Ken Borland

It was a great weekend in SuperRugby for the two expansion sides from Argentina and Japan, while the Sharks and Lions kept the South African flag flying.

It has certainly been a good two weeks for the Sunwolves, with successive wins. It takes time to settle in a competition as demanding as SuperRugby, and this was even true for the Jaguares, who are basically a full national team.

The Stormers never settled in the heat of Hong Kong and it was really hot, especially at 1pm when the game kicked off in scorching temperatures. Even though the final result was close, the Stormers never really looked like winning the game. Their tries came from Sunwolves’ mistakes, two of them from an intercept try and a crosskick, and they weren’t really constructed by the visitors.

What was concerning was that there were three occasions when the Stormers tried to launch from lineouts, but there were knock-ons in the set-up play. When that happens you just cannot build any pressure on the opposition.

You have to credit the Sunwolves for being bold and working their way down the field for the matchwinning drop goal by Hayden Parker. But if the Stormers’ defensive line had come up harder they could have certainly charged down that kick because Parker went left first and then right, but they just did not put enough pressure on him.

The Bulls were really poor in Buenos Aires and all their good work against the Sharks has been undone. From the first minute, when Ivan van Zyl’s exit kick was charged down and then Warrick Gelant totally missed the ball when he tried to kick, they were under pressure.

They were pinned back in their 22 with sheer line-speed by the Jaguares and they were manhandled at forward. I just thought the Bulls were very sluggish, they didn’t get around the corner and they could not set properly in defence. Perhaps the hard physical battle with the Sharks took it out of them and then it’s a helluva flight to Buenos Aires with a long layover in Sao Paulo. The Bulls’ tight forwards were not at their best, they’re not normally so unaggressive.

But you have to give credit to the Jaguares, to put fifty on the Bulls is something nobody else has managed to do this year and they are clearly getting their development structure right. Coach Mario Ledesma was in Australian rugby for so long and he is employing some of the same systems. An example is Nicolas Sanchez standing at the hooker position in lineout defence, which is similar to what Bernard Foley does at the Waratahs and Wallabies, they hide away their flyhalf.

You also see the Australian influence in their will to move the ball and keep it alive, plus they are now more rugby fit. To win four games in a row away from home was phenomenal and the Jaguares will be a handful in any playoff game.

The Jaguares’ match against the Sharks this weekend is a key game and it will also be interesting to see how Argentina then do in their June Tests against Wales and Scotland, how their players cope back at international level.

It was good to see the Sharks beat a depleted Chiefs side and their only disappointment will be that they did not get the bonus point, which could be vital the way the South African Conference is going.

The Lions struggled a lot against the Brumbies but their forward pack and lineout maul took them through. It was also the sort of match where Rohan Janse van Rensburg is so valuable because in those one-on-one situations he can always break the tackle.

The Lions will certainly be pleased to get back to winning ways and the victory keeps them in control of the conference. Their rolling maul was devastating, back to its best, and it kept them in the game in the first half. They will also be pleased with how well their scrum went – they struggled a bit at the start but just improved more and more.

Elton Jantjies also grew in confidence, even after the red-card incident in which Rory Arnold definitely gave him a premeditated smack to the head, which is good for the Springboks because I see him being the starting flyhalf.

With Swys de Bruin as the attacking consultant for the Springboks, it looks like a smart move by Rassie Erasmus to let Elton play with his mentor there to get the best out of him. It will also be good for Swys, but he’s going to be very tired working through three Tests and then getting straight back to SuperRugby; but his first time in the national set-up will certainly have him enthused.

In terms of the Springbok squad announcement this weekend, there are certainly some new guys who deserve a chance. Warrick Gelant is certainly an example of that, he should definitely be in the mix and I would play him at fullback. He’s an exciting runner and he has good feet, plus he has done some phenomenal things with ball-in-hand, he makes magic happen.

