Ken Borland

Cape Town – Scotland’s Kylie Henry will be the frontrunner in the final round of the Standard Bank Ladies Open at Royal Cape Golf Club, after she posted a three-under-par 71 on Thursday to stretch her lead to three shots ahead of the last day on Friday.

The 37-year-old is on eight-under-par overall after two rounds on the par-74, 5738 metre Royal Cape layout. Henry came from two strokes back to win the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am at Fancourt a month ago, but her previous Ladies European Tour victory came at the 2014 German Open when she led after the second and third rounds, her three straight 64s giving her record tallies for 36 and 54 holes on that tour.

A pair of South Africans are once again Investec Order of Merit leader Henry’s closest challengers, but now it is Casandra Alexander and Gabrielle Venter, who both shot 69s on Thursday to move to five-under-par.

Shawnelle de Lange (71) and Lora Assad (72) were second and third after the first round, but De Lange shot 77 in the second round to slip back to level-par, and Assad made 78 to slide to two-over.

SuperSport Ladies Challenge winner Tvesa Malik is on four-under-par in a tie for fourth with France’s Emie Peronnin and Englishwoman Florentyna Parker. They all shot three-under 71s on Thursday.

De Lange initially kept in contact with Henry, but then a seven on the par-five 16^th and a bogey on the par-four 17^th saw her fall away.

Henry battled a bit to find her best game on the front nine, going out in level-par as she dropped shots on the first, seventh and eighth holes. But she also made back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth holes, and then again on nine and 10. The two-time Ladies European Tour winner’s beautiful ball-striking then enabled her to birdie the par-five 14^th and 16^th holes, as well as the par-three 16^th for her to pull a little clear of the chasing pack.

Dylan Richardson’s inclusion in the Scotland squad for their Autumn Internationals may have surprised many people, but according to Sharks coach Sean Everitt, the doors have been open overseas to the barnstorming flank-cum-hooker since 2018.

The 22-year-old Richardson is one of four South African born players named in Gregor Townsend’s 36-man training squad announced in midweek, alongside another potential new cap in former Bulls prop Pierre Schoeman, loosehead Oli Kebble and utility back Kyle Steyn.

Richardson, although he was born in Durban, qualifies automatically for Scotland because his father was born in Edinburgh, unlike Schoeman, who has had to serve a four-year residency qualification.

But Everitt revealed on Thursday that the Scotland Rugby Union have had their eyes on Richardson for as long as Schoeman has been playing for Edinburgh.

“Scotland have been watching Dylan for the last four years, they actually approached him in 2018 to play in the World Cup. So a move was always on the cards.

“It’s a good career-path for him but always sad for South Africa to lose a player with great potential, especially at such a young age. We wish him all the best though and support his move.

“It’s a massive win for us that he is still contracted to the Sharks until 2024 because we hate losing home-grown players to other countries. He can now bring that international experience back to us,” Everitt said of the Kearsney College product.

The 1.84m, 110kg Richardson plays a wonderfully direct brand of rugby and his feistiness has ruffled the feathers of a few opponents back home. Little wonder he has earned the nickname ‘Thor’.

Everitt went so far as to draw comparisons with a great Springbok who he coached at Kings Park at U21 level in 2011-12.

“Dylan’s contribution to our team is immense. He has such a high tackle and work-rate, he’s a strong ball-carrier and good on the ground. It’s just the number of contributions he makes, he’s like a young Pieter-Steph du Toit. He has a massive engine and he can play for 80 minutes.

“That’s Dylan’s gift that he can go hard for long periods of time. He’s going to be a massive positive for Scottish rugby,” Everitt said.

Scotland skipper Stuart Hogg says he will be looking to ensure the British and Irish Lions stamp their mark on their tour of South Africa with the right performance and result as he captains them in their opening match overseas against Gauteng’s Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The lively fullback leads an almost entirely new starting XV for the tourists and he certainly has the experience for the job, being on his third Lions tour and having led Scotland to momentous away victories over both England and France in this year’s Six Nations Championship.

“We will be looking to lay down a marker early doors and start the tour in the best way possible. I’ve watched the 1997 South African tour video about a million times and I reckon I can quote 90% of it. I absolutely loved Martin Johnson as the captain, but I will be my own man as a leader. It’s not my style to scream and shout, I prefer to lead from the front.

