Ken Borland

Johan Grobbelaar is not exactly a seasoned hooker at just 23 years old, but he is a Springbok tourist now and is looking forward to his new-found experience rubbing off on the young pups at the Bulls who have had to hold the fort in the United Rugby Championship.

With the international season now over, national call-ups will no longer be a factor, although it is likely someone like Trevor Nyakane will be having a few weeks’ rest before joining the URC fray. But the Bulls should be strengthened for their match against the Sharks in Durban on Friday night by the return of Grobbelaar.

The Paarl Gym product did not make it on to the field for the Springboks, but the experience gained from just being in the set-up for the Rugby Championship in Australia will have made him an even better player.

“The thing about the Bulls is that the knowledge is passed from player to player, maybe that’s why people say Loftus is a locks factory and now it seems to be a bit of a hooker factory too,” Grobbelaar says.

“We have good hookers here now and we are putting pressure on each other as well as helping one another.

“Being with the Springboks was a very good experience, I was surprised and excited to be called up and it was very nice to see how the system works. But now I’m looking forward to playing with the Bulls and getting some game time after a long time off the field.

“The lessons I can pass on are about how small the margins are because there were three Tests we could have won, and how to vasbyt and keep your composure at the end,” Grobbelaar, whose last on-field action came on July 30 in a Currie Cup match against Western Province, said.

No-one would expect Ox Nche, Siya Kolisi, Lukhanyo Am, Makazole Mapimpi or Bongi Mbonambi to turn out for the Sharks following their heroics with the Springboks, but the KwaZulu-Natal outfit could well be boosted by the inclusion of prop Thomas du Toit, scrumhalf Grant Williams and outside backs Aphelele Fassi and Sbu Nkosi, all of whom saw no action in Europe.

GQEBERHA, Eastern Cape – Christiaan Basson has won before in the strong winds of the Eastern Cape in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series, claiming the St Francis Links title in 2015, and the 39-year-old is hoping this week’s event at Humewood Golf Club will be the one in which he “makes it count” and finally throws off the momentum-stopping effects of the Covid pandemic on his career.

Basson had enjoyed his best finish since 2011 on the Sunshine Tour order of merit, inside the top-20 in 2019/20 before Covid hit, and he hasn’t quite been able to recapture the same consistency in the last two seasons. He finished 38^th in 2020/21 and is currently 43^rd in the standings for this season.

The arrival of twins for Basson and his wife last year lessened the blow of his career being disrupted, but he is now itching to get back into contention and try and claim his fifth Sunshine Tour title.

“Yes, Covid definitely disrupted my golf, but it came at a good time for me to help my wife because we had twins just before the virus arrived. So they were in nappies through Covid and it was nice to have that family time together. But in terms of golf it put a bit of a stop on my progress and I haven’t really done well after Covid.

“I was sort of on a high when it hit and since then I haven’t had much opportunity, there haven’t been many big events with all the postponements. I’m positive about my game, it’s trending in the right direction, but I’m also keen to make one or two tournaments really count now,” Basson said.

Born in Strand, raised in Cape Town and now living there as a member of Metropolitan Golf Club, Basson is obviously at home in the strong winds that are expected to buffet the Humewood seaside links with increasing ferocity when the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series tees off on Thursday. But on Tuesday he said even he needed some time to adapt.

“The way I’ve played lately, I wouldn’t say I’m going in full of a lot of confidence, but I’m happy with these conditions and I think it suits my game. It’s been a while since I’ve played in such a strong wind though. You know how to do things in conditions like this, but you still need to get sharp beforehand. You can’t really practise for wind when there is no wind.

“But I like the conditions and the challenge. You’ve just got to be solid around here and keep the big mistakes off your card. You have to accept that you’re going to make one or two bogeys, especially into the wind, and mentally I’ll even swap the par-fours and par-fives around if the long hole is downwind and the par-four is into the wind. You can hardly get there in two sometimes when the par-four is into the wind,” Basson said.

It is a problem though that Basson is well-equipped to solve. He has the knowledge of winning at the St Francis Bay Links 100km west of Humewood and, now in his 15^th season on the Sunshine Tour, he has plenty of experience of coastal conditions.

