Ken Borland

Gratitude was the first emotion Marco van Staden felt when he heard his name called out at the weekend for the Springbok squad to play in the series against the British and Irish Lions, and not just because he has not been a part of the national squad for a while.

Van Staden watched the live announcement with his parents and grandparents in the Magaliesberg mountains and he was delighted to share the best moment in his career thus far with the family members who sacrificed much so he could put rugby first, making it all the way to the top from a little agricultural school called Hoerskool Bekker. Especially since he is on his way overseas to play for English club Leicester Tigers as soon as his Springbok commitments are over.

“I was with my parents and grandparents and it was quite a celebration. I’m spending all the time I can with them because I’m going to be going overseas in a bit and I won’t be able to see them for a while. They sacrificed so much for me just to get me here, so it was wonderful to be able to share my selection with them.

“I was just very grateful, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it only comes every 12 years, so it is a big privilege and I am very honoured to be chosen. I’ve missed out on the Springboks in the last couple of years, I’ve only played three Tests and the last one was against Argentina just before they left for Japan for the World Cup,” Van Staden said on Tuesday.

On Saturday he will play his last game for the Bulls, in their decisive Rainbow Cup match against the Sharks in Durban, and adding to the poignancy is the fact that Duane Vermeulen and Elrigh Louw, the two players with whom Van Staden has bedded in so well as a loose trio, will both be missing through injury.

“It’s probably my last game for the Bulls so I want to make the most of it. It will be disappointing to not play together with Duane and Elrigh, because I think we have gelled together well. But Marcell Coetzee will be there and it’s an honour to play with him, he also gives his all out on the field. We’re all just trying to play for the guys next to us,” Van Staden said.

The 25-year-old also said there was no room for individual battles in Saturday’s match, which will see the Bulls needing to collect just one bonus point to book a place in the Rainbow Cup final, although there will be much jostling for places in the Test 23 amongst the 46 players in the Springbok squad.

“My focus is not on playing against Siya Kolisi. The team has a plan to execute and you don’t want to be out of position to make a point of your own. I will be staying within the plan and there’s no question of holding back because I don’t see the benefit in that. I just remember how we could not play any rugby in Lockdown and to not give 100% would be disappointing my team-mates,” Van Staden said.

There were many blemishes in the Proteas finishing game with both bat and ball in the first T20 against Pakistan at the Wanderers on Saturday, with captain Heinrich Klaasen admitting one of the black marks goes against his name for getting out when he did when South Africa were batting.

Klaasen scored an explosive 50 off 28 balls, producing some great six-hitting, but he was caught at short fine leg trying to scoop Hasan Ali, with the Proteas on 159 for three after 16.2 overs. They ended on 188 for six, a decent total but well short of what looked likely when they already had 151 on the board after 15 overs.

Pakistan won the match by four wickets with a ball to spare as South Africa again failed to execute their skills in the last five overs, conceding 60 runs, as well as missing a couple of catches. Opener Mohammad Rizwan steered the visitors home with his clinical 74 not out off 50 balls.

“We were in a very good position to take the game away from Pakistan, but unfortunately I got out at a bad time. The job of the set batsman is to go deep but unfortunately I couldn’t do that. It was not all bad execution in the end stages, just one or two overs and we had a bit of bad luck too. But we still need to fine-tune that area of our game.

“We may be forced to experiment with players, but the game plan is set and we need to do that going forward to the World Cup. Now we just need to execute it and fine-tune it. Things like the angles we bowled to Rizwan, we need to stay out of his hitting zone, he scored a lot on the leg side. Sisanda Magala and Lizaad Williams are probably our two best yorker bowlers so we needed to stick to that plan,” Klaasen said after the match.

One positive from the match was Aiden Markram reaching a white-ball international half-century for the first time since March 2019. The elegant opener top-scored for the Proteas with 51 and he did not eat up too many balls getting there either – he only needed 32 deliveries.

“I’m really happy for Aiden, he’s fought hard to get back in the white-ball sides and today he really made a statement, he showed that he can play in this format. In the ODIs he just needs to not get out when he is set, but today’s knock was a big step in the right direction,” Klaasen said.

Springbok tighthead prop Marcel van der Merwe began his professional rugby career at the Free State Cheetahs in 2011 and would play alongside and scrum against a strong but raw loosehead from Limpopo by the name of Trevor Nyakane.

In 2013 Van der Merwe joined the Blue Bulls and made his Super Rugby debut for them the following year. Nyakane followed the Welkom-born, Paarl Boys’ High School educated tighthead to Pretoria, with Van der Merwe then leaving for Toulon in June 2016.

The 29-year-old Van der Merwe will now return to the Bulls after four years in France and he will find Nyakane has not only switched to tighthead prop but become an integral part of both the Bulls and Springbok teams. There will be competition aplenty now for what new Bulls coach Jake White has called the most important position in the team, and Nyakane welcomes it.

