year’s annual gathering, held at Zebula Golf Estate outside BelaBela last week.

This mass participation grassroots programme, which will celebrate its 40^th anniversary next year, is operated by the noble crew of 10 500 volunteer coaches, working closely with the sponsors and CSA’s development office.

Some of the bile that has been thrown around in cricket circles over the last couple of years has been difficult to stomach, but being able to share in an environment where everyone is just working for the love of the sport, where egos are put to the side because this is the grassroots game, is gratifying enough to cure the most severe indigestion.

Graeme Smith, as director of cricket, has had to deal with much of that bile, but he was happy and relaxed at Zebula, being asked for plenty of photographs by the delegates after his address on the first morning.

“I basically just gave them an update of where cricket is and then it was great to sit through the sessions with them,” Smith said.

“I feel like I’ve been starved of being on the ground with these sort of cricket-lovers. It’s so exciting to be here, this programme is nearly 40 years old and has been a massive investment in the game at all levels.

“All credit to the volunteer coaches and co-ordinators who grow their communities and are mentors for the youngsters. It’s so important that kids have the opportunity to be touched by the game and I know how important KFC Mini-Cricket is to CSA.

“These coaches are the life-blood of our game and I’ll be surprised if there are any other development programmes in this country that come close in terms of reach,” Smith said.

Unfortunately though, like everything else, the effectiveness of the KFC Mini-Cricket Programme does come down to how many Rand are in the bank for CSA.

The organisation held its AGM last weekend and the financial statements clearly showed the serious effects of Covid and how important it is for the Proteas to be a ‘box-office’ team on the global stage.

CSA still has total assets of R797 million, but they suffered a nett loss of R221 million in 2020/21, having budgeted for just a R177 million deficit.

This was largely due to broadcast revenue plummeting from R534 million to R161 million. Having made up almost half of CSA’s revenue the previous financial year, broadcast rights now only accounted for 31% of profit. Sponsorships also dropped from R186 million to R79 million, 15% of revenue.

Accordingly, in an environment of sometimes brutal cost-cutting (but pleasingly with no employees laid off because of Covid), investment in development dropped from R385 million to R273 million.

So anyone who wants to see the game in this country truly transform has to also acknowledge that the Proteas have to be one of the best teams internationally. That’s the only way the Big Three will want to tour here, generating the lucrative broadcast rights that are by far CSA’s biggest revenue-earner.

And KFC Mini-Cricket has certainly produced its fair share of Proteas – Beuran Hendricks and Sinalo Jafta were two in attendance at Zebula. But the programme also wants to empower the coaches, while bringing an estimated 118 000 kids from diverse schools and communities together this summer, introducing them to cricket and also getting them active.

Lood de Jager’s Springbok career has been a saga of triumph and disappointment, but the 28-year-old still counts himself as being fortunate and accepts his many injury problems as just being part of his journey.

The East Rand product will play his 50^th Test for South Africa against Argentina on Saturday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, the sixth specialist lock to reach that milestone. De Jager made his debut off the bench on June 14, 2014 against Wales in Durban and has now played in two World Cups, his outstanding displays in the 2015 edition winning him the SA Player of the Year title.

But he has had more than his fair share of injuries, especially in the shoulder region. De Jager missed the start of the Rassie Erasmus reign in 2018 because he had torn his pectoral muscle in Super Rugby that May, but did make two appearances off the bench on the end-of-year tour of Great Britain.

He injured the other shoulder in the triumphant 2019 World Cup final, and then the same shoulder went in September 2020. He had just returned to the field for the Sale Sharks in April when he suffered a freak training accident that broke his fibula and tore his knee ligaments. He did exceptionally well just to make the Springbok squad for the British and Irish Lions series, but of course was one of the players who came down with Covid.

But De Jager’s determination saw him return for the Springboks in the second Test, and his arrival in the second half certainly changed the fortunes of the team, especially in the lineouts.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of some real highs but some real lows too. I guess I’ve had a few more injuries than normal, but it’s just part of my journey and I must just adapt and come back stronger. I’m not a naturally fit person so it’s quite hard to regain that Test match intensity. Training does not come close to game intensity and I had just come back from injury when I caught Covid.

“But if you look at the history of Springbok rugby, lock has always been one of the positions with the best players, so I have a massive responsibility to go out and perform and make the jersey proud,” De Jager said this week.

De Jager’s positivity brings thousand of lux of shining happiness to the Springbok squad and coach Jacques Nienaber had nothing but praise for the giant with the metal shoulders.

“I take my hat off to him for all the ups and downs he has been through – that shoulder injury in the World Cup and then an unfortunate leg injury. He is slowly getting back to his full match-fitness, he’s played around 200 minutes now and I am very happy for him. It’s fantastic when players reach milestone games, that can only be good for us,” Nienaber said.