Ken Borland

THE Highveld Lions meet the Delhi Daredevils in a clash of batting power versus bowling brilliance in Thursday night’s first Champions League Twenty20 semifinal in Durban, with no contest more eagerly awaited than that between Aaron Phangiso and Kevin Pietersen.

There is probably no more powerful batting line-up in this competition than Delhi’s — even Australian star David Warner battles to get a game — with Pietersen a key figure in a top order that also boasts Virender Sehwag, Mahela Jayawardena and Ross Taylor.

Pietersen has had more than a few problems against left-arm spinners in the past and his personality is such that he will look to attack Phangiso from the outset. But the Lions’ spin bowling star is always up for the fight and Phangiso will relish the battle with Pietersen.

“Aaron’s from Soshanguve and they breed them tough there. The key is that he does not get overawed quickly. He’s a good kid, he has a good heart and he’s a fighter,” Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana said.

From humble beginnings, Phangiso scrapped his way into the South Africa under 19 side in 2003, a stint with the Titans, and now he is one of the top dogs at the Lions.

Phangiso’s performances in the tournament — 8/71 in 16 overs at a fabulous economy rate of just 4.43 — and how he has sucker-punched stars such as Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Watson, suggest he would not be out of place on the international limited-overs stage.

National selector and South Africa A coach Vincent Barnes is certainly a fan.

“Aaron went to Zimbabwe with the South Africa A side for a triangular series with Sri Lanka and bowled exceptionally well against some full internationals. He was then unbelievable in Ireland. He was outstanding the whole winter for South Africa A, averaging about 3/30 every bowling spell,” Barnes told Business Day.

“Aaron’s a very clever bowler, he gets turn and he has good variations, but his mind-set is also brilliant, he knows when to use those balls.

“He’s not getting tail-enders out, he’s getting good batsmen out with good balls. He reminds me of Johan Botha, and Robin Peterson too, in terms of his grit and determination. He’s in your face, he works bloody hard and he hates the batsman scoring a run off him.”

Barnes would still like to see Phangiso play more four-day cricket, as he only has a part-time role for Gauteng in the longer formats.

“He’s an exceptional cricketer, a fantastic fielder and no slouch with the bat either. I know he’s hungry for international cricket, but I would like to see him start to concentrate on the four-day game as well.

“I hope the Highveld Lions will play him, but they have Eddie Leie and Imran Tahir too, so it will be a challenge.”

While the Lions’ left-arm spinner will be a key weapon against the Delhi batting, Dirk Nannes, Sohail Tanvir and Chris Morris will have to play their part with the ball, while pressure will be on batsmen Alviro Petersen, Gulam Bodi, Quinton de Kock and Neil McKenzie to handle the Daredevils’ pace quartet of Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav, Andre Russell and Irfan Pathan.

In the other semifinal, the Titans take on the Sydney Sixers at Centurion on Friday.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/sport/cricket/2012/10/25/pietersen-versus-phangiso-in-semifinal-clash

There were plenty of Lions players with a heavy weight on their shoulders after Saturday night’s heartbreaking Currie Cup semi-final loss to Western Province.

The Lions, defending the title they had won in fairytale fashion last year, had dominated most of the match and seemed to have finally secured victory when flyhalf Elton Jantjies kicked an angled penalty to give them a 16-14 lead with less than two minutes remaining.

But then the ball was carried back into their own 22 from the kickoff and Jaco Taute put too much on his clearing kick, the ball sailing directly into touch to give Western Province a vital lineout inside the Lions’ 22. The visitors’ rolling maul once again carried too much momentum to be stopped and the Capetonians had the match-winning try with a dozen seconds left in the game.

While the loss will weigh most heavily on Taute and Jantjies, who missed three first-half kicks that denied the Lions vital reward for their dominance, it was also a sad end to an era. This Lions team that showed the courage to win the Currie Cup last year after they had been humiliated in SuperRugby, who stood up as a unit to get rid of their bullying coach, John Mitchell, and who shrugged off the awful news that they would not be playing in the Sanzar tournament in 2013, will now break up.

Already, Jantjies, Taute, lock Michael Rhodes and prop Pat Cilliers have been confirmed as heading to the Stormers, while two unsung heroes of the tight five, Franco van der Merwe (Sharks) and Jacobie Adriaanse (Scarlets), are also departing.

The loss of these players, and probably more in the near future, means the Lions will have to rebuild yet again.

“We’ve lost guys who we’ve worked on for two or three years to get to this level, and now we’ll have to get new guys to that level as quickly as possible,” coach Johan Ackermann admitted.

“This group has become so close, they really play for each other. For the first time in years, we have a number of players in every position and we would have gone into SuperRugby with some depth and with players going into their second or third year in that competition.

