Ken Borland

Proteas captain Dean Elgar said he was okay with a lot on the eve of the first Test against Australia, including the home team’s incredible record in Brisbane and what looks likely to be a paceman-friendly pitch for his struggling batsmen to contend with against a powerful attack.

Australia have lost just one Test – versus India in January 2021 – at the Gabba in 33 matches dating back to December 1989. Surprisingly, South Africa have only played one Test in Queensland in that time, the draw in 2012 when Michael Clarke scored 259 not out after centuries by Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis.

“History is not in our favour in Brisbane, but that’s okay,” Elgar said on Friday. “This group of players doesn’t have any dirty laundry at the Gabba, we haven’t played here as a group so there have been no failures.

“We are looking forward to the opportunity, in fact for the last two weeks here we have been salivating for this moment. Australia is a really tough place to play, but so rewarding if you get it right.

“The pitch looks the same colour as the grass I’m standing on in the outfield, but green doesn’t scare us, we’re used to pretty green and juicy pitches in South Africa.

“The ball nips around a bit here, but that’s okay. The pitches are fair and the batsmen know that if they get in then they can really capitalise. And it looks like it will suit our bowling unit,” Elgar said.

Elgar acknowledged the whispers around the South African batting line-up and the opening batsman was quick to say he needs to lead from the front with big runs.

“All our batsmen must stand up, our batting unit has been a talking point of late. We’re not shying away from that and it’s time for us to rise up and shine.

“It’s time for me personally to put in a massive performance. As the senior batsman, you always carry the weight of responsibility and as captain I’m very aware of my burden.

“I’ve got to lead from the front, but that’s something I thrive on, I believe it brings out the best in me.

“The rest of our batsmen are just a bit inexperienced in Test cricket, but that also means they don’t have any baggage,” Elgar said.

Australia’s strong attack will no doubt be looking to hit hard and early in order to undermine that confidence.

It is not often that one can say a tour of Europe with a 50% winning record is a resounding success, but it is a fair evaluation that the Springboks have ended up hitting their targets for 2022.

It was after the Rugby Championship that I wrote a column saying we still did not know whether the Springboks would be genuine World Cup contenders next year as they were simply not clinical nor ruthless enough in finishing second to the All Blacks in a southern hemisphere competition that is no longer the gold standard for the global game.

There also did not seem to be much growth to their game and I ended with the hope that they would express themselves more in Europe.

It is with delight that I can now write that the Springboks have answered my questions in the affirmative.

That is despite losing to both Ireland and France. But both those defeats were by desperately narrow margins and it is fair to say that Ireland would have been beaten if South Africa had fielded a proper goalkicker, and France would surely have been seen off if Pieter-Steph du Toit had not received his unfortunate red card.

The Springboks played superbly in Marseille to dominate the World Cup favourites, and it was great to see the same ambition bear fruit the following weekend when they hammered Italy.

Last weekend’s win over England at Fortress Twickenham must rank somewhere on the hit parade of top Springbok wins, such was the all-round quality and sheer authority of their performance.

While the Springboks’ strength still undoubtedly lies in their magnificent pack – how incredible were they in the scrums? – perhaps the biggest surprise was the wonderful attacking intent shown by a backline missing their chief offensive organiser in Lukhanyo Am and playing with a relatively new, untested flyhalf in Damian Willemse.

While opposition teams might find a way to get around the physicality, defensive steel and aerial prowess of the Springboks, having that extra string to their bow in terms of the brilliant counter-attacking ability they have shown, makes them very tough to beat.

The Springboks now seem able to not only strangle or batter their opposition into submission, but also make the sharpest, most precise of surgical incisions into the heart.

Jacques Nienaber has done all this while still ensuring that he now has quality cover in all positions.

Perhaps the only negative from the end-of-year tour was the director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, copping another ban for attacking the officiating at international level.

The Springboks’ relationship with the referees is at the lowest ebb since the dark days of the early 2000s, when they had a reputation for being the dirtiest, most ill-disciplined team in the game.

When Jake White took over the coaching reins in 2004, he knew the Springboks could only start getting fair treatment from the referees if they fixed that perception. The World Cup would never have been won in 2007 were it not for the hard work captain John Smit put in to win the referees over. Nowadays, charming the referee is considered one of the staple jobs of the captain.

The smart-arse in Erasmus may be entertaining the social media hordes and he is probably enjoying the cult status he is growing there. But the continual haranguing of the referees is hurting his team.

The saying goes that nobody ever ended a war by lifting up a sword. The talk of there being a conspiracy against the Springboks may or may not be justified, but railing against the officials is only going to make it worse.

