Ken Borland

The last time the Sharks hosted Griquas at Kings Park was at the end of July when their own indifferent finishing saw them lose an extraordinary match 37-27, and coach Sean Everitt has blared out the lessons from that upset all week ahead of their Currie Cup semifinal against the same opposition in Durban on Saturday.

Griquas received five yellow cards in that match and the Sharks were almost always playing with extra men. But they wasted numerous scoring opportunities, rather aimlessly bashing away at close quarters when varying the point of attack would have surely seen the incredibly brave Griquas defence crack open.

Maybe it was because they had just come back from Covid-enforced inactivity and the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal, but all in all, it was probably the Sharks’ most bleh performance of the season.

“A lot of lessons were learnt that day, especially how to deal with the opposition getting yellow cards and how to break down defences on the tryline. And we have built some momentum since then, I think we are a better team now and that result has had a lot to do with it.

“Everyone wants to be in a Currie Cup final, so motivation won’t be an issue and there’ll be no questions over energy. Our lineouts and scrums have also improved since we played Griquas the last time,” Everitt said this week.

In order to get the better of Griquas this time, Everitt said his team are going to have to bring a mixture of their ruthless counter-attacking ability and forward grunt that ensures the Sharks can get some fluency with ball-in-hand.

“Griquas have kicked the most in the competition, mostly through Stefan Ungerer, who is an accomplished scrumhalf, and George Whitehead, an experienced flyhalf. They manage the game well, they strangle and squeeze you and I’m sure they will come here and try and disrupt our style of play. I hope we can match their physicality and the breakdown is a massive area we have worked hard on.

“Our flyhalf [Lionel Cronje] and fullback [Curwin Bosch] need to function well, they complement each other, they’ve produced some really good kicking and they can attack too, especially when we split the flyhalf channel on either side. Hopefully we can get the phases going to be able to do that,” Everitt said.

Impressive as the Springboks’ 32-12 win over Argentina was, forwards coach Deon Davids said on Monday that it was far from a 10/10 performance and they will be striving for more consistent excellence this weekend against the same opposition and in the same Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Although there are unlikely to be wholesale changes to the team, tinkering in the interests of keeping some players fresh and others involved could see as many as 10 players wearing a different number on their backs on Saturday.

And one of the significant changes could come in the No.10 jersey. Elton Jantjies’ tendency to mix some skilful moments with basic errors could see him come off the bench on Saturday, with Morne Steyn starting at flyhalf. Damian Willemse also had a mixed day at fullback and there will certainly be plenty of people excited about the prospect of Aphelele Fassi returning to his regular position.

Captain Siya Kolisi played against Argentina despite having gastric flu and, given his all-out effort during the British and Irish Lions series, there is certainly an argument to be made for him to be rested ahead of the huge challenges in Australasia.

Davids said on Monday though that Duane Vermeulen is still two-to-three weeks away from playing, so who would take over the captaincy is an issue. Eben Etzebeth has captained the Springboks before, although ideally he would be resting as well were it not for the injuries to Rynhardt Elstadt, Jean-Luc du Preez, RG Snyman and Pieter-Steph du Toit.

Kwagga Smith can easily play openside flank and Dan du Preez could come in on the blindside, but an injury to Marco van Staden could force the Springboks back into a 5-3 bench.

Davids also confirmed that scrumhalves Herschel Jantjies and Faf de Klerk are also still unavailable for this weekend.

“We want a more consistent performance. The players generally made the right decisions, but the execution was not always where we want it to be. But they found solutions as the game went on, especially in the scrums and lineout. We want to ensure we grow and get better in our execution, make sure that flows into Saturday’s game.

“We are very happy with the guys that stepped in against a quality side. It was obviously a big step up the youngsters had to make and we were glad with the way they reacted. In selection, we will look at performance, but also the freshness of the players and we want to build depth and experience into the group. Those considerations all have to be balanced,” Davids said.

Judging by last weekend’s performance, the depth in Springbok rugby is okay.

“There were some big moments that the players handled well. That was testament to the base of talent that we have, how the guys assist each other and the leadership of the senior players and how the youngsters react to that. It speaks to a whole team effort and it was a good learning experience against a very competitive team. We now have a base to move from,” Davids said.

Possible Springbok team: Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Jesse Kriel, Francois Steyn, Rosko Specman, Morne Steyn, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Dan du Preez, Kwagga Smith, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche. Bench – Trevor Nyakane, Joseph Dweba, Vincent Koch, Marvin Orie, Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, Jaden Hendrikse, Elton Jantjies, Damian Willemse.

The British media have been gleefully pointing out how little rugby the Springboks have had against top-tier opposition since winning the World Cup in November 2019, but coach Jacques Nienaber has found haven in being able to select so many of the players who won that final for the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.