“But now this whole group breaks up and we have to start building up a new team again … I know those are words Lions supporters don’t want to hear, but we have to do it.”

The mere fact that the Lions finished the year as strong Currie Cup contenders, hosting a semi-final, and not as the clowns some haters like to portray them as, is amazing considering all the obstacles they faced.

“We could of fallen apart and finished sixth and gone into a promotion/relegation playoff, but instead our goal was to win the Currie Cup. I’m still very positive, even though we’re just disappointed now because that was a game we should of won. But I’d rather be losing in a semi-final than playing promotion/relegation,” Ackermann said.

The Sharks, having seen off the Bulls 20-3 in difficult conditions in Durban, will now go into the Currie Cup final as firm favourites.

Thus far in the competition, they have undoubtedly been the most cohesive unit, they have the best all-round players and they will have home ground advantage.

Ackermann predictably backed his former Sharks side to beat the Streeptruie next weekend, saying “they can’t get that lucky twice, Christmas only comes once a year”, but even Western Province coach Allister Coetzee was saying the Natalians would be favourites.

“We’ll be up against the best side in South Africa, the Sharks are unbelievably strong, to hold the Bulls to just three points is very telling. They are a real quality side, they are good on attack and defence and they have good kickers. Maybe we’ll need all 22 players on the field to beat them … ” Coetzee said.

If you believe their detractors, Western Province tend to “choke” in the big games, but their victory over the Lions showed there is immense character and patience in their side. Nothing seemed to be going for them for three-quarters of the match, but then, as the game entered the crucial final stages, they were able to up the tempo and be clinical on attack.

“It’s one of the best wins I’ve experienced with Western Province, the character of the team really stood out and they never gave up. In the latter stages of the second half, we found space and width and the bench gave us great impetus on attack.

“The team showed a great will to win and the side that capitalises on their opportunities normally wins playoffs. People like to throw out that ‘chokers’ term at us, but the connection in this team is incredible, both to each other and to the game plan,” Coetzee said.

To upstage the Sharks, however, Western Province are going to have to improve markedly up front. The Lions bossed them at scrum time and the Sharks front row, spearheaded by Springboks Jannie du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira, will be looking to do the same.

The Sharks forwards were magnificent in stopping the big Bulls’ ball-carriers’ efforts to get over the gain line and they certainly have the backline to make better use of possession than the Lions did.

A sopping wet day in Durban was an equaliser, helping the Bulls’ strengths, but to win so convincingly just shows that the Sharks have the quality to rise to any occasion or conditions.

The defending champion Lions will be hoping it will be a case of history repeating itself in Johannesburg next weekend as they once again host Western Province in a Currie Cup semi-final.

Western Province produced a commanding display to dispatch the Free State Cheetahs 36-15 at Newlands on Saturday, giving them third place on the log and a semi-final against the second-placed Lions.

While the Capetonians will bring a squad full of top-class players now that the Springboks have returned to Currie Cup action, Lions fans will remember well that the same thing happened last year, with the Gautengers beating a star-studded Western Province team 29-20 at Ellis Park en route to hammering the Sharks in the final.

The Sharks are once again in contention, having finished at the top of the round-robin standings and they will host the Bulls in the other semi-final in Durban.

The Bulls, who began the final weekend at the bottom of the log and in serious danger of having to play promotion/relegation against the EP Kings, made the top four as Morne Steyn supervised a classy 50-29 victory over the Lions at Ellis Park.

Once the weight of avoiding the relegation playoffs was off their shoulders, the Bulls played with impressive freedom and they certainly have the ammunition now to avenge their 13-12 loss to the Sharks in a sodden Durban two weeks ago.

“We’ve had to fight our way out of a hole, and the last three games we’ve played really well, even when we lost to the Sharks. Conditions were very difficult that day, but we know the Sharks are a tough challenge; they’ve lost just once in Durban the whole year, but we’re just happy we’ve given ourselves the opportunity. A semi-final is a funny sort of game, it depends on who is more accurate on the day,” Bulls coach Pine Pienaar said.

The Lions, meanwhile, were not overly concerned by the big loss, having rested several key players and having the home semi-final already in the bag before the match against the Bulls even started.

“We started to go through the motions a bit, we lacked a bit of experience in the side this weekend and some of the guys started thinking about next week.

“Last year, we played against the Sharks the week before the semi-finals and lost 53-9, so we definitely didn’t have any momentum going into the knockout rounds, but we played our best rugby of the year after that. I felt that when we wanted to play tonight, we could do it and we’re definitely ready for the semi-finals,” Lions stand-in captain Butch James said.

