Ken Borland

Despite all the talk about scoring tries, the Cell C Sharks will be putting their faith in the expertise of their tight five, judging by the team announced yesterday for their opening Vodacom SuperRugby match against the Toyota Cheetahs in Durban on Saturday.

Jannie and Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira, Mouritz Botha and Pieter-Steph du Toit will all be bringing international experience to the field and coach Gary Gold will be hoping they will be laying the most solid of foundations.

Marcell Coetzee is the senior loose forward, with Pumas import Renaldo Bothma getting a SuperRugby debut and Tera Mtembu slotting in at eighthman. Willem Alberts and lock Stephan Lewies are still out with injury.

Pat Lambie and Cobus Reinach form an outstanding halfback pairing, but Gold has a less settled combination at centre. Waylon Murray was born in Durban and schooled at Westville, but has played most of his recent rugby outside the province and he returns to the outside centre berth, with young Heimar Williams alongside him, preferred to exciting young powerhouse Andre Esterhuizen.

SP Marais will be at fullback, but perhaps the Sharks’ greatest attacking threat will be from wings Lwazi Mvovo and S’bura Sithole.

Jean Deysel is on the bench and is the only one of the Japanese-based players to make the match-day squad, with the return of Frans Steyn and JP Pietersen keenly awaited as they will give the backline the experience that is currently lacking in comparison to the tight five.

Matt Stevens, the former British Lions prop, is also on the bench, as is the veteran wing Odwa Ndungane.

The match will be refereed by the Australian, Andrew Lees, and the kick-off is at 5.05pm.

Judging by his performance at a SuperSport networking luncheon this week, Jean de Villiers definitely has a future as a comedian and television personality, such was the brilliance of his timing and the sheer sense and empathy with which he spoke.

De Villiers has made his name of course with the superb timing he displays on attack and defence in the Springbok midfield and let’s hope the 34-year-old’s next major appearance on SuperSport is as captain of the World Cup squad in England.

Coach Heyneke Meyer is certainly hoping so and, whatever the haters say about taking “old-age” players to the World Cup, experience is the common thread that runs through every winner of that tournament and Meyer would be stupid to undo the last three years of preparation in order to choose flavour-of-the-month players now that the curtain is about to go up.

The one certainty about the 31-man World Cup squad that Meyer finally announces is that there are definitely going to be some very unlucky, excellent players missing out.

Unfortunately, De Villiers’ centre position is one of the areas where the Springboks are relative paupers.

Assuming that the captain will be fit (and he certainly thinks he will be), then his midfield partner is likely to be Jan Serfontein or Damian de Allende. Meyer has already said that he will be taking 18 forwards to the World Cup, so that leaves space for just 13 backs, three of which have to be scrumhalves – Fourie du Preez, Ruan Pienaar and Francois Hougaard as a utility back.

Three flyhalves would also seem necessary with Pat Lambie, Elton Jantjies and Handre Pollard, who can also provide centre cover, the frontrunners. Someone like fullback Jesse Kriel, because he can also play in midfield, could provide additional cover and, if there is a new cap in the squad then the Bulls prospect will probably by the man. If De Villiers doesn’t make it, then Lionel Mapoe will probably be next in line, especially since he can play outside centre, where the Springboks are particularly thin.

JP Pietersen, if he can regain his best form, obviously brings the ideal combination of experience and versatility, being able to play wing, fullback or outside centre.

Lock is the other worrying position with Eben Etzebeth and Victor Matfield the only contenders who are currently fit. Meyer said he favours a split of four locks and five loose forwards in the squad, with nine front-rowers compulsory, so Pieter-Steph du Toit, who can play flank as well, is a vital selection and Lood de Jager, if fit, or Teboho Mohoje will be the other second-rower .

But injuries could mean Meyer is forced to include uncapped players like Jacques du Plessis or Ruan Botha.

The coach is going to be given sleepless nights by the conundrum facing him at loose-forward. How do you choose five from the wealth of talent that is available?

The Springboks have been well-served by Francois Louw, Willem Alberts and Duane Vermuelen as a starting trio, so who backs them up?

Schalk Burger will probably be one of the two extra loosies by virtue of his experience and ability to play all three positions, which leaves the fifth back-row spot to be fought over by Marcell Coetzee, Mohoje, Warren Whiteley, Nizaam Carr, Arno Botha, Siya Kolisi, Jaco Kriel and Pierre Spies!

The incumbent Springbok front row of Tendai Mtawarira, Bismarck and Jannie du Plessis is going to be given a tremendous run for their money by Trevor Nyakane, Adriaan Strauss and Frans Malherbe, while the third complete front row required should be made up of Coenie Oosthuizen, Scarra Ntubeni and either Marcel van der Merwe, Julian Redelinghuys or Vincent Koch.

