Ken Borland

Oliver Bekker has always seemed to be one of those cheerful, almost happy-go-lucky characters out on the golf course, but in private he was probably anguishing over winning more tournaments.

But the 36-year-old is now experienced enough to know that too much expectation can be as damaging as a lack of confidence.

Bekker still looks so comfortable and under control on the course and his maturity is reflected in how his career is progressing. Having won seven times on the Sunshine Tour, he competed on the European Challenge Tour this year and finished seventh on the order of merit, earning his card for the 2022 DP World Tour.

Now he leads the South African Open by three strokes midway through the tournament at the Gary Player Country Club, adding a 67 on Friday to his brilliant 65 on the opening day.

But proving that he is now at a different level by winning the SA Open is not on his mind.

“I don’t want to put myself under a lot of pressure,” Bekker said on Friday. “Every round I just want to try shoot under par and I’ve learnt that one or two under par every day is generally good enough.

“So I just try to grind it out every day, keep chipping away, and if you do keep under par then you will be there or thereabouts at the end of the day.”

That pragmatic approach combined with a razor-sharp short game saw Bekker collect six birdies in the second round, with his bogey on the par-four second hole his only dropped shot. He chipped in from just off the green for birdies on both the 14^th and 16^th holes, while he sunk a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-four eighth. And then there were also the up-and-downs when he managed to salvage par.

“It was really tough today, especially at the start when judging the wind was so tricky. You had about a five-second window to play your shot otherwise the wind would come from a different direction.

“But it settled down a bit, it was more consistent on the back nine and I got a bit closer to the pins and chipped in twice. I also scrambled really well and made my up-and-downs.

“Having the halfway lead means I’ve done half the job pretty well, now to finish the job. I haven’t made many mistakes and it helps when you’re so sharp around the greens. If I can keep sharp then there should be lots of opportunities over the weekend,” Bekker said.

Neil Schietekat, who shared the first-round lead with Bekker, did not manage quite as good a demolition job on the course on Friday, but still fired a two-under-par 70 to stay in touch on nine-under-par, three shots back.

“I was searching for my swing a bit and if that’s my bad round then I’m chuffed,” Schietekat said.

Justin Harding shot a wonderful 67 on Friday to join Schietekat on nine-under, while Danie van Tonder (68), Lyle Rowe (71) and Hennie du Plessis (70) are on seven-under.

The Springbok team culture is so good at the moment that no-one would ever question the hunger or desire of the team but, as they now head straight into a gruelling Rugby Championship starting with Saturday’s Test against Argentina at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, the management will be asking in private whether certain players will be needing a break over the next couple of matches.

Three ferocious clashes with the British and Irish Lions would have not only taken a massive physical toll on the players, but mentally as well, the players have been through an emotional rollercoaster. The outpouring of emotion after the gripping series-clincher last weekend in Cape Town was a graphic description of how much it meant to the squad to win.

It would be entirely understandable for that incredible high to be followed by something of a downer, perhaps just a flatter week in terms of intensity. But Argentina are no longer the sort of side one can afford to slacken off against and the Pumas will be fancying their chances of upsetting the world champions on their home turf, just as they did in Durban in 2015.

But Springboks forwards coach Deon Davids said on Monday that dealing with any potential mental or physical fatigue has been part of their plan from the beginning of the season.

“Obviously we celebrated our achievement on Saturday night, but because of the professionalism of the squad and the preparation we have done before, the focus was quickly shifted on to the next task. It was important as coaches that we brought that reality as soon as possible, and we have done that. We had earlier given the players an idea of our planning going into this week.

“So we trained full-out today, it will be a normal Test week. The players understand the importance of the Rugby Championship, we are the defending champions and we obviously want to be successful. We have a bigger squad because we’ve just come from a very tough series and there are a couple of niggles and injuries. We want to assess our depth in the Test matches going forward,” Davids said.

The interesting conundrum is how many of the players who started all three Tests against the Lions will the Springboks dare to rest against an Argentina team that beat the All Blacks once and drew twice with Australia last year, playing all their matches away from home.

