Ken Borland

Barring the development of further Covid infections in the next week, Sharks coach Sean Everitt said on Thursday that he will have a full squad to choose from for their Currie Cup semi-final against Western Province at Newlands next weekend.

The Sharks had their last round-robin match – also against Western Province in Cape Town – cancelled after several positive Covid tests in their camp, but the outbreak would now appear to be over as the whole squad tested negative this week.

“At the moment no-one is ruled out and as things stand we will have a full squad to choose from for the semi-final. And I’m extremely confident that it will stay that way because the players have really tried hard to isolate at home, and I believe the other three teams are the same. Nobody wants to miss out on a semi-final and potential final, and we control what we can.

“We have a good week’s training, although some guys still need to work through the Covid protocols and will only return to training later. The return-to-play is a different process for the number of guys that tested positive and some of them will only return to training on Saturday. The severity of symptoms vary, but we’re in a pretty good space at the moment,” Everitt said on Thursday.

The Sharks had just notched a highly-impressive win over the Bulls when the virus struck their camp, leading to weakened teams being well-beaten on the road by the Lions and Free State Cheetahs. But the KwaZulu-Natalians bounced back with a commanding 47-19 win over Griquas in their last outing on January 2, and Everitt believes they have the potential to carry that momentum all the way in this year’s Currie Cup if they can eliminate individual errors.

“Since those defeats we’ve been able to get the show on the road and prepare properly, and when we’ve been able to pick our best team, we’ve been able to deliver a performance. Obviously our rhythm has been disrupted, but we came back strongly after our last break to beat the Bulls, we have a full squad to select from and the guys are raring to go.

“It’s always easier going to Cape Town than playing on the Highveld and if we can eliminate the individual errors, then I’m not too concerned about whatever conditions we’ll face. We all know Western Province have a good set-piece, and I’m sure they’ll try and use their strengths to dominate us, but if we get that right then I’m sure we’ll have a very good chance of winning,” Everitt said.

Bulls coach Jake White said on Thursday that he is still nursing his team into full rhythm, but he has still made six changes to the starting line-up for their Super Rugby Unlocked match against the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The Bulls will field much the same backline that gave the Sharks such a headache in Pretoria a month ago on SuperFan Saturday, with Stedman Gans and Cornal Hendricks reunited in the centres, Travis Ismaiel and Kurt-Lee Arendse on the wings and Ivan van Zyl starting at scrumhalf. David Kriel starts at fullback after Gio Aplon’s season was ended by a knee injury in last weekend’s loss to the Free State Cheetahs.

Up front, Springbok tighthead prop Marcel van der Merwe is back at full fitness after ankle surgery and will make his return to the Bulls side after his three-and-a-half year stint with Toulon, and highly-rated youngster Elrigh Louw will start at blindside flank with veteran Arno Botha on the bench.

“I would like to see more cohesion, but the guys have not played much together and we have been making changes to the team. I would just like to see more rhythm in attack and defence and the team that gets that right the quickest, that hits their straps first, will create the most problems. So far this competition has been very top-start with lots of mistakes slowing everything down.

“And this is a new group of players, which is also a disadvantage, other teams have had their squads together much longer. But it’s not an excuse and we just need to try as hard as we can to get some rhythm and continuity going. A lot of the changes will come on after halftime and play the back end of the match and the strength of the bench is also very important,” White said on Thursday.

Judging by what happened the last time these two teams met, those watching in their homes are probably most excited by two scintillating backlines going up against each other and Bulls captain Duane Vermeulen was particularly excited by his own backs.

“Cornal and Stedman showed what a good combination they are and I guess the coach wants to see if they can play well again together this weekend. Travis and Kurt-Lee are back as well so we have two very exciting wings and David Kriel has put his hand up very well in the last two games, so I’m sure he will easily fit in at fullback,” Vermeulen said.

Bulls team:  David Kriel, Travis Ismaiel, Stedman Gans, Cornal Hendricks, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Morné Steyn, Ivan van Zyl, Duane Vermeulen (C), Elrigh Louw, Marco van Staden, Ruan Nortje, Jason Jenkins, Marcel van der Merwe, Johan Grobbelaar, Jacques van Rooyen. Replacements – Joe van Zyl, Gerhard Steenekamp, Trevor Nyakane, Sintu Manjezi, Arno Botha, Embrose Papier, Chris Smith, Marco Jansen van Vuren.

Parliament’s sports portfolio committee duly received the full Fundudzi Report into the forensic affairs of Cricket South Africa on Friday, but not without having to go through legal gymnastics such as signing a non-disclosure agreement.

