Ken Borland

Bulls coach Jake White said on Friday that new flyhalf Johan Goosen has been in such good nick in training over the last couple of weeks that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Springboks snatch him from Pretoria soon after the match against the SA A team in Cape Town on Saturday.

Goosen returned to South Africa in 2018 in rather bizarre and unseemly fashion as he ‘retired’ in order to take up a lucrative new contract with Montpellier, who then had to let him go as his former club, Racing 92, understandably took legal action.

His first match back on South African soil on Saturday will be watched with great interest and White said he has no doubts the 28-year-old will be adding to his 13 Test caps soon.

“Johan has the opportunity to show that he can play at that level again. There is nothing he can’t do – he has pace, skill, he can play flat to the line, he can pass and kick and be very physical. I’d be incredibly surprised if he does not play for the Springboks again, in fact I’m surprised he hasn’t played more than 50 Tests already. He’s helluva keen and he’s experienced.

“I have no doubt he is the real deal. Having never coached him on the field before, I’ve seen he can play from No.10 to No.15 as well as anyone. I’ve been blown away by how good he is and he has changed the way we can coach the team. We can use the skills he executes better than anyone else to do different things with the team now. He’s a phenomenal rugby player,” White enthused.

Unfortunately, another returning Springbok with a big reputation, Marcell Coetzee, will miss the tie because he is still working his way through the Covid Return-to-Play protocols.

White said he had decided to stick with the usual process for Covid-positive players to return and not try to speed things up with the loose forward because he knows he is going to have to rely on Coetzee as the Bulls look to defend their Currie Cup title.

Instead, another Springbok, Nizaam Carr, will captain the team on the openside flank.

In terms of other potential Springboks for later in the season, all eyes will be on Cornal Hendricks at inside centre as he goes up against South Africa’s best No.12 – Damian de Allende.

Bulls team – FC du Plessis, Marco Jansen van Vuren, Harold Vorster, Cornal Hendricks, Stravino Jacobs, Johan Goosen, Zak Burger, WJ Steenkamp, Muller Uys, Nizaam Carr (Capt), Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Jacques van Rooyen, Schalk Erasmus, Simphiwe Matanzima. Bench: Johan Grobbelaar, Gerhard Steenekamp, Mornay Smith, Janko Swanepoel, Arno Botha, Keagan Johannes, Chris Smith, David Kriel, Jan-Hendrik Wessels.

The Sharks have failed so far to touch the great heights they reached at the start of the year in SuperRugby, but when they host the Pumas in a Currie Cup fixture on Friday night at Kings Park Stadium in Durban, they will be looking to start the new competition with a clean slate and with a slick performance.

The Sharks scraped to a one-point win over Griquas, a team similar to the Pumas, in their last outing, but they won 42-19 in Nelspruit in their match there earlier this season, which will give them some confidence.

Apart from that disappointing display, and a loss to the champion Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, the Sharks’ graph has generally been upwards, however, and Springbok Thomas du Toit makes his return to the front row after injury to provide a timely boost to a scrum that has struggled at times.

The Pumas finished second-bottom on the Super Rugby Unlocked log with their only victory coming in week two against Griquas in Kimberley, but they were unfortunate not to collect more points. They have some big, heavy hitters and an enterprising backline means they are not easy to defend against. The Pumas were particularly impressive in a narrow defeat to the powerhouse Stormers, so the Sharks will know it could be a very close contest.

The Pumas have been hard hit in recent weeks though by players testing positive for Covid-19, and that could affect their cohesion.

“Obviously our long-term goal is to win the Currie Cup, but we’re not going to win it if we don’t perform well, so our focus is just on the job at hand this weekend. It’s an opportunity for us to perform at our optimum, we’ve done really well at home this season, we’re unbeaten at Kings Park.

“The Pumas ran the Bulls close though in the second half last weekend and there are no easy games in this competition as we saw against Griquas. We are four points behind on the log and there are just six games in the Currie Cup, so it’s important that we start building log points and to get five against the Pumas would be great,” Sharks coach Sean Everitt said.

Teams

Sharks: Manie Libbok, Yaw Penxe, Jeremy Ward (c), Marius Louw, Madosh Tambwe, Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Thembelani Bholi, JJ van der Mescht, Dylan Richardson, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit, Kerron van Vuuren, Ox Nche. REPLACEMENTS – Daniel Jooste, Khwezi Mona, Hanro Jacobs, Zain Davids, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Cameron Wright, Werner Kok, Sbu Nkosi.

Pumas: Devon Williams; Morné Joubert, Erich Cronjé, Ali Mgijima, Etienne Taljaard; Theo Boshoff, Ginter Smuts; Francois Kleinhans, Phumzile Maqondwana, Daniel Maartens; Pieter Janse van Vuren ©, Darrien Landsberg; Ruan Kramer, HP van Schoor. Liam Hendriks. Bench: Marko Janse van Rensburg, Wikus Groenewald, Brandon Valentyn, Heath Backhouse, Chriswill September ,Wayne van der Bank, Tapiwa Mafura, Dewald Maritz.

Kickoff: 7pm.

In an exceptional act of co-operation between his current and former clubs, scrumhalf Ivan van Zyl will not be going to England this week to start his new career with Saracens but will instead enjoy the privilege of playing against the British and Irish Lions on Saturday as he makes one last appearance for the Bulls.

The 26-year-old Springbok’s contract with the Bulls ended on June 30 but Saracens and his former employees came to an agreement that Van Zyl can play on Saturday in what many rugby players consider to be one of the highlights of their careers.

