Ken Borland

South Africa’s Rugby Championship participation is obviously dependent on government approval, but player welfare is also a major concern for Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus and his personal opinion is that the Springboks are going to be underdone in terms of game time.

South Africa’s opening Rugby Championship game is against Argentina on November 7 and they have to arrive in Australia by October 18 in order to quarantine for two weeks, but that means the members of the Springbok squad that are based in South Africa will only have a maximum of 240 minutes under their belts – SuperFan Saturday, this weekend’s Green v Gold match and the opening round of Super Rugby Unlocked.

“We desperately want to play because it would be terrible to have a year with no Test rugby. But we’ve had no clear answer from the English clubs about their semi-finals and final, we have to take a massive squad because you need four players in each key position and we all have to arrive at the same time because of two weeks quarantine, during which we can practise together.

“The science tells us that the players need five or six games, 400-500 minutes, before playing Test rugby is safe because of the injury risk and player welfare. It’s a tough one because we know we have to go, but we just don’t know how it’s going to be possible. And we don’t have much time to sort it out, the decisions all have to be done by October 10. It’s a matter of high performance and player welfare, we want to be competitive but 240 minutes is the most our players will have,” Erasmus said on Monday.

It’s fortunate that the players don’t have to be isolated in their hotel rooms, stuck on their cellular phones and gaming devices, for their two-week isolation, but even playing intra-squad matches between themselves is fraught with risk.

“We’ll be lucky if most of them have more than 200 minutes game time when we arrive in Australia, but we can probably still play against each other, a 46-man squad means we have two teams of 23. So if we play twice then that adds another 160 minutes, takes us to 360, which is nearly there. And there may be more intensity than usual because the guys will be playing for spots. “But then there’s also the risk of more injuries. And it’s not just your 15 players that you are worried about, it could be any of 30 guys on the field at any given time. Plus all 46 of the squad have played less than 200 minutes and have been under strict Lockdown, the toughest in the world. So there are a lot of problems with that as well! But ultimately the decision will be made for us,” Erasmus said.

In the wake of Duanne Olivier becoming the latest South African cricketer to drop the Kolpak bombshell, it would be only human for Cricket South Africa chief executive Thabang Moroe to be feeling betrayed and to be considering his options when it comes to ensuring that his organisation and the staff involved with the national teams don’t have to go through that pain again, never mind the considerable resources expended – and now wasted – on grooming a player to make a successful entry into international cricket.

Olivier was probably the good news story of the summer, getting a prolonged run in the national team thanks to injuries to Lungi Ngidi and then Vernon Philander, and his immediate success prompted the Proteas brainstrust to take drastic steps to keep him in the side: World-class spinner Keshav Maharaj was sidelined and they even went into some games a batsman short, further weakening an already struggling batting line-up, just to ensure their new-found Enforcer could keep charging in and taking wickets.

The falling-over-backwards continued at board level as Olivier was offered a two-year contract, something highly unusual. The fact that everyone else only received a one-year contract when the new deals were announced on Friday shows just how obliging they were trying to be to the 26-year-old Free State fast bowler.

And then it turns out that all the time he was talking about his Proteas achievements being a dream come true and how proud he was, all the time he was negotiating with CSA for a two-year contract, he had already decided to sign a lucrative Kolpak deal with Yorkshire.

South African cricket has been through this betrayal before of course, with Kyle Abbott and Rilee Rossouw jumping ship midway through the previous home series against Sri Lanka in January 2017. Abbott had spent the previous weeks gushing about how delighted he was to be finally getting a prolonged run for the Proteas while Rossouw, after CSA had spent huge amounts of medical bills on him and persisted with through one of the worst duck-laden starts to an international career, merely dumped his employees with barely a word spoken.

This is not a Kolpak move like Morne Morkel’s, who, after more than 10 years of service to South African cricket, decided his body could no longer take the grind of the international game and nobody bemoaned him giving his pension a well-earned boost in England.

Olivier is in his prime, has played just 10 Tests and two ODIs, and Ottis Gibson and Faf du Plessis have very much been making plans for the future around having him in the fast bowling pool.

Olivier is, of course, represented and managed by an agent, Weber van Wyk. Who just happens to be the same agent who organised the Kolpak deals for Abbott and Rossouw, hence the same scarcely ethical modus operandi that clearly cannot be termed ‘negotiating in good faith’. Van Wyk has earned a fortune exporting South African talent to England.

If you were the CEO of a multimillion rand company that spends millions on developing their key assets, only to see them up-and-leave as soon as they get promoted to a level that makes them attractive to others, what would you do? If the same person was behind three of your prize assets leaving, would you reconsider having any dealings with that agent or his clientele ever again?

