Ken Borland

The bizhub Highveld Lions and the Chevrolet Knights, the two winning teams from the first round, will meet from today in a Sunfoil Series match with the conditions in Potchefstroom promising to be much friendlier for the batsmen.

The formidable Lions pace quartet prospered at the Wanderers last weekend when they beat the Titans by 190 runs, but Temba Bavuma’s 84 was the highest score by their batsmen.

In Bloemfontein, the Knights beat the Warriors by 128 runs in an extraordinary game in which the home side recovered from 32 for eight to win.

Because of the batting-friendly conditions at Senwes Park in Potchefstroom, the Lions had lined up wrist-spinner Eddie Leie to come into the side but the plans were foiled when the 27-year-old sprained his groin in practice.

Left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso, fresh from his exploits with the national side, will therefore be playing and should be a major attraction along with SA U19 star Kagiso Rabada, recently named in the Proteas’ T20 squad.

Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana speculated in the build-up to the season that Rabada would be spared having to bowl on flat pitches, but the decision has now been made to put more responsibility on the young man’s shoulders.

“We’re still managing Kagiso, at the moment he’s not bowling much between games, but he’ll definitely play. Bowling on flat pitches is part of the process of growing up and when he gets to international cricket, all the pitches will look like Potch! It’s quite important that he learns the skills to bowl on those sort of surfaces,” Toyana told The Citizen yesterday.

Rilee Rossouw, who the Knights are heavily reliant on to lead the batting, is not available as he has just become a father for the first time, while Pite van Biljon is also on the injured list. They have rested their hopes on two of three all-rounders added to the squad – Obus Pienaar, Patrick Botha or wicketkeeper Tumelo Bodibe.

It will probably be a different story in Benoni, where both the Unlimited Titans and Chevrolet Warriors will be looking to bounce back from the blows they took in the opening round on a Willowmoore Park pitch that is often difficult for batting.

Henry Davids has been named in the Titans squad, but it remains to be seen whether he will play, having withdrawn from the team last weekend due to his lack of four-day form.

It will probably be a shootout between him and Qaasim Adams for the number four batting spot, while spinner Roelof van der Merwe and seamer Cobus Pienaar are probably competing for the all-rounder’s spot.

The Warriors will be without Wayne Parnell, the left-arm fast bowler having injured his shoulder in Bloemfontein.

Warriors captain Colin Ingram has spoken of the need for his team to adapt quickly to what the vagaries of the pitch may throw up, but the visitors will be confident they have the bowlers – both pacemen and spinners – to put the struggling Titans batting line-up under more pressure.

Coach Heyneke Meyer believes Damian de Allende can bring a “new dimension” to Springbok backline play, but the modest centre is promising no revolution himself.

De Allende is very much the modern backline player – big, strong and quick – standing 1.89m tall, weighing 104kg and fast enough to play on the wing for the Stormers, and also skilful enough to create many tries for his team-mates with his deft offloads.

“He’s a big guy but he’s skilful as well, he has the soft touches, runs beautiful lines and gets the ball away. I think he can bring a new dimension to our backline and I feel he can be superb at 13,” Meyer said on Wednesday after announcing De Allende would make his debut against Argentina at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The player himself was reticent to talk about all his skills.

“I don’t know about skills, but I know Heyneke wants a physical presence in midfield. We want to play direct rugby and earn the right to go wide,” De Allende said.

Despite playing just once before at outside centre in his senior career – for Western Province against the Blue Bulls in a Currie Cup match last year – De Allende is relatively unfazed about wearing the number 13 jersey on his Test debut.

“It does make my debut more challenging, but I’ll have Jean de Villiers on my inside and it will be very exciting. I’ve had the one game at 13 at a high level and, although number 12 is my best position, playing outside centre will be just about making the right decision at the right time. I need to identify space on the outside and try and get behind the defence,” De Allende said.

The 22-year-old probably has the Varsity Cup to thank for his rapid rise to the international stage. He only started to take rugby seriously at the age of 15 and, going to the unfashionable, in rugby terms, Milnerton High School possibly explains why he was missed by the Western Province Craven Week selectors. But his coach, Hein Kriek, pushed him to go to the provincial U19 trials and he was snapped up by the  team which would win their age-group Currie Cup in 2010.

A stint at Alan Zondagh’s academy followed, from where he played for Hamiltons, before UCT snapped him up in 2012 for the Varsity Cup and he was then able to star on national TV, showing his attacking and defensive skills to great effect.

“The Varsity Cup helped a lot, it gave me some TV time, and then Allister Coetzee and Robbie Fleck moved me to inside centre,” De Allende said.

The former opening bowler for Western Province U18 is clearly not just the sort of one-dimensional battering ram South African rugby is trying to move away from. The fact that his biggest inspiration is the diminutive Gio Aplon says it all.

“I really look up to Gio, he’s not the biggest but he’s a phenomenal player and he has a massive heart,” De Allende said.

The son of Spanish descendants said the emotion of playing for the Springboks will be “a bit overwhelming” on Saturday.

“Playing for the Springboks is every rugby player’s dream, it’s one of the most unique teams in the world, more diverse than many others,” De Allende said.

His mother, father and brother will be in the stands at Loftus Versfeld to see how a Springbok who has travelled one of the more unusual routes to the Green and Gold does.