Ken Borland

Bulls coach Jake White said before their United Rugby Championship match against the Sharks in Durban that he would like his team to move towards the Northern Hemisphere approach of using the set-pieces as more of an attacking platform than as an opportunity to get penalties.

The Sharks clearly did not get the memo though as they thoroughly dominated the Bulls in the scrums, earning eight penalties as well as forcing referee Jaco Peyper to yellow card retreaded tighthead Lizo Gqoboka, and also putting the visitors under pressure in the lineouts. That dominance up front set in motion a commanding display as they swept the Currie Cup champions aside 30-16.

“The set-pieces are always important, especially with the conditions we have in Durban this time of year,” Sharks coach Sean Everitt said. “The set-pieces really functioned well and we got a maul try.

“So it’s been a good turnaround in that department. The scrum is one of three things that have to be in place for you to win, the others being territory and defence.

“We won the territory battle, although we were not as clinical as I would have liked in the first half. Defensively we stopped the Bulls’ momentum, we won the gain-line.

“At the breakdowns we were doing more cleaning next to the ball and not over it, but we got better at it, and in the second half we were able to put the opposition under pressure there,” Everitt said.

White said the Bulls are set to boost their front-row stocks, especially at tighthead prop, given the departure of Trevor Nyakane to Racing 92 in France, and the current unavailability of Jacques van Rooyen and Mornay Smith. The inexperienced Robert Hunt started in the number three jersey and was replaced by Gqoboka, who has not played on that side of the scrum since the start of his career.

“From a personnel point of view, we obviously need to get more experienced tighthead props because there are things in the scrum we have to get right,” White said.

“On our ball, I thought we played quite cleverly, but there was no stopping the Sharks on their ball and that put us under pressure.”

Everitt also gave a big thumbs up to his returning Springboks, who were very much the heartbeat of the side, especially Thomas du Toit and Bongi Mbonambi up front, and Lukhanyo Am at inside centre.

“Having the Boks back made a huge difference and they came through really well. It’s their attitude that was really pleasing.

“I’ve been at the Sharks for a long time and sometimes you worry about the attitude of the Springboks when they come back, but they came back very well prepared and it was a smooth transition.

“Lukhanyo played yet another 80 minutes and was man of the match, while Bongi fitted in seamlessly and did really well today. He was strong defensively and the set-pieces went really well,” Everitt said.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are at present pleased with South Africa’s assurances of their players’ safety and it looks like the box for the crucial multi-format tour by Virat Kohli’s men to take on the Proteas still has a tick in it.

CSA director of cricket Graeme Smith told The Citizen on Tuesday that the outlook is “positive” for the Indian tour, which is worth more than $100 million to the financially-constrained organisation, to go ahead, despite the panicky reaction by other countries to the Omicron variant of Covid discovered by South African scientists.

The importance of the tour to South African cricket has been recognised by government and the Ministry of International Relations and Co-Operation issued a statement on Tuesday assuring the BCCI that “a full bio-secure environment” will be established for the tourists as they “take all precautions necessary to ensure the health and safety of the Indian team”.

The BCCI have stated in India that they will be taking a chartered flight to South Africa on December 8 or 9 and CSA chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra confirmed on Tuesday that they have approved the same BSE bubble measures that have been successfully used for other tours to the country.

The Indian government’s only requirement is that the BCCI checks with them before departure that there are no travel advisories in place against going to South Africa.

But it seems they are also keen for the tour to go ahead as the High Commissioner to South Africa is apparently much enamoured by the function to be held in Cape Town on January 2 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of South Africa’s readmission to international cricket, with India being the first country to host them back in 1991/92. It is meant to be a celebration of the strong ties between the two countries.

Manjra said there are “presently no doubts about the tour going ahead”.

The Press Trust of India on Tuesday quoted BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal as saying: “We are in constant touch with the CSA officials. Whatever best we can do to not compromise the series we will try and do.

“But if the situation aggravates and if it compromises our players’ safety and health, we will have to see. In the end, whatever is the Government of India advisory, we will abide by that,” Dhumal said.

People sometimes like to think of T20 cricket as being as complicated a strategic game as, say, backgammon, but for David Miller, the Proteas need to keep it as simple as possible in their crunch World Cup game against England in Sharjah on Saturday.

Of course South Africa have worked hard on implementing the right tactics against the tournament favourites, but Miller said the team, since bouncing back from their loss to Australia in their opening match, have broken their play down into small bits.

“We’ve bounced back from the loss and been really good in the last three games,” Miller said. “We have a blueprint that we are striving to perfect, and although there has been huge growth, we are still learning.

“It’s a massive game for us but we mustn’t be looking at the end result. We have to stick to our processes, take it ball-by-ball, over-by over. It’s a big cliché, but we have to do that.

“We need to be clear in our planning and preparation against England, we want to simplify what we have to do, and it’s important to really enjoy ourselves out there as well,” Miller said.

While South Africa have certainly not cured all their batting issues after some ham-fisted efforts in recent times, to have Miller back in peak form after injury is a massive bonus and the successive sixes he smoked in the final over to beat Sri Lanka will live long in the memory.

Top-level sport only loans its competitors confidence depending on the vagaries of their results, but the 32-year-old left-hander said the Proteas currently feel like they are riding a wave, having not only won consistently over the last six months but also, and certainly not coincidentally, having kept the same squad of players together.

“We’re nice and focused and ready for the next game, the team is in a good space and feeling refreshed. We’ve had a similar squad for the last six months and we’ve built up a really nice bond.

“We’re finding ways to win matches and that makes us really chuffed. We’ve won 12 of our last 14 games and that has definitely given us confidence going into this must-win match.

“In those tight moments in a game, you grab hold of every bit of confidence that you can. Winning does not necessarily have to be pretty – some of our games have been clinical and smooth, and some we still won when our performance was neither here nor there.

“We’ve happened to win one or two close games now, and hopefully that confidence, momentum and growth can keep going. Having the same squad means that we’ve learnt how to play with each other, what makes your team-mates tick,” Miller said.

The Bulls like to market themselves as being one of the most physical outfits around and, having been thoroughly outplayed by a pacy, skilful Leinster team on the opening weekend of United Rugby Championship action, flank Arno Botha expects them to be able to throw their weight around a bit more against Connacht on Friday night.
Playing in perfect conditions for running rugby, Leinster barely allowed physicality to come into it with their high-paced game and efficiency at the breakdown, but a change in the Irish weather this weekend might also slow the game down for the Bulls.
“There were perfect conditions against Leinster, sunny with no wind, but it’s going to be totally different against Connacht, which they say is like Kimberley.

“But I think it’s going to rain, so it will be cold and wet. They bring a physical battle and they never stop, their whole mindset is just to go and go.
“They beat Munster there and it’s definitely going to be a physical and interesting battle for us. We need to be more clinical, it’s not so much physicality that let us down.

“It’s just about getting more comfortable in a different environment, there are things we need to adapt to, and sometimes just one or two mistakes mean you lose the game,” Botha, who played for Munster before returning to the Bulls, said on Monday.
Botha said that, as the tourists, they need to find a way to take Connacht out of their comfort zone.
“It’s obviously more pressurised rugby and we have to go back to grinding it out again so we can take them from their comfort zone to an uncomfortable place.

“Leinster were quick and they caught us a bit because we went in not being too sure what to expect. But it’s not a trainsmash, it’s still a learning curve for us and we will make the step up.
“I don’t think there’s a big gap between us and the Irish, sometimes things just happen in a game. We made two mistakes and we were behind our poles. There was no panic though, but there were little defining moments that we got wrong and we must learn from,” Botha said.