When Olivier was called up to replace Abbott for the third Test against Sri Lanka in 2017, he told CricInfo: “I want to play as long as possible for my country. When I am playing, I don’t think about stuff off the field. I haven’t considered a Kolpak deal.”

Who would have thought he would follow Abbott so closely and so quickly, swelling his pockets but surely to the detriment of his standing in the game.

Sadly, we have seen this lack of patriotism stretch to rugby circles in Bloemfontein as well. Apart from the despicable shenanigans of Johan Goosen in retiring from the game for a year just to get out of a recently-extended mega-millions contract in France, so he could sign an even bigger contract with a rival club, a school like Grey College is not even pretending to support South African rugby anymore, having signed an exclusive deal with Goosen’s Montpellier club to feed players into their – and therefore France’s – pipeline.

Money can buy many things, but it will never be able to buy respect.

Tendai Mtawarira is no doubt today savouring the fact that he became South Africa’s most-capped SuperRugby player last night at Ellis Park, and his mind will probably wander back to the past, starting with when he was summoned to then Sharks head coach Dick Muir’s office back in 2006.

The Beast had arrived at Kings Park the year before, a talented Zimbabwe U19 star given an opportunity at the Sharks Academy. While playing for the provincial U21 side, Mtawarira had already impressed with his work ethic and drive. Having arrived in Durban with basically a suitcase, he initially used to walk to training until he had saved up enough money to buy a bicycle.

But he was a loose forward, occasionally even playing at lock. But Muir, in consultation with Swys de Bruin, now head coach of the Lions team against whom Mtawarira played his record 157^th SuperRugby game last night, and Grant Bashford, his U21 coaches, made a tough call made even harder by how popular Beast was.

Muir felt that Mtawarira was not quick enough to really make it as a loose forward and not tall enough at 1.83 metres to excel at lock. But he recognised the immense power and raw strength of the young man.

“It’s quite funny to think about it now, but it wasn’t very pleasant at the time. I was called into his office in the U21 season in 2006 and I’d been enjoying my rugby in the loose trio. But then Dick presented his case and said he saw me as only becoming a provincial player as a loose forward, if I wanted to become a Springbok then I had to change to prop.

“It was really hard to accept and I was quite upset. I couldn’t believe that so early in my career, my dream to be a professional rugby player was going to end. I was really shook. But some of my mentors said I must go for it, they said I must not be negative about it because it means the head coach is looking at you and has a plan for you,” Mtawarira recalled when talking to Saturday Citizen this week about how his long journey to the top all began.

But as we now know, Mtawarira always meets his challenges head-on and in 2007 he was already proficient enough at loosehead prop to play SuperRugby for the Sharks.

“I was under Balie Swart’s wing and he taught me everything about scrummaging, I decided to take it all on board and make it work. Balie is right at the top in terms of mentors for me, as well as John Plumtree. And then there were fellow Sharks players like Deon Carstens, BJ Botha, Bismarck du Plessis and John Smit who had big input in my career, they guided me into this world of scrummaging.

“There were some tough lessons at the beginning and sometimes I couldn’t feel my neck for a few days! But it changed my life and the Sharks have been a great organisation since I came here as a young boy with a dream and got my first contract. I was underprivileged and came to Durban with nothing, but now I am something, Durban has become who I am, it is home,” Mtawarira said.

Loyalty is another characteristic of Mtawarira that stands out, both to the Sharks and his family. Not many players stay at one union these days, especially when they are amongst the world’s best in their position, but all 157 of those SuperRugby games have been for the Sharks.

“For me it’s about playing the game and focusing on the next job, it’s never been about counting games, just about using every opportunity. I try to stay humble and hungry, take on good criticism and I’ve had good mentors and team-mates at the Sharks. I’m very privileged to be part of this set-up, which I think of as home.

“Durban is a beautiful city, with the beach, and the people are very warm and welcoming. Although my roots are in Zimbabwe, this is home for us – my family, my wife [Kuziva] and kids [daughter Talumba and son Wangu], they go to school here,” Mtawarira said.

Even once he became a Springbok in 2008, putting one of the biggest dents in a legendary prop’s career when he dismantled veteran Phil Vickery at Kings Park in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in 2009, there were still hard times ahead.

In 2010, he missed the June Tests due to a controversy over his citizenship, and in 2012 he was admitted to hospital with heart palpitations on the eve of a Test in Ireland, which required surgery.

