Ken Borland

Despite a highly-encouraging first-half display by the SA A team before they understandably depleted their energy reserves, Springbok director of rugby Rassie Erasmus said he remains concerned about how he is going to manage his squad ahead of the first Test against the British and Irish Lions on July 24.

The SA A team raced into a 17-3 lead in the first half against the Lions at Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday night, but the second half saw them desperately clinging on in defence, eventually securing a 17-13 win. Getting the match fitness up and dealing with the numerous Covid cases within the squad will continue to require a delicate juggling act by Erasmus and head coach Jacques Nienaber, who is now out of quarantine and will retake the onfield reins.

“The guys put their hands up and showed their guts, and we do have a lot of players to come back into the mix. But there are guys I’m worried about – Malherbe, Mbonambi, De Jager, Snyman, Kolisi, Vermeulen, Pollard, Mapimpi and Frans Steyn – it’s about how we reintegrate those Covid cases because they are coming back in dribs and drabs as they get released from quarantine.

“So I’m 70-80% happy with the squad, but the other 20-30% are going to need really good management. We have two options to play on Saturday: the Bulls have gone into quarantine for us as back-up, but if there are cases in the Stormers camp then it would be safest for us to play the Lions again. If we don’t play them again, it definitely won’t be because they are afraid, it will because of their plans for the tour. It won’t be because we’re more physical than them,” Erasmus chirped.

As heartening as the SA A team’s display was, since it was basically a shadow Test team if all the players Erasmus mentioned don’t make it back for the first Test, the World Cup winning coach knows that courage and determination will only win the silverware if they are reflected on the scoreboard.

“We don’t want to run away with our emotions. We knew we would run out of steam and that made the match tighter in the end, but we played with a lot of heart. I’m proud of that, but we won’t win the series on that alone. There are a lot of technical and tactical things we need to get right,” Erasmus said.

There is no doubt Duane Vermeulen is still highly valued at Loftus Versfeld, but having swept the board in two national awards ceremonies in the last 10 days it was a surprise that he was pipped to the main prize in the Bulls’ awards evening in Pretoria on Friday night.

The stalwart Springbok eighthman was named both the SA Rugby overall Player of the Year and the Players’ Player of the Year at separate functions, but on Friday night he had to settle for being the Bulls’ Currie Cup Player of the Year and the fans’ player of the year as voted for on the Bulls’ app.

Instead it was the indefatigable fellow loose forward Marco Van Staden, who will leave the Bulls in June, and the inspirational comeback kid Cornal Hendricks who shared the overall Player of the Year award for the franchise. So outstanding were their displays that, for the first since the inception of the awards, the Bulls decided to share the main prize.

Bright young attacking talents Stravino Jacobs and David Kriel were named the most improved and newcomer of the year respectively, while scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl’s stellar efforts in directing the backline were rewarded with the Super Rugby Unlocked Back of the Year award, with Hendricks claiming the same title for the Currie Cup.

Much of the Bulls’ Currie Cup success was down to their excellence at source and tighthead prop Trevor Nyakane was the Forward of the Year for that competition, with the untiring lock Ruan Nortje winning for Super Rugby Unlocked.

The incredible fee of around R32 million Rajasthan Royals paid last week for Chris Morris shows just how highly the 33-year-old all-rounder is rated in the Indian Premier League, but it is a level of admiration he has battled to gain in South Africa and Morris said on Thursday that he has had no contact from Proteas management over a role in the national side.

In a World Cup year – the ICC World T20 will be held in India in October/November – that is strange. Not just because he is the most expensive player ever sold at auction in cricket’s premier T20 tournament but also because of his extensive knowledge of conditions in India and the fact that South Africa have battled to fill the matchwinning all-rounder berth in their team.

And Morris has been in outstanding form with the ball for the Titans in the ongoing T20 Challenge, conceding just 67 runs in 14.2 overs, his economy rate of 4.67 being second only to that of Keshav Maharaj. And he has taken five wickets, having figures that compare very favourably with those of Kagiso Rabada.

“I have no answer as to why I’m maybe not rated as highly back at home, it’s a difficult question, but I have had a few good tournaments in the IPL and consistency is a big thing over there. My focus at the moment is 100% on the Titans and then the IPL is coming up, but I would have a conversation with the Proteas if it happens. The thing is no-one has come to speak to me.

“We had many conversations in the past and just after the World Cup [50-overs in England in 2019] I sat down with Ottis Gibson [the then coach] and the decision was made that I should play in the leagues around the world. We agreed I was going to move on and that was a while ago. But the Proteas all-rounder spot has obviously been spoken about for a long time,” Morris said on Thursday.

Morris described the IPL bidding war that resulted in him securing the record fee as a “lottery” and “a very big surprise”. It’s a viewpoint supported by him being passed over for The Hundred in the United Kingdom this week.

