Ken Borland

Right now, no matter how much medical expertise or finance they throw at the injury, it’s not working when it comes to Dean Elgar’s adductor tear and the opening batsman will once again be missing when the Northerns Titans host the KZN Dolphins at SuperSport Park from Friday in the second round of the domestic four-day competition.

Elgar, who has not played since the T20 tournament at the end of September, told The Citizen on Thursday that he is hopeful of being fit for the third round of fixtures which start on November 18. But that will leave the Test captain with just two matches before the first Test against India starts on December 17.

His absence is a continued blow for a Titans side that mounted a fine comeback in their opening match against the Eastern Province Warriors, but simply did not have enough top-order runs in either innings.

It is a problem not shared by KZN, who piled on the runs last weekend at Newlands thanks to an unbeaten double century by Khaya Zondo and a hundred by Jason Smith, while there were also useful contributions from Keegan Petersen and Bryce Parsons. Sarel Erwee and Marques Ackerman missed out last weekend, but they are both quality batsmen.

The Dolphins will be without new-ball bowler Ottneil Baartman, but in-form paceman Daryn Dupavillon is still there and Eathan Bosch is also in their squad. It all adds up to Northerns having to work as hard and as collectively as ants if they are to not lose a second straight home game.

The Central Gauteng Lions know how much assistance their Wanderers home pitch loans them, which they used to great effect in beating North-West last weekend by an innings, but now they have to travel down to St George’s Park to take on Eastern Province Warriors.

Both Lutho Sipamla and Sisanda Magala return to their place of birth in Port Elizabeth, while the Warriors will unleash the exciting pace trio of Glenton Stuurman, Mthiwekhaya Nabe and Marco Jansen in an exciting battle of attacks.

The two teams were the only outright winners from the first weekend of fixtures, so should one of them gain victory again this weekend, it will give them a useful head-start.

Lions coach Wandile Gwavu is optimistic his team will adapt well given their previous record in Gqeberha.

“It’s always been really good games against the Warriors. We have managed to get a positive result at St George’s in 2018 and last season.

“So we are definitely going there with a bit of confidence behind our backs and looking forward to it,” Gwavu said.

The other games starting on Friday are the big Western Cape derby between Boland and Western Province in Paarl, and North-West host the Free State Knights in Potchefstroom.

Ruan Pienaar is a highly experienced man when it comes to playing against European opposition and the scrumhalf said on Tuesday that the Sharks dare not give Cardiff Blues any weak points to exploit in their defence as they meet on the 4G pitch at the Arms Park on Saturday.

South African teams are starting to come to terms with playing on artificial turf in the UK, and the Cardiff Blues are known for their attacking style on their fast-paced home surface. Plus, having lost to the Bulls last weekend via a dramatic second-half comeback, they will be taking nothing for granted on Saturday.

“Cardiff will be disappointed to have two losses on the bounce,” Pienaar said, “and I think they felt in control in the first half of their match against the Bulls. They are a good team, so they will be desperate to bounce back.

“They have a lot of dangerous players and if we give them time on the ball and let them dictate the tempo, then it will be a really tough challenge against them.

“You’ve got to be clinical and really accurate on those pitches because the game is a lot faster and the tempo much higher. We’ve got to be on-point defensively or their dangerous back three will hurt us.

“Rhys Priestland pulls the strings really well for them at flyhalf and it’s tough on a 4G pitch to defend breaches if they get through your line,” Pienaar said.

The former Ulster stalwart said the Sharks’ performance on Saturday will need to have the same properties they showed in convincingly beating the Ospreys last weekend, also with a brilliant second-half display.

“Against the Ospreys we played in the right areas, our discipline was good and we took our chances. We responded very well to our first two losses and you have to adapt to how the referees blow over here.

“Playing first up against Munster was always going to be a tough introduction, a massive learning curve because they are a very good team and especially difficult at Thomond Park.

