Ken Borland

By a quick calculation, former Northerns cricketer Anton Ferreira has contributed more than 40 years of service to cricket in the province and in South Africa, so it was entirely fitting that the Titans franchise should pay tribute to him when they launched their new refurbished president’s lounge at SuperSport Park on Thursday night.

Ferreira, a quality all-rounder who would go on to represent South Africa in unofficial limited-overs matches in the 1980s, was born in Pretoria and made his debut for Northern Transvaal in 1974. When he retired in 1992, he held the record for most appearances for the province (93 first-class games) and the most runs scored for Northern Transvaal (4290 in first-class cricket).

Ferreira was one of the key figures in the rise of Northern Transvaal from the B Section to A Section contenders in the early 1980s, also taking 235 wickets at an average of 26.91 with his muscular pace bowling.

After his playing days, which included an eight-year stint with Warwickshire, where he was immensely popular, Ferreira went into coaching and just kept on contributing. He initially made his mark at junior and first-class level (with Transvaal) and then took the South African U19 team to two junior world cups. In 2000, he was appointed Cricket South Africa’s director of coaching, which involved a shift into coaching the coaches.

This month, with his job description having evolved into coaching education manager, Ferreira finally retired from CSA, although he is still involved in cricket on a consultancy basis, currently helping the Africa Cricket Association.

“Yogi has done it all in cricket, he has made an incredible contribution to the game, and was one of the people who laid the foundation for our current success as a franchise. What he has done for cricket in this area and around the country during his 18 years with Cricket South Africa has been phenomenal and his passion for the game is what sets him apart. And it was all done without any tendency for self-promotion, you won’t find a more humble, down-to-earth man,” Titans CEO Jacques Faul said in paying tribute to Ferreira.

A typically modest Ferreira said he can never repay the game for all it has given him.

“I am humbled and I can never repay the game for all the wonderful enjoyment it has given me. I learnt, as a young boy, about the game from Northern Transvaal legends like Denis Lindsay, Jackie Botten and Tiger Lance and they taught me about enjoying the pleasure of risk,” Ferreira said.

Ferreira will certainly be missed by Cricket South Africa, but someone with his passion for the game is certainly still going to be around, bringing a smile and wonderful insight to cricket.

South Africa’s 2019 Cricket World Cup fixture list will have some eerie similarities to their infamous 1999 campaign in England, according to a report on the CricInfo website on Wednesday, with the ghosts of Edgbaston combining with their tournament nemesis.

The schedule, which the International Cricket Council board will deliberate over in Kolkata on Thursday, sees South Africa enjoying the honour of playing the opening game of the tournament, against England at the Oval, on Thursday, May 30. It is the same venue at which they beat the hosts by 122 runs in the previous World Cup held in England.

But after that matters get scary with history repeating itself with South Africa once again playing against Australia in their last match before the knockout round, on Saturday, July 6, with one of the semi-finals scheduled for Edgbaston in Birmingham, the scene of their notorious tied semi-final in 1999 that eliminated them from the tournament and created shockwaves that seemed to affect them in every World Cup thereafter.

The Proteas will also have to take on New Zealand, the team that has knocked them out of the last two World Cups, at Edgbaston on Wednesday, June 19.

Although there is a reasonable gap of three-to-five days between all the other Proteas’ games, the proposed schedule states that there will be an awkward eight-day gap between their match against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street on Friday, June 28, and their crunch clash with defending champions Australia. That match, as well as their June 15 game against Afghanistan in Cardiff, will be day/night affairs, while England, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will not play any day/night games in the round-robin phase.

SA fixtures: Thursday, May 30 v England (Oval); Sunday, June 2 v Bangladesh (Oval); Wednesday, June 5 v India (Southampton); Monday, June 10 v West Indies (Southampton); Saturday, June 15 v Afghanistan (Cardiff); Wednesday, June 19 v New Zealand (Edgbaston); Sunday, June 23 v Pakistan (Lord’s); Friday, June 28 v Sri Lanka (Chester-le-Street); Saturday, July 6 v Australia (Old Trafford).

The Lions have an unbelievable record against all other South African SuperRugby franchises since 2015 and they have consistently been our best team. It really is an amazing record, their dominance of South African rugby is the reason they have been in two successive finals and they have consistently scored the most tries in the competition, so you have to ask why they have so few backs in the new Springbok squad?

With only Aphiwe Dyantyi and Elton Jantjies named in the 43-man squad, there may be no Lions back in the starting line-up against England, which is quite interesting when you consider they have been beating everyone else in South Africa convincingly, and especially with their coach, Swys de Bruin, now with the Springboks as a backline consultant.

There have been suggestions that new Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus is concerned with the defensive prowess shown by our SuperRugby franchises, but the Lions in 2016 had one of the best defences in the competition and you have to play, you can’t just kick the ball downfield and defend.

It’s also interesting that none of the first-choice back three from last year’s Springboks – Andries Coetzee, Raymond Rhule and Dillyn Leyds – have been selected by Erasmus.

It is true to win big competitions you need a rock-solid defence.

If you look at the points conceded figure for our teams, the four South African outfits have all leaked between 381 and 392 points, an average of 27.2-29.8 points per match. In terms of tries conceded, the figures are 49 to 52 per side, which amounts to an average of 3.5-3.7 per game.