“What happened in the IPL auction was a very big surprise. I’m not being funny but I was just happy to get a gig and being back in the IPL is special. The auction is out of our control as players, it’s an absolute lottery and as cricketers we don’t go into it thinking we’re going to get this amount. It’s an emotional rollercoaster. It does add a bit of pressure, but you always need to perform in the IPL.

“All sports is about big money now and cricket is actually a bit behind. These are professional sportsmen who are the best at what they do. But I don’t think anyone thought cricket would get to this level so soon and we are eternally grateful for that. My older team-mates from the start of my career are all working corporate now because cricket could not set you up for life like it does now,” Morris said.

France gave them a tough time, but in the end the Springboks started their 2017 campaign with a highly satisfactory 37-14 win at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday night.

There were enough positive signs to suggest coach Allister Coetzee and his team have the Springboks back on the right track after hitting rock bottom in 2016.

The Springboks were put on the front foot by a superb effort from their pack, which was clearly dominant. Enjoying the lion’s share of possession, the home team were not always direct enough on attack, sometimes becoming too lateral, so the scoreboard did not always reflect how in charge they seemed to be.

The French were able to create space out wide too easily at times and some moments of defensive frailty from the Springboks meant the visitors were very much in the game until the final quarter.

With the clock on the hour mark, the match was on an even keel with the Springboks leading 16-14 when the turning point came.

The quick-thinking of scrumhalf Ross Cronje and the clever boot of flyhalf Elton Jantjies saw the ball bouncing over the French line with Courtnall Skosan in hot pursuit down the left wing. He had the pace to get there first but, as he was reaching up for the ball, he was played by French fullback Brice Dulin and the ball went astray.

The Springboks called for the early tackle and the TMO, Englishman Rowan Kitt, and referee Glen Jackson made the ruling that the contact had been a split-second too early. It was a marginal call either way and it was desperately tough on the French to concede a penalty try and for Dulin to be yellow-carded.

The Springboks scored two more tries in the 10 minutes he was off the field and the contest was over with the lead 37-14 with 12 minutes to play.

The first try came from the training ground with a slick lineout move. Captain and eighthman Warren Whiteley shifted backwards to take a deep lineout throw and then, having barely held on to the ball, immediately passed it into the gap for Cronje to come roaring through and score a memorable try on debut.

Seven minutes later, turnover ball allowed replacement scrumhalf Francois Hougaard to go on a sniping run, before fullback Andries Coetzee hit the afterburners and stormed into the open spaces before sending centre Jan Serfontein on a diagonal road to the tryline.

The road to victory was bumpy at first for the Springboks as the French driving maul earned them an early penalty, but flyhalf Jules Plisson missed.

With half-an-hour gone, South Africa only had two Jantjies penalties to their name. The first came after a lovely interchange of passes between hooker Malcolm Marx and wing Raymond Rhule led to the French being offsides. The visitors were up quickly in defence and combative in the tackle, but it was an area referee Jackson did police well.

The other Jantjies penalty came from a rolling maul, an area of the game in which the Springboks also showed pleasing work.

Marx produced a phenomenal first-half display, charging around the field like some intergalactic giant beast, and he provided the scoring pass for outside centre Jesse Kriel to go racing over for the first try in the 31st minute, after Coetzee, the other star up till then, had fought hard in the tackle and then burst clear.

The Springboks were 13-0 up with Jantjies’ conversion, but then the French began pulling back on the scoreboard.

The ease with which they were able to create space out wide is one of the aspects of play the Springboks will have to improve and, in the 36th minute, right wing Yoann Huget had acres of space and then chipped ahead, Coetzee totally missing the bouncing ball on the goal-line, allowing centre Henry Chavancy to dot down.

Jantjies, who did everything that could have been asked of him at flyhalf in a busy, courageous performance, scored the final points of the first half with a penalty to make it 16-7. The kicking of the Lions pivot was an obvious high point of his game as he succeeded with all six of his shots at goal.

The French scored the first points of the second half to keep the minds of the Springboks focused as Chavancy ran straight over Kriel in midfield, the Bulls player having to leave the field with concussion, and, from the next ruck, replacement scrumhalf Baptiste Serin dummied and went over the line.

Plisson’s second conversion narrowed the lead of the South Africans to just two points (16-14), but the final quarter belonged to the home side.

The physical effort of the Springboks never flagged, thanks to the impact off the bench of players like Jean-Luc du Preez, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Coenie Oosthuizen and Bongi Mbonambi, and the outstanding scrum was the other highlight of the performance.

It was just the sort of encouraging performance the Springboks needed to start their year.

Points scorers

South Africa: Try – Jesse Kriel, penalty try (7pts), Ross Cronje, Jan Serfontein. Conversion – Elton Jantjies (3). Penalties – Jantjies (3).

France: Tries – Henry Chavancy, Baptiste Serin. Conversions – Jules Plisson (2).