Aphiwe Dyantyi of the Lions is brave and good in the air and he has been so good on the wing that it was a surprise to see him played in the centres last weekend, where he doesn’t have that same freedom.

Travis Ismaiel also played really well, with power and precision, when he was fit and one wonders whether Erasmus will be brave enough to have two uncapped wings feature in his plans.

I think Faf de Klerk will play scrumhalf with Jantjies, there seems a good chance of that halfback pairing, and in terms of the forwards, the Springboks should have a really strong pack, and Erasmus will be hoping for no more injuries in this last round of SuperRugby before the international break.

A guy like Marco van Staden may come into it – he does all the right things, he’s hard to shift off the ball and I can imagine him playing with Jean-Luc du Preez and Duane Vermeulen in the loose trio.

Rassie could go with Francois Louw, but there are only 17 Tests left before the World Cup. You do need massive experience to win a World Cup knockout game, but you don’t want to get to the final year and have to blood new players. You need to get those guys into the mix now for the World Cup.

Guys like Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende have been part of the Springboks for the last three or four years, which is what you want going into World Cup year.

It’s also worth noting that Japan in September will be hot and you need young and vibrant players. It will be very different to playing in Europe, it will be hot and humid.

Test matches are like cup finals and Erasmus needs to win every one for the South African public. He needs to win series and to do that against England would be a great way to start his tenure, an excellent achievement.

John McFarland is the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game. Before that, McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.

The South African men’s hockey team’s hopes at the Commonwealth Games were quickly extinguished, but apart from scuppering any possibility of them adding to the Proteas squad’s impressive haul of medals, more insidious damage was done to the image of the game as a whole in this country.

South Africa began their campaign with a disappointing 4-2 loss to Scotland, who are not even in the top-20 of the world rankings, and were then hammered 4-0 by Australia and 6-0 by New Zealand. They ended the pool stage with a good 2-0 win over 11^th-ranked Canada, but they were still condemned to playing in the wooden-spoon playoff for ninth and 10^th place.

A 3-2 defeat at the hands of Wales, ranked 24^th in the world, completed a shocking tournament for South Africa.

No-one is questioning the commitment of the team, who are, after all, basically amateurs trying to compete with professionals, but questions have to be asked about the selection of the squad.

Surely for a tournament of the Commonwealth Games’ stature – which attracts plenty of media attention back home – the selectors should fill the team with their most experienced, best players? This was not the case with several seasoned campaigners being left at home as SA hockey tried to ‘build for the future’.

The South African Hockey Association (Saha) like to give plenty of lip about a lack of financial support from Sascoc and corporates, but in this instance they have shot themselves in the foot.

The Commonwealth Games, with its widespread coverage, is the ideal platform – second only to the Olympics in terms of our hockey – for SA hockey to make a statement. Winning a medal, which is not a realistic target in the World Cup later this year, would make the public and potential sponsors and supporters sit up and take notice.

Even our women’s side, which is a top-class outfit, disappointed, only managing to finish sixth thanks to defeats to India and Canada and a draw with Malaysia. Canada and Malaysia are not even ranked in the world top-20, while South Africa are 14^th.

It all just showed a lack of strategic thinking by Saha. No doubt the powers that be will say something about the mechanics of preparation for the World Cup being behind the Commonwealth Games failure. But a Commonwealth Games medal – or even a strong run for one – would have been a real fillip for the game back home, engendering far more positive PR than a 10^th-place finish in a World Cup that the average South African will be totally oblivious about.

A full-strength South African side would have had a chance to nick a medal on the Gold Coast, something which nobody expects them to do in the World Cup. Now, instead, the public opinion of hockey will once again be of a bunch of no-hopers.

Saha needs to make better decisions to ensure they at least give their under-resourced, struggling national teams some gloss.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20180421/282376925178424

Greater Flamingo flying over the Chatty Saltpans

The Swartkops Estuary in Port Elizabeth is well-known as one of South Africa’s 112 Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) and while the river and mudflats have the greatest density of birds and hog the limelight as the most natural areas, my sunset visit on December 30 was to the salt pans and threw up a special that is often difficult to find elsewhere.

