Ken Borland

Proteas coach Mark Boucher praised Temba Bavuma as an exemplar of good leadership at the weekend, following the captain’s man-of-the-match performance in South Africa’s 49-run win in the final T20 against Ireland in Belfast that secured a 3-0 series sweep.

Bavuma set up the winning total of 189/2 with his polished 72 off 51 balls, and Boucher expressed his delight at his skipper being back in the runs. Bavuma’s first half-century for the Proteas in 10 innings ticks another box for South Africa as they prepare for the T20 World Cup in October/November.

“I was very happy for Temba to get some runs at the end of the tour because he’s been putting in the hard work, he’s a tough character and he takes it personally if he doesn’t score runs. Those runs have come at the perfect time now and he will definitely take that confidence forward to Sri Lanka. It was really just a matter of time before he made runs.

“It’s always nice when your captain can lead with confidence because he has runs under his belt and I have to say Temba has been leading very well on and off the field. It’s very nice now that he has also ticked the scoring runs box,” Boucher said.

While Bavuma said he was aware of his shortage of runs, his focus had very much been on driving the Proteas chariot and ensuring the team came first.

“I have been a bit lean on runs, but I just put aside my personal ambitions and tried to execute for the team. From a batting point of view, our approach was a bit different in this match and we really wanted to lay a foundation up front. We haven’t been good in the powerplay in the previous games, we’ve been too aggressive and lost too many wickets,” Bavuma said.

The good news for the Springboks is that flyhalf Handre Pollard is okay to play in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions and even though he was in quarantine, he was still putting the time to good use by doing plenty of analysis on their opposition in Cape Town on Saturday.

Pollard, one of the main architects of the 2019 World Cup triumph, was one of the Springboks who tested positive for Covid, but his brush with the virus has not been serious.

“I feel good, luckily I didn’t have any symptoms and I was able to get through the 10 days of quarantine quite easily. I’m ready to go and, as a team, there’s no way we’re not going to be ready. We’re the world champions playing against the British and Irish Lions, so we will be emotionally and physically ready. We’ve had hard weeks of training, we are so ready.

“The Lions have quality players everywhere and we were analysing them as hard as we could when we were stuck in isolation. So we have a good idea of what’s coming, it helps to pick up small cues and what their individual tendencies are. I’m sure they’re doing the same on us too. So after some good time spent on mental preparation and analysis, this week it’s back to physical training,” Pollard said on Monday.

Pollard did a fine job of being South Africa’s general in the 2019 World Cup, where their successful strategy was built around forward power and suffocating defence to boss the gain-line, deft kicking to exploit space and then ruthless finishing to capitalise on the forced mistakes. Over the weekend, certain critics described it as being ‘boring’, to which Pollard had an excellent response on Monday.

“That’s the most beautiful thing in the world to see, apart from my wife. Throwing the ball around is nice for the people watching on TV, but ourselves and the Lions probably play pretty similar games – it’s going to come down to physicality and the set-pieces, as it usually does in these big Tests. The flyhalf always plays a big role too in providing direction, steering the ship.

“It’s going to be a big series, but nothing changes – I still have to do my job first before worrying about the other guys. I have to make sure we’re playing in the right areas,” Pollard said.

Backline coach Mzwandile Stick acknowledged that having the 27-year-old Pollard available is excellent news for the Springboks.

“We know Morne Steyn is very high quality, he manages the game so well, and Elton Jantjies had a great match against the Bulls with his kicking game and his physicality was right up there. But Handre has got massive experience, he was there when we won the World Cup final and you can’t replace that experience. As coaches, we always appreciate experience.

“They are the players who know when to switch on and you can see the guys are now in the zone in the team room,” Stick said.

Bulls coach Jake White said on Friday that new flyhalf Johan Goosen has been in such good nick in training over the last couple of weeks that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Springboks snatch him from Pretoria soon after the match against the SA A team in Cape Town on Saturday.

Goosen returned to South Africa in 2018 in rather bizarre and unseemly fashion as he ‘retired’ in order to take up a lucrative new contract with Montpellier, who then had to let him go as his former club, Racing 92, understandably took legal action.

His first match back on South African soil on Saturday will be watched with great interest and White said he has no doubts the 28-year-old will be adding to his 13 Test caps soon.

“Johan has the opportunity to show that he can play at that level again. There is nothing he can’t do – he has pace, skill, he can play flat to the line, he can pass and kick and be very physical. I’d be incredibly surprised if he does not play for the Springboks again, in fact I’m surprised he hasn’t played more than 50 Tests already. He’s helluva keen and he’s experienced.

“I have no doubt he is the real deal. Having never coached him on the field before, I’ve seen he can play from No.10 to No.15 as well as anyone. I’ve been blown away by how good he is and he has changed the way we can coach the team. We can use the skills he executes better than anyone else to do different things with the team now. He’s a phenomenal rugby player,” White enthused.

Unfortunately, another returning Springbok with a big reputation, Marcell Coetzee, will miss the tie because he is still working his way through the Covid Return-to-Play protocols.

White said he had decided to stick with the usual process for Covid-positive players to return and not try to speed things up with the loose forward because he knows he is going to have to rely on Coetzee as the Bulls look to defend their Currie Cup title.

Instead, another Springbok, Nizaam Carr, will captain the team on the openside flank.

In terms of other potential Springboks for later in the season, all eyes will be on Cornal Hendricks at inside centre as he goes up against South Africa’s best No.12 – Damian de Allende.

Bulls team – FC du Plessis, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Harold Vorster, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Johan Goosen, Zak Burger, WJ Steenkamp, Muller Uys, Nizaam Carr (Capt), Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Jacques van Rooyen, Schalk Erasmus, Simphiwe Matanzima. Bench: Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, Mornay Smith, Janko Swanepoel, Arno Botha, Keagan Johannes, Chris Smith, David Kriel, Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

Cricket South Africa’s Members Council might not yet quite be the beacons of good governance all lovers of the sport hope they become, but Wednesday night’s continuation of their AGM was an efficient 20-minute process in which they accepted Advocate Norman Arendse as an independent director and voted for all four members of the crucial Audit, Governance and Risk Committee to be independent directors as well.

The Members Council’s unanimous dissatisfaction with Arendse, a former president and lead independent director of CSA, was one of the flashpoints during the first sitting of the AGM at the weekend. The Nominations Committee agreed to reconsider but came back with the advocate as the best candidate.

Given that CSA’s new Memorandum of Incorporation makes it quite clear that the Nominations Committee have the final say, the Members Council wisely put up no resistance on Wednesday night.

The 63-year-old Arendse has been a controversial figure, attracting criticism for his continued interference in the selection of the national team and a brusque manner that has been described as bullying, and is not held in any particular fondness by the players.

With memories still fresh of how CSA’s previous Audit and Risk Committee failed so dismally to deal with the malfeasance and impropriety laid bare in the Fundudzi Report, it was pleasing to see the Members Council ensure this crucial body will be totally independent.

Seasoned governance and procurement expert Dr Lawson Naidoo will chair the committee, with Steven Budlender SC, a silk who has made his name in public interest litigation, Simo Lushaba, a leading figure from the Institute of Directors and governance expert who has sat on and chaired numerous boards,  and Mark Rayner, the former CEO of MultiChoice, the other members.