Ken Borland

Jordan Hendrikse was able to channel his inner Naas Botha and kick the Sharks to a last-ditch victory in the Currie Cup final at Ellis Park on Saturday night, his astonishing 59m penalty in the freezing cold and wet giving the Natalians a thrilling 16-14 win.

Hendrikse’s massive kick came in the 83^rd minute and was the last act of the match. Having been booed heartily when he first touched the ball by the Ellis Park crowd he called his own a few months ago, the fullback certainly had the last say with the final touch.

But the 23-year-old would shun all suggestion of revenge or proving a point after the match.

“No-one expected the Lions to have the season they’ve had and they deserved to host this final. But my move to Durban was all about challenging myself,” Hendrikse said. “The coach prepared us well and we knew there would be no friends here tonight, this was a personal one and I knew they would come for me.

“But I just tried to be in my space, stay in my own mind. The crowd is always a factor in the pressure moments, but I just tried to stay in my own mind. I just tried to stay calm and think about my processes. Getting that sort of pressure kick over makes all those 5am early kicking sessions worth it,” Hendrikse said.

With a drizzle accompanying the icy temperature that peaked at 6°, both teams found the going tough as hell in the first half, which ended scoreless. If the conditions were not bad enough for the crowd, the attritional rugby with understandably many kicks made the final an even tougher sell. And yet it ended up being a thriller, one of the most memorable finals of recent times.

While the damp underfoot conditions did make kicking for poles difficult, it was not particularly blowy and it was surprising, especially considering Hendrikse’s epic effort that decided the match, that both teams spurned opportunities to shoot at goal in the first half.

The Sharks had two chances in kickable range but instead kicked to the corner to set up the rolling maul. But setting the maul properly and getting traction for momentum is also tough on a wet, slippery field, and the visitors were unable to convert any of their dominant territory (68%) or possession (63%) into points.

The Lions also turned down a shot at goal in the first half, and their best scoring chances came from a couple of searing breaks by flyhalf Sanele Nohamba, but they then blew the move on both occasions.

Under John Plumtree, the Sharks have favoured an attacking philosophy, but it was hard to play expansively in the prevailing conditions.

“We could have played a bit more, but the opportunities were really around what happened in the air. We had to put them under pressure and put the ball in space. Both teams really had the same plan,” coach Plumtree said.

The Sharks were also able to find space out wide with ball-in-hand and 13 minutes into the second half, their efforts bore fruit.

It’s been a tough time for Andre Esterhuizen since he returned to South Africa, what with suspensions and injuries, but the centre showed his class throughout the match and his slick hands and perfectly-timed pass to Ethan Hooker set the youngster up for a classic winger’s try, going inside-and-out to beat Nohamba.

The Lions levelled matters at 7-7 four minutes later as scrumhalf Nico Steyn opportunistically sniped over on a tap-penalty, but the Sharks tightened their grip going into the last 10 minutes with two penalties. While the Lions had the edge in the scrums, the Natalians were strong at the breakdowns, and a dominant ruck presented flyhalf Siya Masuku with a 65^th-minute penalty.

The second penalty came with a yellow card for the Lions as replacement prop Juan Schoeman made contact with the chin in a tackle on Hendrikse, who then got up and, in a portent of what would happen at the end of the match, slotted a superb angled, long-range kick to put the visitors 13-7 up.

But the seven-man Lions scrum then forced a penalty at the set-piece – double World Cup winner Trevor Nyakane may need his ego to be massaged a little after the battering he took in the scrums – and it gave the home side a lineout in the Sharks’ 22. The ball was spread and hooker Morne Brandon made the break with a storming run, before replacement lock Sibabalo Qoma crashed over for the try.

Nohamba’s conversion put the Lions 14-13 ahead with less than five minutes remaining.

Why the Lions then decided to maul at a lineout after the final hooter had gone will only be known in the intimate leadership circles of the team. All they needed to do was win the lineout and kick the ball out, but a pointless maul resulted in the ball somehow popping out on the Sharks’ side. Hendrikse made sure his former team were fully punished.

“I’m really proud of the boys because they never give up. With time up on the clock, you wonder how you are going to get possession, and then the next minute they give us a sniff. When the Lions won their last penalty, I thought it was game over, but they gave us one more chance,” Plumtree, who won the Currie Cup for the sixth time – twice as a player and now four times as coach – said. He is still a little way behind Botha, who kicked Northern Transvaal to nine Currie Cup crowns.

