Ken Borland

This last year has probably been the toughest in Faf du Plessis’ Proteas career but the 35-year-old revealed on Monday that he does not believe this is the end of his story as an international cricketer.

A year ago, Du Plessis was coming off the ignominy of leading South Africa to a Test series defeat to Sri Lanka at home, but looking forward to the World Cup with optimism. This hope was misplaced and the accursed tournament was an even bigger disaster than the ones that have gone before for the Proteas, and then Du Plessis was at the helm for a humiliating Test thrashing in India.

As if the on-field woes were not enough, Du Plessis then had to pick up the slack as the dysfunctional Cricket South Africa executive imploded just weeks before England arrived for the summer’s major tour. Having helped restore some stability along with Jacques Faul, Graeme Smith and Mark Boucher, Du Plessis then lost form with the bat, scoring just 195 runs in 11 innings in the Tests against England and three T20s versus Australia. This put pressure on his place in the underperforming team.

He relinquished the captaincy in February. And then Covid-19 struck, leaving him in Lockdown and the Indian Premier League, the lucrative annual jamboree of the world’s elite cricketers, cancelled. But all the troubles have at least focused Du Plessis’ mind.

“It was probably one of the toughest seasons I’ve ever had to face and it was not just about cricket. I felt that I had fought the good fight, I gave everything leading the Proteas, I went away to reflect and I felt it was the right time to stand down. There’s a new coaching staff, maybe they should start their journey with someone new and me stepping aside could fast-track that process.

“But I still believe I have a lot of value to add, I still love playing and being involved with the Proteas. I’m still extremely motivated to play in all three formats and at no stage did I think of signing overseas. The time away from the game has made sure that my hunger is still there and I really look forward to getting back to the Proteas. The time is right to help grow other leaders,” Du Plessis said.

The veteran of 36 Tests as captain said he is optimistic that the Proteas will now return to winning ways, although he warned the Test team is still in a growing phase.

“The India tour showed us the Test team was far behind, we weren’t scoring enough runs and we weren’t able to take 20 wickets, plus we didn’t have the skills to back up our performance. There are a lot of holes. It was obvious for me that you can’t replace all the playing experience we lost overnight, but I also felt there was a lack of experience in the coaching staff, which required a lot of energy from me.

“Enoch Nkwe did a great job in India but we needed to fill that lack of experience in the coaches because you can’t just get experienced players in. Some really good moves were made in the build-up to the England series and we are in a position to start producing again now. Our structures look sound and we have good heads in charge to grow the game. The series against Australia showed that we definitely have a lot of talent,” Du Plessis said.

One of the more pleasing aspects of the Proteas’ previous season was how well head coach Mark Boucher and his assistant Enoch Nkwe dovetailed together, which is probably not too surprising given the similarities between them in coaching philosophy.

It could have been a lot more awkward than it was when Boucher took over as head coach in December, Nkwe effectively being demoted to assistant coach because he had been the interim team director when the Proteas toured India in September/October.

But Nkwe is the sort of coach who always puts the team first and Boucher has always been known to be a great team man. As a player and coach, the record-breaking wicketkeeper’s attributes of honest communication, competitiveness, toughness, courage and discipline are well-known.

They are shared qualities that bind them together.

That the 37-year-old Nkwe has a similar coaching philosophy to the 43-year-old Boucher became clear when I was fortunate enough to sit in on the virtual coaches conference he held with the Lions recently. Apart from the many coaches within the Lions system, including his successor as franchise head coach Wandile Gwavu, there were coaches from as far afield as the Eastern Cape, Uganda and New Zealand logged in to hear Nkwe share his thoughts, and the Soweto-born former all-rounder certainly left them with many great insights to ponder.

Nkwe sees the coach’s role as being to create an environment that enables the team to reach success.

“It’s important that you are all speaking the same language, you need the environment to be freed up and authentic. There needs to be clear role-definition which is one of the most powerful coaching tools and it can determine the brand of cricket played. And if the whole process is done properly then the coach is in a much stronger position to have tough conversations.

“You’ve got to be totally honest, one can feel sorry for the player but you can’t sugarcoat things or beat around the bush. It may be uncomfortable at the moment, but going forward the player will have respect for you because of your honesty. Don’t be scared or shy to have those honest conversations; the players know the moment you are bullshitting,” Nkwe said.

In order to discover his own coaching philosophy, Nkwe, who began his coaching career as player-coach for Dutch club HCC Rood en Wit in 2005, said he looked at his own character and what he consistently did as both a player and coach.

He came up with the word ‘competitive’, a word closely associated with Boucher himself.

“You need to master the little things, you’re not going to get everything right but you strive for a level of excellence. And you have to find a way to make it work. Things are not ever going to go all smoothly, and when things are not great, that’s when you have to overcome the challenge. You have to keep finding ways to be successful. There’s always a way and you can’t feel sorry for yourself,” Nkwe said.

