Ken Borland

When the going gets tough, this Springbok team says they don’t make excuses, they find solutions. And that attitude was much in evidence in the third Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town at the weekend when, despite not producing anything close to their best rugby, they simply refused to lose, doing what had to be done to secure a nailbiting 19-16 win and clinch the series.

With Rassie Erasmus still facing a misconduct charge from WorldRugby over his video analysis of officiating mistakes in the first Test loss, the churlish will say the director of rugby makes the Springboks’ excuses for them, but only the most biased would not have at least some grudging respect for the sheer determination and heroism this Springbok team has shown.

And speaking of heroes, the feats of wing Cheslin Kolbe and replacement flyhalf Morne Steyn were pulled straight from the pages of superhero comic books.

Kolbe scored the crucial try to overturn a 10-6 deficit, once again unveiling his superpower ability to simply vanish from the grasp of tacklers thanks to those incredibly feet of his.

And then Steyn, who had won the 2009 series with his long-range penalty, came on after 64 minutes, a 37-year-old playing his first Test since 2016. It was certainly a gamble, replacing the Springboks’ general, Handre Pollard, who has enjoyed an outstanding series but things were not going that well with his boot.

Incredibly, history repeated itself 12 years later as Steyn kicked two penalties, including the match-winning one in the 78^th minute, leaving one to wonder who exactly writes his scripts?!

“I had my head between my legs when Morne kicked, I just listened, I did not see it,” Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber admitted. “I’m really happy for him, it’s a fairytale.

“In the last five weeks, everybody had challenges, a lot of us got Covid and we lost a whole week of training. But the positive thing about this team is that they have no time for excuses, we knew we had to move on and make another plan. Those were the cards we were dealt with, they said ‘unfortunately that’s where we are, we have to move on and find a solution’,” Nienaber added.

For captain Siya Kolisi, the overriding emption was great pride in the team he has led magnificently.

“I honestly can’t explain in words what it means to us as a group to win the series. Coming from isolation, we all agreed that we would never make excuses, that’s not what South Africans are made of. When you step out on to the field, you agree that you are ready to play. That’s what I love about this team, we don’t make excuses, we find solutions,” Kolisi said.

Lock Eben Etzebeth and Steyn were the star players put up by the Springboks for media duties after the gripping match, and it turned out a friendly chat between the two at the start of the day had almost been prophetic.

“We expected it to be a close contest and we always knew that the Lions would come with a massive effort. I had breakfast with Morne and I said that it might come down to him winning the series again with a kick. He said he hoped we were a bit further ahead if he came on.

“It doesn’t matter how we won, just to get the victory is massive for us. We were able to get over the final hurdle. Apart from Morne, the rest of us knew we only have one chance to win a Lions series and we knew it was our last 80 minutes to do it. What happened is absolutely unbelievable and all credit to him,” Etzebeth, a talismanic figure in the Springbok pack all series, said.

“Just to be part of this series 12 years later was amazing and then to get on the field and then to have that kick. It was in a similar position to 2009, just a bit closer for these old legs, 54 metres then and this one was about 35 metres. For a kicker, these special occasions are why you put in all the hard work. You always dream of making a kick to win a series or a championship. All glory to God for giving me the chance to do it again.

“But credit to the whole team for building up to that moment on the field, their work softened them up. It was not our best performance but it doesn’t matter how you win. And thanks to Eben for that pep talk at breakfast!” Steyn said.

Lukhanyo Am will captain a shadow Springbok side dressed up as SA A against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on Wednesday and the captaincy could also be on loan to him for the first Test on July 24 after director of rugby Rassie Erasmus admitted that those players who are currently Covid-positive and isolating will be in a race against time to make that match.

Regular captain Siya Kolisi is one of the players currently in quarantine.

The numerous Covid infections in the Springbok camp led to the second Test against Georgia being cancelled, and Erasmus admitted that that has forced them to pick many of the players they have pencilled in for the first Test for Wednesday night’s game.

“It depends on how the players progress through the Return-to-Play protocol and some of them will definitely be available from Wednesday and Thursday next week. Guys like Frans Steyn and Handre Pollard might make it because they tested positive really early. And some guys can just slot into the team, while others need more time to get their engines running. For them it will be touch and go.

“Losing the second Georgia Test has been massive and it would have been much easier if we had had that game and the SA A one. But we have a lot of knowledge about some of the players, we know their class and how they react under pressure, so for us, it’s not so much about gelling as about match fitness because it’s a bit of a worry for some guys how long it’s been since they last played,” Erasmus said on Monday.

Erasmus is also clearly trying to convince the British and Irish Lions to agree to Saturday’s tour match also being between them and an SA A side, instead of the Stormers. But like an over-enthusiastic puppy getting a paw to the nose, Lions coach Warren Gatland made it clear in his concurrent press conference that he was not in favour of that.

So Erasmus could well be left hoping his team has enough conditioning in the kitty from their three-week camp in Bloemfontein and the single Test against Georgia to match the Lions’ impressive build-up to the Test series.

“We had three weeks of good intensity training in Bloemfontein and the plan then was two Tests against Georgia and the SA A game to be ready and we could not have asked for more than that. So now we have lost one week of training and one match. But after seven days in their hotel rooms, the guys shouldn’t totally go to pieces and get out of shape.

“But I’m sure Warren Gatland wold like to play against the best possible Springbok team and the safest thing medically would be for SA A to play again against the Lions on Saturday. We have been in a totally hard bubble and we are all negative. I’m sure they would not be afraid to play us again and that would be the best preparation for us to provide good competition in the Tests against the Lions,” Erasmus said.