“The URC may be our main goal, but this win was really important for this group, it’s a big-time boost before we get on the plane on Monday. The Currie Cup is still something unique and special, I’ve had ex-players sending me messages all day, and a lot of people in Natal are very happy. It’s a beautiful trophy that I didn’t think I would hold again … ”

Sharks coach John Plumtree has instituted what superficially looks like a cleanout of players as his team try to get their SuperRugby campaign back on track at the home ground of the defending champions, the Chiefs, on Saturday.

Plumtree has made 11 changes to the team that lost to the Cheetahs last weekend in Durban, but some are just positional switches and others have been forced upon him as the KwaZulu-Natalians battle an injury epidemic.

Jean Deysel will captain the team, and the burly loose forward is sure to lead from the front. Regular captain Keegan Daniel will watch from the bench, as will another standout loose forward, Marcell Coetzee.

Francois Steyn, who led the team while Daniel was injured, is back in the starting line-up, but this time the even burlier Springbok will be playing outside centre as Paul Jordaan has succumbed to a knee injury.

Jannie du Plessis returns to anchor the scrum at tighthead and there are other key decision-makers in the starting line-up like Pat Lambie at flyhalf, Meyer Bosman at inside centre and Odwa Ndungane on the wing to lessen the impression that Plumtree is throwing a second-string XV into battle in Hamilton.

But there is inexperience in the team as well, with Piet Lindeque, who normally plays in midfield, on the left wing and Lubabalo Mthembu starting at eighthman in just his second SuperRugby outing.

Apart from Daniel and Coetzee, other regular starters who are being kept in cotton wool on the bench are hooker Kyle Cooper, lock Franco van der Merwe and scrumhalf Cobus Reinach.

Perhaps the most interesting selection is that of Joburg-based flank Derick Minnie, who will fulfil the ball-scavenging job, at number six. The Lions star will want to show just why he was one of that ill-fated team’s best players – and perhaps earn himself a guaranteed SuperRugby contract along the way.

Although it will irk anxious Sharks fans who are lamenting two successive losses, it seems that Plumtree has taken the pragmatic view that his best available XV would probably lose to the mighty Chiefs anyway and get further exhausted after travelling to New Zealand; targeting tour games against the Highlanders, Reds and Force instead for valuable away wins with a refreshed team to reignite last year’s finalists’ campaign.

The other losers from last weekend’s round of South African derbies were the Southern Kings, who were blanked 34-0 by the Bulls the weekend after returning home from their glorious overseas tour.

The Kings have really pulled together impressive support from fans in the Eastern Cape region, but this weekend they face a new challenge: A local derby away from home, against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein.

The Kings are no longer unknown quantities and the Bulls showed them some bald facts about SuperRugby last weekend. But the extra week at home will have done them good and Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske’s biggest worry may be that his side will be a touch complacent after their fabulous start, with mental fatigue creeping in as they still have not had a bye.

The Cheetahs should win if they produce similar performances to when they tamed the mighty packs of both the Stormers and Sharks.

But if the Cheetahs are a bit off their game – and maybe that’s due after nine straight weeks of action – and the Southern Kings once again do the unthinkable and win, it could lead to quite an indaba in the corridors of the South African Rugby Union.

Victory for the Kings could lift them to within five points of the Stormers, who are now on tour, raising the possibility of last year’s conference winners having to play promotion/relegation against the Lions later this year.

But for the Kings to win, they will need to raise the bar quite some distance from last weekend’s performance. They have sensibly returned to the impenetrable loose trio of Jacques Engelbrecht, Wimpie van der Walt and Cornell du Preez that has served them so well this season, with Luke Watson, ever a talking point, on the bench for when the game opens up.

Waylon Murray completes a pair of Springboks on the bench as Ronnie Cooke has been preferred at outside centre, with Siyanda Grey and Michael Killian on the wings.

Fortunes have changed so quickly in the South African Conference this season and, at the moment, it is the Bulls who are sitting pretty at the top, after breezing to a bonus-point win over the Kings last weekend.

They were singing an entirely different tune just three weeks ago when they returned from overseas with three straight defeats and they will be desperate to beat the Waratahs at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday to also quieten down talk of a union in crisis due to a rumoured player exodus sparked by some salaries being halved.

The Bulls have left out fetcher flank Deon Stegmann from their match-day squad, but the way hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle competed at the breakdowns last weekend, he shouldn’t be missed as coach Frans Ludeke has preferred the combative trio of Pierre Spies, Arno Botha and Dewald Potgieter, with the physical presence of Jacques Potgieter on the bench.

