Ken Borland

Following a hugely successful 2024 in which they conquered both hemispheres, former Springbok great Naas Botha believes South Africa have entered rugby Elysium and deserve to be ranked alongside the greatest ever teams to play the game.

The Springboks won the southern hemisphere’s Rugby Championship by a whopping eight points, losing just one of their six matches (by one point in Argentina), and then recently beat Scotland, England and Wales for an unbeaten tour for the Autumn InternationalSeries in the UK.

Their only other defeat in 2024 was against Ireland in July, losing 25-24 in Durban thanks to a last-minute drop goal by Ciaran Frawley. The 12 months since their 2023 World Cup triumph have been good for the Springboks, who remain the number one ranked team.

Flyhalf Botha was the key member of the South African team between 1980 and 1992, but due to the country’s banning from international competition, he only played 28 Tests. Nevertheless, he scored 312 points as one of the most accurate kickers the game has known.It was a record tally for the Springboks until Percy Montgomery surpassed it in 2004 in his 50^th match. The World Cup winning fullback still holds the record with 893 points in 102 Tests.

A brilliant rugby strategist, Botha, who was chosen for the World XV in 1986 and 1992, led his province, Northern Transvaal, to nine titles in the famous Currie Cup. He is that competition’s leading points-scorer with 1699, including a record 135 drop goals,many of them in high-pressure situations.

“It’s absolutely amazing what Rassie Erasmus and his squad have achieved and you have to give them that credit. One win does not make a great team, a magic moment does not make a great team. But magic season after season after season makes a great team. Youcan’t compare this Springbok team to any of their current rivals because we know the pool of players they have is frightening,” Botha told SportsBoom.com at Sun City, where he was playing in the Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational, a golf tournament that raises money for needy children at the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School on Player’s Johannesburg estate.

Botha is now 66 years old and his rugby memories go back a long way, making him highly qualified to weigh in on the debate as to whether the current Springboks are the greatest team ever.

“By repeating in 2023 what they did in 2019 and winning the World Cup again, they did something that nobody can ever take away from them. No matter how you analyse it, they are the first South African team to do that. So who do you compare them to?

“You can’t really compare different eras and the 1980s were totally different to 2024. I played in some really good Springbok teams like the 1981 one that went to New Zealand was fantastic and the 1986 side that played the New Zealand Cavaliers. Then we havethe Jake White (2007) and Francois Pienaar (1995) teams that won World Cups.

“Going back, people used to talk about the 1937 Springbok team that won a series in New Zealand. We thought we had become only the second team to do that in 1981, before referee Clive Norling intervened.

“The 1974 British Lions were a great team, but they started in 1971 in New Zealand where they had an absolutely brilliant tour and then finished the job in 1974, unfortunately against us in South Africa. So we had to rebuild after that and we beat the BritishLions in 1980, so you have to give that Springbok team some credit too.

“The Australia team in 1984 won the Grand Slam, beating all four Home Nations, and Australia also won the World Cup in 1991 and 1999 when they cleaned up France in the final. And then we have the 2003 England team winning the World Cup in Australia.

“And what about all the New Zealand teams since then? Forget about World Cups, which you win in six or seven weeks, for the last 20 years, who has really dominated rugby before South Africa and you’d have to say the All Blacks, so give them credit as well.

“But the pleasure of this current Springbok team is that they have taken over and are playing at a different level. For once the world is following South Africa. I’m not meaning to sound arrogant, but I don’t think the rest of the world wants us around. They’reeven trying to make laws to eliminate our dominance, instead of just letting rugby be rugby and allowing the game to succeed. There is enough nonsense outside of rugby, we don’t need to let it on to the field,” Botha said.

The last time the DP World Lions men’s team were in Bloemfontein to play the Free State Knights in a T20 match was, astonishingly, way back in December 2017 and it was a tiff that only lasted 13 overs before rain forced play to be abandoned.

Our defending champions are back in the City of Roses to take on the Knights in the CSA T20 Challenge on Wednesday night, and it is something of a journey into the unknown given the gap between T20 fixtures there and the fact that the Free Staters boast a new-look side.

