Ken Borland

The SA20 Auction resulted in a fabulous outcome for young batsmen Tristan Stubbs and Donovan Ferreira, while some other very good cricketers missed out on being bought, most notably Proteas regulars Temba Bavuma and Andile Phehlukwayo.

Stubbs is just 22 years old but has already made his mark at international level as a devastating finisher who is also a great fielder and can bowl some spin. He attracted the highest price of the auction – a life-changing R9.2 million paid by Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

MI Cape Town just kept their paddle in the air from the moment Stubbs went on auction, from his base price of R175 000 into the millions. They eventually bowed out at R4.6 million as the Sunrisers made a concerted effort to keep Stubbs at St George’s Park. Joburg Super Giants pushed the price past a new high of R7 million and then MI Cape Town came back, before the Eastern Cape franchise held on to keep their star player.

MI Cape Town coach Simon Katich said Stubbs had become like a son to him during the recent Hundred competition in England and he was disappointed not to get him again.

“I’ve just worked with Tristan in The Hundred and he feels like my third son, that’s how much we enjoyed working with each other. He’s a Mumbai Indians player in the IPL as well. He’s a special talent, which is why we went so hard for him,” Katich said.

The 24-year-old Ferreira, who did not have a full-time contract last season and had to get leave to play for the Northerns Titans in the T20 competition, scored a massive R5.5 million from Joburg Super Kings.

A very good ball-striker, and part-time bowler, he is considered a promising white-ball talent, but the bidding frenzy he sparked was scarcely believable.

As was the complete lack of interest in Bavuma, who will captain South Africa at the T20 World Cup next month, and Phehlukwayo, who couldn’t even get interest from Durban, where he is a very effective bowler. Franchises perhaps baulked at their R850 000 reserve prices.

The dangerous Rilee Rossouw was second to Stubbs in terms of price tag and will be going to Pretoria Capitals for R6.9 million.

Two left-arm bowlers who are also threats with the bat were next in terms of popularity, with Marco Jansen going to Sunrisers Eastern Cape for R6.1 million and Wayne Parnell being bought by Pretoria Capitals for R5.6 million.

Sisanda Magala once again upstaged some of his more illustrious colleagues as he earned R5.4 million in another coup for Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

Bulls coach Jake White is not even waiting for the outcome of Bismarck du Plessis’ disciplinary hearing later on Friday and has declared himself “100% sure” that the veteran Springbok hooker will run out at some stage on Saturday at the Cape Town Stadium to take on the Stormers in their crunch United Rugby Championship match.

The Western Cape has been in uproar since Du Plessis appeared to slap Western Province lock Ben-Jason Dixon, who was illegally holding on to his leg as he tried to leave a ruck, in their midweek Currie Cup match, with captain Nama Xaba calling it a “strike to the face” and the local media describing it as a punch.

Western Province went ahead and cited Du Plessis, no doubt looking to disrupt the Bulls as much as possible ahead of the vital URC clash in Cape Town. White said it was a great sign of how much is at stake on Saturday and how desperate the home side are for any possible edge.

“I’m 100% sure Bismarck will run out and play,” White said on Friday after naming Du Plessis on his replacements bench. “I see a Western Province player thinks Bismarck slapped him.

“I didn’t realise you could be cited for someone thinking you had slapped him. Bongi Mbonambi punched Bismarck recently and there was no citing. But there has been massive publicity over Bismarck.

“It’s wonderful that the classic North/South derby has such spice, my reserve hooker is getting more air-time than the actual game itself. I hope they have spent the whole week looking on social media for a video.

“But it’s fantastic, it’s going to be like when I was a kid, Gerhard Viviers and Chick Henderson talking about the game, a bit of banter flying around, lots of hype, Naas Botha versus Hennie Bekker,” White grinned.

With the Stormers topping the South African conference of the URC on 43 points and the Bulls just one point behind them, the match is vital for both sides as they aim for a guaranteed place in the playoffs. White said he also hoped it was a tremendous afternoon for South African rugby in general.

“I hope there’s a massive crowd and it’s an unbelievable game. Like Doc Craven always said, South African rugby is strong when Northern Transvaal and Western Province are strong, and hopefully we can showcase that.”

For White, the key area for the Bulls to focus on is to take their chances.

“We will get chances, both teams will, and we have to make sure our experience comes through then. We just need to be good enough to take our opportunities,” White said.

South Africa are hosting the FIH Hockey Pro League in Potchefstroom over the next fortnight with high hopes of being competitive, but the multitude of unforced errors they made caused a most adverse outcome in their opening match against the Netherlands on Tuesday night as they were hammered 11-1.