With so much uncertainty around at the moment, it is a good thing that Am has temporarily taken over the captaincy because he is a leader who provides a haven of calm.

SA A team – Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Sbu Nkosi, Morne Steyn, Faf de Klerk, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Marco van Staden, Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Trevor Nyakane, Joseph Dweba, Steven Kitshoff. Bench: Coenie Oosthuizen, Malcolm Marx, Vincent Koch, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Rynhardt Elstadt, Herschel Jantjies, Jesse Kriel, Damian Willemse.

An unprecedented 21 players will make their Currie Cup debut for the Bulls on Saturday as they take on Western Province at Loftus Versfeld in the opening round, but stand-in coach Pine Pienaar believes his rookies will give absolutely everything as they get to play in a North/South derby that would have been beyond their immediate dreams.

Nine of those players are not even in the Bulls structures and have had to be called in from club rugby. The extraordinary selection – for surely one of the most important games of the Currie Cup – has been forced on the Bulls because they have 28 players in Italy for the Rainbow Cup final, four are with the Springboks, four are unavailable due to injury, two are on duty with the Blitzboks and six have been called up by the Junior Springboks.

But there are still a couple of familiar faces in the team as highly-rated loosehead prop Simphiwe Matanzima will finally make his return after 10 months out with a torn achilles tendon and Richard Kriel, younger brother of David, will want to show what he can do at fullback. And TV viewers will get the eye-popping experience of seeing gigantic prop Mhleli Dlamini in the flesh when he comes off the bench.

“We see it as a reward for the guys at the clubs, in Varsity Cup or in our juniors who have done well. It’s going to be an unbelievable privilege for them to play in a North/South Currie Cup derby, everyone is looking forward to the challenge and that’s what we’ve spoken about with them. After we had a session just to get to know each other …

“These guys never thought in their wildest dreams that they would be playing for the Bulls now. We’ve prepared as best we can from last week and there’s an unbelievable atmosphere in the team because they all want to create an impression and express themselves. The one definite is that they will put in a massive effort and we’ll stay in the fight for as long as we can,” Pienaar said on Thursday.

Despite the difficulties involved in getting a team drawn from so many different parts to gel together, Pienaar says the Bulls will have a holistic game-plan against Western Province.

“I think we have a good combination between forwards and backs and we will try to attack space with ball-in-hand. There will be a lot of mistakes, but we won’t be looking at the scoreboard, it’s about getting our processes right and the guys will definitely go out and give it their all,” Pienaar said.

Bulls: Richard Kriel, Sebastiaan Jobb, Sango Xamlashe (Captain), Louritz van der Schyff, Kefentse Mahlo, Jandre Burger, Johan Mulder, Jaco Bezuidenhout, Jaco Labuschagne, Henco Beukes, Tiaan de Klerk, JJ Scheepers, Francois Klopper, Werner Fourie, Simphiwe Matanzima. Bench -Llewelyn Classen, Dewald Donald, Mhleli Dlamini, Adolph Visser, Eduan Lubbe, Tiaan Fourie, Kabelo Mokoena, Niel Beukes.

Apart from the daunting task of trying to make the Rainbow Cup final, the Sharks are adamant that they cannot brook the thought of the Bulls beating them on their home turf when they meet in the crunch final round of South African Pro14 fixtures in Durban on Saturday.

In order to top the South African standings and get to travel to Italy to take on Benneton Treviso, the Sharks have to win the game with a bonus point and deny the Bulls any log points. And they need to do that with a side weakened by what coach Sean Everitt described as “a few niggles we are trying to push through”.

Because of that, their bench will only be announced on Friday, “once we have more clarity on injuries”, but the starting line-up revealed on Thursday is missing wing Sbu Nkosi and loose forward Henco Venter and there are concerns over the two reserve props, Ntuthuko Mchunu and Wiehahn Herbst.

But Everitt says the Sharks will not be lying down even if their Rainbow Cup hopes are dashed because they have endured some painful defeats in Pretoria over the last year and they don’t want to suffer the same fate at home.

“Psychologically it’s important that we lead on the scoreboard at the end of the day, and I’ve told the players that we first have to win the game anyway and then go for the bonus point. The players want to make Kings Park a fortress, although we narrowly let that slip against the Stormers. They were disappointed with how we went down in the last 20 minutes of the last game against the Bulls in Pretoria.

“But we have also won games coming from behind at the death and the players want to show their character. It’s important we get one over the Bulls regardless of whether we qualify for the final or not. We were narrowly beaten by the Bulls in the Currie Cup final and we want to bounce back and turn the tide against them. The energy and motivation this week is the best it’s been,” Everitt said.

After the impressive win over the Lions last weekend, it has taken a bit of finesse in selection for Everitt to both reward the players who shone at Ellis Park and reintegrate his Springboks.

“We took a changed team to the Lions, where we had to get the bonus point win which is never easy, and the guys really turned up and did very well. So this is another opportunity for many of them and they are good enough for that, we just want to build on that performance.

“But it’s also about my relationship with the international players and I never question their efforts. They got us to where we are now, many of them are world champions and a guy like Lukhanyo Am is our captain who has played well every week,” Everitt said.

Sharks – Aphelele Fassi, Anthony Volmink, Lukhanyo Am (C), Marius Louw, Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi, Thembelani Bholi, Siya Kolisi, Hyron Andrews, JJ van der Mescht, Khutha Mchunu, Kerron van Vuuren, Khwezi Mona. Bench: *To be confirmed.