Ken Borland

John Mogodi of Limpopo, Daniel Govender of KZN, Craig Nel of Mpumalanga, Tebogo Siko of Northerns and Simphiwe Ndzundza of Border are the people elected by the Cricket South Africa Members Council, the body that pushed the sport in this country to the edge of the precipice before eventually seeing some sense, to the new Board that will run cricket.

Of those five, it is fair to say Nel and Siko are the only two who have not been opposed to the efforts of the Interim Board and, by extension, the sports minister, to rescue cricket from being flushed down the toilet. While that reflects on the embarrassing quality of leadership on the Members Council, it is a relief that the new Board appointed this week will be dominated by eight independent directors and there is plenty of leadership, financial and legal expertise and governance experience amongst that lot.

Andrew Hudson, whose post-playing career has been centred on the banking world, is the only director with top-level cricket experience and it perhaps would have been nice if more former players had been appointed.

And the lack of female representation is an even bigger blot on the Board. Independent director Ntambi Ravele and acting chief financial officer Christelle Janse van Rensburg are the only two women out of a board of 15, and that’s even after sports minister Nathi Mthethwa made it clear that he wanted to see a greater push towards gender equality.

It is typical of the double-speak nature of the Members Council that president Rihan Richards should speak of their full commitment to greater female representation and then, when the vote was tied for the fifth non-independent director’s post between Anne Vilas and Simphiwe Ndzundzu, they chose the man.

And Ndzundzu is not just any man. He is president of one of the most dysfunctional provinces on and off the field, and someone who is being investigated over a charge of assault involving the elderly mother of a colleague he had a dispute with as well as a broken arm for his rival’s sister.

And Vilas is not just any woman. Acknowledged as one of the best administrators in South African cricket and very successful in business, as president of Central Gauteng Lions she has overseen their rise to arguably the best team in the country.

So it is fair to say that there will still be small pockets of resistance to progress in South African cricket, but hopefully our cricketing family can start to heal. CSA has been a dysfunctional organisation and the events of the last few years have demoralised so many people involved in the game. Good leadership was replaced by an environment of suspicion.

Hopefully this new Board can bring some much-needed stability after their predecessors did so much to kill the hopes and dreams of young cricket fans. Critical to that becoming a reality is for the right person to be elected chair of the Board and also whoever represents CSA at the International Cricket Council requires much thought.

It’s been a depressing time for those cricket lovers looking for moral leadership as the CSA Board and incompetent Members Council were captured by vested interests and a downright crooked culture developed in the running of the game. But this new, majority independent board will hopefully ensure good governance.

Cricket’s governance issues have, without a doubt, affected the on-field performance of the men’s national team as well, but after a lean period, the victory in the first Test against the West Indies provided some encouraging signs that the Proteas might just be regaining their mojo.

So let the healing begin, and thank you to the six members of the Interim Board for their top-class work which saw their vital task through to completion, shouldering a massive burden in the process.

Mpumalanga Pumas coach Jimmy Stonehouse has praised his team’s intensity in their surprise 28-21 victory over the Free State Cheetahs at the Mbombela Stadium after a long time out of the Currie Cup Premier Division.

The Pumas were playing their first game in the top flight since 2011, but they out-scored the Cheetahs by three tries to two and were worthy winners on the opening weekend of Currie Cup action.

“It was our first game up in the Premier Division and the players were obviously a bit tense, but the intensity was brilliant and the guys refused to lay down,” Stonehouse said.

“We were under pressure in the first 10 minutes and it was great to come back the way that we did.”

The Pumas coach is undaunted by the scale of the task ahead of them in the Premier Division and said he expects his team to win at home.

“Playing at home is a great advantage for us, but if we want to make the semi-finals then winning at home is a must, we have to win away from home too. It’s obviously good to start with a win like that at home, but at least getting bonus points away from home is what we’re aiming for,” Stonehouse said.

There has been an outpouring of angst in the Free State recently after the Cheetahs’ dismal SuperRugby performance and new coach Rory Duncan was fielding a largely new-look side in Nelspruit.