Back in 2017, the Knights had players like Keegan Petersen, who scored an unbeaten 52 off 40 balls to take them to 86 for two when play was stopped, Theunis de Bruyn and David Miller playing for them. Now, having returned from being relegated to Division II last season, they boast some exciting new talent like Garnett Tarr, Dian Forrester and Tiaan van Vuuren.

The Free Staters may have only won one of their three matches so far this season, but DP World Lions coach Russell Domingo says it would be ill-judged to underestimate them in any way.

“The Knights could easily have won three from three; one of their losses was in a super over. They have good young cricketers but also lots of experience with guys like Aaron Phangiso, Malusi Siboto and Gihahn Cloete. Along with Jacques Snyman and Tiaan van Vuuren, they are a helluva dangerous side and they had a great win over the Warriors in their last match,” Domingo said upon their arrival in Bloemfontein.

“So we need to do what we’ve been doing in our last two matches, it’s working at the moment. We want to be solid and well-organised up front, and then play from there. We have a much less experienced batting line-up than last season with Ryan Rickelton, Rassie van der Dussen, Reeza Hendricks and Wiaan Mulder all away, and the last thing we want to do is lose early wickets like we did in our first game against the Titans.

“So our plan is to assess conditions in the first three overs or so, and then allow the really good finishers we have to play. I’m of the school of thought that T20 games are not won in the first six overs but in the last six overs of each innings,” Domingo said.

Evan Jones (SR 193.10), Connor Esterhuizen (SR 165.71) and captain Mitchell van Buuren (SR 159.37) are like heavyweight boxers, primed to deliver the knockout blow at the death.

Our DP World Lions won both their weekend matches in Johannesburg, but just to ensure their success does not breed any complacency, their game against the Dolphins ended up in a much closer finish than expected.

The bowling attack is yet to resemble the title-winning unit of last season, and has been dogged by wides and no-balls in the first three matches – 38 wides and six no-balls in total.

“I’m still reasonably happy because it’s always tricky starting the season with T20 because your bowlers are not yet battle-hardened. We’ve had quite a lot of extras, especially wides,” Domingo said.

With Kwena Maphaka staying behind in Johannesburg due to school exam commitments, Lutho Sipamla is likely to return to the attack. Codi Yusuf took his place in the last match against the Dolphins, after a tough opener versus the Titans, and bounced back in typical bulldog fashion with two key middle-order wickets while conceding just six runs-per-over.

“Codi was good, he’s a big bowler for us across all formats. He was just struggling a bit with confidence, but he’s done a lot of work with Allan Donald [bowling coach],” Domingo said.

DULLSTROOM (Mpumalanga) – Darkness fell over Highland Gate Golf and Trout Estate at a terrible time for the leaders in the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Highland Gate Mpumalanga event, with Louis Albertse, Kyle de Beer and Louis de Jager all being within two shots of each other with three holes left when play was suspended on Friday.

The start of play was delayed on Friday morning due to frost on the greens, and although the weather soon improved into a lovely, warm sunny day, the backlog meant the last dozen three-balls were not able to finish their opening rounds.

But Albertse played some awesome golf in the 15 holes he did get in, storming to nine-under-par with seven birdies and an eagle on the par-five eighth hole. The three-time Sunshine Tour winner, who played some fine golf in winning the pro-am that preceded the R2 million professional event, was taking an awful toll on the back nine before the sun set on his charge. Albertse birdied four of the first five holes after the turn.

De Beer, currently leading the Fortress Rookie of the Year standings, was on eight-under-par. The 26-year-old started his round on the 10^th and made a hat-trick of birdies from the 11^th hole, before bogeying the par-five 14^th. But De Beer bounced back superbly with an eagle on the par-five 18^th and further birdies on the second, fourth, fifth and sixth holes.

The experienced De Jager birdied four of his first five holes, with a bogey on the par-three third, and had just collected his second birdie of the back nine, on the 15^th, to go to seven-under-par when play was called off for the day.