The Netherlands scored first, in the seventh minute, through a penalty stroke by Tim Swaen after an early defensive mistake by the hosts.

And the third-ranked Dutch side stamped their dominance on the game from the second quarter as they went into halftime 4-1 up.

The floodgates really opened in the final quarter as the Netherlands more than doubled a 5-1 lead, scoring four goals in the first six minutes.

South Africa, ranked 14^th in the world, equalised at 1-1 in the 20^th minute through Bili Ntuli’s excellent deflection of a reverse-sticks cross from Mustapha Cassiem, but they didn’t have a prayer thereafter.

Their main failing was their inability to hold on to the ball, basic mistakes gifting possession to the Dutch, and there was also some naïve defending.

Jip Janssen, with two set-piece goals, Swaen, Thierry Brinkman and Thijs van Dam, with two goals apiece, were South Africa’s chief tormentors.

“We played badly against a good team,” South Africa coach Garreth Ewing summed up succinctly. “We lost our shape completely in the last 30 minutes. But hopefully we have all learnt a lot.

“There’s a lot to take on board. This was a reminder of where we are in world hockey. We will have to come out with the right attitude tomorrow night against India.”

India beat France 5-0 in Tuesday’s other game.

Neither the Bulls nor the Sharks are expecting a gentle introduction into the Currie Cup final at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, with the defending champions looking to settle the outcome early on, while the visitors are aiming to exert consistent pressure for the whole game.

In the semi-finals last weekend, the Bulls blew Western Province away in the opening 16 minutes by racing into a 24-5 lead; the Sharks had to go the distance in seeing off Griquas 28-24.

“We basically beat Western Province in the first quarter and I expect to start the same way as we did last week, why not? We’ve only made two changes to the team and the Sharks lost two weeks ago at home to the same Western Province team that was on the ropes against us. Last year’s extra-time final is irrelevant, all the Springboks played and now the Sharks are missing seven guys in Australia.

“If it’s going to be a dogfight, finals rugby, whatever; we must just play at our best. Western Province were desperate when they beat the Sharks and so if we are more desperate than them tomorrow then we will be okay. if you look at the trophy and the history, if it’s just another game for us then we’ve lost perspective. We have a massive opportunity to be the first team to win the Currie Cup twice in one year,” fired-up Bulls coach Jake White said on Friday.

The Sharks are expecting to have to weather an early storm and will then be hoping to outlast the Bulls.

“Both teams are going to have to handle the intensity. The Bulls were sublime in the first 20 minutes against Western Province and that will pose a challenge. There will be nerves and the team that settles down first will make a better start, which is really important in a game of this magnitude. You can’t underestimate the influence of scoreboard pressure.

“So we can’t afford to give away early penalties. We want a consistent performance and it has built character for us to play under pressure to qualify for the final, that helps. We have also played quite a few games at altitude and coped very well, we don’t see it as a factor and two weeks ago we beat the Lions by fifty points. We will play what’s in front of us and a full defensive line means there’s space behind,” Sharks coach Sean Everitt said.

Both teams have had halfback issues.

Johan Goosen, who was instrumental in the Bulls’ semifinal win with his skill and vision, has tested positive for Covid and has been replaced at flyhalf by Chris Smith, who came off the bench and kicked the 79^th-minute penalty to level the scores in last season’s final between the same two teams at the same venue. There is no specialist flyhalf cover on the bench with wing Ruan Combrinck or rookie utility back David Coetzer bracketed amongst the reserves.

The Sharks have SA A scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba starting, but with Jaden Hendrikse, Grant Williams and Cameron Wright all injured, U20 player Lucky Dlepu, uncapped at senior level, is on the bench.

Teams

Bulls: David Kriel, Cornal Hendricks, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Madosh Tambwe, Chris Smith, Zak Burger, Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje, Janko Swanepoel, Mornay Smith, Joe van Zyl, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench – Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima, Jacques van Rooyen, Jacques du Plessis, WJ Steenkamp, Keagan Johannes, Ruan Combrinck/David Coetzer, Stravino Jacobs.

Sharks: Curwin Bosch, Yaw Penxe, Werner Kok, Marius Louw, Thaakir Abrahams, Lionel Cronje, Sanele Nohamba, Phepsi Buthelezi (c), Henco Venter, Dylan Richardson, Gerbrandt Grobler, Le Roux Roets, Thomas du Toit, Kerron van Vuuren, Khwezi Mona. Bench – Dan Jooste, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Khutha Mchunu, Thembelani Bholi, Reniel Hugo, Lucky Dlepu, Jeremy Ward, Anthony Volmink.