Not only because it will push the 31-year-old to even greater heights but it will also help manage his workload. Nyakane had very little respite in last year’s Super Rugby competition, starting every single game, all 17 of them. Eventually all that physical strain adds up and it may have played a role in his unfortunate departure from the 2019 World Cup, after tearing a calf muscle in the second half of the opening game against the All Blacks.

“I played with Marcel at both Free State and the Bulls and I know the type of player he is, so it’s going to be amazing to have him in the squad. We can now look at alternating at tighthead, it’s always great to be able to do that, but you also want to play of course. But it’s really difficult in a full season to play every game,” Nyakane told The Citizen at the One Cup of Pap Feeding Scheme, alongside fellow World Cup winners John Smit and Joel Stransky, who were also helping to hand out food parcels.

White has been quick to make changes at the Bulls and Nyakane said it will be exciting times when the squad finally gets together again after Lockdown. “It’s always exciting having a new coach to change things up a bit and I look forward to meeting up with Jake and everyone else when we go back to Loftus. The coach has obviously been bulking up the squad, which only makes it easier to rotate and manage players, and to have fresh blood coming in will be a positive,” Nyakane said.

The Van Wyk name was shining brightly at SuperSport Park on Friday as brothers Morne and Divan dominated the second day of the Dolphins’ Sunfoil Series match against the Unlimited Titans in Centurion.

Morne van Wyk, one of the most prolific batsmen on the domestic circuit, scored 76 not out as he lifted the Dolphins to a commanding 314 for six, already 47 runs ahead of the Titans with four first-innings wickets remaining.

Divan is a lesser-known name in South African cricket, but the younger Van Wyk has been in fine form this season and the opener’s 87 was his fifth half-century of the four-day campaign, taking his tally to 572 runs at an average of 44.

Their heroics come just 10 days after they became only the second pair of brothers to score centuries in the same innings in South African first-class cricket, the famous Kirsten brothers, Gary and Peter, being the first to do it, for Western Province against Eastern Province in Port Elizabeth in 1989/90.

The rest of the Dolphins batsmen did not make full use of their starts, with Imraan Khan adding just four runs to his overnight score of 32 before being caught behind in the second over of the day, bowled by Ethy Mbhalati.

The veteran seamer then bowled Khaya Zondo for one before Cody Chetty and Daryn Smit were both dismissed for 16. Andile Phehlukwayo was then bowled by Roelof van der Merwe for 10, the left-arm spinner having earlier dismissed Divan van Wyk in the same fashion, and it was left to Calvin Savage (36*), hidden down the order, to partner the Dolphins captain, Morne van Wyk, in an unbroken stand of 81 that saw the visitors take the honours for the second day running.

Morne van Wyk made his entrance at a tricky time, coming to the crease midway through the second session with the Dolphins on 149 for four replying to the Titans’ first innings of 267. The veteran wicketkeeper/batsman batted through to the close of a day shortened by a thunderstorm, stroking 10 fours and a six as he batted for three-and-a-quarter hours, facing 122 deliveries.

*In Bloemfontein, Rassie van der Dussen, Dominic Hendricks, Neil McKenzie and Temba Bavuma all scored half-centuries to take the bizhub Highveld Lions to 320 for four, already a lead of 72 runs over the Chevrolet Knights.

Van der Dussen (70) and Hendricks (71) added 103 for the second wicket to set up the Lions’ innings after Duanne Olivier had had Stephen Cook (19) caught in the slips to inflict a rare failure on the skipper.

Van der Dussen fell to Malusi Siboto and when Hendricks edged off-spinner Werner Coetsee to wicketkeeper Rudi Second, the Lions were 189 for three.

But McKenzie and Bavuma (57) would win the battle against the second new ball as they then added 109 for the fourth wicket, before Bavuma edged a delivery from Olivier to Second.

McKenzie had gone to a top-class 72 not out by stumps and with Thami Tsolekile with him on 14 not out, the Lions are in a strong position to record a victory that would give them a massive lead at the top of the Sunfoil Series standings.

*A commanding batting performance by the Nashua Cape Cobras saw them take a stranglehold on their Sunfoil Series match against the Chevrolet Warriors at Newlands.

Rory Kleinveldt took the last two wickets of the Warriors’ first innings quickly on the second morning to bowl them out for 288, preventing Dane Paterson from completing a five-wicket haul, but they both finished with four for 59.

The Cobras then replied to the Warriors’ first innings with 316 for three at stumps.

Richard Levi used his bear-like forearms to club 79 with 14 fours as the Cobras raced away at the start to 131 for one.

The key partnership came, however, from Omphile Ramela (81*) and captain Justin Ontong (75*), who put on an unbeaten 141 for the fourth wicket.

Ontong’s innings was a particularly swift affair, his runs coming off just 98 balls, with nine fours.

There was little for the Warriors to get excited about, although off-spinner Simon Harmer bowled 30 overs for just 74 runs to go with the 94 he scored to rescue the Warriors innings.

Ramela, sent in at number three, has plodded through four-and-a-half hours of batting to post his fourth Sunfoil Series half-century.