Another seasoned campaigner, Jacques Blaauw, had a marvellous start to his round, going four-under after six holes. He could only collect two more birdies thereafter, but a six-under 66 was still enough for a share of the clubhouse lead and continues his stunning season thus far as he is top of the Order of Merit delivered by The Courier Guy.

Nikhil Rama also shot a splendid 66, while it was also a good day for a quartet of up-and-coming stars in Kyle McClatchie, Englishman Joe Long, Luke Brown and Martin Rohwer, who all completed their rounds on five-under-par.

Three of the nine Sunshine Ladies Tour professionals who are competing in this Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event are in line to make the cut. Young Gabrielle Venter led the way for the women on Friday with a one-under-par 71, while Lora Assad was one-over and Danielle du Toit shot two-over 74.

The completion of the first round and the start of the second round will take place concurrently on Saturday, with the action resuming at 7.10am.

DULLSTROOM (Mpumalanga) – Having pioneered women playing in a series of Sunshine Tour events, Vodacom have now increased their effort to promote gender equality in golf by giving the ladies playing in the Origins of Golf tournaments a golden opportunity to play in the Ladies European Tour’s Access Series.

Last year’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Series saw women compete with the men in the same tournament for the same R2 million prizemoney for the first time on the Sunshine Tour. This year, starting at the Highland Gate event which begins on Friday, new incentives have been introduced in order to encourage more women to take part in the series.

The response has been immediate, with nine female golfers, more than for any of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series tournaments last year, having entered.

The incentives are based around a new mini order of merit for the ladies who play in at least two of the three regular Vodacom Origins of Golf Series events and the final. The winner of that leaderboard will receive a cash prize, automatic entrance into the 2025 Joburg Ladies Open, co-sanctioned by the LET, and three tournament invites for the Access Series.

The Access Series is the LET’s official development tour and is based in Europe. The top six on the order of merit get cards for the LET, while positions seven to 20 go straight to the final stage of qualifying school.

While the promising Brittney-Fay Berger was able to sparkle in the last two events of the 2023 Vodacom Origins of Golf Series, it was generally tough going for the women with Cara Gorlei, Tara Griebenouw and Zethu Myeki making one cut each.

But to their credit, Vodacom have listened to the concerns of the Sunshine Ladies Tour players and have taken cognisance of the fact that they are breaking new ground and their bold move will take a while to bear fruit.

“We started last year with our effort to bring more women into the game because they don’t get enough tournament opportunities to showcase their talents,” Dr Ntombi Mhangwani, the executive head of Vodacom Business Marketing, says. “But with the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series going to four different regions, it gives our ladies more playing time and more exposure.

“We must remember though that they have not played with the guys before and so we have constant discussions with our partners, the Sunshine Tour and Flooid, about how we can make this initiative better. We are always talking about what worked well and what didn’t, what can we fix?

“The women are not yet competing on an equal footing so we have asked the Sunshine Ladies Tour professionals questions like ‘what courses work for them? How can we partner with you to get you where you want to be in your golf career? The Sunshine Tour has played a central role in pulling all the sponsors together, the whole ecosystem must work together to make this succeed,” Mhangwani says.

Gabrielle Venter, a new star on the Sunshine Ladies Tour having won the Standard Bank Ladies Open, after finishing fifth in the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am and runner-up in the SuperSport Ladies Challenge, admits to being a convert to the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series and the 20-year-old will tee it up with the men at Highland Gate this weekend.

“The incentives definitely made up my mind, getting an Access Series invitation is a big thing because it gives you a chance to play in Europe and get experience over there. And the Joburg Open is a Ladies European Tour event so there are a lot of world ranking points on offer there.

“I was waiting to see how the other ladies did last year in the Vodacom Origins of Golf, and they did pretty well. If you’re going to play but just never make the cut then it’s not worth the R15 000 a week you’ll be paying to compete, what with accommodation and everything,” Venter said.

The Bloemfontein Golf Club representative said Highland Gate was a good venue for the women to play because even though they are not given much advantage in terms of forward tees, it is a course on which most times you have to lay up anyway on the par-fives, so driving distance does not really matter as much.