Ken Borland

Saturday’s hastily arranged match for the SA A team against the Bulls in Cape Town is the last available cab for those members of the Springbok squad who are looking to get a ride into the squad for the first Test next weekend against the British and Irish Lions, which is why coach Jacques Nienaber is expecting plenty of intensity and even desperation from his team.

Realistically, most of this SA A side have a chance of featuring in the Test 23, especially with the Springboks still waiting on several players to clear their Covid Return-to-Play protocols. Tighthead prop Vincent Koch, flank Marco van Staden and flyhalf Elton Jantjies are probably the players with the most to gain as strong performances by them could see them into the starting XV because Frans Malherbe, Siya Kolisi and Handre Pollard have Covid question marks over their names.

“The main purpose of this match is to get more game time and to get good intensity, as well as allowing the players to stake a claim, we want to give everyone fair chance. We wanted three games for all that and we’ve been lucky enough to get that thanks to the Bulls. On Wednesday the team had a different goal, but Saturday will be a big chance for guys to stake a claim for a possible Test start.

“That’s the desperation that drives this group and playing against the top franchise in South Africa should be a phenomenal test. The Bulls have an unbelievable coaching structure and we know they will leave no stone unturned to give us a proper hit out. The fact that it is a unique game – I can’t remember in my time SA A playing against a franchise – adds to how huge it will be,” Nienaber said on Friday.

The Springbok squad just keeps getting bigger as it becomes a vessel for more and more back-up players due to the number of Covid infections, and tighthead prop Wilco Louw, who last played for South Africa before the World Cup in 2019, has made his way back into the picture and will play off the bench against the Bulls.

“Wilco has joined us because of the Covid infections. When a player tests positive, they have to spend 10 days in isolation, but then there’s the Return-to-Play Protocol which has markers the player has to pass like with concussion. So it’s basically 16-17 days before they’re back in the mix, so we still have some players unavailable.

“We only had four props so if we had one more injury then we would not be able to field a front row and would have to forfeit the match. Then there are guys like Dan du Preez for example, who still have Covid and have not been able to play in any of the warm-up games. For a player like that to now make the Test side, they would have to have had extensive time in our system,” Nienaber explained.

SA A team – Aphelele Fassi, Yaw Penxe, Wandisile Simelane, Damian de Allende, Rosko Specman, Elton Jantjies, Cobus Reinach, Kwagga Smith, Rynhardt Elstadt, Marco van Staden, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Jean-Luc du Preez, Vincent Koch, Joseph Dweba, Coenie Oosthuizen. Bench: Thomas du Toit, Fez Mbatha, Wilco Louw, Jasper Wiese, Sanele Nohamba, Sbu Nkosi, Jesse Kriel, Damian Willemse, Lizo Gqoboka.

The Sharks have failed so far to touch the great heights they reached at the start of the year in SuperRugby, but when they host the Pumas in a Currie Cup fixture on Friday night at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, they will be looking to start the new competition with a clean slate and with a slick performance.

The Sharks scraped to a one-point win over Griquas, a team similar to the Pumas, in their last outing, but they won 42-19 in Nelspruit in their match there earlier this season, which will give them some confidence.

Apart from that disappointing display, and a loss to the champion Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, the Sharks’ graph has generally been upwards, however, and Springbok Thomas du Toit makes his return to the front row after injury to provide a timely boost to a scrum that has struggled at times.

The Pumas finished second-bottom on the Super Rugby Unlocked log with their only victory coming in week two against Griquas in Kimberley, but they were unfortunate not to collect more points. They have some big, heavy hitters and an enterprising backline means they are not easy to defend against. The Pumas were particularly impressive in a narrow defeat to the powerhouse Stormers, so the Sharks will know it could be a very close contest.

The Pumas have been hard hit in recent weeks though by players testing positive for Covid-19, and that could affect their cohesion.

“Obviously our long-term goal is to win the Currie Cup, but we’re not going to win it if we don’t perform well, so our focus is just on the job at hand this weekend. It’s an opportunity for us to perform at our optimum, we’ve done really well at home this season, we’re unbeaten at Kings Park.

“The Pumas ran the Bulls close though in the second half last weekend and there are no easy games in this competition as we saw against Griquas. We are four points behind on the log and there are just six games in the Currie Cup, so it’s important that we start building log points and to get five against the Pumas would be great,” Sharks coach Sean Everitt said.

Teams

Sharks: Manie Libbok, Yaw Penxe, Jeremy Ward (c), Marius Louw, Madosh Tambwe, Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Thembelani Bholi, JJ van der Mescht, Dylan Richardson, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Kerron van Vuuren, Ox Nche. REPLACEMENTS – Daniel Jooste, Khwezi Mona, Hanro Jacobs, Zain Davids, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Cameron Wright, Werner Kok, Sbu Nkosi.

