Ken Borland

As they prepare to face the Sharks in a vital United Rugby Championship derby at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, the Bulls’ focus seems to not be so much on the way they play but the speed with which they execute their plans.

Sluggish would be one of the words to describe their grinding 21-13 win over the Lions last weekend, and it is clear coach Jake White has instructed his team to lift their intensity and therefore their pace of play when they take on the Sharks.

“We will take some confidence from the Lions game, but it is clear we still have a lot to learn,” scrumhalf Embrose Papier said. “It was a very slow game and we need to work on our breakdown.

“It’s going to be a tough game and a big physical battle against the Sharks because they are a really good side with a lot of Springboks. But as scrumhalves we have to be really fast. Our forwards do too, they need to set quickly because the Sharks scrumhalves like to snipe as well.

“We have taken quite a few positives out of the Lions game but there’s also been a lot to work on. It was a slow game, but when teams come up to Loftus and the altitude here, we must lift the tempo so we make it hard, especially for teams from the coast,” Papier said.

Apart from injecting more speed into his service from the breakdown, Papier has also been putting plenty of work into his kicking game with consultant Fourie du Preez, the great former Springbok scrumhalf.

“I just played running rugby at Garsfontein school and at U19s and U21s, but I made lots of mistakes and that’s why coaches devise plans. So I play more in the system now and I can still do my own thing in the system.

“I’ve been trying different styles of box-kicks and I now feel comfortable with the way I’m kicking. I need to do the basics right and stay in the system, get the balance right between passing and kicking.

“Fourie is a legend with lots of experience and I am learning a lot with him. We work a lot on passing, kicking and running lines. Fourie was one of the best ever at those and he also had a big work-rate,” Papier said.

India owe numerous debts of gratitude to their captain Virat Kohli, who batted for four-and-a-half hours and wrestled them to 223 all out with his defiant innings of 79, but his conqueror, Kagiso Rabada, said the secret to his and South Africa’s success on the first day of the decisive third Test at Newlands on Tuesday was not coming up with any special plans but rather being relentless in their basics.

Rabada was outstanding in his 50^th Test and actually deserved better than his final figures of 4/73 in 22 overs on Tuesday, such was the quality of his fast bowling. His tussle with Kohli was dazzling at times, and South Africa’s talismanic fast bowler eventually won the day when he had the great batsman caught behind as the penultimate wicket of the innings.

“Kohli batted extremely well and he was very patient with leaving the ball,” Rabada said. “People think we have such wicked plans but it was all about bowling a good line and length, being relentless and resilient.

“I wasn’t going for his pads obviously. I was just trying to get the ball to swing away, that’s where he’s been getting out lately, and the important thing was to just stick at it.

“Bowling very seldom feels perfect, but it was a good day for me. I just tried to be as consistent as possible. Nothing changes, I’m just trying to do the same thing.

“Things went my way today, I feel good about the way I bowled and it was a decent day,” Rabada said with some modesty.

India chose to bat first with dark clouds enveloping the ground and a greenish tinge to the pitch. Armed with the hard, red new ball, Rabada and Duanne Olivier made life hard for them from the outset.

But although there was movement and some steep bounce, Rabada said the Newlands pitch is not exactly poisonous. South Africa, batting under clear blue skies, had reached 17/1 in the eight overs they faced before stumps.

“There’s still quite a bit in the pitch, but it looks a proper Test wicket. Batsmen will have to grind, but the bowlers still have to bowl well. We have no control over conditions, but I don’t think it’s going to get much easier for batsmen tomorrow [Wednesday],” Rabada said.

The 26-year-old, who took his tally to 230 Test wickets, was in his element on Tuesday. His action was liquid smooth, his accuracy superb and the ball was talking.

India have a couple of mean fast bowlers of their own though, and South Africa’s batting line-up are going to have to support their bowlers now and do well as a unit.

Cricket-lovers in Kimberley can look forward to being the first spectators to resume watching live cricket at the ground, with CSA confirming that they are finalising plans to have a crowd in attendance for the first time since the Covid virus spread uncontrollably through the country 19 months ago at next week’s T20 Provincial Knockout Cup.

With government having now given permission for up to 2000 spectators to be allowed as long as all Covid procedures and precautions are followed, cricket is likely to be the second sport to open its doors, after 2000 vaccinated fans were able to watch Bafana Bafana beat Ethiopia 1-0 in their World Cup qualifier earlier this week in Soweto.

The CSA T20 Provincial Knockout Cup resumes with the quarterfinals on Tuesday at the Diamond Oval.

“Chances are that we will have our first set of spectators for the finals,” a CSA spokesperson confirmed to The Citizen on Wednesday evening. “We are finalising the logistics and we should be making an announcement soon.”

Tuesday’s action sees South-Western Districts take on the Northerns Titans, and then the Free State Knights, who used to have Kimberley as one of their home venues, play Western Province. KZN Dolphins versus Eastern Province Warriors and Boland Rocks against North-West Dragons are the other quarterfinals, both to be played on Wednesday.

The semi-finals will then take place on Thursday and then the final will be held on Friday.

SA Rugby announced earlier on Wednesday that fully vaccinated supporters will be allowed to attend both club and professional matches from now on. But the four franchises are all overseas playing in the United Rugby Championship and the first senior professional rugby match to be open to spectators is likely to be on November 6 at Loftus Versfeld when the Carling Champion XV take on Kenya.

Morne Steyn is not just a sharpshooter with the boot but also one of the straightest arrows one would hope to meet as a person, and on Tuesday he confirmed he is delighted to be in the Springboks’ plans for the British and Irish Lions tour because he did not return to Pretoria to merely wind down his career.

Steyn’s Bulls team have had the wood over all other local opposition over the last year and the 36-year-old flyhalf has played a key role in their success, his game-management being spot-on and his kicking as accurate as ever, while he has also helped their backline to be especially penetrative.

The Springboks brains trust of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber have recognised that Steyn still has all the attributes one would want from a Test flyhalf, so he has been part of their alignment camps this year.

“I’m in the Springbok group and hoping for the best. I’m a very competitive guy, whether I’m playing against Griquas or whoever, I always want to be the best flyhalf on the field. I didn’t come to Loftus to sit on the bench or help the youngsters, and playing for the Springboks is always your main goal playing in South Africa, although I didn’t feel any pressure to do it.

“It would be a bonus, not something you bargain on when you played your last Test in 2016. Now it’s five years later and I could be one of the senior guys who the youngsters look up to, like Victor Matfield and Fourie du Preez were when I made my Springbok debut against the Lions in 2009. Few people get to play the Lions twice, so I would be very blessed if it happens,” Steyn said on Tuesday.

Steyn did not play for South Africa again after a then-record 57-15 defeat against the All Blacks in Durban in October 2016, but now, after all these years, the Springboks look set to return to the veteran of 66 Tests, alongside World Cup winners Handre Pollard and Elton Jantjies.

“It’s a whole different era now, the last time I played the Lions, I was the new oke and they were my first Tests. Now things are going very well with the Bulls, experience plays a role and the body is still feeling good. I do look after my body, I enjoy stretching and recovery and I did gymnastics at school, so I think that flexibility helps. I can still do what the younger guys do.

“Now my career is coming the whole circle and I hope to finish on a high. With the quality youngsters coming through at the Bulls there’s certainly a bright future there and as long as I’m still running at the front, as long as I don’t struggle to get up in the morning or come to training, I’ll take it year-by-year. The body still feels good and my mind is ready to go,” Steyn said.