Ken Borland

Schalk Burger was usually at the vanguard when it came to setting a high intensity for the Springboks, but the legendary loose forward does not see that same intensity yet in the current crop of players as they return from Lockdown, which is why he does not believe the national team are ready to compete in the Rugby Championship.

The South African-based players have only had a maximum of three games each – the SuperFan Saturday warm-up, the dour Springbok Showdown and just the opening round of Super Rugby Unlocked. But a decision is due to be made on Friday as to whether they travel to Australia for the Rugby Championship, which is due to start on November 7, with the Springboks taking on Argentina in Brisbane.

“At the moment the Boks are not ready. I just haven’t seen the intensity to match the intensity we saw in the All Blacks/Australia game on the weekend. For us to perform away from home, I think the guys are a few games short. Rassie Erasmus said he wanted them to have six games before playing Test rugby, but if it is true that the November 7 match has already been postponed then they will have more time.

“But we have magnificent players and we play differently to the All Blacks and Wallabies, especially in the way we defend. It was so easy for Australia to get width with just one or two passes, but we rush up and make that so difficult. And we pride ourselves on our scrums and lineouts, so we would have put Australia under so much more pressure,” Burger said in a Laureus Sport For Good Foundation webinar on Wednesday night.

Burger also added that he was concerned about the injury suffered on a French field by Handre Pollard and the lack of certainty over who will back up Elton Jantjies at flyhalf, as well as the injuries at lock.

“Lock and flyhalf are real concerns. Lood de Jager, Handre Pollard and RG Snyman have all suffered major injuries and they are nine-to-10-month injuries, so one wonders if they will be ready for the British Lions tour next year, which is a red-letter event for South Africa. I’m waiting for a few young locks to really stand up, there’s massive scope for that now.

“At flyhalf, Elton is the most natural choice to take over from Handre, but we need someone else too. The question is whether that is Damian Willemse or Curwin Bosch. Kicking for poles will be very important and that’s probably Damian’s most inconsistent area. Or do they use Frans Steyn as cover for flyhalf? That’s all got to unfold over the next year and there are still lots of questions to be answered,” Burger said.

“But the biggest worry is that the guys have not played much rugby. Their intensity is not sharp enough and it looks like they are having difficulty handling the fact that there are no crowds and they need to adapt to that.”

This has been a season of renewal for the Bulls and one of the fresh faces to have really come to the fore in SuperRugby has been loose forward Marco van Staden, a man of frenetic energy, great physicality and no little skill in doing his ball-pilfering job at the rucks.

A couple of the writers who regularly cover the Bulls were fortunate enough to get to interview the 22-year-old recently and he revealed that he played no provincial schoolboy rugby. This is probably largely due to the fact that he went to Hoerskool Bekker in Magaliesburg, not one of the traditional rugby powers.

He has made it this far – now being rated as one of South Africa’s most promising young forwards – thanks to his single-minded determination to fulfil his dream of being a professional rugby player and a bursary to study sports science from the University of Pretoria. Van Staden graduated last month and is the exception to the rule when it comes to how rugby players move through the development pipeline.

This got me thinking about the numerous, who knows how many, talents that fall through the cracks in South African rugby because of our obsession with a handful of elite rugby schools and provincial U19 and U21 competitions and the Varsity Cup.

Our results whenever we get to play against other countries – whether in the Pro14, SuperRugby or at Springbok level – show that our rugby is not well. The main reason for that is the terrible structure of our game. We desperately need a system that includes as much as possible of the undeniable talent that comes flooding through every year.

Instead, our rugby is elitist and there are barriers everywhere. It starts at school level where a few elite schools just get richer and richer through the ridiculous amount of attention that is lavished on them. Just turn on the rugby channel and you are very likely to be watching a schoolboy game.

These youngsters are fawned over from a young age and if you didn’t go to the ‘right’ school then chances are you won’t be playing in Craven Week, which means you won’t get snapped up by a province or university; in other words you are out of the system, generally for good.

Having been taught win-at-all-costs rugby at school level, to the detriment of skills development, these cloistered kids become professional rugby players at the age of 19, big fish in a small pond just going to another small pond. Many of them play in a Varsity Cup that shares little resemblance to the sort of rugby they will need to play if they are going to make it with the Springboks.

That rugby is being jealousy guarded as the preserve of a few was rammed home by two recent incidents.

Wanderers U21 players laid a complaint of vicious racism and assault against Roodepoort, with the disciplinary hearing held on May 9 by the Golden Lions Rugby Union. Seven weeks later and this issue has still not been resolved.

If South African rugby wants their sport to be played and enjoyed by most people in this country then incidents like this cannot be tolerated. If a blind eye is turned to what happens at club level, SA Rugby are discarding the probable solution to their structural crisis. By growing a healthy club rugby culture between the junior and professional ranks, there will be a pipeline that provides opportunity for way more talent.

