Ken Borland

South Africa roared to victory by 198 runs in the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch on Tuesday, gaining sweet revenge for their hammering in the first Test as they maintained their amazing record of having never lost a series to the Black Caps.

New Zealand began the final day on 94/4, having been set a near-impossible target of 426, which would have required a world-record chase. A more reasonable target for them was to bat out the 90 overs for a draw and a history-making 1-0 series win.

And overnight batsmen Devon Conway and Tom Blundell frustrated the Proteas for the first 96 minutes as they took their dogged partnership to 85. But paceman Lutho Sipamla, in the middle of a tight spell, then fired in an excellent yorker which trapped Conway lbw for 92.

The South African born left-hander showed great determination in batting for four-and-a-half hours, facing 188 balls as he narrowly missed out on his fourth century in his seventh Test.

The Proteas then piled on the pressure with relentless aggression, with fiery left-armer Marco Jansen removing Blundell for 44, Colin de Grandhomme for 18 as Wiaan Mulder took a scorching catch at short fine-leg, and Kyle Jamieson for 12.

Left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj did not add to the two wickets he took on the fourth day, but with his posse of close-in fielders in fine semantic form, he kept the pressure on from the other end.

With spots of drizzle meaning there was some urgency required to wrap up the innings, Kagiso Rabada returned to dismiss Tim Southee (17), Sipamla handling a skyer extremely well, as Rabada himself had done in catching Jamieson.

But Neil Wagner (10*) and Matt Henry (0) surivived for 52 balls against a lot of short-pitched bowling, with the drizzle then getting heavy enough to force the players from the field at 3.18pm, with an early tea being taken.

Maharaj ensured the anxiety did not last for much longer though as, with the ninth ball after the break, he slid an arm-ball into Henry’s front pad and trapped him lbw to finish with 3/75 in 31.5 overs.

Rabada added 3/46 in 19 overs to his five-wicket haul in the first innings, while Jansen claimed 3/63 in 23 overs.

After all the harsh words thrown at the Proteas after the dismal first Test, they have once again proven their remarkable resilience. There is clearly something very good going on in their changeroom.

The Springboks were in control from the outset and maintained that dominance through to the end as they returned to the Rugby Championship in fine style with a 32-12 win over Argentina in Gqeberha on Saturday.

South Africa were on the board in the second minute through an Elton Jantjies penalty, set up by a strong run off a missed Argentina clearance by Jasper Wiese, who was involved in so much of the action in an impressive display in the No.8 jersey.

Argentina never really settled after that. Well-beaten in the air and in the scrums, they also made several errors with the ball in the face of some typically formidable Springbok defence. The home team were adept at making the most of the opportunities their pressure created and they scored two tries in the first half.

Excellent scrumhalf Cobus Reinach kept chasing in defence after a scrum and received his reward when the Argentina backs dropped the ball, allowing the son of former champion sprinter and Springbok Jaco Reinach to show his pace as he raced away for the opening try in the 14^th minute.

Just five minutes later, lock Eben Etzebeth showed brilliant skills in the air to claim a kick and flyhalf Jantjies then put in a crosskick which wing Aphelele Fassi claimed superbly with one hand, on the bounce and on the gallop, going over for the try.

The Springboks went into halftime 21-9 in front as Jantjies slotted a conversion and three penalties, while Argentina could only respond with three penalties by flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez.

The second half saw the Springboks go to sleep a bit as individual errors made for a disjointed effort. Jantjies added two more penalties and Sanchez one, and it was only in the last 10 minutes when South Africa began to produce some fluent attacking rugby.

A second try to Fassi was disallowed because hooker Malcolm Marx had crawled with the ball on the ground in the build-up, but there would have been purrs of delight in the Springbok camp with just a minute to go as debutant replacement scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse, a late replacement for Herschel Jantjies, who has a hip injury, dived over in the corner for the bonus point try.

Much of the credit must go to replacement flank Marco van Staden, whose ferocious charge put the Springboks right on the front foot.

Given the changes they had made to the team, just a week after the gruelling Lions series, the Springboks will be well-satisfied with their evening’s work.

Scorers

South Africa: Tries – Cobus Reinach, Aphelele Fassi, Jaden Hendrikse. Conversion – Elton Jantjies. Penalties – Jantjies (5).