Nienaber announced a Springbok team on Tuesday in which only six of the 23 players were not on the field on that heady evening in Yokohama. Starting loosehead Ox Nche and replacement flank Rynhardt Elstadt are the only players who were not part of the triumphant World Cup squad.

“Without any Test rugby in 2020 and limited preparation games now, obviously selecting players who have been in the system is quite important. That experience, to have over 500 Test caps in the starting team and more than 700 in the squad of 23, is what we’re looking for. These are guys who have been here before, they understand the pressure they will be under.

“And there will be immense pressure, so it’s great to have players who have experienced it before. This is the real thing and we are going to need calm, steady heads. I think we are going to have new pictures thrown our way by the Lions and will be forced to make solutions on the field. One of the big challenges is that the Lions have a very versatile squad that can play in multiple styles,” Nienaber said on Tuesday.

Amongst the backs, there have been fitness question marks over Handre Pollard, Makazole Mapimpi and Damian de Allende, so Nieneaber has decided not to field the Bomb Squad 6-2 split on the bench. He understandably has confidence the forward replacements – Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx, Frans Malherbe, Lood de Jager and Elstadt – will be able to man up to whatever the Lions pack throws at them.

“Handre has not played a lot of rugby and he’s just come back from Covid, Makazole is the same. If we were fully confident about them then we could have gone with a 6-2 split. It’s probably just not the right time to only have two backs on the bench. We are comfortable with a 6-2 split, we will go with it again, but there just wasn’t the opportunity for this specific game.

“We’re not 100% sure everyone will last the whole 80 minutes because, due to Covid, some of them have not been exposed to much rugby for quite some time. The bench might only come on for 20 minutes, but it will happen the moment a player on the field is not producing his required role due to tiredness. We look to the subs when the performance starts to drop off,” Nienaber explained.

As selections go, it is a vote of confidence in the tried and tested, even if that means a gamble on recent returnees like captain Siya Kolisi, De Jager and Mapimpi. Given the opposition and the question marks over their preparation, it would be silly for the Springboks not to look at their World Cup winners.

Springbok team: Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handré Pollard (vice-captain), Faf de Klerk, Kwagga Smith, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Trevor Nyakane, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nché. Replacements – Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Lood de Jager, Rynhardt Elstadt, Herschel Jantjies, Elton Jantjies, Damian Willemse.

The good news for the Springboks is that flyhalf Handre Pollard is okay to play in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions and even though he was in quarantine, he was still putting the time to good use by doing plenty of analysis on their opposition in Cape Town on Saturday.

Pollard, one of the main architects of the 2019 World Cup triumph, was one of the Springboks who tested positive for Covid, but his brush with the virus has not been serious.

“I feel good, luckily I didn’t have any symptoms and I was able to get through the 10 days of quarantine quite easily. I’m ready to go and, as a team, there’s no way we’re not going to be ready. We’re the world champions playing against the British and Irish Lions, so we will be emotionally and physically ready. We’ve had hard weeks of training, we are so ready.

“The Lions have quality players everywhere and we were analysing them as hard as we could when we were stuck in isolation. So we have a good idea of what’s coming, it helps to pick up small cues and what their individual tendencies are. I’m sure they’re doing the same on us too. So after some good time spent on mental preparation and analysis, this week it’s back to physical training,” Pollard said on Monday.

Pollard did a fine job of being South Africa’s general in the 2019 World Cup, where their successful strategy was built around forward power and suffocating defence to boss the gain-line, deft kicking to exploit space and then ruthless finishing to capitalise on the forced mistakes. Over the weekend, certain critics described it as being ‘boring’, to which Pollard had an excellent response on Monday.

“That’s the most beautiful thing in the world to see, apart from my wife. Throwing the ball around is nice for the people watching on TV, but ourselves and the Lions probably play pretty similar games – it’s going to come down to physicality and the set-pieces, as it usually does in these big Tests. The flyhalf always plays a big role too in providing direction, steering the ship.

“It’s going to be a big series, but nothing changes – I still have to do my job first before worrying about the other guys. I have to make sure we’re playing in the right areas,” Pollard said.

Backline coach Mzwandile Stick acknowledged that having the 27-year-old Pollard available is excellent news for the Springboks.

“We know Morne Steyn is very high quality, he manages the game so well, and Elton Jantjies had a great match against the Bulls with his kicking game and his physicality was right up there. But Handre has got massive experience, he was there when we won the World Cup final and you can’t replace that experience. As coaches, we always appreciate experience.

“They are the players who know when to switch on and you can see the guys are now in the zone in the team room,” Stick said.