As director of rugby, Erasmus needs to put personal desires aside and make sure the Springboks take the high road. The World Cup defence could depend on it.

The Sharks have won both of their United Rugby Championship matches on tour thus far, but it’s not as if they have peacefully gone about securing that unbeaten record.

They had to withstand a fierce second-half comeback from Zebre in Parma, eventually holding on 42-37, and last weekend they mounted the last-ditch effort, snatching a 20-19 win over the Dragons in Newport. In both cases they were fortunate to win.

And now they come up against Leinster, seemingly in turmoil if you believe some critics, and yet top of the log with three straight wins.

“Leinster have won three out of three and yet everyone says they’re not playing well,” former Scotland stalwart John Barclay said speaking at a media call for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship on Tuesday.

“Their big guns have not come back yet and I’m sure they’ll be happy to have 14 points, they don’t want to play their best game in September. They are too well-versed in how to manage their squad to do that.

“They are super-experienced, they have the best of the best in their squad. They will be hugely disappointed in what happened last season, but you criticise them at your own peril,” Barclay said.

The Sharks, meanwhile, will look to emulate the Bulls, who were also written off when travelling to Dublin to play Leinster in last season’s semifinal, but they burst the multiple champions’ bubble, took away some of their mystique.

“They will have their internationals, but we really back ourselves. We want to play their best team, although it is obviously going to be a massive challenge on Saturday,” eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi said.

“It doesn’t really affect us not having our Springboks because there is so much depth in our squad, any team we put out can go and compete. What the Bulls did certainly gives us a lot of confidence.

“We know what we can achieve, we know our potential and we’re not even close to that yet. We just need to go out and execute our game-plan, we really do believe we have everything we need to not just win this game, but the whole competition,” Buthelezi said.

The Sharks’ grand plan revolves around contestable kicking to manage territory and lineout mauls, but also counter-attacking off turnover ball with mobility, tempo and keeping ball-in-hand. The make-up of their loose trio reflects this, but perhaps what they miss is a real motherbuffer who does the dirty grunt work.

Sharks legend John Smit recognises the selection conundrum.

“I quite like James Venter and Dylan Richardson attacking the ball, making the breakdown a mess and making life difficult for the opposition, but they do lack a ball-carrier, which puts more pressure on Phepsi.

“They will get Siya Kolisi back, but they tend to use him out wide, using his offloads. But the Sharks were not able to get the ball wide enough last season.

“It’s about what sort of game they want to play, and they’ve got Rohan Janse van Rensbirg and Ben Tapuai, two No.12s at centre, so there’s a lot more focus on them carrying,” Smit said.

Stand-in Proteas captain Keshav Maharaj is a cool, laidback customer and so he is not going to agonize over South Africa’s poor record in ODIs in England as they left for a three-match series starting on July 19.

The Proteas have played England in 26 ODIs on their home soil and have won just eight of them, losing 16 and two matches being washed out. In the last decade, South Africa have won just three of the last 10 matches against the reigning world champions.

“I’ve only personally played two ODIs in England, so it’s difficult for me to give deep insights,” Maharaj said on the eve of their departure on Thursday. “Maybe we have been a bit slow to adapt.

“That series I played in we lost 2-1 and we only really found our rhythm in the last game. England have done really well lately with their new coaches’ fresh philosophies.

“But it’s important for us to just play according to our game-plan, to focus on what we want to do and do the basics well. It’s going to be a good test and we always want to try and beat the best.

“I can’t really isolate facets of our game that haven’t worked, we just need to trust our process and execute much better. I’m sure the lots of hard work we have put in will bear fruit,” Maharaj calmly stated.

With the next 50-over World Cup now just 15 months away, Maharaj is hoping the desire to be in the squad for that showpiece tournament in India will provide the ignition for his side to make Jos Buttler’s first series in charge of England a torrid one.

“Obviously in our ODI performances over the last year or two we have not shown the execution we’ve wanted,” Maharaj said. “But we’ve picked a squad to suit various needs and combinations.

“I’m sure the game-plan will now come to fruition with the different combinations we have tried. World Cup time obviously causes selection problems because all the players want to put their hands up.

“As captain, you want to create space for everyone to thrive, but they also need to align with the game-plan. You want to give individuals the platform to shine within the team game-plan.

“It might be good to start the tours with the ODIs, we are so used to playing the Tests first and then filtering into the white-ball games. But now the guys are fresh and hungry to showcase their talent,” Maharaj, standing in for the injured Temba Bavuma, said.