“I’ve had a lot of challenges, the heart scare back in the day and the citizenship issue, but the prayers of my family and my faith have got me through. I’m very outspoken about my faith, it’s my foundation and I give praise to God and try and use rugby as a platform to honour him. Angels are looking after me, but I’m not perfect,” Mtawarira said.

We might not see Beast on a rugby field again after this year and, apart from winning the World Cup with the Springboks, he also has some unfinished business with the Sharks.

“I’d like to pursue the SuperRugby title, I’m disappointed to have not won one yet, I’ve been in three finals but zero titles. That’s been my motivation to stay here and I will give everything to win SuperRugby because this season might be my last one,” Mtawarira said.

Hockey being a largely amateur pursuit in South Africa has led to the implementation of delicate balancing acts by our national teams, but if one player stands out for their ability to juggle the demands of work and playing international sport then it is women’s goalkeeper Phumelela Mbande.

Mbande was the star of South Africa’s World Cup campaign in London last week, and was named player of the match for her sensational display in salvaging a 1-1 draw with world number three Argentina. But like Wonder Woman changing into the work clothes of Diana Prince, her civilian identity, Mbande takes off her pads, glove and chest protection and, when she returns to South Africa, will continue slogging away at her ‘real job’.

The 25-year-old is a qualified chartered accountant and is busy doing her articles with Price Waterhouse Coopers, a daunting enough task on its own without having the added ‘burden’ of ensuring she remains South Africa’s first-choice goalkeeper.

“It’s definitely not easy doing both, but there have been so many people willing to help, especially my varsity coaches at Tuks and PWC, I always say how lucky I am that everyone is willing to meet halfway. It’s been very tough and it has been a huge learning curve for me as a person, but I’m grateful for all the help I’ve had to make it easier,” Mbande says.

Hailing from Pietermaritzburg, Mbande started playing hockey in Grade V at Lynford Primary School and the challenge of being the goalkeeper and having a hard object fired at you from close range was appealing from the outset. Mbande agrees that it takes a special type of person to want to be a hockey goalkeeper.

“In all the teams you see, the goalkeeper is usually a standout character, you certainly won’t miss us!” Mbande laughs. “The position definitely suits me personality-wise, I’m a typical first-born, I like to get my way and I’m pretty independent. Goalkeepers are part of the team but we think of ourselves as a team within the team. Being goalkeeper has definitely allowed my personality to bloom.”

Mbande then went to Carter High School and she singles out the arrival of Marie-Laure Johnson as a teacher there when she was in Grade VII as being pivotal in her development.

“If there’s one person who has been a major influence then it’s Marie-Laure, who basically adopted me. During the World Cup now I went to visit her mother who lives in Stratford and that just shows the great relationship we have. She encouraged me to go and play at Collegians, where I was by far the youngest at the club, but I was able to be coached by Brian Edwards [former national captain who coached both the men’s and women’s national teams].

“Marie-Laure would give me lifts to the airport, bought me my first own kit and, outside of hockey, played a huge role in my life. She was definitely more than a coach to me, she’s a mentor and a friend.”

Mbande’s academic excellence earned her a PWC bursary to the University of Pretoria, where she also received a sports bursary, and she made her debut for South Africa in 2013. Initially she was playing in the considerable shadow of Sanani Mangisa, one of the country’s greatest goalkeepers, a double Olympian capped 112 times between 2006 and 2016.

“It felt like a great achievement to start out under Sanani because she was the first hockey personality I really looked up to, after she coached me in Grade VIII. She noticed one of my strengths was how hard I can kick the ball and it was awesome to come into the national team with her still there.

“But it was also very disappointing not to make the squads for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and World Cup. But I’ve learned quite a bit since then and I’m definitely a better goalkeeper now, I manage pressure better. But I still wish I had more time in the national team with Sanani,” Mbande says.

With the continued support of her mother, the shoulder she has cried on the most, Mbande says, and her two younger brothers, the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo are the next big sporting goal for one of the new stars of South African hockey.

“This was the first World Cup I’ve played in, so I was pretty excited to play so well and end on a high after we did not start so well. Considering everything that’s available to South African hockey teams, the Olympics are definitely top of the food chain and I would love to make it to Tokyo.

“But it’s one step at a time and God willing and if my employers allow it, then the Olympics will be my next big thing. Maybe one or two of the players will retire before then, but we still have a good group of players and massive talent, and two years is a good period in which to build.”

Mbande will be at the forefront of those plans and the excellence and determination she brings to all her endeavours can only be good for the game.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-kzn/20180804/281492162131681