Ken Borland

There’s no guarantee that veteran Springbok Ruan Pienaar will enjoy sweet success upon his return to the Sharks team for the first time in 11 years, but what he will certainly bring is the right approach to the game when the KwaZulu-Natalians begin their United Rugby Championship journey with a daunting match against Munster, one of the biggest teams in Europe, in Limerick on Saturday.

Pienaar slots straight back into the starting scrumhalf position for the Sharks and, with a relatively inexperienced flyhalf in Boeta Chamberlain named on Thursday, it is the veteran of 88 Tests who will no doubt be calling the shots in terms of game-management. The 37-year-old has also played plenty of rugby at flyhalf so being the general is nothing new to him, and he also spent seven years playing for another Irish club, Ulster.

“Ruan obviously brings a lot of experience, which is important when you have a young flyhalf like Boeta. He has been training very well, he is a leader in his own right and he knows these conditions and the teams we will be playing against. He has an understanding of what needs to be done to win here, and is presence is massive for us.

“You just see the quality of his training day-in, day-out, and he has settled in very easily because we play a similar style to the Free State Cheetahs, so the transition has been seamless. We need to manage our game better and be more disciplined in that regard, and Ruan understands that. He has good awareness of how to manage a game,” coach Sean Everitt said on Thursday.

The arrival of Pienaar on loan means a top-class talent like Sanele Nohamba is on the bench, but Everitt is clearly expecting a tight, almost Test-like tussle before the Sharks can hopefully use their pace and expansive game later in the match. That is also why Curwin Bosch continues to be preferred at fullback, providing a big boot from the back, and Chamberlain, a 22-year-old who is a tough cookie and has shown a commanding all-round game before, gets the No.10 jersey.

“Curwin is at fullback because of the way Munster play, we’re looking for a kicking option at 15, where we used to have Aphelele Fassi and his big left boot, as well as Andre Esterhuizen at 12. Curwin also has the ability to counter-attack well from the back. Munster defend really well and have a strong kicking game, they want to trap you into playing in the wrong areas.

“Boeta is an all-round player, he has a good skill-set, kicks well, distributes nicely and is good on the counter-attack. We’ve been blooding him slowly, but he started against the Hurricanes in Super Rugby and did very well, plus he had a very good Preparation Series and was excellent when we beat the Bulls at Kings Park in the wet in March. We’ve surrounded him with experience and he’s a guy for the future who can turn a game on his day,” Everitt said.

Sharks – Curwin Bosch, Yaw Penxe, Werner Kok, Marius Louw, Thaakir Abrahams, Boeta Chamberlain, Ruan Pienaar, Phepsi Buthelezi (c), Henco Venter, Dylan Richardson, Gerbrandt Grobler, Le Roux Roets, Thomas du Toit (v/c), Kerron van Vuuren, Khwezi Mona. Bench: Fez Mbatha, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Khutha Mchunu, Mpilo Gumede, Ruben van Heerden, Hyron Andrews, Sanele Nohamba, Jeremy Ward.

Keeping an expanded squad keen with regular game-time and still ensuring success on the field is a balancing act Sean Everitt has mostly succeeded with during his tenure as Sharks coach and on Thursday he named another eight changes to his squad for Saturday’s United Rugby Championship match against the Cardiff Blues at the Arms Park.

It is the last fixture in what has been a long and daunting first foray into Europe, with injuries to wings Yaw Penxe and Thaakir Abrahams, and the return home of scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba due to a family bereavement, complicating matters. But a strong starting line-up has still been named, and the likes of prop Wiehahn Herbst, lock Reniel Hugo and scrumhalf Tian Meyer will get some opportunity off the bench.

“On a four-week tour it’s important to give as many guys as possible an opportunity,” Everitt said on Thursday. “We’ve used 33 out of the 34 players with us here without weakening the team. But it’s important to get the balance right.

“You need to be strategic in mixing it up, for example when Boeta Chamberlain started at flyhalf we paired him with Ruan Pienaar, so he had experience around him.

“It has certainly kept the players motivated and I am quite comfortable that they can all cope at this level. So there are a couple of rotational changes this week with captain Phepsi Buthelezi having rested lasted week.

“There are also a couple of injuries and unfortunately Thaakir has a significant injury. He has gone to have scans at home and will have to see a surgeon,” Everitt said.

Centre Rynhardt Jonker is the unfortunate lone player who has not seen any action on tour, but at 21-years-old, just travelling and training with the team would have been a great experience and his time will come.