“There will be lots of great leaders in the team on Saturday like Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje, and I will just be going out and trying to do my job. I look forward to expressing myself, and contributing to a successful start to the tour. It’s all about the energy and buzz we create, those little victories in the game will be massive, that kicks you on. But if those moments don’t go according to plan then we have to regroup and start again,” Hogg said on Thursday.

For coach Warren Gatland, the pace with which his team settles into their combinations will be vital with just five matches to be played before the first Test in Cape Town on July 24.

“We’re a bit limited with there only being five games before the Tests, so we need to build confidence quickly and create combinations too and see how they work out as quickly as possible because there’s a lot of competition in the squad. If we play well on Saturday then we can get that confidence going. We’ve had a good look at the opposing Lions and they will be strong up front.

“The first game is always difficult as you need to get up to speed and we’re up against a side that is probably the least affected in terms of losing players to the Springboks. So they’re going to be a settled outfit and incredibly motivated to be the first team to beat us on tour. But it’s been above expectation how well we’ve gelled so far and we know how tough and physical it’s going to be,” Gatland said.

Team – Stuart Hogg, Louis Rees-Zammit, Chris Harris, Owen Farrell, Josh Adams, Finn Russell, Ali Price, Taulupe Faletau, Hamish Watson, Courtney Lawes, Jonny Hill, Maro Itoje, Kyle Sinckler, Jamie George, Wyn Jones. Bench: Luke Cowan-Dickie, Mako Vunipola, Zander Fagerson, Iain Henderson, Sam Simmonds, Gareth Davies, Bundee Aki, Elliot Daly.

The second World Cup, hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France, was a more competitive affair which featured a qualifying system for the first time and concluded in a scrappy final won by Australia, who beat England 12-6 at Twickenham.

That 1991 Australian team had the makings of a top-class outfit, featuring a powerhouse backline including Nick Farr-Jones, Michael Lynagh, Tim Horan, Jason Little and David Campese and with future legends such as John Eales, Ewen McKenzie and Phil Kearns in the pack.

England were a quality team themselves with players like Will Carling, Jeremy Guscott, Rory Underwood and Rob Andrew in the backs and a tremendous pack spearheaded by the front row of Jeff Probyn, Brian Moore and Jason Leonard, but they made a fatal mistake in the final by switching from a forward-orientated style of play to a running game which suited the Wallabies down to the ground.

Australia made a slow start to the tournament, with their biggest test in Pool 3 coming from debutants Western Samoa, one of the qualifiers. The Wallabies edged them out 9-3 in Pontypool, but the islanders pulled off a sensational 16-13 win over Wales at Cardiff Arms Park to also progress to the quarterfinals. The incredible upset prompted the quip that Wales were lucky they were only playing against the western half of Samoa!

Zimbabwe, featuring future Springbok prop Adrian Garvey, who scored two tries against Scotland, were Africa’s representatives with South Africa still in isolation. They were in Pool 2, which the unbeaten Scots topped to go through to the quarterfinals with fellow Celts Ireland.

Reigning champions New Zealand were with England in Pool 1 and beat them 18-12 in the tournament’s opening game at Twickenham, but the Red Rose systematically crushed Italy and the United States to ensure they reached the knockout stages.

France topped Pool 4 as expected, but Canada upset the applecart by beating Fiji 13-3 in Bayonne to also go through. The mercurial Fijians fell apart thereafter, also losing to Romania to prop up the pool.

Campese was the focal point of the quarterfinals as he scored two brilliant tries to put Australia ahead against Ireland, but then his major error led to Gordon Hamilton racing away for a try that gave the hosts an 18-15 lead in Dublin as the match drew to a close.

But he made up for it by making the break that led to Lynagh finishing the last-gasp try that kept the Wallabies alive.

Campese would score again in Australia’s 16-6 win over New Zealand in the semi-finals and, although he had a quiet final, he arguably won them the game because he taunted the English style of play to such an extent that they changed it for the showpiece game!

England beat France 19-10 and Scotland ended the Samoan dream 28-6 to set up the other semi-final.

England scraped home 9-6 in Edinburgh, Scottish fullback Gavin Hastings missing a penalty from in front of the poles, which he subsequently said he should not have taken having just been smashed by Mike Skinner in a tackle.

As rugby rapidly hurtled towards professionalism, the second World Cup was seen as a success, with increased attendance and viewers, and was viewed as a major global sporting event for the first time. Of course, the absence of the Springboks meant there was still debate for at least another year as to who the best side in the world really were.