You can imagine the exact same words coming out of Mark Boucher’s mouth. To be courageous also seemed to be second-nature for the gritty Eastern Cape product.

“You need courage and consistency to promote your vision and the confidence to go into a new environment and not compromise your beliefs because then you will lose the team. If you want to be liked, then coaching is not the industry for you,” Nkwe said frankly.

Boucher himself has spoken positively of their burgeoning relationship.

“Enoch and I have had some great conversations and I think we understand each other. We certainly have the same ideas and agree on how to do it. We know we’ll have hard calls to make but we’re not scared to make them.

“He has a good relationship with the youngsters I don’t know properly yet and he takes a load off my hands. I appreciate it and we will just keep working hard together and drive our vision together,” Boucher said recently.

Nkwe has also been a great respecter of new Director of Cricket Graeme Smith, ever since their paths crossed as schoolkids. Nkwe played for St Stithians and Smith was at King Edward VII. The future national captain would skipper Nkwe in the Gauteng Schools side of 1999, Smith’s second year of Khaya Majola Week cricket and the first of three years in which Nkwe played. Interestingly, both Smith and Nkwe scored centuries on their first-class debuts.

“Graeme was always a great example to me, he worked out at 15 years old that he needed to make peace with his technique. He knew he was not the best-looking batsman but he had a clear vision of what his strengths were and he made sure he thrived on that and his mental strength. I remember at Khaya Majola Week in 1999 just trying to understand how he could score so many hundreds at such a young age.

“Graeme found a way to make it work, he didn’t fight his technique. It was pure mental strength and he was lucky to have a coach that encouraged that,” Nkwe said.

I would dare to predict that South African cricket will realise in future just how lucky they were to have Smith, Boucher and Nkwe working together to steer the Proteas out of their current turmoil.

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.

One has to admire the Lions Rugby Union for the way they have been able to dig their way out of the abyss of financial ruin that faced them when they were relegated from SuperRugby in 2013. Just five years later and they are unquestionably South Africa’s premier franchise, the one most young players probably want to play for and producing a very popular brand of rugby.

But amidst all this success and SuperRugby trailblazing, there have also been messages coming out of Ellis Park that paint a picture of a franchise that is still anchored in the past in many ways and does not seem able to be the standardbearer of a future game all rugby fans should be hoping becomes truly the sport of all South Africans.

As much as the Lions deserve huge credit, one has to call them out for some of the mixed messages that they have sent out recently; as we have seen after another week of anguish caused by awful social media messages, perceptions are vital when it comes to inclusivity.

With Swys de Bruin jetting off overseas with the Springboks, the Golden Lions needed a new head coach for their Currie Cup campaign. But instead of heading for the safety of port and elevating one of the assistant coaches in Philip Lemmer or Joey Mongalo, or even promoting Bafana Nhleko, who has coached the SuperSport Rugby Challenge team as well as the Lions U19s and U21s and been an assistant with the Junior Springboks, they chose strength and conditioning coach Ivan van Rooyen.

Now Van Rooyen has undoubtedly played a very important part in the Lions’ success over the last few years, but his helicoptering into the head coaching job was inevitably attacked as being anti-transformation in certain quarters.

At this delicate stage in our country’s history, organisations really need to be sensitive about how their actions will be perceived by the majority. I am not saying it was wrong to appoint Van Rooyen, who played for the Lions at junior provincial level, and has gained some insights from Rob Walter, the former Proteas strength and conditioning guru who then became head coach at the Titans cricket team and enjoyed great success.

But the reasons for Van Rooyen’s appointment were never fully explained and even more shade is thrown at the Ellis Park hierarchy when Van Rooyen himself says he won’t be doing any actual coaching but is in more of a managerial role.

Why was this not explained properly on the day of his appointment, thus avoiding plenty of bad publicity?

The prospect of getting involved in rugby in Gauteng for a young Black player or coach is daunting enough without considerable barriers being put in their way, like the recent acquittal of Roodepoort U21 players on charges of racism during their April match against Wanderers.

While acknowledging that Sanele Ngcobo of Wanderers was “an honest and truthful witness” who testified that racial slurs had been made, the Golden Lions Rugby Union disciplinary tribunal ruled that because he could not prove who had specifically spoken the words, a not guilty verdict was appropriate.

For the physical abuse that degenerated into a mass brawl at the end of the game, one Roodepoort player was effectively handed a one-match ban! Talk about a slap on the wrist … and another slap in the face for Black rugby players.

To add insult to injury, when Wanderers were on their way to Roodepoort to play a later fixture, their bus broke down and they missed the game. The GLRU docked them five points, meaning Roodepoort now qualify for the Gold Cup instead of them!

Having reinvented themselves so spectacularly on the field, the Lions rugby union now really need to focus on the message they are sending out to their future market.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20180825/282518659358786