Ken Borland

Sharks scrumhalf Cobus Reinach has scored some tremendous individual tries in the last year, but the newest member of the Springbok squad is adamant that those are not planned and he has just had the good fortune of being in the right place at the right time.

“The tries have been a team effort, I just finished them off,” Reinach said with a modesty that was almost as impressive as some of the moments of solo brilliance he has dazzled with for the Sharks.

“It’s never about me, for me it’s always about getting the ball out, getting quick ball for the team, which is very key to the way the Springboks want to play. I’ll never try and force a gap for myself,” he added.

Reinach is the son of the late Jaco Reinach, the last man to represent South Africa in both rugby and athletics. Jaco was the South African record-holder for the 400m (45.01) from April 1983 until 2011 when it was broken by LJ van Zyl, a three-time African champion and Olympian.

So it probably wasn’t a surprise that Cobus Reinach began his rugby career on the wing, but was moved to scrumhalf when he was deemed to be too small for the back three.

“I always played wing until U13 when I was told I was too small for that position – at all of 38kgs,” Reinach recalled.

“I had to adapt very quickly and I didn’t really have any role-models who were scrumhalves. So I used to watch George Gregan and Fourie du Preez a lot and copy what they did.”

The evergreen Du Preez is injured – out for the rest of the year – which has allowed Reinach to receive his first full call-up to the Springbok squad.

“It’s an exciting, amazing feeling to be around the Springboks. I’m having a good season, which helps, but the main part of being here is to learn. Fourie, Ruan Pienaar and Francois Hougaard are all world-class scrumhalves, but if you want to be the best, then you have to compete against the best,” Reinach said.

While the Sharks, with a conservative game plan and problems at flyhalf, often relied on Reinach’s individual brilliance to spark their attacking play, the Springboks have threats across the park and the 24-year-old knows he has to concentrate on slick service and the one area of his game that has shown signs of weakness – his tactical kicking.

“There are always areas to improve. My passing from both left and right hand is fine, but I’m working on my weak foot.

“At the Sharks, we have a big tactical kicking game and if it doesn’t go your way on the day then you’re in trouble. We weren’t good enough in the SuperRugby semi-final, but the Springboks don’t play the same type of rugby – they run a bit more and they kick and exit their own half differently,” Reinach said.

Reinach junior was just six years old when his father died in a car accident, aquaplaning off the road near Kroonstad and hitting a tree in January 1997, but it is clear Jaco’s legacy lives on strongly in his son.

Apart from being a world-class athlete, denied an international stage due to Apartheid, Jaco Reinach was an exceptional wing who was unfortunate to only play four times for the Springboks. He was at his peak in the mid-1980s, but that was the era of Ray Mordt and Michael and Carel du Plessis and he played in just one series – against the 1986 New Zealand Cavaliers. Reinach snr scored two tries, one of them a memorable effort from the halfway line in the 33-18 victory at Loftus Versfeld.

When Cobus makes his bow on the international stage (it will surely be sooner rather than later), it will be an emotional time for the Grey Bloem product.

“Even though he was not there, my dad was definitely the biggest influence on my career. I always wanted to follow in his footsteps. I watched the Battle of the Giants video of the Springboks’ series against the New Zealand Cavaliers over and over and just to see him run was brilliant. I think I’m quite quick but not as quick as him, especially not off the mark!

“When I saw my name in the Springbok squad, I was so happy. But I’m going to try and keep the emotion out of it until I get in the team. After I’ve played my first game, then I think I will be emotional,” Reinach said with refreshing candour.

There are a million different ways to play rugby and, while there is a hint of contrasting philosophies when it comes to Jake White and Heyneke Meyer, Reinach welcomes all the input at this early stage of his career.

“Every coach has his own idea of how to play, so I’ve picked up a few ideas along the way. That’s how my game will grow up, that’s how I will be able to do everything. With experience and game time, my decision-making will get better and better, but I also don’t want to lose my instinctive moves,” he said.

The instinctive moments of brilliance are what most people will notice; but the best teams have scrumhalves who also do the basics faultlessly, unnoticed, much like a wicketkeeper in cricket.

Scrumhalves need to have their fingers on the pulse of play, they dictate the tempo and flow of the game.

In Cobus Reinach, the Springboks have someone with the skills to grow into that role … with a bit of magic on the side.

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The livewire JD Herbst, playing scrumhalf and wing, scored two dazzling tries to lead the SWD Eagles to a 33-27 (half-time 19-24) victory over a tiring Border Bulldogs team in their Absa Currie Cup First Division match at the Buffalo City Municipal Stadium in East London on Friday.

Herbst, who showed blazing speed off the mark and was an elusive attacker all over the field, was the shining light as the Eagles overcame a flying start by the Bulldogs.

Border scored three first-half tries and played well enough, defending heroically in the second half, to leave their supporters eagerly anticipating their first win in this year’s competition.

Veteran wing Chumani Booi set the ball rolling in the third minute when he showed yet again that he is just one of those people blessed with both great instincts and enduring pace as he stole an intercept and roared away for the opening try.

Seven minutes later, Herbst had the vision and pace as well to break blind and then speed away for the Eagles’ opening try.

