Ken Borland

Much of the blame for South Africa’s late defeat in Brisbane has been laid on the scrum, but what hasn’t been mentioned is the effect losing captain Victor Matfield had on the set-piece. And now the Springboks are set to name an interim captain on Tuesday afternoon, with Schalk Burger also injured, leaving Francois Louw as the likely new leader.

The Springbok scrum had been dominant for the first hour against the Wallabies, the Sharks front-row of Jannie du Plessis, Beast Mtawarira and Bismarck du Plessis producing a much-improved display, but with the whole front row controversially replaced, the home side ended the match in charge of that set-piece, providing them with a priceless platform for their late charge.

Captain Matfield had of course left the field in the first half with a hamstring strain and, although the lanky lock does not contribute a huge amount in terms of scrummaging, his absence from the tight five was nevertheless keenly felt as the Wallabies stole control in that facet.

That’s because the Australians were allowed to close the gap at set-up and engage early, something an experienced member of the tight five like Matfield would no doubt have brought to the attention of referee Nigel Owens. Instead, Burger was leading the side from the back of the scrum and the Wallabies got away with their clever tactic.

“The Australians changed their set-up, they came a bit closer which gave them more shoulder contact before the engagement. It disrupted us and we found it very difficult to set the scrum. Sometimes it is difficult to adapt and they were able to come at us early in the scrums in the second half,” scrum coach Pieter de Villiers said on Monday.

Much has been written about Louw’s leadership qualities, the 30-year-old having done a marvellous job as captain of Bath. He was another experienced old head who was sorely missed in the final quarter in Brisbane, not least of all because of his work at the breakdown, especially since the Wallabies brought on David Pocock to partner Michael Hooper and turn the tide in another area of previous Springbok dominance.

Louw left the field because of a bad gash to his cheek, but doctor Craig Roberts said on Monday that he will be fine to play against the All Blacks this weekend.

A less-obvious facial blow was suffered by Burger, whose cheekbone apparently popped out when he blew his nose after the game. The veteran loose forward went for a scan on Monday and the news is apparently not good, given the hurried announcement from the Springbok camp on Monday night that an interim captain will be announced on Tuesday afternoon.

If Burger is ruled out, then it seems Louw, his former Western Province team-mate, will beat him to become the Springboks’ 55th Test captain.

Amidst all the injury negativity, one of the most positive aspects of the Rugby Championship opener was the return to top form of the two Du Plessis brothers and Mtawarira. Hard, experienced men such as them will be needed at the World Cup.

“We’re very happy with the way the scrums started off. Heyneke had faith in the Sharks front row and we’re very happy they came through because they were under pressure.

“Jannie had a very good game, his work-rate was good and in the previous game too. He scrummed very well, so we’re very happy with that. No player is ever in top shape for the whole year.

“Beast also scrummed very well and I thought Heinke van der Merwe, for someone who hasn’t played for the Springboks for a long time, did very well too,” De Villiers said.

The match against Australia provided the opportunity for some fringe players to stake their claim for the World Cup squad and nobody took their chance better than Lood de Jager, who replaced Matfield after 20 minutes.

“We wanted to use the match for rotation, for guys to get game time. Some players got a bit of experience and that will be great for the World Cup.

“The plan was always to rotate guys up front because it’s in the best interests of the team for players to get game time and enough match fitness.

“Lood gave a great little performance, he was strong in the scrum and great overall, making several tackles. He had a very high work-rate,” De Villiers said.

Doctor Roberts also announced that flank Marcell Coetzee is likely to miss Saturday’s game due to a big contusion to the muscles around the knee, while he confirmed that Jean de Villiers, who came through 60 minutes for Western Province at the weekend “fairly well”, Fourie du Preez, Duane Vermeulen, Willem Alberts, Frans Steyn and Pieter-Steph du Toit will all continue their rehab with the Springbok squad but are not ready to play yet.

Charl Schwartzel was the star of the second round at the South African Open on Friday as he closed to within a stroke of leader Andy Sullivan at Glendower Golf Club.

Despite battling a badly bruised toe and still trying to rediscover his perfect swing, Schwartzel was able to make five birdies and an eagle, offsetting four bogeys, as he posted a 69 that took him to seven-under-par for the tournament, in second place behind Sullivan.

The Englishman, the joint leader overnight, went out from the 10^th hole in three-under 33, but would make bogeys at the par-four fifth and seventh holes, before picking up a shot at the par-five eighth to finish with a 70 and eight-under-par overall.

Schwartzel also started on the 10^th and had grafted through his round, playing his first 15 holes in one-over-par. But a spectacular birdie-eagle-birdie finish allowed the South African to make a dramatic surge up the leaderboard.

“I was just missing fairways by a little bit, or when I finally hit a good shot I would three-putt, so nothing was really going for me. But any time you finish like that, it turns your day into a much better one and nobody was more surprised than me!” Schwartzel said after his round.