The members of the committee could get some decent weight training in if they print out the 486-page report and lug it around over the weekend. CSA were scheduled to meet again with the sports portfolio committee early next week, but depending on how much weekend leisure time the politicians are willing to give up, that could well be postponed given how long it will take to study the report properly.

A summary of the report was released to the media and other stakeholders, but not to parliament, by Cricket South Africa earlier in the week, much to the ire of the sports portfolio committee. They demanded that the full, unredacted report be given to them by close of business on Friday and CSA have complied.

While the summary focused on the failures and misdeeds of former CEO Thabang Moroe, it has caused a legal kerfuffle elsewhere in terms of some of the other names that were mentioned. CSA have been at pains to point out that the report has not been tested in court and is only the opinion and recommendations of the Fundudzi investigators. But already the other people named such as CSA human resources director Chantel Moon and parliamentary liaison officer Unathi Tshotwana, who has allegedly been exposed as being Service Provider X, have been tarnished without being given the opportunity to respond.

CSA issued a statement on Friday evening saying they had asked the chairperson of the sports portfolio committee, Beauty Dlulane, to declare the report as confidential.

“CSA has noted the public statement by the chairperson of the PPC to the effect that the PPC will sign a non-disclosure agreement in respect of the forensic report.  As such, and in accordance with the recommendation of the relevant Parliamentary Senior Legal Adviser, CSA has requested the chairperson of the PPC to make a ruling in terms of the relevant provisions of the Rules of the National Assembly, declaring that the forensic report is a confidential document.

“As publicly stated by CSA on various occasions and public platforms, the contents of the forensic report are confidential at this stage because it is a provisional report, because aspects of the report are subject to further investigation, and because public dissemination of the report at this stage may impair the integrity of the investigation process and undermine the implementation of remedial steps by CSA. It is for these reasons that CSA has, at this stage, released to the media a summary of the report, recording the substance of the provisional findings,” the statement said.

The full report, unlike the summary which was put together by CSA’s lawyers Bowmans, was sent to parliament directly by Fundudzi, so there should not be any redactions.

CSA did add that they would be consulting with Sascoc with a view to giving their president the report on the same basis as the sports portfolio committee.

But don’t expect any huge revelations to be coming out on social media over the weekend, because the lawyers have held sway.

The representatives of the Cricket South Africa Board tasked with meeting parliament’s portfolio committee on sports, arts and culture on Tuesday found the going so tough that they caved in and have agreed to release the full Fundudzi Forensic Report to those politicians by 4.30pm on Friday.

CSA’s seven-strong delegation included acting president Beresford Williams and independent directors Eugenia Kula-Ameyaw, Marius Schoeman and Dheven Dharmalingam, but they received a hostile welcome from the sports portfolio committee, who were miffed that a summary of the forensic report had been released publicly on Monday before the politicians had had a chance to look at it.

The self-serving nature of CSA leadership is probably only matched by those parasites in parliament, so it was no surprise when the portfolio committee, who have been waiting five months for the report, began to demand that nothing less than the full, unedited Fundudzi findings be made available to them.

It was Schoeman, the chairman of CSA’s audit and risk committee, who eventually made the concession.

“It’s a tipping point and a step in the right direction. The protocol to follow is that the Members Council will be consulted and confirm that the Board may release this report. It will be released in hard copy by Fundudzi by Friday, close of business, 16 hours 30. If this is not done by 16:30 on Friday, then I will resign,” Schoeman promised.

Acting president Williams, who was mentioned in the Fundudzi report for failing to recuse himself when there were conflicts of interest in loan discussions between CSA and the Western Province Cricket Association which he formerly headed, also committed himself to the full report being released. That will surely see him put out to grass when the AGM is held on December 5, following former president Chris Nenzani, who had initially made all sorts of promises about releasing the report and then resigned in mid-August, into the wilderness.

“On behalf of CSA I just want to recommit that we will deliver on our promise. Thanks to everyone for their contribution. We will make the full report available as committed,” Williams said.

Judging by the level of anger expressed by the sports portfolio committee and by Sascoc, it seems inevitable that they will only be satisfied once the entire CSA Board has been put out to pasture.

“I respected cricket’s leadership when they said they were waiting and processing. But the respect I have given you I didn’t see in return. You think that this report does not belong to the committee. Why should we wait, five months down the line? And instead of this committee being given the full report, a summary goes to the public.

“I’m very disappointed with your leadership for disrespecting even the chairperson of this committee, who gave you chances when the members said I shouldn’t. You didn’t have the courtesy of thinking, five months down the line, that there is a committee of parliament that you were supposed to prioritise. I don’t take kindly to what you have done to me. I’m so disappointed in your leadership that, five months down the line, you have done this to us,” Beauty Dlulane, the chair of the sports portfolio committee, said.