“I’m very fortunate to get the opportunity to still play this game because my contract ended last week but an arrangement was made, which is very nice of the Bulls and Saracens. I’m very thankful for the opportunity, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, and then I will be leaving. But playing against the Lions, you just want to play well, playing at that level is where you want to be.

“You want to measure yourself against the best in the world and if you perform you hope all the right people see that. It’s also about the confidence you get if you do play well, but we are all going to have to be at the top of our game against the Lions,” Van Zyl confirmed on Monday.

Chasing the game is never a good thing in rugby, and Van Zyl warned that if the Bulls do not match the Lions physically then that’s exactly what they will be doing.

“The big difference between the international and the provincial game is the physical part, that will be the big thing against the Lions. They also want to play quicker, move the ball around more in preparation for the Springboks so they can move the pack around. It’s why they’ve chosen guys like Hamish Watson and Sam Simmonds with their pace. So we must match their intensity as well.

“But we must match them physically first in order to go forward, we must be physical and direct. But we need the complete game – we can’t just run everything but we also can’t just kick everything away either. It’s about finding the balance and kicking at the right time. So we are going to need the complete performance and making the right decisions at the right time,” Van Zyl said.

Phepsi Buthelezi’s Facebook page has just one Life Event posted on it: “October 30, 2018 – Started a new job at the Sharks”.

In the 32 months since then it is fair to say that the 22-year-old from Hluhluwe has blown away his employers with his dedication, talent, leadership and positive attitude. To such an extent that he was named their Currie Cup captain for this season, although he is currently out of action with a minor concussion. it is hoped he will be back to lead his troops against the British and Irish Lions on July 7.

Buthelezi is just one of those guys who impresses everywhere he goes, knocking over hurdles and making it look easy. But coming from a town that probably has more game reserves than rugby fields in the immediate vicinity, he has had challenges to overcome in order to progress through the rugby pipeline from one of the backwaters.

“It was obviously tough coming from Hluhluwe and where rugby comes short in Zululand is that we don’t play enough there, compared to the Eastern Cape primary schools, which play so much more games and therefore there is a lot more opportunity. There’s a lot of talent in Zululand, I reckon the kids there are just as talented, but they are raw. We know the Eastern Cape is crazy about rugby, but it’s quite big in Zululand too,” Buthelezi told Saturday Citizen.

But a talent such as Buthelezi normally just needs a couple of lucky breaks and he will soar. The eighthman with the slick hands made his breakthrough when he came to Durban.

“I was a loose forward and lock playing in the Zululand U12 trials and my older brother, Blessing, was at Durban High School and he did very well there. So DHS saw me and gave me a scholarship. I played lock there from the U14s through to the U15s, and in fact in the KZN U16 team I played lock alongside JJ van der Mescht [a current Sharks second-rower].

“And then I became Head of School at DHS and beating Glenwood in our big derby in 2017 gives me goosebumps still. We hadn’t beaten them since 2006 and it was one of the best days of my life. It was a big occasion, their Old Boys’ Day at Glenwood, but we just wanted it so much. It’s still one of my favourite games ever,” Buthelezi said.

DHS came from 3-12 down to win 20-17 and Buthelezi scored their final try.

He made the SA Schools side later that year and in 2018 he captained the SA U20s.

It was certainly his – and the Sharks’  – good fortune that he then landed up at Kings Park.

“Being at the Sharks has made the transition from the Junior Boks to senior rugby so much smoother because of the type of coaches we have. Like Sean Everitt, who is a transformational coach that believes in growing and developing players. I am so blessed at the Sharks, it’s not just about what you can do for them now, but about where you can be in five years time. We are all driving towards the future,” Buthelezi said.

Never mind breaking a glass ceiling, the way Buthelezi is going, he’s gong to reach the ozone layer.

But it is typical of the humble young man that he is thankful for the help of family and friends along the way.

“A lot of people have had a positive influence in my career, starting with my family, especially my mother. Through it all, the good days and the bad, she has always been there encouraging me through it all and it was not always pretty.

“At the Sharks, guys like Tera Mtembu and Keegan Daniel helped me a lot. I actually stayed with Tera for the first couple of months at the Sharks and he was so welcoming. You can feel threatened by someone who plays in the same position as you and maybe not give of yourself too much, but he was always helpful, giving me tips and encouragement, and Keegan too.

“The Du Preez brothers were also great and Siya Kolisi and Sikhumbuzo Notshe are the players I learn from now, I’m just absorbing knowledge. It’s great to see the type of person Siya is, yes he’s a wonderful rugby player who has done amazing things, but what stands out is what sort of person he is, he never treats anyone differently and is such a good example to us younger guys. He’s just a good human being.”

For the man whose real name is Phendulani, but who was called Phepsi because his teachers at the predominantly Hluhluwe Primary School struggled, it’s now all about the Currie Cup, which the Sharks came agonisingly close to winning last season, only losing in extra time to the Bulls.

“As a squad we are really targeting the Currie Cup, we feel ready now to actually win some trophies, although we understand it’s going to be tough.

“As a captain I value people, I never go in thinking I have to be in charge. Leadership is influence and I try to get to know the players on and off the field so I can get the best reaction out of them, and of course I try to lead by example.

“As a player I don’t think I’m a typical South African eighthman, which I see as an advantage because it makes me different. I never want to play like someone else and hopefully one day I can play eighthman for the Springboks that way,” Buthelezi, a classic-style No.8 whose linking, ball-playing game suits the Sharks’ perfectly, said.