“Our discipline let us down against them and there were costly errors, but against Glasgow Warriors, if we had done one or two things differently, then it could have been a different story.

“It’s a completely different way of playing over here, but we have been fortunate to have really good weather, normally it is quite miserable already at this time of year. I played here for a long time, you know the opposition is going to be really well coached and our key decision-makers are crucial,” Pienaar said.

The Proteas left for the United Arab Emirates on Sunday and the T20 World Cup, with captain Temba Bavuma saying it will be all hands on deck as they are relying on a team effort and not individual success to do well.

With the likes of Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir and Chris Morris not being selected, never mind AB de Villiers, the Proteas are lacking some of the global superstars of other teams, apart from Quinton de Kock, Kagiso Rabada and Tabraiz Shamsi.

But their form in recent times has been impressive, especially their series wins in the West Indies and Sri Lanka, in conditions that are expected to be similar to what they will find in the UAE. And they have prepared well with a camp in Durban, former Proteas star JP Duminy, seconded to the team as a strategic consultant, saying he was very impressed by the attention to detail the squad showed in terms of their skills.

“We pride ourselves on how well prepared we are,” Bavuma said on Sunday. “And we are not relying on individuals to get us over the line, we will be relying on a team effort. If we all take care of our basics and the small things, if we do the right things day-by-day, then we trust the results will look after themselves.

“The team is in a good space and if you saw our performances in the Sri Lanka T20s, then you will know there was nothing inhibiting us.

“We will be trying to do more of the same, our approach will be no different to what has brought us some good success lately and we will take from those experiences.

“It’s all about how we execute our game-plan and do it in pressurised moments. We back ourselves and our chances, we do although a lot of other people don’t,” Bavuma said with his trademark determination.

In terms of the surfaces they will play on, South Africa are expecting run-scoring to be even more difficult than it has been in the IPL on the same pitches.

“It’s hard to see the wickets getting any better because they will have so much traffic on them. As batsmen, we are expecting tough times on those decks,” Bavuma said.

While the top-order batsman said the thumb he fractured in the ODI series in Sri Lanka is still “not 100%”, he has been given the all-clear by the medical staff.

“I started batting a bit this weekend, just to feel it out. Everything is still on schedule and the medical staff are all quite happy with my progress,” the skipper said.

South Africa will quarantine for six days and their first match is on October 23 against Australia in Abu Dhabi.

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi admitted on Friday that only actions, not words, will convince their fans that the gains of the last couple of years are not being lost, and to make that sale they all need to be better as individuals against New Zealand on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

The Springboks, with Kolisi at the forefront, put in a massive effort last weekend against the All Blacks but still came up two points short, but not for the want of opportunities created by their impressive pressure game.

“I can’t say anything that will convince anyone, it’s only about the way we are playing and the effort we put in,” Kolisi said. “But it’s all about results, which we are not showing at the moment, but the effort and attitude are there.

“But it’s better to say “I did’ than to say ‘I said’. We just have to go out there and play, we are not giving up and hopefully our reward comes with a result.

“As individuals we all have to bring in our play, but the individual only wins when the team wins. So many individuals had great games last weekend but we still didn’t get the win.

“So we all want to be much better, get into as many battles as possible. We had so many opportunities to do better but there were just lapses in concentration. There’s nothing more we can say, it’s only our actions that count, our results and how we don’t give up,” Kolisi said.

South Africa showed last weekend that they have the raw materials to beat the All Blacks, but just the finishing touches were lacking.

“We brought the intensity, it showed that physically we are fine, but we just did not take the opportunities that were in front of us. Our focus is now on making sure we finish the tour strong and we are here to do a job.

“The game-plan will be the same as it’s always been because it gets us to where we want to be, now we need to take the opportunities in front of us. That’s why we kick, to get into positions where we can play rugby.

“It’s what we did at the World Cup, we played off turnovers and scored some great tries, but now we are just not taking those chances when we work ourselves in to perfect positions,” Kolisi said.