Ken Borland

One of the more pleasing aspects of the Proteas’ previous season was how well head coach Mark Boucher and his assistant Enoch Nkwe dovetailed together, which is probably not too surprising given the similarities between them in coaching philosophy.

It could have been a lot more awkward than it was when Boucher took over as head coach in December, Nkwe effectively being demoted to assistant coach because he had been the interim team director when the Proteas toured India in September/October.

But Nkwe is the sort of coach who always puts the team first and Boucher has always been known to be a great team man. As a player and coach, the record-breaking wicketkeeper’s attributes of honest communication, competitiveness, toughness, courage and discipline are well-known.

They are shared qualities that bind them together.

That the 37-year-old Nkwe has a similar coaching philosophy to the 43-year-old Boucher became clear when I was fortunate enough to sit in on the virtual coaches conference he held with the Lions recently. Apart from the many coaches within the Lions system, including his successor as franchise head coach Wandile Gwavu, there were coaches from as far afield as the Eastern Cape, Uganda and New Zealand logged in to hear Nkwe share his thoughts, and the Soweto-born former all-rounder certainly left them with many great insights to ponder.

Nkwe sees the coach’s role as being to create an environment that enables the team to reach success.

“It’s important that you are all speaking the same language, you need the environment to be freed up and authentic. There needs to be clear role-definition which is one of the most powerful coaching tools and it can determine the brand of cricket played. And if the whole process is done properly then the coach is in a much stronger position to have tough conversations.

“You’ve got to be totally honest, one can feel sorry for the player but you can’t sugarcoat things or beat around the bush. It may be uncomfortable at the moment, but going forward the player will have respect for you because of your honesty. Don’t be scared or shy to have those honest conversations; the players know the moment you are bullshitting,” Nkwe said.

In order to discover his own coaching philosophy, Nkwe, who began his coaching career as player-coach for Dutch club HCC Rood en Wit in 2005, said he looked at his own character and what he consistently did as both a player and coach.

He came up with the word ‘competitive’, a word closely associated with Boucher himself.

“You need to master the little things, you’re not going to get everything right but you strive for a level of excellence. And you have to find a way to make it work. Things are not ever going to go all smoothly, and when things are not great, that’s when you have to overcome the challenge. You have to keep finding ways to be successful. There’s always a way and you can’t feel sorry for yourself,” Nkwe said.

You can imagine the exact same words coming out of Mark Boucher’s mouth. To be courageous also seemed to be second-nature for the gritty Eastern Cape product.

“You need courage and consistency to promote your vision and the confidence to go into a new environment and not compromise your beliefs because then you will lose the team. If you want to be liked, then coaching is not the industry for you,” Nkwe said frankly.

Boucher himself has spoken positively of their burgeoning relationship.

“Enoch and I have had some great conversations and I think we understand each other. We certainly have the same ideas and agree on how to do it. We know we’ll have hard calls to make but we’re not scared to make them.

“He has a good relationship with the youngsters I don’t know properly yet and he takes a load off my hands. I appreciate it and we will just keep working hard together and drive our vision together,” Boucher said recently.

Nkwe has also been a great respecter of new Director of Cricket Graeme Smith, ever since their paths crossed as schoolkids. Nkwe played for St Stithians and Smith was at King Edward VII. The future national captain would skipper Nkwe in the Gauteng Schools side of 1999, Smith’s second year of Khaya Majola Week cricket and the first of three years in which Nkwe played. Interestingly, both Smith and Nkwe scored centuries on their first-class debuts.

“Graeme was always a great example to me, he worked out at 15 years old that he needed to make peace with his technique. He knew he was not the best-looking batsman but he had a clear vision of what his strengths were and he made sure he thrived on that and his mental strength. I remember at Khaya Majola Week in 1999 just trying to understand how he could score so many hundreds at such a young age.

“Graeme found a way to make it work, he didn’t fight his technique. It was pure mental strength and he was lucky to have a coach that encouraged that,” Nkwe said.

I would dare to predict that South African cricket will realise in future just how lucky they were to have Smith, Boucher and Nkwe working together to steer the Proteas out of their current turmoil.

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Given the financial crisis at Auckland Park, it is easy to attack the SABC for their coverage of cricket, but an incident during the third Test between the Proteas and Pakistan at the Wanderers got me thinking about the influence of SuperSport in South African cricket.

I have an early disclaimer to make – I used to work, on contract, at the broadcaster and I do believe South African sport would be much worse off were it not for the millions of rands SuperSport pumps into the various codes through broadcast rights.

But there is also an unseemly, monopolistic and dictatorial element to this relationship.

