Ken Borland

It’s going to be a bumpy road to the Momentum One-Day Cup playoff for the Dolphins, Lions and Titans, who are all in action on Friday night as the competition enters a critical stage with World Cup and SA A call-ups playing havoc with team selection for the franchises.

The Nashua Cape Cobras must rate themselves as being virtually assured of automatic entry to the final as they enjoy a nine-point lead at the top of the log with three matches to play.

Last season’s joint champions have won five of their seven matches, including an excellent five-wicket win over the bizhub Highveld Lions last week at the Wanderers, when they were missing a large proportion of their first-choice side.

But the fortunes of the three teams below them in the standings – the Dolphins (16pts), Lions (15pts) and Titans (13pts) – have fluctuated wildly and one of the franchises needs to get a solid run going in order to cement themselves into second place.

Lions coach Geoff Toyana will be hoping that it will be his team, that has been boosted by the return of several key players, that will take control of their destiny with victory over the Chevrolet Knights at the Wanderers on Friday, while Titans coach Rob Walter will be aiming for similar success as they take on the Cobras in Cape Town in a match-up that is a repeat of last season’s washed out final.

The fact that SA A play their next limited-overs match against the England Lions in Potchefstroom on Saturday means that Toyana is able to use star bowlers like Eddie Leie and Kagiso Rabada, while Hardus Viljoen is also fit again to further boost their attack and experienced campaigners Alviro Petersen and Thami Tsolekile also come back into the line-up.

Toyana said on Thursday that his team’s chances of possibly moving into second place will all come down to their ability to focus on their own skills and getting the execution of those right.

The Knights come to Johannesburg with their hopes of making the playoff all but gone after just one win in seven games, and they will be without key batsman Reeza Hendricks.

Toyana is not going to write them off, however.

“The Knights are a very dangerous team and very competitive in 50-over cricket. They can still get to 20 points so it’s a crunch game for us. If we don’t win then we’re not going to go far in this competition, so it’s important we do well and keep our destiny in our own hands,” Toyana toldThe Citizen on Thursday.

The Unlimited Titans travel to Newlands fresh from a morale-boosting win over the Knights in Kimberley, but are going to have to find replacements for key players like Marchant de Lange, Theunis de Bruyn and David Wiese, who are all with the SA A side.

Albie Morkel is set to make a return to domestic action and the Titans are going to have to decide, depending on pitch conditions, whether to play a second frontline spinner in Tabraiz Shamsi or another seamer in Ethy Mbhalati, while Graeme van Buuren (slow left-arm) and Grant Thomson (medium-pace) are both batting all-rounders competing for a single place.

The Titans will be hoping for more of the same from openers Jacques Rudolph and Henry Davids, who put on 77 for the first wicket in 14.3 overs against the Knights.

The Cobras have more players unavailable than most, but they have been able to make do thanks to the excellent depth they enjoy down in the Western Cape.

Openers Richard Levi and Andrew Puttick have been making bucket-loads of runs, while this season has also seen Sybrand Engelbrecht make strong progress.

Justin Kemp, the old warhorse, can still cart the best of bowlers around the park, while Robin Peterson is another experienced, dangerous campaigner for the Titans to be wary of.

The Sunfoil Dolphins travel to Port Elizabeth to face a Chevrolet Warriors side that has been boosted by the return of Rusty Theron from a knee injury and the availability of Simon Harmer.

Both sides have been in danger of having their 50-over skills decomposing due to lack of use as neither of them have played in the Momentum One-Day Cup since the end of October, but while the Dolphins still have the title to aim for, the Warriors can realistically only build for next season having won just one of their five games thus far.

Against the strengthened Warriors attack, the Dolphins will be relying heavily on three hugely experienced batsmen – Morne van Wyk, Daryn Smit, who had his 31st birthday on Wednesday, and Vaughn van Jaarsveld, who turns 30 on Monday.

http://citizen.co.za/317374/bumpy-road-momentum-one-day-cup-playoff/

Replacement Fred Zeilinga’s seven penalties put the Cell C Sharks’ noses in front in a photo-finish to their Absa Currie Cup match against the Xerox Golden Lions at King’s Park last night, as the home side scraped through 26-23 to keep their chances alive of hosting a semi-final.