“The majority of the side only came together two or three weeks ago, so mistakes were understandable. But we made too many simple mistakes, knocking-on four or five times in the Pumas’ 22. It’s early season though, there’s obviously still a lot of work to do and I wasn’t too disappointed by the effort,” Duncan said.

The Free State coach was heartened by his team’s ability to hang on to possession for long periods, but admitted his side had been dominated by the Pumas in the scrums.

“We battled in the scrums, but we still managed to hang on to possession through numerous phases, a few times we took the ball from our own 10m line to their 22. We had opportunities to win, but mistakes cost us.

“But you have to give credit as well to the Pumas and Jimmy for the way the guys came out, they were fired up. They’re a good side and if you don’t bring your A-game to Nelspruit, you will get caught out,” Duncan said.

“Our scrums obviously went well and we also set up our mauls brilliantly, but we made life difficult for ourselves by losing a couple of lineouts. We also need to play into space a bit more,” Stonehouse said.

 http://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/CurrieCup/Stonehouse-praises-Pumas-20140810

The Ford Pumas pulled away from the second quarter as they smashed the SWD Eagles 70-27 (half-time 35-6) in their Absa Currie Cup First Division match at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday.

The bonus-point win was vital for the Pumas as they try to prevent the EP Kings from getting too far away from them at the top of the log. The Kings temporarily stretched their lead to 13 points with their victory the previous evening over the Valke, but the Mpumalanga side ensured the gap returned to eight points at the end of the 10th of 14 rounds of league play.

If the match had been overseen by the police rather than referee Joey Salmans, the Pumas might have been charged with assault with intent to cause grevious bodily harm as they steamrolled the Eagles, a dominant pack and their powerful runners in the backline running amok.

Flank Jaco Bouwer scored a hat-trick of tries and wing Wilhelm Loock crossed twice in the space of four minutes either side of halftime. Flyhalf JC Roos also kicked with tremendous composure and accuracy as he succeeded with all nine of his conversion attempts and replacement lock Christo le Roux kicked the 10th just for good measure.

The Pumas began on the right note as Bouwer scored in the first minute and a second try by centre Jerome Pretorius gave them a 14-3 lead after the first quarter.

The home side’s tight five were in firm control and the Pumas’ loose trio capitalised with Uzair Cassiem and Bouwer scoring tries in the 24th and 32nd minutes respectively, before Loock was able to make good ground down the left and score just three minutes before the break.

Two penalties from fullback Elric van Vuuren were all the Eagles had to show from the first half, but they can take some credit for battling on gamely right until the final whistle and they scored three tries in the second half.

Loock showed that he can turn on the after-burners as he scored straight from the second-half restart and, given the flood of scoring that saw the Pumas grab four tries in the previous 17 minutes, it must have felt like years for the 2 000 home supporters before they crossed the tryline again in the 58th minute through lock Nqubeko Zulu.

Roos converted to stretch the lead to 49-6, prompting the Eagles to bring on most of their bench and they did have an impact, relatively speaking of course.

A try by replacement hooker Wayne Khan cut the deficit to 13-49 with Van Vuuren’s conversion, before Pumas star Bouwer found the space to barge over for his hat-trick try in the 69th minute.

Centre JW Jonker also found the gap to score six minutes later, but the Eagles had the reserves and the determination to score twice in the closing stages, the impressive Van Vuuren grabbing tries to give him a tally of 22 points from the match.

But the Pumas fittingly had the final say as replacement wing Ashwin Scott scooted over in the corner for their 10th and final try.

SCORERS

Ford Pumas – Tries: Jaco Bouwer (3), Jerome Pretorius, Uzair Cassiem, Wilhelm Loock (2), Nqubeko Zulu, JW Jonker, Ashwin Scott. Conversions: JC Roos (9), Christo le Roux.

SWD Eagles – Tries: Wayne Khan, Elric van Vuuren (2). Conversions: Van Vuuren (3). Penalties: Van Vuuren (2).

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/currie-cup-first-division/news/120901/Pumas_smash_Eagles