With both Lions’ outside centres – Lionel Mapoe and Deon van Rensburg – suffering injuries at the weekend, Alwyn Hollenbach could well have to slide across into the number 13 jersey, opening up a place inside him for James, with Elton Jantjies coming back at flyhalf. That will set up a fascinating contest next weekend between James and another senior pro in Jean de Villiers in Western Province’s number 12 jersey.

De Villiers was one of the players to shine as the Capetonians, who began the match with an outside chance of being sucked into the relegation battle, produced a clinical display that left the Cheetahs with barely a gram of hope.

Western Province were allowed to run by the lethargic Cheetahs, a wonderful platform being laid by the forwards, led by returning Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth, and the Free Staters were out of the contest by the end of the first quarter.

In the veterinary world, the Cheetahs may have been put down, so lacklustre were they. Naka Drotske’s men could probably do with some defence clinics before their promotion/relegation meeting with the Kings.

The Sharks were another team to hit their straps at the weekend, giving Griquas the run-around in an overwhelming 42-3 victory in Durban. And coach John Plumtree still has some Springbok talent lying around that he can add to the side in the form of Tendai Mtawarira, Willem Alberts and Lwazi Mvovo.

The big question this year is once again whether it is better to have a settled side with continuity – i.e. the Lions – or will the introduction of the Springboks provide the necessary boost for the Bulls or Western Province to overcome the disadvantage of playing away from home?

The Sharks, having learnt the harsh lessons of last year when their seven Springboks returning from the World Cup failed to gel with the rest of the team and they were thumped 42-16 by the Lions in the final, are perhaps in the pound seats because they have experience of these problems and they will be playing both the semi-finals and the final, if they qualify, at King’s Park.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-10-16-in-like-lions-but-will-they-go-out-like-lambs

Freddie Michalak overcame a week of illness to inspire a remarkable 26-19 victory for the Sharks over the Stormers in their all-South African SuperRugby semi-final at Newlands on Saturday.
The Sharks will now travel down to New Zealand to face the Chiefs in next weekend’s final and will need to overcome even greater odds than they conquered in Cape Town.
The Stormers, having topped the overall standings, unbeaten at home and having the best defensive record, were expected to freeze out a Sharks team that had just flown halfway around the world twice after their memorable win over the Reds in Brisbane.
But Michalak, the veteran of 56 Tests, showed nerves of steel as he slotted two drop goals, as well as a pair of penalties and conversions, to build on the superb work of his forwards.
Starting at number one Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira, who gave the Stormers a torrid time in the scrums, through to the second row, where Anton Bresler was outstanding, to the rugged loose trio that pilfered ball, were tough on defence and carried the ball menacingly, the Sharks pack ensured enough front-foot possession and momentum to hold off the effects of jetlag.
Sharks coach John Plumtree, who sprang a surprise before kickoff by playing JP Pietersen at outside centre, Louis Ludik on the wing and big-kicking Riaan Viljoen at fullback (all inspired moves), admitted that he had delayed his final selection to allow Michalak to recover from a bug that left him vomiting all week.
“Freddie has been ill this week and at one stage it looked as if he wouldn’t even play. But he’s a great guy for just keeping the scoreboard ticking over and he kept the Stormers at arm’s length. He’s a great reader of the game and he’s been fantastic in the team environment,” Plumtree said.
“He’s really enjoying himself. He’s a big game player, the bigger the game, the bigger the occasion, the more he loves it. We’ve given him a lot of responsibility in how we want to play the game and he has been going really well and I am really pleased for him.”
Michalak’s top-class performance saw him rewarded with the man of the match award: He married a reliable boot to a variety of options with ball in hand and a sense of calm under pressure.
Although the 29-year-old is now returning to France to play for Toulon, the Sharks would welcome him back. And the feeling appears to be mutual.
“It’s a bonus to be on the Sharks team and I try my best every week to lead from the front. I want to go on and win the trophy and everyone is helping me to do my best, I have the confidence of the coaches too. I’m happy,” Michalak said.
Michalak’s vision and intuition played a part in both Sharks tries.
In the 35th minute, he turned a defensive position into attack with enormous composure, allowing Viljoen to launch a pinpoint up-and-under that Ludik claimed to speed away for the opening try.
And then, on the hour mark, he shaped to kick another drop goal but instead dashed swiftly on to attack before feeding the ball to Pietersen, whose shimmy outside and step inside wrecked the Stormers defence and gave him the match-winning try.
Michalak’s impressive 30-metre drop goal gave the Sharks a 26-19 lead with four minutes to go, but they were hanging on by a prayer at the end, the Toulon-bound enigma ending the match on his back, weeping for joy.