Ken Borland

Fast bowling great Allan Donald is looking forward to the Indian batsmen, who prefer the ball not getting higher than hip-height, being bombarded by the Proteas pace attack as Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje and Duanne Olivier share the enforcer duties in the Test series later this month.

The South African Test squad was announced on Tuesday and Olivier, whose 48 wickets in 10 Tests were largely blasted out by sheer aggression, makes a return for the first time since February 2019 following the end of the Kolpak system.

Donald told The Citizen on Tuesday that he was savouring the prospect of Olivier bowling in tandem with Rabada and Nortje.

“It’s awesome to have Duanne back and he gives our attack real substance. There will be no escape from those three, there will be pressure and pace from both ends, which is a great asset in our conditions,” Donald said.

“I think Duanne has lost a wee bit of pace, but he still has a helluva bumper. And I don’t think Mark Boucher will go away from the role Duanne had when he last played for the Proteas.

“Duanne will be the battering ram, the enforcer, bowling short and full. Anrich Nortje can do that too and it will be interesting to see if he bowls with Duanne or with KG Rabada.

“It’s a great squad because there is so much bowling back-up – Marco Jansen, Sisanda Magala, Glenton Stuurman and Lungi Ngidi too, that’s a strong bowling attack,” Donald said.

Jansen is one of the most exciting young pups in South African cricket, aged just 21 but making big waves.

“I love a left-arm seamer and Marco has everything. He’s a 6’5 giant who bowls at lively pace, gets good bounce and has control.

“He’s a very good flat-wicket bowler because he gets extra bounce that no-one else can. He’s another guy who gives the batsmen no escape,” Donald said.

Speaking of control, the current Free State Knights coach said although the trio of Olivier, Nortje and Rabada are fiery and aggressive, they can also still be tight.

“I think they have both – pace and control, aggression and control. KG and Anrich have shown that they can properly go back into the red zone when they need to.

“It’s a pace attack that can provide proper leadership for the team, something we haven’t seen in a long time. They are certainly going to give India something to think about,” Donald said.

Johan Grobbelaar is not exactly a seasoned hooker at just 23 years old, but he is a Springbok tourist now and is looking forward to his new-found experience rubbing off on the young pups at the Bulls who have had to hold the fort in the United Rugby Championship.

With the international season now over, national call-ups will no longer be a factor, although it is likely someone like Trevor Nyakane will be having a few weeks’ rest before joining the URC fray. But the Bulls should be strengthened for their match against the Sharks in Durban on Friday night by the return of Grobbelaar.

The Paarl Gym product did not make it on to the field for the Springboks, but the experience gained from just being in the set-up for the Rugby Championship in Australia will have made him an even better player.

“The thing about the Bulls is that the knowledge is passed from player to player, maybe that’s why people say Loftus is a locks factory and now it seems to be a bit of a hooker factory too,” Grobbelaar says.

“We have good hookers here now and we are putting pressure on each other as well as helping one another.

“Being with the Springboks was a very good experience, I was surprised and excited to be called up and it was very nice to see how the system works. But now I’m looking forward to playing with the Bulls and getting some game time after a long time off the field.

“The lessons I can pass on are about how small the margins are because there were three Tests we could have won, and how to vasbyt and keep your composure at the end,” Grobbelaar, whose last on-field action came on July 30 in a Currie Cup match against Western Province, said.

No-one would expect Ox Nche, Siya Kolisi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi or Bongi Mbonambi to turn out for the Sharks following their heroics with the Springboks, but the KwaZulu-Natal outfit could well be boosted by the inclusion of prop Thomas du Toit, scrumhalf Grant Williams and outside backs Aphelele Fassi and Sbu Nkosi, all of whom saw no action in Europe.

Cricket-lovers in Kimberley can look forward to being the first spectators to resume watching live cricket at the ground, with CSA confirming that they are finalising plans to have a crowd in attendance for the first time since the Covid virus spread uncontrollably through the country 19 months ago at next week’s T20 Provincial Knockout Cup.