I experienced it first-hand when I happened to call Tony Greig a “loudmouth commentator” in an opinion piece I wrote for their website. The instruction came from on high from Imtiaz Patel, now the executive chairman of MultiChoice and apparently still ruling with an iron fist from Dubai, and I was told in no uncertain terms that I had to withdraw the article and send Greig a written apology.

I was tempted to use the famous apology former English fast bowler Andy Caddick once received from a West Indian journalist, who described him in his report as being “the big-eared Caddick”. The cricketer stormed into the media centre, found the journalist and demanded that an apology be printed in the next edition.

The apology was indeed there – “I am sorry that Andy Caddick has big ears”.

Last week’s incident also involved a commentator, but one that generally chooses his words with a lot more purpose than Greig did – Mark Nicholas.

The Englishman said on air on the first day that their lunchtime chat, which is sadly not easily accessed by those at the ground, on the second day would be with three South African legends of the past – Graeme Pollock, Barry Richards and Mike Procter.

Many viewers waited with huge anticipation for the interview – and we must remember that there is massive overseas interest in those three greats – but then there was nothing. The whole idea was quietly canned and never happened. SuperSport should have at least informed the public as to why what appeared to be a major snub had happened. Even Pollock, Richards and Procter were left in the dark.

Apparently, the interview was pulled due to one of those instructions from on high, seemingly because Cricket South Africa’s response to anything Richards has to say these days is akin to that of my wife when she discovers a Parktown Prawn in the house.

So instead of serving their viewers, and allowing cricket fans to enjoy a good chat with three of the greatest players ever, SuperSport preferred to score some cheap political points.

SuperSport have a terrible attitude when it comes to their responsibility as the most powerful media house in the country. They will avoid even the slightest hint of criticism aimed at the sports bodies that give them the broadcast rights, bending over backwards to fulfil every little wish of the administrators. Many of whom should be subjected to the harshest media scrutiny of all.

Cricket South Africa, who were captured themselves by the Guptas, have SuperSport captured although it is a more mutually beneficial relationship. But does it benefit the sport in the long term?

SuperSport have some very good broadcasters and journalists and they should be allowed more freedom to do their jobs. Certainly someone as experienced and sharp as Nicholas was highly unlikely to allow anything embarrassing to be said.

Instead, the embarrassment is all SuperSport’s now with their absurd banning of three absolute cricket greats, admired the world over.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20190119/282656098637360

Economic hardships, the lure of foreign lands and a saturated market all buffet SA Rugby’s efforts to produce an alluring SuperRugby product, but in the magnificently comfortable Cape Town Stadium last weekend they were given some massive ideas in terms of getting it to work again.

Getting spectators to watch live sport these days is all about the stadium experience, and the fact the Cape Town Stadium was sold out for the SuperRugby Superhero Sunday Double-header – warm-up matches that ultimately count for nothing – tells you the venue is doing something right.

Spacious and with plenty of open spaces along the concourses, Cape Town Stadium is also brilliantly designed so that there is not a bad seat in the house. Thanks to SuperSport, I enjoyed my first visit to the Green Point venue last weekend and I was enormously impressed.

The Cape Town public came in their droves even though the Stormers rested most of their big stars. Fortunately there were enough Springboks in the Lions, Bulls and Sharks teams to make up for that. When Duane Vermeulen walked on to the field, the Stormers faithful began cheering, until they remembered he has signed for their archrivals the Bulls, which was when the boos and jeers began.

The big success story of Superhero Sunday was bringing the kids back into the stadium. Support for rugby seems to be dying and what better way to halt the slide than by recruiting the yongsters and getting them hooked on the live game.

The fact that SuperSport and Vodacom, with huge backing from Marvel, made major efforts to market the day was obviously also crucial, but so too was the idea of four teams playing in one stadium.

Every SuperRugby franchise has a sizeable number of fans in cities outside of their province these days and I would love to see double-headers played in the actual competition as well.

The cricketers do it during their T20 tournament and the argument of teams losing home-ground advantage is easily combatted and should be set aside if, for probably the first time ever, the unions are willing to do what is best for the game.

The answer is simple: The schedule must be such that the Stormers and the Sharks visit the Lions and the Bulls on the same weekend. Seeing as though both coastal teams are now on the Highveld, they play at the same venue, either Ellis Park or Loftus Versfeld. The next year, the double-header is played at the other Gauteng venue.

The number of Sharks and Stormers fans in Gauteng is huge and all the coaches I spoke to – Swys de Bruin, Robert du Preez and Pote Human – were supportive of the double-header concept.