History may be against the Waratahs – they have not beaten the Bulls since 2005 and have not won in Pretoria since 2002 – but the New South Welshmen showed last weekend versus the Chiefs that, when their game clicks, they are competitive against the best in the tournament.

If a practically all-Wallaby pack can get on top in the tight exchanges, then the Waratahs can rely on exciting backs like Drew Mitchell, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Israel Folau to put points on the scoreboard.

Just like last weekend, however, if the Bulls are on their game from the start, maintain the momentum of the last two weeks and get their passionate supporters behind them, then the Waratahs’ minds could dwell on their awful recent record against the three-time champions and not on the job at hand.

The Stormers embark on the first leg of their overseas tour when they take on the Hurricanes in Palmerston North on Friday.

The return of Bryan Habana is a welcome boost for the Stormers, but the Springboks’ leading try-scorer will probably be focusing more on the defensive aspects of the game than on running the ball.

Against the masters of broken-field play and the most lethal counter-attackers around, the Stormers are unlikely to be throwing the ball around as the Hurricanes are renowned for pouncing on the slightest error.

The performance of the inconsistent Stormers pack will be the key to the outcome as the defensive system masterminded by Jacques Nienaber still seems to be in good nick, with just nine tries conceded in seven matches, once again the best in SuperRugby.

A bonus-point win for the Stormers and defeats for the Bulls, Sharks and Cheetahs could see them climbing to the pinnacle of the South African Conference.

The Hurricanes have had the unwanted distraction this week of star winger Julian Savea appearing in the Wellington District Court on charges of assaulting his partner and the All Black’s absence does weaken the potency of the home side’s backline.

Teams

Stormers (v Hurricanes, Friday 9:35): Joe Pietersen, Gio Aplon, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Gary van Aswegen, Dewaldt Duvenage, Duane Vermeulen, Michael Rhodes, Siya Kolisi, Andries Bekker, De Kock Steenkamp, Pat Cilliers, Deon Fourie, Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: Scarra Ntubeni, Brok Harris, Rynhardt Elstadt, Nizaam Carr, Nic Groom, Louis Schreuder, Damian de Allende.

Sharks (v Chiefs, Saturday 9:35): Riaan Viljoen, Odwa Ndungane, Frans Steyn, Meyer Bosman, Piet Lindeque, Pat Lambie, Charl McLeod, Lubabalo Mtembu, Jean Deysel, Derick Minnie, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Anton Bresler, Jannie du Plessis, Craig Burden, Wiehahn Herbst. Replacements: Kyle Cooper, Danie Mienie, Franco van der Merwe, Keegan Daniel, Marcell Coetzee, Cobus Reinach, Sbura Sithole.

Bulls (v Waratahs, Saturday 17:05): Jürgen Visser, Akona Ndungane, JJ Engelbrecht, Jan Serfontein, Bjorn Basson, Morné Steyn, Jano Vermaak, Pierre Spies, Arno Botha, Dewald Potgieter, Juandré Kruger, Flip van der Merwe, Werner Kruger, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Dean Greyling. Replacements: Willie Wepener, Hencus van Wyk, Wilhelm Steenkamp, Jacques Potgieter, Francois Hougaard, Louis Fouchè, Lionel Mapoe.

Cheetahs (v Southern Kings, Saturday 19:10): Hennie Daniller, Willie le Roux, Johann Sadie, Robert Ebersohn, Raymond Rhule, Burton Francis, Piet van Zyl, Phillip van der Walt, Lappies Labuschagne, Heinrich Brüssow, Francois Uys, Lood de Jager, Lourens Adriaanse, Adriaan Strauss, Coenie Oosthuizen. Replacements: Ryno Barnes, Trevor Nyakane, Ligtoring Landman, Frans Viljoen, Sarel Pretorius, Elgar Watts, Ryno Benjamin.

Southern Kings (v Cheetahs, Saturday 19:10): George Whitehead, Siyanda Grey, Ronnie Cooke, Andries Strauss, Michael Killian, Demetri Catrakillis, Shaun Venter, Jacques Engelbrecht, Wimpie van der Walt, Cornell du Preez, Rynier Bernardo, Steven Sykes, Kevin Buys, Bandise Maku, Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: Virgile Lacombe, Grant Kemp, David Bulbring, Luke Watson, Nicolas Vergallo, Waylon Murray, Siviwe Soyzwapi.

Other fixtures: Reds v Blues (Friday, 11:40); Brumbies v Force (Saturday, 11:40); Crusaders v Rebels (Sunday, 6:05).

Bye: Highlanders.

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