There are some players waiting in the wings who can obviously step in and do the job though against the Pumas.

Willie le Roux, as solid as ever at the back, could take a break to give Aphelele Fassi another chance to shine, while Jesse Kriel could get a start and break up the brilliant midfield combination of Lukhanyo Am and Damian de Allende. Elton Jantjies might get a well-deserved run at flyhalf.

It is the forwards, as ever, who have shouldered the greatest burden and players like Franco Mostert, Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth made immense contributions. No-one could begrudge them a break and it will be exciting to see Duane Vermeulen make his return. Kwagga Smith and Marco van Staden have largely played off the bench and Lood de Jager is probably still building to peak match fitness.

Ox Nche is set to make his return from injury after his impressive first Test against the Lions, and between himself and the superb Trevor Nyakane, who one fancies still has a bit left in his tank, they can cover loosehed prop more than adequately, allowing Steven Kitshoff a break. Frans Malherbe, who battled hard through all three Tests, could perhaps do with a week off as well.

At hooker, Malcolm Marx said on Monday that he is eager to keep going.

“There are a few sore bodies and mentally it has been a bit draining, but we did not play together for over a year and I know I am still hungry to keep going, regardless of the body being sore or how mentally tired I am,” Marx said.

Having attended a private school in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, I’m as used to the accusations of my alma mater being stuck-up as I am to the reality that in national terms, we are pretty low down the pecking order in terms of schoolboy rugby.

Barring the odd golden periods, the private schools generally struggle to compete with the likes of your Grey College, Paul Roos, Paarl Gym, Affies and Paarl Boys’ High. But where their contribution is proportionally greater is in providing Black players for the pipeline.

And perhaps this is one of the key reasons a thriving schoolboy scene does not translate into greater success for our Junior Springboks side. There has been a lot of angst expressed in the last week over their performances on their tour of the United Kingdom – they were hammered by England and could only snatch a last-minute win over Wales.

The displays did not engender much confidence that South Africa can compete for the honours in the World Rugby U20 Championship that starts in Argentina early next month. It’s a tournament which the Junior Springboks have not won since 2012 and they have not appeared in the final since 2014.

It’s not as if they’re finishing at the bottom of the log either, though, with South Africa having finished third three times in the last four years and fourth once. But given the widely-held belief that we have the strongest schools rugby system in the world, there’s the lingering feeling that we should be doing better.

The problem is the advantages our schoolboy behemoths have in terms of strength, power and pace don’t last through into the senior ranks. Winning at all costs in the highly competitive schools scene means physical characteristics are relied upon and developed, to the detriment of skills. At senior professional level, everyone is pretty much on a par physically thanks to the scientific advances in conditioning, and South Africa loses its advantage.

This mentality also means South Africa’s great rugby schools have been ignoring their responsibility towards the pipeline of our rugby through their reluctance to embrace the need to develop more Black talent. It is time those top-10 schools become more transformed in their recruitment and in the teams they put out on to the field week in, week out.

Quotas or targets have been in place in our national teams for a long time now, and our top rugby schools really need to get with the program. That’s if they really have the national interest at heart and are truly preparing their pupils for the real South Africa outside their secluded cloisters.

Most of the Black players in the Junior Springboks system come from private schools, but I would love to see those great establishments mentioned above push more previously disadvantaged players through their outstanding rugby systems, which can only see better players being produced. I am pleased to hear that Grey College are planning big changes in this regard.

Quotas are obviously controversial and are not a perfect tool. Personally I don’t like them, but I liken them to elephant culling.

Elephants are my favourite animal and I cannot stand the thought of them being killed. But I also recognise the need for culling because if their populations in game reserves are left unchecked, elephants destroy their environment leading to the deaths of both themselves and many other creatures.

The fact that elephants are confined to game reserves is a man-made problem, therefore man has the responsibility to find a solution. Likewise, Apartheid was a man-made problem and quotas seem to be the best solution on the table right now to undo the damage.

