Ken Borland

IRENE, City of Tshwane – Sunshine Tour rookie Ryan van Velzen roared to a marvellous eight-under-par 64 at Irene Country Club on Friday to claim a one-stroke lead after the first round of the KitKat Group ProAm, the R1 million tournament being held for the second time after flooding washed out the tournament in February.

The 21-year-old Van Velzen, playing just his fifth Sunshine Tour event, was particularly rampant on the par-fours, picking up six of his eight birdies there, to go with birdies on the par-five 10^th and 17^th holes. It was also a bogey-free round for the Benoni golfer, who won his card from the Big Easy Tour in January.

“I’m really happy and I played really nicely, hitting the ball good and close and making the putts,” Van Velzen said after racing past his previous best Tour round of 68.

“I drove the ball straight most of the day, I didn’t miss many fairways and my iron play was really good. I was surprised how good the greens were after all the rain and flooding earlier in the year.

“The course is in really good shape and you have to hit it straight off the tee because of all the trees. And the greens were pretty quick so you didn’t want to be on the wrong side of the hole,” Van Velzen said.

The former GolfRSA squad member was on the right side of most things on Friday, including an extraordinary tussle for top spot on the leaderboard that he eventually won.

Dylan Mostert finished just one stroke back after a brilliant 65, converting a great start after he was three-under through five holes.

Merrick Bremner, Ockie Strydom and JJ Senekal made the early running with their five-under-par 67s, but endured the frustration of watching the leading duo sweep past them in the afternoon, as well as the in-form Louis Albertse, Malcolm Mitchell and Keagan Thomas, who all shot 66s.

Rourke van der Spuy, who drank from the champagne bottle a week ago when he won the SunBet Challenge hosted by Sun City, was also part of the bottleneck at the top as he started on the 10^th tee and moved to four-under-par after his birdie on the third hole. But the aggressive 32-year-old did not quite have the finish he intended as he then bogeyed the par-four sixth and made pars the rest of the way in to finish with a 69.

Bulls captain Marcell Coetzee has been put through the mill a few times by Leinster in his marvellous career and he is still seeking his first victory against the Irish giants.

And to do that with his team on Friday night in Dublin in the United Rugby Championship semi-finals would cap what Coetzee says has been a magnificent year with his new club.

Given how integral the 31-year-old has become to the Bulls set-up, it is hard to believe the former Sharks and Ulster star has only been at Loftus Versfeld since April 2021.

Playing for Ulster for five years from 2016 has given Coetzee a first-hand view of Leinster’s rise to the top of European rugby, and the Springbok ruefully admitted that although his Irish club were the Dublin side’s archrivals, he never managed to be on the winning side against them.

“The key to Leinster’s strength is the amount of players they have representing their country and their strong leadership. And they have continuously grown,” Coetzee said.

“I have personally never won against them, which just shows the success of their system. It’s going to be a tough battle and Leinster are a side you always measure yourself against.

“They are the juggernauts of European rugby and we are all trying to catch-up to them. But our system at the Bulls is also pretty good, which is why we are in playoffs for both the URC and the Currie Cup.

“I call it a system, but basically the Bulls are a family. In fact, sometimes you see your team-mates and coaches more than you see your wife! But it has been one of the best years of my life,” Coetzee said.

Apart from being the king of offloads in the URC, Coetzee has also been a tower of strength in terms of carrying and defending, but it is his smuts-work at the breakdown that could be most valuable against Leinster.

“Leinster have great poachers and not just Josh van der Flier. Our whole pack has the mindset that we have to stop them because it’s a key area. Both teams like to play with tempo,” Coetzee said.

Although coach Jake White specifically mentioned the height of his back three, with Canan Moodie retaining his place at fullback and Kurt-Lee Arendse on the bench, as being important because he expects a lot of kicking from Leinster, he also singled out their tempo of play as being a key strength.