Pumas: Devon Williams; Morné Joubert, Erich Cronjé, Ali Mgijima, Etienne Taljaard; Theo Boshoff, Ginter Smuts; Francois Kleinhans, Phumzile Maqondwana, Daniel Maartens; Pieter Janse van Vuren ©, Darrien Landsberg; Ruan Kramer, HP van Schoor. Liam Hendriks. Bench: Marko Janse van Rensburg, Wikus Groenewald, Brandon Valentyn, Heath Backhouse, Chriswill September ,Wayne van der Bank, Tapiwa Mafura, Dewald Maritz.

Kickoff: 7pm.

Scotland skipper Stuart Hogg says he will be looking to ensure the British and Irish Lions stamp their mark on their tour of South Africa with the right performance and result as he captains them in their opening match overseas against Gauteng’s Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The lively fullback leads an almost entirely new starting XV for the tourists and he certainly has the experience for the job, being on his third Lions tour and having led Scotland to momentous away victories over both England and France in this year’s Six Nations Championship.

“We will be looking to lay down a marker early doors and start the tour in the best way possible. I’ve watched the 1997 South African tour video about a million times and I reckon I can quote 90% of it. I absolutely loved Martin Johnson as the captain, but I will be my own man as a leader. It’s not my style to scream and shout, I prefer to lead from the front.

“There will be lots of great leaders in the team on Saturday like Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje, and I will just be going out and trying to do my job. I look forward to expressing myself, and contributing to a successful start to the tour. It’s all about the energy and buzz we create, those little victories in the game will be massive, that kicks you on. But if those moments don’t go according to plan then we have to regroup and start again,” Hogg said on Thursday.

For coach Warren Gatland, the pace with which his team settles into their combinations will be vital with just five matches to be played before the first Test in Cape Town on July 24.

“We’re a bit limited with there only being five games before the Tests, so we need to build confidence quickly and create combinations too and see how they work out as quickly as possible because there’s a lot of competition in the squad. If we play well on Saturday then we can get that confidence going. We’ve had a good look at the opposing Lions and they will be strong up front.

“The first game is always difficult as you need to get up to speed and we’re up against a side that is probably the least affected in terms of losing players to the Springboks. So they’re going to be a settled outfit and incredibly motivated to be the first team to beat us on tour. But it’s been above expectation how well we’ve gelled so far and we know how tough and physical it’s going to be,” Gatland said.

Team – Stuart Hogg, Louis Rees-Zammit, Chris Harris, Owen Farrell, Josh Adams, Finn Russell, Ali Price, Taulupe Faletau, Hamish Watson, Courtney Lawes, Jonny Hill, Maro Itoje, Kyle Sinckler, Jamie George, Wyn Jones. Bench: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Mako Vunipola, Zander Fagerson, Iain Henderson, Sam Simmonds, Gareth Davies, Bundee Aki, Elliot Daly.

There will be top-flight domestic rugby in South Africa this weekend as the Free State Cheetahs, looking to quickly get up to speed for the Currie Cup, will be taking on a Toyota Invitational XV in Bloemfontein on Saturday at 4pm.

The match will be the first the Cheetahs have played since March 28 when they hammered the Eastern Province Elephants 71-12 in the preparation series, having been excluded from the Rainbow Cup, which is on a bye week in South Africa. With the Currie Cup set to get underway on June 19, the Free Staters need some competitive action as they look to regain the trophy they won in 2019.

The Invitational XV will be made up of players who are on the fringes of their Rainbow Cup franchises and will be coached by Ricardo Loubscher and Daan Human, who are both part of the Springbok management.

“We’re excited because we haven’t played for two months and we’re really looking forward to getting rid of the rust. This is a very important match because we don’t play in the Rainbow Cup so we have to look after ourselves and make sure we get some quality opposition before the Currie Cup. You can train as much as you want, but on the field is where you see what’s working and what’s not.

“Our guys had two weeks off and we’ve trained for six weeks in the last two months. But they also need match-fitness and I don’t think the Lions and Bulls are going to lose too many players to the Boks, plus there are a lot of overseas players around, so the Currie Cup is going to be a very strong competition. But we have a lot of quality players too and it’s sad they did not get the chance to show that in the Rainbow Cup,” Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie said on Monday.

Harold Verster, the managing director of the Cheetahs, said top-level rugby has been sorely missed in Bloemfontein, but he is confident it will return soon.

“We’ve been in the cold for a while, but now we can look forward to the Currie Cup, which will be played home and away, starting in June. We are still positive and looking forward and there are still one or two more games we are looking at. I’m very positive that the Cheetahs will be playing at a higher level, SA Rugby are working really hard on that process.

“In the meantime we’re trying to keep our heads up. We’ve been through difficult times before and we will get through this too. Participation in a new European competition has been pending for a couple of months now, Covid is causing problems with that though, and the decision has to go through the highest level of European rugby. But there are positive signs,” Verster said.