The Lions had no answer to the Sharks’ determination to keep ball in hand, their superiority at the breakdown led by Jacques Botes, who was ‘celebrating’ the last home game of his illustrious career, and the often perplexing decisions of referee Pro Legoete.

The game was often scrappy as both sides gave away plenty of possession through handling errors, and the lineouts also seldom went to plan for the team throwing in.

The Lions enjoyed a 13-11 half-time lead as wing Ruan Combrinck read a blindside move by the Sharks perfectly and raced away for a 60-metre intercept try, with Marnitz Boshoff, the number 15 on his back, converting and adding two penalties.

A bullocking run by centre Andre Esterhuizen had given the Sharks their only try, but he was yellow-carded shortly afterwards for elbowing a tackler.

But the Sharks chipped away in the second half with Zeilinga adding penalties in the 46^th, 49^th, 54^th and 60^th minutes. An electrifying try by the Lions, centre Stokkies Hanekom dotting down after superb offloads by Franco Mostert, Jacques van Rooyen, Kwagga Smith and Ross Cronje, gave them a tiny glimmer of hope, but a good looping move by the Sharks created space on the outside and another penalty for Zeilinga, who took over the kicks from flyhalf Lionel Cronje towards the end of the first half.

The Lions were also hurt badly by replacement flank Derick Minnie being sent off to the sin-bin in the 68^th minute for killing the ball in the ruck, when it looked very much like a tackle situation.

Scorers

Sharks – Try: Andre Esterhuizen. Penalties: Fred Zeilinga (7).

Lions – Tries: Ruan Combrinck, Stokkies Hanekom. Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (2). Penalties: Boshoff (3).

The departure of Jake White has been dealt with and the Cell C Sharks team is fully focused on the vital Absa Currie Cup match against the Xerox Golden Lions at King’s Park tonight, according to the coach Brad Macleod-Henderson.

The meeting with the high-riding Lions is crucial for the Sharks because defeat will end their hopes of hosting a semi-final.

“The news about Jake broke on Monday and we had a team meeting and that issue has now been dealt with. We all know it’s a huge game against the Lions and the focus is now on that,” Macleod-Henderson told The Citizen yesterday.

The Sharks received good news yesterday with Kyle Cooper passing a fitness test on his knee and the experienced hooker will be important in the scrums, where the Sharks will have to match the powerful Lions unit, and the lineouts, where the KwaZulu-Natalians have been the form team in the Currie Cup.

“In the last couple of games, the lineout has worked very well for us, but we want to put pressure on the Lions all over the field. We want to limit their opportunities to get the ball because they’re not shy to attack, even from their own half. There will always be opportunities for us to move our ball or kick the ball, and we want to get the balance right,” Macleod-Henderson said.

The excellence of the Sharks’ lineout, led by veteran Marco Wentzel and now featuring another Springbok in Stephan Lewies, has caused Lions coach Johan Ackermann to field Willie Britz, who has regularly played lock for the Gautengers, at eighthman.

“The more lineout options we have the better because then we’ll be under less pressure. The Sharks have an old head there in Marco Wentzel and he has been one of the best lineout jumpers for a long time. Lewies is a Springbok as well, so it’s a quality lineout and Willie Britz will be important for us,” Ackermann said yesterday.

The Lions coach is certainly expecting the forwards to be the big workers tomorrow night and has once again named a complete front row on the bench, with the versatility of Mark Richards, Howard Mnisi and even Kwagga Smith enabling him to go for a five-two split.

But Ackermann is also keen on his team maintaining their attacking mindset and the instinctive, energetic linking play between forwards and backs that has served them so well.

The Sharks have also been producing good all-round rugby and the stage is set for one of the most intriguing clashes of the season.