Probable Springbok World Cup squad – Willie le Roux, Jesse Kriel; Cornal Hendricks, Bryan Habana, Francois Hougaard; Jan Serfontein, Jean de Villiers, Damian de Allende; Handre Pollard, Pat Lambie, Elton Jantjies; Fourie du Preez, Ruan Pienaar; Duane Vermuelen, Willem Alberts, Francois Louw, Schalk Burger, Marcell Coetzee; Victor Matfield, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Teboho Mohoje; Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira, Frans Malherbe, Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane, Marcel van der Merwe, Scarra Ntubeni, Coenie Oosthuizen.

Judging by his performance in the Nedbank Golf Challenge, former world number one Luke Donald is certainly on course for a second wind in his career that reached the pinnacle of world golf in 2011 but then stalled as he dropped down the rankings in 2013.

Having reached new heights three years ago when he became the first golfer to win both the European and PGA Tour moneylists in the same year, Donald has not won since November 2013 and missed out on selection for Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup team this year.

He changed coach in mid-2013 and although he has since split from Chad Cook and gone back to Pat Goss, Donald said yesterday that there was no second-guessing his decision.

“I changed coach because I felt my game was not going the way I wanted it to, in particular I didn’t feel I was a good enough driver of the ball to win a Major. But it’s tough to break 30 years of golfing DNA, I didn’t play very well and I struggled to see a change, so I went back to Pat. Change is hard, but it was a good decision to join Chad because it made me realise that sometimes what you have is good enough,” Donald said.

The Gary Player Country Club course, however, is not the sort of place where poor drivers of the ball prosper, and Donald showed that he has plenty of game in the second round, picking up a dazzling nine birdies and not dropping a single shot.

“Every tee shot here has danger and you really have to be switched on and play good, solid shots. I feel I’ve done that very well today,” Donald said.

Whether or not Donald is the winner on Sunday – it would be a tremendous way to celebrate his 37^th birthday the same day – the Englishman feels he is getting back to being one of the best golfers in the world.

“Winning would give me a huge amount of confidence that I’m doing the right thing, but my main goal is just to keep moving forward, keep getting better. Sometimes we put the Majors on too much of a pedestal. I prefer to stick to smaller goals,” he said.

In coming through a couple of miserable years, Donald has also shown that he has the character within him to overcome the tough times that inevitably come in golf and he admitted a change in mindset had also been necessary for him to rebound.

“I’d never had big struggles before but I think I needed to adjust mentally. You expect your golf to be good and for that to make you happy on the course, but it’s the other way round.”

Once the most consistent golfer in the world, Donald has the short game to capitalise on the opportunities he creates from tee to green and the old solidity is definitely returning.

The Stormers are not going to relinquish the South African Conference title without a fight judging by their brilliant 35-22 victory over the previously-unbeaten Brumbies at Newlands in the pick of the weekend’s SuperRugby action.

Although the Stormers are currently lying third in the conference standings, they are just three points behind the first-placed Sharks.

The Sharks have gone to the top of the conference after a thumping 64-7 win over the Rebels in Durban, but not too much should be read into that because the Melburnians were desperately poor and unable to secure much first-phase possession.

The Stormers, in contrast, were up against the competition-leading team who had dismantled the Sharks so impressively the weekend before. But this time the Brumbies were not able to physically dominate the opposition and, with the superb Stormers’ pack matching them in the collisions, the Australians were always chasing the game.

Brumbies coach Jake White perhaps divulged too much during the week when he expressed his confidence that his side could physically dominate the Stormers as well; if nothing else, it fired up the home side and the likes of Andries Bekker, Duane Vermeulen, Siya Kolisi and De Kock Steenkamp came out in a ferocious mood.

And the Stormers’ backs were no less impressive.

Current Springbok captain Jean de Villiers produced an inspirational performance at inside centre, while Gio Aplon was electrifying on attack. Elton Jantjies may not be the incumbent Springbok flyhalf, but on Saturday night’s showing he might just be the form number 10 in the country as he pulled the strings beautifully for the Stormers’ backline, showing wonderful vision, skill and awareness.

But the premier reason why the Brumbies’ four-match unbeaten run was finally ended was their failure to get forward momentum and Bekker was immense and prominent all over the field in ensuring the Stormers had the front-foot ball. South Africa’s best number 5 lock left many bemoaning the fact he is off to Japan at the end of the competition and will probably not be available for the Springboks.

In Durban, the Rebels made a tasty meal for the Sharks as the home side made up for their anonymous display against the Brumbies with a record 10-try feast.

Such was the dominance and vigour of the Sharks’ tight five that the Rebels were made to look rather foolish, conceding a couple of tightheads, making no impression in the lineouts and comprehensively losing the crucial battle of the gain-line.