Right wing Francois Laatz dashed over in the 16th minute to return the lead to the Bulldogs, but he had the backs inside him to thank for their wonderful handling that created the overlap.

The powerful Eagles forwards had been strangely subdued, but they began to show their strength in the second quarter and flank Shaun Raubenheimer was driven over for the visitors’ second try.

Laatz scored his second try, after he had again been worked into space nicely by the backline, on the half-hour, flyhalf Johan Myburgh kicking his third successive conversion to give Border a 21-12 lead.

But the Eagles closed the gap before half-time as flyhalf Theuns Kotze chipped over the rapidly-advancing Bulldogs defence, reclaimed the ball and then dotted down under the posts, making his second conversion an easy one.

A Myburgh penalty just before the break meant the Eagles were trailling 19-24 heading into the second half, but they produced the sort of powerful forward performance one would normally associate with South-Western Districts rugby to thoroughly dominate the last 40 minutes.

A prolonged period of pressure eventually brought a reward when centre JJ Taljard scored after a neat scissors move, before Herbst sealed the win, and put the cherry on top of his own top-class performance, with his second try with eight minutes remaining. By this stage Herbst had moved from scrumhalf to wing, but the former Matie was still always up with play.

Kotze converted both second-half tries, and there were whoops of delight from the visitors after the final whistle as they moved into third place on the First Division log.

It was a credit to Border that, despite all the mayhem generally happening five metres from their tryline in the second half, they only conceded two tries. But they needed more possession to have any chance of actually winning the match. While they were denied the spoils, Myburgh kicked a late penalty to ensure the Bulldogs did at least get a losing bonus point for their efforts.

The Eagles could even afford to have a player yellow-carded in the second half – fullback Delroy Rhoode spent 10 minutes in the bin after a ham-fisted effort to pull off an intercept saw him only succeed in slapping the ball down from an offsides position.

SCORERS

Border Bulldogs – Tries: Chumani Booi, Francois Laatz (2). Conversions: Johan Myburgh (3). Penalties: Myburgh (2).

SWD Eagles – Tries: JD Herbst (2), Shaun Raubenheimer, Theuns Kotze, JJ Taljard. Conversions: Kotze (4).

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/currie-cup-first-division/news/120817/Herbst_leads_SWD_Eagles_to_victory

An 80th-minute try by replacement scrumhalf Anrich Richter clinched a 31-28 victory for the Valke over the Leopards in an exciting Vodacom Cup match at the Barnard Stadium in Kempton Park on Friday.

With the Valke trailing 28-26 in the last minute, the home forwards produced one last mighty effort and drove powerfully to within a couple of metres of the Leopards line. From the resulting ruck, a breakdown in the North-West defence presented the try on a tray for Richter, and he wasted no time in sniping over the match-winning points.

Flyhalf Juan Kotze missed the conversion, but it didn’t matter as replacement flyhalf Wilco de Wet had missed a potentially crucial penalty a few minutes earlier for the Leopards, after Springbok Andre Pretorius had limped off with an injury.

The Leopards had also lost concentration shortly before half time when, after easing into a 14-7 lead after 32 minutes, they allowed flank Bradley Fortuin to score after the hooter and lift the Valke to 12-14 at the break.

Despite the teams sharing nine tries, there was nothing lamb-to-the-slaughter about the defending nor the tight exchanges, with Leopards hooker BW van Dyk and Valke prop Zane Kilian being yellow-carded shortly after half-time as they allowed their emotions to overflow.

The Valke had dominated the early exchanges, but both fullback Arno Poley and Kotze failed with early penalty attempts in the first 15 minutes. The home side did get the first points on the board, however, in the 22nd minute, when flank Marco Kotze crossed for the opening try, which the flyhalf Kotze converted (7-0).

Perhaps relieved by the try, the Valke’s wall of defence lapsed soon afterwards, allowing Leopards centre Adriaan Engelbrecht to score the visitors’ first try. That was followed by a top-class try by wing Berty Visser, who rounded off a backline move with a powerful run. Pretorius, who had just missed a penalty, kicked his second conversion to put the Leopards 14-7 up.

The Valke loose forwards all had busy games, but Fortuin was the star performer and he scored in first-half injury time to put the Valke back within two points.

It took a while for both teams to settle after a fiery start to the second half, but Valke wing Kyle Hendricks then scored in the 50th minute, with Juan Kotze adding the extra two points (19-14).

But the Valke once again lost their concentration and the Leopards’ response was immediate as Engelbrecht, their most incisive player, cut through for his second try. Pretorius’s conversion gave the North-West team a two-point lead.

Despite Valke wing Sinovuyo Ganto scoring a fine try, converted by Juan Kotze (26-21), the Leopards must have thought they had done enough for the win after Engelbrecht completed his hat-trick and Pretorius kicked his fourth conversion.

But it was Richter and the Valke who had the last say.

VALKE – Tries: Marco Kotze, Bradley Fortuin, Kyle Hendricks, Sinovuyo Ganto, Anrich Richter. Conversions: Juan Kotze (3).

LEOPARDS – Tries: Adriaan Engelbrecht (3), Berty Visser. Conversions: Andre Pretorius (4).

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/vodacom-cup/news/120323/Valke_beat_Leopards_in_thriller