Ken Borland

Cheslin Kolbe’s sidestep has become one of South Africa’s most beloved sporting memes but the ace winger has praised the Springboks’ kicking game and their defence for allowing him to pull off his trademark move once again in setting up Lukhanyo Am’s dazzling try in the SA A team’s win over the British and Irish Lions in midweek.

Kolbe fielded a kick just inside his own half and five metres in from touch 32 minutes into the first half, jogged a bit and then exploded, wonderful footwork taking him through a small gap, and his super offload to Am then leading to a try. But the build-up to the try had seen the Springboks constantly driving the Lions back into their 22 with kicks, a tremendous defence then getting up quickly to force the tourists into kicking the ball back.

“A lot of teams try to use the kicking game to launch attacks and it’s about showing the patience for the perfect time to counter-attack. We did well to capitalise on our opportunities. For us, kicking is always about going forward, we want to make sure our backs are always going forward. You need to sum up what the defence are doing and try to bring some x-factor.

“We managed to do that quite a lot, but credit must also go to the forwards. They defend, defend all the time and that gets you energy and excitement and then you can’t wait to attack again. We expected the Lions to use long kicks on to the back three, but their kicks were mostly quite short. Fortunately Jasper Wiese was able to get up and take most of those,” Kolbe said.

While the try gave the Springboks a 17-3 lead, it took the mother of all defensive efforts for them to hold on to that lead until halftime, especially with scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and flank marco van Staden yellow-carded in quick succession. That superb defensive effort continued in the second half as the SA A side won 17-13.

“I was super-proud of the character everyone showed without a lot of preparation. We just had to hang in there, man up and try and stay in the fight. The defence delivered, especially when they defended a number of phases on our line. That showed our fight and we got energy from that,” Kolbe said.

The ants of Ireland pulled off a giant-killing act as they beat a sloppy South African side who suffered far too many eek-worthy moments in the field, by 43 runs in the second ODI at Malahide in Dublin on Tuesday.

The Proteas had again won the toss and sent Ireland in to bat but the pacemen bowled poorly up front and at the death as Ireland posted a formidable 290 for five.

This time Ireland were both able to prosper up front in the powerplay and keep wickets intact. Paul Stirling and Andy Balbirnie took them to 49 without loss in the first 10 overs and their opening stand was eventually worth  64 off 82 balls.

But in a powerful top-order performance, Balbirnie then added another 60 for the second wicket with Andy McBrine (30) and the Ireland captain went on to a superb 102 off 117 balls, really leading from the front and providing the foundation for the win.

Harry Tector (79 off 68) and George Dockrell (45 off 23) then provided a scintillating end to the innings as they hammered wayward death bowling for 88 runs in the last seven overs.

Spinners Tabraiz Shamsi (10-1-42-1) and Keshav Maharaj (10-0-50-1) were the best of the South African bowlers, doing a fine job in the middle overs.

Apart from the woes of the seamers, the Proteas fielding was also extremely creaky, with four catches going down that should have been caught and messy ground-fielding also being the order of the day.

Janneman Malan was the top-scorer for South Africa as they were bowled out for 247 in the penultimate over.

The rookie opener struck a powerful 84 off 96 balls, with four sixes, making up for the early loss of Aiden Markram (5) and Temba Bavuma (10).

He was well-supported by Rassie van der Dussen (49 off 70) in a third-wicket stand of 108 in 22 overs, but South Africa then fell away badly, once again exposing the lower middle-order and the finishing ability of the team as a problem.

Malan will wryly consider that he could yet found himself out the team for the third and final match on Friday as Quinton de Kock obviously needs to return.

He will also be kicking himself for getting out when he did though, caught sweeping spinner George Dockrell to cow-corner, and when Van der Dussen was trapped lbw by McBrine in the next over, it was the hammer blow from which the Proteas could never recover.

Covid hit the British and Irish Lions camp on Wednesday in what may well be the tipping point that sees the entire tour moved to Cape Town or called off completely.

The Lions management confirmed on Wednesday evening that a member of their management team as well as a player have tested positive and had gone into isolation, as had 12 close contacts – eight of whom are players. The entire touring party was then tested again on Wednesday and for several hours the match against the Sharks in Johannesburg on Wednesday night hung in the balance.