The Chatty River flows from the west into the Swartkops River and alongside it, next to the R367 main road, there are commercial saltpans which can provide quality foraging opportunities for many birds, especially when the salinity and water level are just right for a host of invertebrates to be crawling around in the benthos.

The elegant flamingos – both Greater and Lesser – immediately catch the eye and I was also drawn to the Pied Avocets, one of my favourite birds, sweeping and scything around in the water.

But dotted around the pan were smaller birds – the Blacknecked Grebe.

The Chatty Saltpans hold globally significant numbers of this uncommon nomad, which has the propensity to suddenly colonise a flooded area and start breeding. There are usually good numbers of this cute little diving bird at Swartkops though, and I did not notice any birds in breeding plumage, so perhaps they were moulting, with the widely-distributed Blacknecked Grebe known to utilise saline lakes overseas for this purpose.

Another special that can be picked up at the Swartkops Estuary is the Hartlaub’s Gull, which has a recently-established breeding colony in the area. It was previously considered a bird of the Western Cape, its distribution tied to that of Kelp, with only vagrant birds moving east of Cape Agulhas, and it interbreeds with Greyheaded Gulls in this river valley. Being omnivorous, it seems to have adapted to new foraging opportunities around human settlements.

Nicely built-up embankments between the pans allow one to approach the vulnerable Flamingos and their friends reasonably closely as they continue their search for invertebrates, and other birds that have adapted well to man-made wetlands were also busy foraging for their dinner in the gathering gloom – Blackwinged Stilt, African Spoonbill, Cape Cormorant, Kelp Gull, Egyptian Goose, Blacksmith Plover, Cape Wagtail and Sacred Ibis.

Where are the Chatty Saltpans?

Sightings list

Greater Flamingo

Kelp Gull

Pied Avocet

Blacknecked Grebe

Blackwinged Stilt

Lesser Flamingo

Egyptian Goose

Cape Cormorant

Blacksmith Plover

Hartlaub’s Gull

Cape Wagtail

Sacred Ibis

African Spoonbill

When Australia arrived in South Africa for their four-Test series, it was billed as the battle of the bowling attacks, and it was the Proteas who had the gas required to take 80 wickets, while the tourists could claim just 70 wickets as they went down 3-1.

So just how did South Africa manage to bowl Australia out in all eight innings of the series?

“Firstly, you’ve got to have good fast bowlers and we’re lucky that we do, and they’re good in any conditions. And then you add Keshav Maharaj to the mix and Lungi Ngidi came in and made his mark as well. There were guys putting their hand up all the time.

“Kagiso Rabada was Man of the Series, but I was especially pleased with Vernon Philander. I set him a challenge at the start of the series and he exceeded it, he bowled the overs and got the wickets, so I’m delighted for him. It’s a shame to see Morne Morkel go with the way he’s bowling at the moment, he’s a handful for batsmen,” Proteas coach Ottis Gibson said.

The solid batting performance was also down to the unit as a whole performing, with four different batsmen getting centuries.

Gibson said he was also especially pleased by the way his team handled the controversies and enmity that would burn through the series, until Australia arrived at the Wanderers a beaten side.

“One thing I focus on all the time is keeping the focus on the cricket. It was disappointing that after every game the story was never about the cricket. We lost the first Test badly and we needed a strong statement and we did that. But still our performance didn’t take centre stage, even though we had played really well.

“They were playing under the whole pressure of not winning a series against Australia here since readmission, fixing that was our goal and focus, and after not being at our best in Durban, the guys said it’s okay, there are three Tests left. It was a fantastic performance, with youngsters Aiden Markram and Kagiso Rabada leading the batting and bowling, but when we needed to see the experienced players come through, they did that. We performed across the board,” Gibson said.

https://www.pressreader.com/south-africa/the-citizen-gauteng/20180405/282325385537518