Ken Borland

Lizo Gqoboka’s face is an ever-smiling one, but if one had to offer the Bulls prop a penny for his thoughts after their loss to Connacht last weekend, he would have told you about his bitter disappointment, even though he scored a try and put in a stout individual performance.

“It was a tough one. I was happy about the try, but we lost the game so actually I was not happy. The team comes first and I can never be happy when we lose,” Gqoboka said this week as the Bulls try to rectify the mistakes they made in their 34-7 loss to Connacht ahead of their United Rugby Championship match against the Cardiff Blues on Saturday night.

“There are a couple of things we need to adjust to, mostly the conditions and the tempo. These European sides play differently and they are accurate in their execution.”

“We need to adjust and learn really quickly how to counter that tempo. But the focus is on ourselves and making sure we continue improving. Our attitude as Bulls is not to complain, but to adapt and grow.

“We always look at ourselves and even the guys who came on in the second half continued to fight and showed character. If we continue to improve than good results are on the way,” Gqoboka said.

While the match against Connacht was played in the old-fashioned venue of the Galway Greyhound Stadium (capacity 8129), which is open and allows the elements to take full force, the Bulls will be playing Cardiff on the high-tech 4G, artificial turf pitch at the Arms Park.

Bulls scrumhalf Zak Burger is a man who knows about playing in small venues missing the finer touches of a place like Loftus Versfeld as he moved to Pretoria from Griquas. He is looking forward to showing a bit more daring in better conditions for running rugby.

“A couple of times in Kimberley we would have a 40km/h wind in that open stadium and it made it very difficult in certain corners. Connacht used the wind really well last week in the second half and put us under big pressure.

“But as a scrumhalf I enjoy this 4G pitch in Cardiff a lot, you feel like you are running lighter, it’s nice to play on. I don’t know what the weather will be like on Saturday, but I hope it’s okay.

“We must use the conditions more and we are not far off, we’re getting our entries into the 22. But in the Currie Cup, where you get 10 chances and take five, in this competition you only get four and you have to take them all.

“If it’s wet and windy then we will have to kick more and we can’t run from our 22. We will have to put pressure on them with more tactical kicking. We need to play good rugby and attack where the space is,” Burger said.

The sweet fragrance of blooming confidence and the reward for hard work put in seems to be permeating through the Proteas batting line-up in Sri Lanka at the moment and South Africa are hopeful they will hit their peak in the third and decisive ODI in Colombo on Tuesday.

The Proteas have posted scores of 286 for six and 283 for six in the two matches thus far. Their defeat in the first ODI was mostly due to some shoddy bowling and fielding. As a measure of their improvement with the bat, of their last 20 innings totals on the subcontinent, only five have been higher.

“Sri Lanka is known for spin bowlers, we were well-aware of that before the tour and a lot of work was put in behind the scenes, especially at our camp in Potchefstroom, which really helped. Coming here, our focus has been on how we face spin. Fortunately all that hard work is paying off, we’ve adapted well and we are playing nicely,” top-order batsman Reeza Hendricks said on Monday.

“We would now love to play our best game in the decider. It’s just about mindset. We played well in the first game but we came up just short, we leaked 15-20 runs too many in the field. The good thing is there are a few guys contributing and we are quite confident with the team we’ve got and the way we’ve been playing.”

Hendricks batted particularly well in the second ODI, coming into the side for the injured regular captain, Temba Bavuma. The 32-year-old, playing his 22^nd ODI, came in at 43 for one in the ninth over and scored at pretty much a run-a-ball from the outset, making the Sri Lankan bowling look pretty friendly as he cruised to 51 off 54 balls.

“I still took some time to get myself in and then I was able to play freely. My role was to keep the intent going and the scoreboard ticking over. I would have loved to go on further though,” Hendricks said.

He most certainly fulfilled his role as he helped increase the run-rate in a second-wicket partnership of 96 with brilliant centurion Janneman Malan.

Speaking of friendly, fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was decidedly unfriendly as he rocked the Sri Lankan reply with two for 16 in his six overs up front. Unfortunately he then sprained his ankle fielding and had to pull out of the rest of the game.

According to team management, Rabada was “progressing well” on Monday and will do a final fitness test before the match on Tuesday.

A lot of sand has disappeared down the hourglass and a ton of hard work has been put in since South Africa’s last away Test series triumph, but Keshav Maharaj was again at the centre of the success as his hat-trick and five-wicket haul bowled the Proteas to a 158-run win and a 2-0 series result against the West Indies at St Lucia on Monday.