Argentina: Penalties – Nicolas Sanchez (4).

Kagiso Rabada and Aiden Markram were team-mates when South Africa won the U19 World Cup in 2014 and the fast bowler’s career took off immediately as he made his international debut for the Proteas nine months later in a T20 in Australia and has maintained a stratospheric altitude ever since. Markram has looked like a jet fighter pilot at home, but in Asia he has scratched around like the person who cleans the rubbish bins at the airport.

But there was joy for them both in Karachi on Thursday on the third day of the first Test against Pakistan as Rabada claimed his 200^th Test wicket and Markram made his first half-century on the subcontinent.

Rabada (27-7-70-3) was the shining light in a bowling attack that travelled far and wide on the third morning as Pakistan’s tail thrashed 70 runs in 12.2 overs to stretch their lead to a commanding 158. He is the eighth South African to reach the landmark, and in terms of balls bowled (8154) he is the third fastest overall, behind only Pakistani Waqar Younis (7730) and compatriot Dale Steyn (7848).

Markram then showed great composure and shot-selection as he scored a five-hour 74; with Rassie van der Dussen (64) they erased the deficit with a courageous second-wicket stand of 129. But the day ended as badly for South Africa as it had begun, with Pakistan claiming three wickets for 12 runs to reduce them to 187 for four at stumps, a lead of just 29 with both set batsmen out.

“We definitely believe the match is still winnable. If anything the pitch is going to deteriorate more and the variable bounce will play more of a role. Wickets can fall in clusters on the subcontinent, but we will be tested first in our batting tomorrow [Friday], but we are up for the challenge,” Rabada said.

“Personally, it’s a massive feat to be included in a list of such names as Waqar and Dale, when you start playing you never think of such stats, you just try to be the best you can. There’s no magic answer as to why I’ve been so consistent, it’s just hard work and spending a lot of time on my craft. It’s not easy, you’re trying for perfection and it takes constant repetition and hours of work, just trying to be relentless in seeing how much better you can get.”

While Rabada’s wicket-taking graph has just climbed steadily upwards, Markram’s career has been interspersed with troughs. His 74 on Thursday was his eighth half-century in 23 Tests, while he has also scored four centuries, for a tidy average of 39.51. But in Asia he had scored just 97 runs in nine innings before Thursday’s defiant effort.

“Aiden played an extremely important innings and his partnership with Rassie got us back in the game. He’s a magnificent player and he really applied himself well. He’s been working hard on his game and he really wants to be here. We have been through some of the same challenges and I’m glad he got runs today, he gave us a real chance,” Rabada said of his former U19 captain.

“I am still the man” was the overriding message from flyhalf Morné Steyn as he steered the Bulls to a tense 18-16 Vodacom SuperRugby victory over the Sharks in Durban and maintained their position atop the South African Conference and in second overall.

It was not just the fact that Steyn was once again on-target with the boot, his six penalties accounting for all the Bulls’ points, but even more so the way he marshalled his side, won them the territory battle and kept their structure and game plan rock-solid under intense, Test-like pressure. And he did all that even though his team were massively on the back foot at scrum-time.

There is now surely little doubt Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer will call on Steyn to wear the number 10 jersey for the national side in their quadrangular Tests involving Italy, Scotland and Samoa next month.

Pat Lambie, who also kicked superbly at goal on Saturday but was not as assured in general play, will probably be on the Springboks’ bench as Steyn won the battle of the flyhalves at King’s Park.

The passionate Sharks produced a display of much thunder and fury, but little actual impact as the Bulls sat back and defended stoutly, waiting for the inevitable handling error and then kicking the Sharks back into their own territory, from where lapses in discipline could be turned into points by Steyn. Often, the Bulls used the rolling maul to push the Sharks back and force the infringement.

While the Sharks thoroughly dominated the scrums, they struggled in the lineouts and one sensed the Bulls knew their hosts would err in that set-piece when they kicked-off in the 75th minute, trailing 15-16 after Charl McLeod’s try had snatched the lead for the KwaZulu-Natalians. Steyn kicked deep, the chasers did their job and the Sharks conceded a lineout just inside their own 22.