Hooker Kyle Cooper, who is rapidly becoming a cult figure at Kings Park, gave another livewire display and scored a memorable try from 20m out, while 20-year-old Pieter-Steph du Toit looks a top-class prospect.

A thoroughly dominant scrum gave a rampaging loose trio a wonderful base to launch from and Keegan Daniel, Ryan Kankowski and Jacques Botes produced a marvellous display of support play and skilful attack.

Coach John Plumtree’s changes obviously sparked a more enthusiastic display from the Sharks and the Kings Park hierarchy will be delighted that members of the younger generation like Cooper, Wiehahn Herbst, Du Toit, Cobus Reinach, Pat Lambie and Paul Jordaan are making such progress.

But veterans such as Meyer Bosman, a sly old hand at inside centre, Tendai Mtawarira, the cornerstone of their pack, Franco van der Merwe, the leader of the lineout, their loose trio, and exciting backs Louis Ludik, Lwazi Mvovo and JP Pietersen are also still making vital contributions.

The other South African winners over the weekend were the Cheetahs, who completed their most successful tour ever with their third victory, 19-10 over the Western Force in Perth.

Apart from getting themselves in trouble by exorbitantly trying to run the ball from their own 22 on a couple of occasions, the Cheetahs were impressive, especially in defence.

Their attempt in the 27^th minute to run the ball out of their own 22, having held the Force scoreless until then, was particularly expensive as a flustered Raymond Rhule passed the ball into a Force player, the visitors regained possession and quickly spread the ball wide for Winston Stanley to dive over in the corner for their only try.

It gave the Force the lead and they held it until the last 10 minutes when the Cheetahs showed the character and new maturity that had been missing in the last couple of seasons when they went down to numerous narrow defeats.

Riaan Smit, the replacement for the injured Johan Goosen in the number 10 jersey, then kicked a couple of penalties and then made the crunching tackle that dislodged the ball as the Force desperately attacked in the closing minutes. The loose ball was hacked ahead and right wing Willie le Roux, a conspicuous absentee from Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s plans thus far, was on hand to claim the match-winning try.

Another Cheetah who has been given short shrift by Meyer – openside flank Heinrich Brüssow – returned to the starting line-up and had a huge impact, especially at the breakdowns.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke’s controversial selection backfired as the Bulls slumped to a 23-18 defeat at the hands of the Reds in Brisbane.

The introduction of some fresh faces up front, especially the return of Dewald Potgieter to the loose trio, certainly added some extra intensity to the Bulls’ early efforts, but the backline defence and the poor game plan gave little protection when the Reds’ elusive backs began stepping and weaving.

The Reds’ kickers did not pose any such threat and the Bulls could easily have won this game had they stuck to kicking the home side into the corners and pressurising their lineout.

But a flatfooted, often porous defence did not put any pressure on the Reds’ ball-carriers and, just to add to the growing sense of frustration, referee James Leckie did not officiate with any consistency either.

The one area where Leckie was consistent was in the yellow-carding of Jono Lance and Lionel Mapoe for tip-tackles. According to the details of the law, the decisions were correct because both Lance and Mapoe lifted their opponents’ legs beyond the horizontal. But neither tackle had any malicious intent whatsoever and Mapoe was particularly unfortunate because, in his case, prop James Slipper was actually leaping upwards anyway to evade the tackle.

The current rule on tip-tackles is ridiculous because it is open to exploitation by the ball-carrier and, if the IRB law-makers had any feel for the game, they would amend it. Reinach was the third unfortunate casualty of the nonsense law during the Sharks game.

Just to show how easily the Bulls could have won the game, outside centre JJ Engelbrecht came within inches of scoring a match-winning try after the hooter, but had just stepped on the touchline.

The Southern Kings were the least surprising South African losers of the weekend, going down 55-20 to the seven-time champion Crusaders in Christchurch. The Kings actually scored first with a first-minute penalty by Demetri Catrakilis, but the Crusaders replied with two tries in the opening 15 minutes as the rookies seemed overawed by playing in Christchurch, away from home for the first time.

The in-your-face defence that characterised their previous games was strangely absent and they were soundly dominated in the rucks, again not committing enough players.

Flank Wimpie van der Walt did drive over for a try in the dying moments of the first half, but the Crusaders went into the break 31-13 in front.

The nerves obviously settled a bit in the second half and the Kings gave a better account of themselves, even though there was still some hesitancy in defence. Fullback George Whitehead capped an impressive game as he rounded off a great try in the closing moments, but the Kings now know that being on the road in Australasia is not a cosy experience for greenhorns.

 http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-03-25-superrugby-wrap-stormers-blow-away-jakes-brumbies/#.VFymhPmUde8