It was eventually played, but the fact that the virus has now penetrated the meticulously assembled Lions bubble is of grave concern and the entire series must now be in danger of being called off. The glimmer of hope that the organisers are no doubt hanging on to is that the tourists, with their weekend game against the Bulls in Pretoria already postponed, can now head to Cape Town where the number of Covid cases is much lower.

The Lions are scheduled to play the SA A team at the Cape Town Stadium next Wednesday and their only remaining fixtures in Gauteng would be the last two Tests. It now seems likely those will be moved to the Cape as well.

Quite who the hosts are going to be able to field in that SA A match and in the three Tests that start on July 24 is difficult to know. The Springboks camp has been hard-hit by Covid with 12 positive cases, including head coach Jacques Nienaber. There are currently seven players who are in isolation and, with the second Test against Georgia, scheduled for Friday night at Ellis Park, now cancelled, questions are being asked about what sort of preparation the Springboks will have before taking on the might of the Lions.

Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus may be forced into a situation where the SA A game, which was meant to be for the second-string South African side to take on the Lions, is now where the first-choice Springbok line-up has to play in order to get some game-time together before the Test series. Which would be most unfortunate for the fringe players in the national squad.

The Lions are also concerned about their preparation for the series bring disrupted and have reportedly been trying to find some opposition to replace the Bulls over the weekend. Georgia announced on Wednesday that they have half-a-dozen Covid cases in their camp as well, which is why they cannot stand in.

All rugby fans will be hoping that when the whole series moves to Cape Town, the situation will normalise and sport rather than a pandemic can take centre stage again.

The Bulls showed pleasing character as they rebounded from their embarrassing loss in the Rainbow Cup final, staying the course and pulling off a tight 32-27 win over the Pumas in an intriguing Currie Cup match at Loftus Versfeld on Friday night.

The Bulls dominated the set-pieces in the first half and two clinical tries by centre Harold Vorster, through a chip and regather with his first touch in a Bulls jersey, and Madosh Tambwe, who breezed past the last two Pumas defenders, gave the home side a 17-3 halftime lead.

Of course the ever-committed Pumas were going to fight back and some soft moments by the Bulls, letting wing Tapiwa Mafura to bounce off a couple of tackles down the right and then Tambwe allowing a grubber to go through his legs, saw excellent left wing Etienne Taljaard get a well-deserved try.

But Bulls centre Cornal Hendricks showed great game awareness as his long pass to Stravino Jacobs found the wing in space, although the Pumas reacted well. But the visitors tried to counter-ruck, Hendricks picked up the ball and went scooting down the blindside and scored to give the defending champions a 25-10 lead with 15 minutes remaining.

But far from setting up a comfortable finish for the Bulls, that’s when things started to become really tough for the home side. The Pumas began to exert pressure on the scrums and flyhalf Eddie Fouche flourished.

He firstly chipped over the top and regathered to score as Jacobs could not take the ball cleanly under the pressure, and then, after a particularly big scrum, Fouche’s wonderful long pass to Devon Williams saw the fullback come screaming through midfield and then pass out wide for Mafura to score.

It was suddenly a one-point game, but the Bulls managed to keep calm. Captain Marcell Coetzee burst down the blindside off a scrum, the Bulls then went left to exploit the space and good hands allowed replacement fullback David Kriel to step inside and score the matchwinning try.

Having been so below par last weekend in Italy, coach Jake White will be delighted the Bulls not only played with some confidence but also dealt with concerted pressure from the Pumas in the final quarter. Flyhalf Chris Smith, after a horrid time against Benetton, was especially impressive, succeeding with all six of his kicks at goal, getting stuck in on the gain-line and showing some superb hands as he got his backline away smoothly.

For all their impressive efforts, the Pumas seem cursed to continually just fall short at Loftus Versfeld.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Cornal Hendricks, David Kriel. Conversions: Chris Smith (4). Penalties: Smith (2).

Pumas – Tries: Etienne Taljaard, Eddie Fouche, Tapiwa Mufura. Conversions: Eddie Fouche (3). Penalties: Fouche (2).