Given how long we have waited for the Springboks to comprise just 50% players of colour, I shudder to think what would have happened if quotas were not in force.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20190504/282467120320394

SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux said recently that every union whether provincial or international is going to join up with private equity partners either sooner or later. Rugby has been one of the slowest sports to embrace professionalism though and I can hear many fans wailing that private equity is going to ruin the game.

“Private equity in rugby will have a massive influence, it will probably control rugby. And yes, SA Rugby is in discussions with private firms, but I don’t think there’s a union that’s not talking to someone. We all live in a post-Covid world that is now a much smaller pond and there is the opportunity now for investors to buy things at much cheaper prices. Private equity is here to stay, you’ll either join early or late, but join you will,” Roux said in an online press conference earlier this month.

There is perhaps going to be understandable anxiety that rugby is going to end up in the same sort of mess as the Premier Soccer League has with the controversial sale of the famous BidVest Wits club to a little-known National First Division club, Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila, based in Limpopo. Thanks to BidVest cynically pulling the plug based purely on financial considerations, 99 years of history is down the drain, a club that has won nine top-flight trophies and produced players such as Gary Bailey, Peter Gordon, Richard Gough, Sam Magalefa, Thulani Hlatshwayo and Benson Mhlongo for all intents and purposes no longer exists.

Never mind Western Province leaving Newlands, can you imagine the outrage if it was announced that the Bulls were moving to Polokwane and would henceforth be known as the Buffaloes?

But let me allay your fears by pointing out that rugby has mechanisms in place to prevent such stupid things from happening.

Before going to market, a union will split its assets between a commercial/professional arm, which will largely deal with corporate matters like sponsorships, advertising, marketing and broadcast deals, and an amateur arm which will hold assets like the stadium (whether they own it or have a rental deal) and ‘intellectual property’ like the team name.

Stakeholders can then buy shares in the commercial/professional arm. A private company can buy 25% of those shares and the union gets the cash, while the equity partner takes dividends while also hopefully driving up the commercial value of those properties.

Even though SA Rugby’s constitution now allows for private companies to own up to 74% of a union’s professional arm, as long as the ‘amateur’ administrators have done their paperwork correctly then properties like the team name or where they play should be totally protected even if the union is now a minority shareholder.

The Bulls have been amongst the first unions to really make private equity work for them, with Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital Investments and Johann Rupert’s Remgro each owning 37% of the Blue Bulls Company. First prize to them because the influx of cash has allowed the Bulls to hire big-name coaches in John Mitchell and now Jake White, who is totally revamping the team with a host of quality additions to the player roster.

Perhaps the first thing for a union to ensure is that there is synergy between themselves and their private equity partners, so that they can work together to run a successful team.

Unfortunately there have been two unions in the news lately for getting it all wrong – the Eastern Province Rugby Football Union and the Western Province Rugby Football Union. Both those beleaguered unions seem to be suffering from a bunch of rank amateurs trying to run multimillion rand businesses.

After years of wrangling seemed to be coming to an end with the signing of heads of agreement to sell Newlands to Investec, WPRFU president Zelt Marais has unilaterally decided not to sign off on the rest of the deal, despite already taking an advance of more than R50 million from Investec. Interestingly, the WPRFU also owe Remgro R58 million for a loan. These are powerful enemies to have and one fears that the once proud union could be heading the same way as Eastern Province.

The embattled Port Elizabeth franchise just seems to lurch from one crisis to the next and fresh problems are now springing up between the company that holds the majority shareholding in the Southern Kings and the EPRFU.

Roux was not specifically talking about the Southern Kings or Western Province, but his message certainly applies to them when he said political interference tends to surface when administrators try to run their franchises as an amateur entity.

But to borrow from Saturday Citizen deputy editor Brendan Seery’s excellent Column, for every couple of Onions that have to be dished out to unions, there will be more Orchids given out to those who make private equity work.

Simply put, rugby is unable to survive this post-Covid world without them so, like the Wallabies and scrums, every union just has to find a way of making these partnerships work.