Beating the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld has proven to be a precipitous task ever since Jake White arrived in Pretoria, especially for the Sharks, but their captain Phepsi Buthelezi said on Tuesday that they are backing themselves to do it in the Currie Cup final on Saturday by running the home side off their feet.

The only match White’s Bulls have lost at home was in the opening round of the Currie Cup when they fielded a C team on the same day as the Rainbow Cup final and lost 24-48 to Western Province; the Sharks have lost their last four matches at Loftus Versfeld, including last season’s Currie Cup final, although they took that all the way into extra time.

That record has seen the KwaZulu-Natalians determined to change their fortunes by being more true to themselves.

“We want to go up there and play our game, perform to the best of our ability. We know what we are capable of and we’re not going to listen to what other people say. We obviously want to change our record up there and we’ll do that by playing our rugby. In finals, teams tend to play Test rugby, but we want to play Sharks rugby. Obviously the Bulls have a big pack, but we’ll look to move them around.

“As a squad, we have learnt from our mistakes and everyone is feeling confident that we can do this. There’s nothing better than being the underdog and obviously a lot of people are writing us off. But we really want to play our brand of rugby and everyone here believes we can win this. It’s an amazing opportunity to disappoint a lot of people …,” Buthelezi said with a smile on his face.

But as much as the Sharks want to play positive rugby, they know that it is going to be vital for them to stop the Bulls’ big hitters. For at least 80 minutes.

And while the Bulls believe it was their superior fitness that won them the last Currie Cup final, the Sharks are confident that they will not be crocked when it comes to the closing stages of the match.

“We believe we’re the fittest team in the competition and altitude is not an issue because we’ve all played in Pretoria so many times. Obviously the Bulls’ performance against Western Province in the semi-final was really good, but it’s really simple: If we stop their momentum, then after the third phase they don’t really know what to do and they just kick the ball away.

“Discipline is also vital. It starts with penalties, if you give those away then they get into your 22, they maul you and they have such strong runners off that. That’s just giving them momentum on top of momentum,” Buthelezi said.

It must have been a big call for coach Jacques Nienaber to bin Francois Steyn from his match-day 23, given the utility back’s tremendous experience and vital role off the bench in the World Cup triumph. But young Damian Willemse has given no reason for the Springbok management to rue that decision.

The 23-year-old has featured in the last five Tests, four of them as a replacement, while he started at fullback in the opening Rugby Championship match against Argentina. Willemse himself on Friday acknowledged how lucky he felt to be preferred over the more experienced options available to Nienaber, and he also praised Steyn for being so helpful to him.

“There are a lot of quality players who are missing out on the 23 – guys like Frans Steyn, Jesse Kriel and Morne Steyn, who all have more than 40 caps. So I feel very fortunate to make the playing squad. I’ll be happy to continue my run of playing and I’m looking forward to the next four weeks in Australia. The coaches’ trust in me is a big thing for me.

“I’ve been training with Frans and he’s always so calm and communicates well, I’m really enjoying it. He helps the youngsters a lot, Morne and Jesse too. Aphelele Fassi [wing/fullback] and I are always learning from them,” Willemse said from the Gold Coast on Friday.

Although Willemse has also been earmarked as a back-up inside centre, Damian de Allende has been so commanding in that position that the Stormers star has almost entirely featured at fullback in the Green and Gold this season. That is one of the decision-making positions for the Springboks and Willemse said although he is working hard on his game-management skills, it has not been a case of him having to temper his normally adventurous approach.

“We have a specific plan, the way Willie le Roux manages play. We want to force pressure on the opposition and turn the ball over to get our wings in the game and scoring their brilliant tries. It’s about playing smart rugby and not making as many errors, especially the decision-makers. I had a conversation with Aphelele today about how small the margins are at this level.

“The smallest mistake can cost you five or seven points, and we know Australia and New Zealand have a lot of skilful backs in their armoury. I’ve been working very hard with Mzwandile Stick [backline coach] on the high balls and my game-management at fullback. I’m enjoying the challenge,” Willemse said.