But this lack of inclusivity is even seen at school level. Hilton College and Paul Roos (still sponsored by a Steinhoff subsidiary) fielded lilywhite teams in their Premier Interschools matches against Maritzburg College and Grey High respectively. Encouraged by blanket television coverage, they are allowed to get away with this gross dereliction of duty.

Both those schools spend a fortune on recruitment, so it is obvious making sure their teams reflect the demographics of our country by obtaining Black talent does not even register on their radar. And these are the schools which are meant to be preparing our children for a future South Africa!

Loose forward Jean Deysel will be leading the Sharks out into battle against the Western Force in their SuperRugby match in Durban on Saturday, the Springbok having made a quicker than expected recovery from an ankle injury.

Although Francois Steyn will be playing – and replaces the resting Pat Lambie at flyhalf – because Sanzar’s appeal against his exoneration on a tip-tackle charge will now only take place on Tuesday, coach Gary Gold felt the captaincy would just be an additional burden on a player who has had a troubled start to the season.

Deysel will be no stranger to the captaincy, having captained the Sharks in numerous Currie Cup games as well as in some SuperRugby encounters.

“The captaincy was an interesting debate, and if Jean hadn’t come through well this week we would have gone with Marco Wentzel as our captain. The other guys in the mix were Frans Steyn and Ryan Kankowski. I am sure Frans will lead the side again at some stage soon, but given the controversy around him this week we felt it was the wrong time to shoulder him with the extra burden of captaincy,” Gold said.

There was advance notification of Lambie, scrumhalf Cobus Reinach and flank Marcell Coetzee being rested this weekend and their replacements are Steyn, who will bring just as much presence to the number 10 jersey, Conrad Hoffman and Deysel.

The powerful Andre Esterhuizen comes in for Steyn at inside centre.

Deysel will be playing blindside flank with Renaldo Bothma shifting to openside.

With so many first-choice players out, the back-up players now have the chance to state their worth.

“Having to make so many changes is challenging, there is no doubt about that, but at the same time it is exciting as we have a lot of depth to our squad and this is a chance for us to see what the players who might not usually get an opportunity do in a big game. This is a chance for us to look at our depth, to assess what we have available,” Gold said.

Team: 15-SP Marais, 14-Odwa Ndungane, 13-JP Pietersen, 12-Andre Esterhuizen, 11-Lwazi Mvovo, 10-Francois Steyn, 9-Conrad Hoffmann, 8-Ryan Kankowski, 7-Jean Deysel, 6-Renaldo Bothma, 5-Marco Wentzel, 4-Mouritz Botha, 3-Jannie du Plessis, 2-Kyle Cooper, 1-Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements – 16-Monde Hadebe, 17-Thomas du Toit, 18-Lourens Adriaanse, 19-Lubabalo Mtyanda, 20-Daniel du Preez, 21-Stefan Ungerer, 22-Fred Zeilinga, 23-Waylon Murray.

The Bulls have looked to rectify their lack of big ball-carrying loose forwards by signing Springbok flank Jacques Potgieter on a three-year contract, the union confirmed at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday.

The 30-year-old Potgieter, who is 6’4 and weighs 115kg, starred previously for the Bulls in 22 SuperRugby games in 2012-13, before becoming a high-profile player for the Waratahs. He joined the Sharks at the beginning of the year, but an ankle injury meant he never actually played a game for them, and John Smit, the CEO of the KwaZulu-Natal franchise, confirmed on Wednesday that they had released him from his contract. Potgieter is engaged to actress Angelique Gerber, whose career would be better served by them living in Gauteng.

“We always knew SuperRugby was going to be a battle on the gain-line, so we need good ball-carriers. We know what Jacques can do, we’ve seen how he’s played for the Bulls previously and for the Waratahs, so he’s definitely a good signing. At the beginning of the season we lost three loose forwards to injury at the same time, and Jacques also played four and seven for the Waratahs. Jannes Kirsten can do that too, and they both can really carry the ball,” coach Nollis Marais said.

High performance manager Xander Janse van Rensburg said Potgieter, who has been seen at practice this week already, will probably be ready to train in a week’s time. He will probably play in all three SuperRugby rounds after the June break.

The acquisition of Potgieter offsets the disappointment of losing hard-working flank Lappies Labuschagne to Japanese club Kubota at the end of the SuperRugby season.

Janse van Rensburg told The Citizen they are hopeful, however, that Labuschagne will be able to return to play for the Bulls in the 2017 SuperRugby campaign at the end of the Japanese season. The fact that Frans Ludeke is coach of Kubota means the Bulls obviously have a negotiating platform, but they did fire Ludeke last year.

Van Rensburg also announced the signing of Southern Kings tighthead prop Jacobie Adriaanse, who Marais described as “a very competitive scrummager who stood his ground against the Crusaders”.