South Africa last won an away Test series against New Zealand in March 2017, with Maharaj the man of the match for his six for 40 in the second innings of the only Test they won, in Wellington. The left-arm spinner was the hero again on Monday as he claimed only the second hat-trick for South Africa in Test history.

Maharaj struck in the penultimate over before lunch, dismissing Kieran Powell (51), Jason Holder (0) and Joshua de Silva (0) with successive deliveries as Anrich Nortje, Keegan Petersen and Wiaan Mulder took catches of increasing difficulty as the West Indies collapsed from 90 for two to 107 for six. Chasing 324, they were eventually all out for 165 with Maharaj finishing with five for 36 in 17.3 overs and Kagiso Rabada taking three for 44.

Opener Powell looked in the mood to stick around, but then suddenly decided to tee-up Maharaj and slog-swept him straight to Nortje at deep midwicket. The tall Holder then inside-edged his first ball on to his pad from where it rebounded quickly to short-leg, Petersen taking a sharp catch quite high to his left.

The hat-trick ball saw Mulder snatch a marvellous one-handed grab at leg-slip, diving to his right, as Da Silva tickled Maharaj around the corner.

South Africa’s only other Test hat-trick came in 1960 when fast bowler Geoff Griffin performed the feat against England at Lord’s.

“There were so many thoughts going through my head before the third wicket as to what delivery to bowl, and in the end it just drifted down leg, it could have been a much better ball. But credit to Wiaan for an amazing catch, whatever he wants to eat or drink tonight is probably on me. I didn’t realise our last away series win was as far back as 2017, so this feels really good.

“As a team we want to move in a different direction and this was the first obstacle, so it’s really good to get over it. We want to be the polished article and to keep being ruthless is really important for this team. Fair play too to our fast bowlers, who were superb. They just don’t give the batsmen an inch, so they tried to score off me and I reaped the rewards,” Maharaj said.

The Sharks have had their share of difficult times in the forward battle and it will be a tough day at the office for them if they don’t match Western Province up front in their Currie Cup semi-final at Newlands on Saturday, but skipper Lukhanyo Am says they are confident they will have put in the work required for at least parity come the weekend.

The Sharks pack showed their ability when they enjoyed the upper hand up front when ending the Bulls’ unbeaten run in mid-December, but they have also been beaten at forward by the Lions and the Free State Cheetahs. Importantly, that was when tighthead prop Thomas du Toit was not in action, and the World Cup winner is shaping to be a key player on Saturday as he takes on South Africa’s No.1 loosehead prop in Steven Kitshoff.

“We know what Western Province’s strengths are, their set-piece has been dominant and they’ve proven it right through the competition. But we are working on us mainly, to strengthen the parts of our game where we feel we are lacking. But if we can get our own set-piece and challenge them on their’s, then it’s going to be an exciting game to watch,” Am said on Tuesday.

Lock Ruben van Heerden was also painting a picture of how determined the Sharks are to match Western Province, and their all-Springbok front row, up front.

“Western Province have a very strong lineout, scrum and maul, we know what they will bring, but we are very well prepared and up to the challenge. At this level, everyone is strong and shows up on the day really wanting to play, so it comes down to technique to nullify what gives them their strength – momentum in the lineout, scrums and mauls. But we are very confident we can nullify that,” Van Heerden said.

And if the Sharks pack can gain parity up front, then they have the backline to take advantage and a general at flyhalf in Curwin Bosch who can move them around the park most efficiently. While the 23-year-old Springbok is indisputably KwaZulu-Natal’s No.1 flyhalf, Western Province have shuffled from Damian Willemse to Tim Swiel as their pivot this season.

“Curwin is incredibly influential for us, he’s our playmaker and crucial to the way we want to play. As a forward, it makes your job so much easier when you have a flyhalf who can put you on the front foot and put the ball in the right areas. I’m not sure about Western Province’s situation at flyhalf, but that’s not our problem,” Van Heerden said.

Captain Am also knows he can rely on his flyhalf.

“Curwin is a key player, our golden boot and he really puts us in the right areas. We back his kicking abilities whether in-hand or off the tee and he really gives us confidence. Our approach probably won’t be as flashy in the semi-final as it is in other games, we’ll definitely be trying to put the ball in the right areas, and knowing he can slot whatever penalties we get means we are in a good place,” Am said.