The superhero theme was novel and certainly attracted the kids, but it doesn’t have to continue. The success of the double-header does not rest on it, the South African rugby fan is known for the passion they bring to the game and there are other narratives that can be pursued.

Besides, the sight of a rather unathletic Black Panther and a very naff Spiderman mincing around are not things I would want to see again. Apparently Marvel insist that only their regular costume-wearers are allowed to fulfil those roles and the Americans they brought fell way short of what my imagination had been inspired to expect from the comics.

Cape Town Stadium, however, surpassed expectations and it is difficult to comprehend why Western Province rugby would not want to move there from the old and decrepit Newlands stadium, which has tradition and a proud history going for it, but not much else.

Which sounds a bit like SA Rugby at times, but a new SuperRugby season full of possibility lies before us; will they take the lead offered by two of their most loyal sponsors in SuperSport and Vodacom and come up with new, fresh ideas to re-popularise the tournament?

We have a full house of SuperRugby fixtures this weekend for the local franchises and it will be a very exciting clash in Pretoria as the Bulls, having been given a lot of confidence from their win over the Hurricanes, take on a terrific Lions side.

The Lions have a very proud record of not losing to a South African side for the last three years, while the Bulls have obviously been revitalised under John Mitchell.

I think it will be quite a high-scoring game because both sides are really committed to attack and keeping the ball alive in all situations.

Having been privileged to be able to watch a few of their training sessions, one can certainly see that what the Bulls have been working on came out against the Hurricanes, like the tip-ons and offloads. To see South African forwards display such dexterity and skills – locks Lood de Jager and RG Snyman were especially good – was really wonderful.

The Bulls have also worked a lot on their fitness; for prop Pierre Schoeman to get up and score the matchwinning try, beating five or six Hurricanes defenders to get to the ball and be the first player up in support and show up constantly around the field, was proof of this.

It will be interesting to see whether the team that the Lions announced will be the team that runs out on to the field … it’s very unusual for them to name their team on a Tuesday. It will be very exciting to see Franco Mostert at number seven, however, but I think the Lions will miss another ground player. You really need someone to slow down the ball on the highveld and it was great to see Roelof Smit back to his best for the Bulls, buying time for the defence to set.

The Lions had a really good solid win over the Jaguares and Aphiwe Dyantyi really announced himself with an even better try than he scored in the first round. To see a wing beat international wings for pace and then a sidestep is really special. You can’t coach the sort of things he does on attack, although there are obviously things he needs to work on and defensively he was out of position for the two late tries that cost the Lions the bonus point. But he is one of a lot of exciting young wings in South African rugby, along with the likes of Makazole Mapimpi and Sbu Nkosi.

The Lions might rue those two late tries though because if they end up in the middle of the table then bonus points could be crucial.

The Sharks will be looking to bounce back from their defeat in Johannesburg in the opening round when they take on the Waratahs in Durban, but they really have to scrummage better if they are to be any threat in this competition.

It would possibly have been better if they had chosen Thomas du Toit to come on at tighthead at the back end of the game because then they can start with their specialist tighthead. It would be easier for Thomas to come on when the guys are tired, because in the first 20 minutes scrummaging is certainly much harder and at the start of games, referees are really looking at the scrums.

While with the Springboks between 2012 to 2015 we did some research on how many scrum penalties were awarded at the back end of games and it was certainly a lot less. Which is why it was easier to use Coenie Oosthuizen as a replacement tighthead, although in his early years he was a tighthead at school.

But I expect the Sharks to come out firing after their bye, which would have allowed them to work on a lot of stuff. They were also certainly in the game until the last minute against the Lions in Johannesburg.

Three out of the four South African franchises were in action last weekend and they all put in great performances against overseas opposition. Including the Stormers, whose forwards were absolutely superb in the set-pieces where they really dominated the Waratahs, and were most unfortunate not to win the game. The scrum provides such promising opportunities and for the Stormers to do that against one of the strongest packs was most impressive.

But unfortunately an exit lineout went wrong, the calling system broke down, and the Stormers will rue that as being one they should have won and banked four points.

But when you destroy a pack in the scrum as Steven Kitshoff, Wilco Louw (the incumbent Springbok props) and the tight five did then it’s a really good sign away from home.

The Stormers now tackle the Crusaders in Christchurch after the two New Zealand derbies last weekend were try-fests but a lot of it was illegal. There was some quite clever obstruction around the pillars and cleaning out beyond the ball, which is the job of the assistant referees to spot. In the Dunedin game it was not picked up in two of the tries and the officials need to be a lot more vigilant.

John McFarland is the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game. Before that, McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.