With government having now given permission for up to 2000 spectators to be allowed as long as all Covid procedures and precautions are followed, cricket is likely to be the second sport to open its doors, after 2000 vaccinated fans were able to watch Bafana Bafana beat Ethiopia 1-0 in their World Cup qualifier earlier this week in Soweto.

The CSA T20 Provincial Knockout Cup resumes with the quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Diamond Oval.

“Chances are that we will have our first set of spectators for the finals,” a CSA spokesperson confirmed to The Citizen on Wednesday evening. “We are finalising the logistics and we should be making an announcement soon.”

Tuesday’s action sees South-Western Districts take on the Northerns Titans, and then the Free State Knights, who used to have Kimberley as one of their home venues, play Western Province. KZN Dolphins versus Eastern Province Warriors and Boland Rocks against North-West Dragons are the other quarterfinals, both to be played on Wednesday.

The semi-finals will then take place on Thursday and then the final will be held on Friday.

SA Rugby announced earlier on Wednesday that fully vaccinated supporters will be allowed to attend both club and professional matches from now on. But the four franchises are all overseas playing in the United Rugby Championship and the first senior professional rugby match to be open to spectators is likely to be on November 6 at Loftus Versfeld when the Carling Champion XV take on Kenya.

Loose forward Kwagga Smith was bemoaning the Springbok team’s failure to control the momentum of the first Rugby Championship Test against Australia and prop Trevor Nyakane was agreeing with his colleague that momentum is where it all starts, so there is no doubt the South Africans will be looking to hit the Wallabies with a much more ferocious forward effort when they meet again in Brisbane on Saturday morning (SA time).

There has been much talk about the penalties the Springboks conceded or their feelings that they were obstructed in the aerial contests, but those are just symptoms of the underlying cause – their failure to really boss the gainline battles and seize control of the momentum of the game. Coach Jacques Nienaber mentioned this week that “the first-time tackling was not as good as it should have been”.

So the Springbok forwards need to be in Smash mode and Trevor Nyakane, who returns as the starting loosehead prop, said it needs to all start at scrum-time, where they conceded two vital penalties last weekend.

“It starts with momentum and the set-piece is exactly that. We always want to be dominant, even at a scrum on the halfway line, and it hurts us as a pack to see penalties being conceded. Australia have got their way of scrumming that they want to impose on us, and we have to try and figure out a way to counter that. They present a different type of challenge.

“But we don’t train to do anything weird like walking around or scrumming to a specific side. We believe our plan will always allow us to find a way to deal with anything a team can bring. It’s tough when you feel certain things are happening, but if you take it into your own hands then you are going away from the system and that’s when the scrum as a whole gets smashed,” Nyakane said.

For Smith, who is one of three impact loose forwards (Marco van Staden and Jasper Wiese are the others) poised to come off the bench, it is about lifting the tempo and intensity of the game.

“When us three loose forwards get on, we need to bring energy. The players who have started have worked really hard and we need to give them energy. People are looking at what Australia do off the ball to minimise our efforts, but we didn’t stop their momentum. We gave them a lot of front-foot ball and we definitely need to work on getting momentum and stopping their momentum.

“We know that most of the points at the Suncorp Stadium are scored towards the end of the game, so we need to bring energy to the pack, make sure we’re going in hard. We need to work hard in defence and get off the line. We have ball-hunters on the bench so we are set up to make an impact and get possession we can attack from, but also give our defence those extra couple of seconds to set,” Smith said.

Smith knows he is going to be in for a tough head-to-head battle with Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper, a top-class flank who will captain Australia for a record 60^th time on Saturday, surpassing the previous milestone of scrumhalf George Gregan.

“I love playing against Michael, he’s a really good player who has a lot of Test caps [112]. He gives 80 minutes every game and there was one SuperRugby season when he played every minute of every game. So you’ve got to be at your best against him, it’s never going to be easy, but our focus is not on individuals but our system,” Smith said.