Schwartzel has not had a top-10 finish on the European Tour since August’s Bridgestone Invitational WGC event and has been battling much-publicised swing problems. But on Friday his biggest wish would have been for carts to be allowed so he wouldn’t have to walk between holes after bashing his toe on some househould furniture in the build-up to the tournament.

“I’m trying to get an old feeling back in my swing and it’s the same with the putter, I’ve spent quite a few hours on the practice green. I’m just trying to remember what I used to do, even going as far back as my junior days, just trying to be more consistent.

“But my toe was worse today. There’s no real pain when I hit the ball, it’s just the walking that is very painful. But I’m not playing in pain otherwise I would withdraw,” Schwartzel said.

While South Africa’s highest-ranked golfer merely had to deal with stabbing pains in his toe, five-time champion and tournament host Ernie Els must have felt like Glendower had kneed him in the groin as he crashed down the leaderboard with a staggering bogey, triple-bogey, triple-bogey sequence from the eighth hole.

But Els has not won 67 professional tournaments and earned the equivalent of nearly a billion rand in prizemoney by being mentally fragile and he fought his way back with successive birdies on 13 and 14, before parring his way in for a 77. The host will nevertheless be around for the weekend and is only eight shots behind Sullivan on level-par for the tournament.

Jbe’ Kruger, who was tied for the lead with Sullivan overnight, had a disastrous day with an 80 and just scraped into the weekend on the cut-mark of two-over.

JJ Senekal was the other golfer to produce a top-class round on Friday, shooting a 67 to climb into a share of third with Denmark’s Lasse Jensen and fellow South African Colin Nel on six-under.

Sullivan, a jovial 28-year-old from Nuneaton, once again brought an aggressive approach to the tight parklands course and, apart from a wobble coming in, it paid off.

“The course was a bit tougher today but I’m happy with my round, I actually probably played a bit better today. The rough is brutal but yesterday I got away with it, while today I was punished a couple of times. But I attacked just as much,” Sullivan said.

Luke Donald was the star of the show and the leader after the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City on Friday as he fired a superb nine-under-par 63, the tournament’s best round since 2011.

Donald was two shots clear of overnight leader Ross Fisher on 10-under-par and his round was blemish-free and a brilliant display of precision golf.

Fisher was also two shots ahead of his nearest challengers after a battling two-under-par 70, with Frenchman Alexander Levy on six-under and Danny Willett on five-under-par after a 68.

Donald announced himself as ready to return to the top of world golf as the former world number one produced a dazzling round with nine birdies, six of them on the front nine which he has usually found harder to deal with on his seventh visit to the Gary Player Country Club.

“Obviously nine birdies around this place is a great round and something I was very pleased with. It’s been a while since I played such a solid round. I gave myself a lot of good opportunities today, I didn’t put myself into too much trouble. Obviously when the putter is warm, it’s always one of my best weapons in the bag, so it was nice to roll in a few today,” Donald said.

The 36-year-old – he turns 37 on Sunday – described himself as always feeling in control during his round and that was certainly not the impression Fisher, Marcel Siem or George Coetzee gave as the final three-ball were overtaken by the first man to win both the European and PGA tour moneylists in the same year.

The trio all made silly mistakes as the notorious Sun City rough punished their waywardness.

While Fisher held it together well enough to stay in touch with his fellow Englishman Donald, Siem was left six shots off the pace after a 72 and Coetzee was eight strokes back after a disappointing 74.

“It was a strange day, the total opposite from yesterday. It started really nicely, but all of us had problems on the golf course today. It was not like yesterday where we fed from each other. I felt like we were never going to finish, and on 16, we felt the whole tournament was over already. We played five hours, two minutes, just had a really long round and we didn’t play as well as we did yesterday.  Unfortunately the few chances we had on the back nine didn’t drop,” Siem lamented.

“It’s a tough golf course and I don’t feel like I played probably as solid as yesterday. I didn’t hit it as good off the tee. But I still felt like I played pretty solid. I hit one poor tee shot on 14 which cost me a six and had to take a penalty drop there. I got it to five‑under after 11, so I was hoping to kick on and reproduce 66 from yesterday or even a little bit better. But unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be, so I still shot under par, even with a couple of those loose shots coming in.

“Today it just seemed like every putt we over‑borrowed. I hit at least half-a-dozen, if not seven or eight putts, that I hit exactly where I wanted to hit it, and just unfortunately was over-reading the greens today,” Fisher said.

It was left to Frenchman Alexander Levy to act as the challenger to the English dominance as he posted a solid 70.

“It was a good 70, I’m happy because it’s not my best golf but I managed the golf course well. It’s always good to play 70 on this golf course, it’s very difficult and it’s hot,” Levy said.