In comparison, the Jaguares, who are strong contenders to win the South African Conference, are conceding just 26.2 points and 3.4 tries per match. Only the Sunwolves, the bottom team in SuperRugby, have worst stats than the South African franchises.

What is causing our teams to concede so many points? You can’t just say it’s because we now have an attacking mindset. Not one of our sides has been really convincing defensively, which perhaps reflects where most of them are on the overall log. At Test level, the Springboks used to work on trying to concede less than an average of 15-16 points per game, and 11-12 at the World Cup, with just one try. Then, more often than not, you would be on the winning side. It is imperative to get back to these sort of stats now going forward because big Test matches are often gain-line arm-wrestles.

The really good news for the Springboks though is that England have just conceded nine tries and 63 points against a scratch BaaBaas XV, both record lows for them at Twickenham. So their defence is in real trouble and in their last four games one began to notice some real cracks both in terms of their system and individual tackles.They really are sitting before the tackle which causes them to miss so many and any ‘backdoor’ second-line plays cause total disconnection and confusion.

Eddie Jones turned on his players viciously, saying some of them couldn’t cope with the pace of international rugby, but he picked them in the first place, and it will be even harder on super-fast highveld fields with altitude as a factor.

To get back to our Lions, their win over the Stormers at the weekend was so vital because it maintains a buffer between them and the Jaguares, who have a game in hand but are six points behind. It was an exciting battle with the Stormers exploiting the Lions fullback getting into the defensive line early with attacking kicks and the Lions exploiting the home side’s flimsy defence of the rolling mauls and around the edges – the way Nic Groom dummied Ramone Samuels to score was way too easy.

There is also a difference in the way the Lions use the rolling maul these days, they are prepared to wheel it more in order to exploit space and take out the defenders stopping the maul. It is really good use of forces and you have to credit Philip Lemmer for bringing in something different and innovative.

You have to praise the Lions for the win, but the Stormers will rue the red card to Raymond Rhule. You just can’t do what he did anymore on a rugby field, although the nature of his suspension and those of other players in recent weeks does raise fresh questions over exactly how the judiciary works in SuperRugby. How can the ban cause them to effectively miss no rugby?

The Sharks were really outplayed by the Jaguares in Buenos Aires but they also did some sloppy things.

Coach Robert du Preez also made a massive statement during the week that they would be in the final either this year or next, which smacked of desperation and false news from a side scrambling for a quarterfinal place, and about to come up against one of the form teams in SuperRugby.

The Sharks’ pillar defence was just not good enough last weekend, the guys were either too wide or too upright. You can’t allow yourself to just be cut so easily next to the ruck, that should be the strongest part of your defence because that’s where the ball is, but for the Sharks, it was their weakest area.

The Jaguares did finish well and wing Ramiro Moyano scored three tries and they were backing up the ball-carrier well. The try they scored just before halftime to go 17-0 up would have hurt the most for the Sharks because they were slow to react, players had their backs to the ball and conceding a try from a quick-tap penalty is the sort of thing you can’t afford away from home.

It’s a very long trip to Buenos Aires and they had a quick turnaround from their last game, but the Sharks looked sluggish. The Bulls had similar problems the week before and how to manage that trip is something the South African teams have to sort out. When I was involved with the Springboks, we found it better to train in South Africa for two sessions, then fly over, have a captain’s run and play.

It is pleasing, however, to see the Jaguares hit their straps and when SuperRugby resumes they will have three vital games left in which to clinch their playoff place. Their Australasian tour proved that they can win on the road and they have been really impressive in their recent bonus point wins at home, so they are building nicely. It will still, however, be a big test for them to host the Stormers and then play the Bulls and Sharks away after they have played Tests against Wales and Scotland.

The Bulls were also really disappointing last weekend and they will look at their game against the 14-man Brumbies and really rue their defeat – it will probably be the game that loses them a playoff place.

They did some really good things on attack – Handre Pollard’s show-and-go try and Roelof Smit scoring out wide – but their defence is just not good enough for them to be playoff contenders. An example of that was when they had three defenders on two attackers after the restart turnover, but they all just rushed up and opened the space for the Brumbies on the outside. They will also be disappointed with the try when fullback Tom Banks ran the whole length of the field to score.

The Bulls are just not able to stop momentum close to the rucks, their opponents get go-forward too easily, and especially in the 22 that generally means seven points against you because it leads to space around the pillars, something which Brumbies scrumhalf Joe Powell exploited.

The Bulls have certainly been more entertaining this season but they need to step up over the next few weeks. Pretoria only really comes out to the stadium for winning rugby. The Bulls have a lot of talent in key areas, the locks are the envy of every team and the fetchers are second to none, and they have real X-factor in their outside backs.

Pollard has played plenty of Tests and is at the peak of his powers, Jesse Kriel too, and they have more players in the Springbok squad than the Lions, so how come are the Southern Gauteng side so far ahead of them? The Bulls are certainly an enigma, they do a lot of good things in every game, they just need that consistency of performance, they are too up-and-down at the moment.

On a parting, more positive note, my heartiest congratulations to Siya Kolisi on his well-earned appointment as captain for the England series. I am sure he will fly the South African flag high and do the position proud.

John McFarland was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded an average of just one try per game and the least line-breaks in the tournament. He is now the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and 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.

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.