Ken Borland

The Lions are a really tough side to break down at home, so Bulls coach Jake White was understanding of his team’s problems in managing their attacking ball, and grateful that they didn’t just resort to terrible kicks straight down the field from their own half in their United Rugby Championship opener at Ellis Park at the weekend.

The Bulls eventually won comfortably enough, 31-15, but that scoreline does not reflect how competitive the Lions were. The scores were level at 15-15 with half-an-hour to go, and the Bulls needed a trio of Chris Smith penalties to keep the home side at bay, before a late maul try by replacement hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels bumped up their score even further.

One could argue that the Bulls allowed the Lions back into the game through some ambitious game-management that saw them largely spurn kicking from the back. But White was pleased with the attacking intent shown by his new-look backline.

“I have no doubt the Lions targeted this game and we always knew it would be tough, it is always tough to win here,” White said after the match. “The Lions have their own style, they are a difficult side to break down and get rhythm on attack against.

“Our attack started well and the cohesion looked good enough, but as the game unfolded we left a few points out there. We conceded six penalties in the last eight minutes of the first half.

“In some cases we over-played, forced things, in our own half, but I don’t want them to just kick the ball down the field. I want us to feel comfortable keeping the ball.

“It was the first time this backline had played together and over time it will come right, the ability to transfer pressure into points, the understanding of the space at the back at times,” White said.

In any case, an away win when a team like Munster lost on the road and Leinster very nearly suffered an upset at lowly Zebre, will sooth any concerns White has.

“An away win is a massive bonus, you have to get a couple to do well in this competition. I enjoyed the way we showed composure.

“At 15-3 up you think you can let your hair down and play a bit, and then suddenly it’s 15-15 with 30 minutes to go. You don’t really want to bring your bench on when you’re up against it.

“But the bench came on, they were able to get cohesive, and they won that area this afternoon. You’re obviously not going to be that cohesive from Day One.

“But once we understand how to create pressure, wave-after-wave of it, then we can create that uncertainty in the opposition,” White said.

In the previous decade, when the Nedbank Golf Challenge was held in December and was able to attract top-10 players, Sun City was famous for the congestion that would occur throughout the resort as corporate South Africa and students would come flocking for their annual end-of-year party.

Crowds have dwindled since those days, as both the sport and the economy have changed, but last year’s Nedbank Golf Challenge was noticeable for the upturn in crowd figures and just a busier feel around the resort and on the fairways scattered amongst the ancient volcanic craters of the Pilanesberg.

A major reason for that was the focus Sun International and their hospitality partners Circa put on making the whole NGC experience more spectator-friendly and not just an event catering for the corporates safely secluded away in their air-conditioned marquees. And, given the success of 2017, they are going to drive for even bigger crowd numbers for this year’s tournament from November 8-11.

“The move from December, when it was the year-end function for most spectators, to November meant we had to worry about losing the public, especially the scholars and those writing matric exams, and we lost a lot of the day visitors we traditionally had. So we’ve been trying to make sure we bring those crowds back and the crowds are getting back to the way we begun with, with more than 65 000 people coming to Sun City.

“So this year we’re making even more space for the public, without changing things for the corporates. We’re opening up a huge amount more space on 18 with a three-tier structure that has a lot more ground-level space and will provide great public viewing. The entertainment area was one of the highlights of last year’s tournament, we want to capitalise on that and its times will be extended for a lot longer. Circa are running the public areas and are bringing in a lot of variety,” Eugene Boniface, the group manager for content at Sun International, said.

Workmen have been on-site since April, with 14 600 square-metres of infrastructure being set up, and 1300 tonnes of scaffolding, with Circa promising a real amphitheatre around the 18^th green. Apart from the focus on making the Nedbank Golf Challenge more crowd-friendly, work has also been going on on the course.

The 17^th tee has been moved around to add 30-odd metres to the tee-shot and make it more difficult, while the bunkers have undergone massive change with grass now on the faces rather than sand, to make it more playable for the golfers after there were complaints.

Zimbali is unlike most other coastal resort developments in that the estate is a richly-rewarding birding spot and large enough – at 456 hectares – for many hours of twitching.

Amongst the more spectacular gems that can be spotted is a pair of breeding Crowned Eagle; and their mere presence is indicative of a natural environment comprising ecological richness and biological diversity.

Because these magnificent raptors are apex predators, it means all other links in the food chain must be intact, or else the Crowned Eagle would relocate elsewhere and certainly wouldn’t be breeding – as they have since 2001 at the luxury North Coast eco-estate.

Studies of their prey items reveal the rich biodiversity in terms of both birds and mammals found at Zimbali, which conserves patches of coastal lowland forest fringing the golf course, which is an interesting challenge when the wind is blowing.

Other specials which one can certainly expect to see at Zimbali include the endearing Goldenrumped Tinker Barbet and the attractive Redbacked Mannikin, which is restricted to the eastern borders of South Africa.

A pair of African Fish Eagle are the other prominent raptors to be spotted at Zimbali, lording it over the open waters, while there are also a few Yellowbilled Kite around in summer and Longcrested Eagle is becoming more regular at the conservancy.

The Eastern Olive Sunbird is a typical forest bird present at Zimbali, along with Collared Sunbird, White-Eared and Blackcollared Barbet, Natal Robin, Greenbacked Camaroptera, Thickbilled Weaver and Yellowbellied Bulbul.

The secluded nature of some of the walks around Zimbali lend themselves to sightings of the shyer Horus Swift, while the riparian vegetation along the Zimbali River is just to the liking of the Yellow Weaver.

Yellow Weaver in the Zimbali reedbeds

Pied Kingfisher hover-hunt over the ponds on the course, where Goliath Heron also go fishing, while African Jacana strut around the water grasses.

In the woodlands, one may see Plumcoloured Starling, Natal Francolin and Whitebrowed Scrub Robin.

Where is Zimbali?

Sightings list

Yellowbilled Kite

African Fish Eagle

Southern Greyheaded Sparrow

Vervet Monkey

European Swallow

Lesser Striped Swallow

Blackeyed Bulbul

Eastern Olive Sunbird

Blackheaded Oriole

Redeyed Dove

Bronze Mannikin

Forktailed Drongo

Redwinged Starling

Whitebreasted Cormorant

Pied Crow

Feral Pigeon

Palm Swift

Common Myna

Hadeda Ibis

Collared Sunbird

Burchell’s Coucal

Cape Wagtail

Horus Swift

White-Eared Barbet

Blacksmith Plover

Longcrested Eagle

Bushbuck

African Pied Wagtail

Fiscal Shrike

Yellow Weaver

Plumcoloured Starling

Redbacked Mannikin

Egyptian Goose

Natal Robin

Little Swift

Goliath Heron

Blackheaded Heron

Greenbacked Cameroptera

Natal Francolin

Pied Kingfisher

Southern Red Bishop

African Jacana

Crowned Eagle

Blackcollared Barbet

Spottedbacked Weaver

Hamerkop

Speckled Mousebird

Thickbilled Weaver

Goldenrumped Tinker Barbet

Tawnyflanked Prinia

Whitebrowed Scrub Robin

Yellowbellied Bulbul