“Leinster can really punish you, they do the little things really well and they play at such a high tempo. They have incredible talent around the park, so all 23 of our players have to play well.

“Generally Leinster don’t have anything to target, they are well-balanced with no real weaknesses. But all our players believe we have a chance,” White said.

Curwin Bosch has been through hell this season and so has Sean Everitt for backing him, but the Sharks coach said he was delighted the flyhalf has made a strong return to form, highlighted by some marvellous attacking touches in their hard-fought 28-23 win over the United Rugby Championship defending champions and log-leaders Leinster at Kings Park at the weekend.

Bosch made a shaky start to the game by missing two penalties, but he grew into the game and made a significant impact on attack, making some great line-breaks as the Sharks showed their ability to counter from deep.

“I’m very happy for Curwin,” Everitt said, “he’s been criticised a lot and I was too for selecting him. But he’s showing the saying that form is temporary and class is permanent is true.

“He showed his all-round game, his defence has improved and his tackle percentage is up in the 90s, when that used to be a glaring weakness of his.

“He also showed what he can do on attack. He countered well, he took the ball to the line and he made good decisions.

“I’m very happy where his game is at the moment and I’m very proud of him for how he has stood up,” Everitt said.

While the counter-attacking brilliance of fullback Aphelele Fassi, assisted by Bosch, stole the limelight, Everitt praised his forwards for their performance, which meant the Sharks were in control of territory and possession for most of the game.

“I was really happy with the way the front row and the pack stood up. We look to them for ascendancy, and they certainly gave us that in the mauls and scrums.

“Aphelele has been out with a lengthy injury, but he was in form when it happened and we probably rushed him back a bit. But the character he is, he just gets on with it, he’s not fazed by anything.

“He has certainly got x-factor and you could see his kicking game has improved as well. It’s really good to have him back and hopefully he will get higher honours in June when the international window opens,” Everitt said.

Ryan Rickelton celebrated his inclusion in the Proteas squad for the first time with a marvellous unbeaten century to take the Imperial Lions to a bonus-point victory over the Cape Cobras in their Momentum One-Day Cup match in Potchefstroom on Friday.

Rickelton thoroughly dominated the bowling as he stroked an impressive 109 not out off 98 deliveries, as the Lions chased down their target of 222 in just 39.2 overs with six wickets to spare. The 24-year-old Rickelton is one of the country’s brightest young batting talents and this week he was named in the Proteas squad for the T20s in Pakistan, his maiden international call-up.

Opening the batting, Rickelton and Wesley Marshall (28) gave the Lions a solid start by raising the 50 in the 10^th over, before the Cobras struck back with two wickets in four overs. But an inspired stand of 98 in 16.2 overs between Rickelton and Dominic Hendricks (54 off 61 balls) put the Lions within sight of victory.

Rickelton completed his third century in 50-over cricket and a brisk 22 from Nicky van den Bergh ensured the bonus point was gained.

The Cobras, having won the toss and elected to bat first, made a good start, Janneman Malan’s well-controlled 67 off 94 balls driving them to 121 for two after 28 overs. But the Lions attack, bowling straighter and fuller than they had been earlier, fought back impressively by taking regular wickets.

It was fine all-round effort by the Lions attack, but Eldred Hawken, in his first game this season, recovered from a rusty start to lead the pacemen with one for 26 in eight overs, and captain Aaron Phangiso took care of the middle overs, taking two for 33 in his 10 excellent overs of left-arm spin.

Debutant Jean du Plessis scored 34 and Christiaan Jonker struck a quickfire 33 off 35 balls, but the Cobras batsmen were generally lacking enough intent against the tight Lions bowling.

The Cobras will also leave Senwes Park for the bio-bubble feeling they had a raw deal when it came to lbw decisions. Du Plessis looked unfortunate to be given out to Phangiso just as he was starting to accelerate, while Rickelton survived three appeals during his innings when the ball certainly looked wicket-bound.