Having secured the morale-boosting win last weekend over the Ospreys, Everitt is confident that there will be no sliding of standards in their last game in the United Kingdom before flying home.

“The win definitely did us good from a psychological point of view and the guys are in a really good space and excited for the Cardiff game.

“The win has certainly lifted morale and the team is really motivated to win two out of four games, although it has been a long tour. We never set a goal for the tour, but the coaches spoke about getting 8-12 points.

“If we can get two wins then that would be a good tour. That was normally the benchmark on Super Rugby tours that were four weeks long. The third week on tour was always challenging, but we got the win last weekend,” Everitt said.

Sharks team – Curwin Bosch, Marnus Potgieter, Jeremy Ward, Murray Koster, Anthony Volmink, Boeta Chamberlain, Ruan Pienaar, Phepsi Buthelezi (Capt), Henco Venter, Dylan Richardson, Hyron Andrews, Ruben van Heerden, Thomas du Toit (v/c), Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench: Dan Jooste, Khwezi Mona, Wiehahn Herbst, Reniel Hugo, Gerbrandt Grobler, James Venter, Tian Meyer, Werner Kok.

Proteas opener Janneman Malan said his success in scoring a brilliant century against Sri Lanka at the weekend was thanks to a little help from his friends.

Malan’s brilliantly composed 121 off 135 balls led South Africa to a series-levelling 67-run win in Colombo, with the visitors posting a commanding 283 for six as their top-order dovetailed superbly, supporting him in successive partnerships of 43, 96, 38 and 86. Heinrich Klaasen then provided the explosive finish with his impressive 43 off 27 balls.

“The batting unit did really well, the coaches have set us realistic goals and expectations and we know that if we hit those then we have a good chance of winning. Reeza Hendricks’ 51 was very valuable, he scored at a run-a-ball, and Heinrich deserves credit as well. And just watching Aiden Markram and Rassie van der Dussen with the way they go about things, our batting is in a good space.

“Particularly against spin, we’ve seen the sweep is very effective, you can trust the bounce here and the straight bat tends to get beaten by the turn. And we also bowled really well. The bowlers didn’t do too badly in the first game, but maybe we underestimated how full we can go and the Sri Lankan batsmen like to go square,” Malan said after his man of the match performance.

The arrival of the 25-year-od in the ODI team has been nothing short of incredible. Malan has now scored three hundreds and two fifties n his eight ODI innings. He has scored a world-record 627 runs in his first eight innings, and that includes a first-ball duck on debut!

It is obvious that Malan’s uncomplicated style and unfazed approach has stood him in good stead.

“You never know how many chances you’re going to get and these are new conditions and you have to try and adapt and trust your skills. I try not to think about my batting too hard, I just break it down and take it game by game. I don’t really know what to make of my start, I’m just trying to score runs. I feel fortunate to have made such a good start to my career,” Malan said.

The third and decisive ODI will be played at the same Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday.

As much as success breeds further success, it also leads to jealousy and negative attention, and Springboks assistant coach Mzwandile Stick has likened the recent criticism of the South African team to dogs barking in the street.

It is not surprising that Stick should bristle over all the barbs aimed at the Springboks’ style of play, given that he is the attack coach and his team is hardly struggling to score tries or get their exciting back three into the game.

“We’re not going to lose focus on what we want to achieve, we’re not going to listen to the voices outside. We are the world champions and No.1 in the world so people will always be talking about us, it’s the nature of the position. When you’re winning, you expect that and we have made peace with that. It does not worry us and we won’t be influenced by the white noise.

“A dog only barks at a car when it is moving; it pees on the car that is parked. I’m still confused about all the criticism. Look at our wings, they are scoring a lot of brilliant tries, Lukhanyo Am is playing great rugby and Willie le Roux at the back is one of the best at seeing space. We’re scoring more points than the opposition, that’s why we’re winning,” Stick pointed out.

The backline coach was confident that talismanic eighthman Duane Vermeulen and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk will be available for this weekend’s clash with Australia at the Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.

“Duane is doing really well at training and hopefully he’ll be ready for the first game against Australia. Faf is also coming back and the only guy who’s really still struggling with injury is Rynhardt Elstadt. We still have a lot of room for improvement, but we are on the right track. We will focus on what we do best and they [the critics] must play touch rugby or champagne rugby.

“Everyone knows what to expect from Australia and we know that they enjoy having ball-in-hand and they stretch you in terms of your fitness levels. They have a lot of x-factor, skilful players, they play very expansive and entertaining rugby, that’s in their DNA. We’re still getting closer to where we want to be, but it’s going to be a nice game,” Stick said.