Teams
Sharks: 15-SP Marais, 14-S’bura Sithole, 13-Paul Jordaan, 12-Andre Esterhuizen, 11-Lwazi Mvovo, 10-Lionel Cronje, 9-Cameron Wright, 8-Tera Mtembu, 7-Etienne Oosthuizen, 6-Jacques Botes, 5-Marco Wentzel, 4-Stephan Lewies, 3-Lourens Adriaanse, 2-Kyle Cooper, 1-Thomas du Toit. Replacements – 16-Monde Hadebe, 17-Dale Chadwick, 18-Matt Stevens, 19-JC Astle, 20-Khaya Majola, 21-Conrad Hoffmann, 22-Fred Zeilinga.

Lions: 15-Andries Coetzee, 14-Ruan Combrinck, 13-Lionel Mapoe, 12-Stokkies Hanekom, 11-Courtnall Skosan, 10-Marnitz Boshoff, 9-Ross Cronje, 8-Willie Britz, 7-Warwick Tecklenburg, 6-Jaco Kriel, 5-Franco Mostert, 4-Martin Muller, 3-Ruan Dreyer, 2-Robbie Coetzee, 1-Schalk van der Merwe. Bench – 16-Armand van der Merwe, 17-Julian Redelinghuys, 18-Jacques van Rooyen, 19-Derick Minnie, 20-Kwagga Smith, 21-Mark Richards, 22-Howard Mnisi.

Cell C Sharks coach Brad Macleod-Henderson said that the returns to fitness of young and old props Thomas du Toit and Matt Stevens was timely given the strength of the Golden Lions scrum that they will face in their Absa Currie Cup match at King’s Park on Friday.

The Lions have boasted the form scrum in the Currie Cup this season and that has prompted Macleod-Henderson to return Du Toit to the loosehead prop position and also choose an entire front-row on the bench, with England and British Lions international Stevens joining Dale Chadwick and either Monde Hadebe or Franco Marais amongst the replacements.

Hadebe has been bracketed with hooker Kyle Cooper, who needs to pass a fitness test on a knee injury, in the starting line-up.

“The Lions have a strong scrum, they’ve enjoyed great continuity from SuperRugby and they like to play an exciting brand of rugby and keep the ball in hand. We will need to sort our scrum out, defensively we will need to be strong and we’ll look for a few chinks in their armour that we’ll try to exploit.

“But the Lions have really set the Currie Cup alight since the first round, so we know we’ve got a huge challenge on our hands and we are looking forward to it,” Macleod-Henderson said on Wednesday.

The Sharks tight five has also been boosted by the return to the starting line-up of Springbok Stephan Lewies, relegating the promising JC Astle to the bench, while veteran flank Jacques Botes is also back for a match that will also be a tribute for the most-capped Currie Cup player ever on potentially his last game at King’s Park.

“I said earlier in the week that the word legend is maybe used too often these days, but Jacques is really a legend both on the field and off it. As a team man, I don’t think you’ll find better anywhere in the world. We’ll be going out to make sure he ends with a victory,” Macleod-Henderson said.

A new-look bench, split five-two between forwards and backs, also features the return of flyhalf Fred Zeilinga to the match-day squad, the 21-year-old being chosen ahead of Tim Swiel.

The release of wing Lwazi Mvovo from the Springboks means the Sharks will field the same backline that shone in beating the EP Kings 53-24 last weekend.

Victory for the third-placed Sharks, who trail the Lions by five points, is obviously crucial if the Durbanites are to have any chance of hosting a semi-final.

Sharks team: 15-SP Marais, 14-S’bura Sithole, 13-Paul Jordaan, 12-Andre Esterhuizen, 11-Lwazi Mvovo, 10-Lionel Cronje, 9-Cameron Wright, 8-Tera Mtembu, 7-Etienne Oosthuizen, 6-Jacques Botes, 5-Marco Wentzel, 4-Stephan Lewies, 3-Lourens Adriaanse, 2-Kyle Cooper/Monde Hadebe, 1-Thomas du Toit. Replacements – 16-Monde Hadebe/Franco Marais, 17-Dale Chadwick, 18-Matt Stevens, 19-JC Astle, 20-Khaya Majola, 21-Conrad Hoffmann, 22-Fred Zeilinga.