Unfortunately for the hosts, Tendai Mtawarira grabbed the leaping Flip van der Merwe a fraction early, while he was still in the air, conceding a penalty which Man-of-the-Match Steyn was never going to miss whatever the acute angle.

Despite it being a beautiful winter’s day in Durban, the evening was cruel for rugby because of heavy dew and that led to masses of handling errors, particularly by the Sharks when they were in the Bulls’ red zone.

But rather than focus on the Sharks’ lack of skills, one should also credit the Bulls’ heavyweight forwards, who dominated the collisions to such an extent that the Sharks were unable to rely on the likes of Willem Alberts, Jean Deysel, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Mtawarira for their usual go-forward ball.

The Bulls’ joy was tempered somewhat by the news wing Bjorn Basson has been cited, having already received a yellow card during the game, for an innocuous tip tackle on Lambie as he tried to run from his own 22, while Van der Merwe was given an off-field yellow for legally rucking Keegan Daniel away from the wrong side of a ruck, in clear view of experienced referee Jonathan Kaplan, who correctly took no action.

So many words have been written in recent weeks on the poor quality of refereeing, anonymous assistant referees and ludicrous TMO decisions that are having such a detrimental effect on this year’s competition. It seems out-of-touch citing commissioners now want to have more of an impact on the game as well, heaping more frustration on coaches, players and fans.

The Cheetahs, meanwhile, are cooking up a thrilling conclusion to the conference race – next weekend’s match in Bloemfontein between them and the Bulls will be a vital humdinger – and they kept the pressure on the three-time champions by beating the Southern Kings 34-22 in Port Elizabeth.

The Kings certainly weren’t soft pushovers, and they led 12-6 heading into the half-time break. But they weren’t able to do much more than defend and rely on Demetri Catrakilis’s boot and the home side’s tryline was finally breached by the Cheetahs on the hooter.

Willie le Roux, who was in sublime form, showed great acceleration to burst through the defensive line on the blindside and Johann Sadie was on his outside to take the perfectly-timed pass and dash over for the opening try.

The third quarter was an exhibition of clinical rugby by the Cheetahs as they scored three more tries and, trailing 15-34, the match was over for the Kings on the hour mark.

Left wing Le Roux was once again at the centre of the action, his quick hands setting up Sadie for his second try and then the former Stormers and Bulls centre repaid the favour with a mazy run that Le Roux finished off for the bonus-point try.

Scrumhalf Piet van Zyl also showed a keen eye for the gap as he grabbed his third try in two games.

The Stormers, meanwhile, shrugged off suggestions from their demanding fans that the whole management and playing staff should be disbanded as they secured a 20-15 victory over the Reds at Newlands that was full of immense character and also helped the Cheetahs considerably.

Stormers coach Allister Coetzee had been forced to dip into the ranks of Western Province’s Vodacom Cup side, and even as far as the UCT team, by a raft of injuries. But he was fortunate that experienced hooker Tiaan Liebenberg returned from injury at the same time and the likeable veteran pulled the pack together in superb fashion.

Eben Etzebeth was immense as he and Gerbrandt Grobler dominated the lineouts and the defence was back to its best with the loose forwards, Siya Kolisi and Nizaam Carr in particular, and inside centre Damian de Allende the leading lights.

The Stormers also scored the only try of the game and the much-derided Elton Jantjies was at the centre of it.

Jantjies, who finally got to play the full 80 minutes, changed the approach of the Stormers’ attack early in the second half as his perfectly-positioned cross-kick was fielded by left wing Bryan Habana, who immediately popped the ball inside to fullback Joe Pietersen. Perfect interplay between Pietersen, cutting inside, and Jean de Villiers, racing up outside him, then saw the Stormers captain score a thrilling try that was ultimately the difference between the two teams.

The boot of Pietersen, with five penalties, was also an obvious factor in the Stormers’ win, but it was the determination and composure of the makeshift team that stood out most of all as the title challenge of the Reds continued to falter on African soil. The 2011 champions have now slipped from third to fifth behind the Cheetahs after losing both their tour games.

In the words of De Villiers himself: “To beat a team like the Reds when you have 16 players out says something, and what it says is that we have the right coaches and they are choosing the right players. This was one of the most emotional wins of my career.”

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