Ken Borland

Ockie Strydom told fellow South African Thriston Lawrence that someone needed to address the problem of his inability to break the Blair Atholl course record on the second day of the South African Open, and he then went out and did it himself as they both thoroughly entertained the public and ended on top of the leaderboard on Friday.

Lawrence had led after the first day as he fired an eight-under-par 64, equalling the course record he set in October 2021 in the Blair Atholl Championship. Strydom jokingly ribbed him about being unable to break the record on the driving range on Friday morning … and then went out and shot a phenomenal nine-under-par 63 that rocketed him up the leaderboard to second.

Lawrence held on to his lead, however, as he posted an impressive five-under 67 in the second round, moving to 13-under for the tournament, two ahead of Strydom.

“I said to Thriston that someone must break the course record today and he just said ‘We’ll see’,” Strydom said after his bogey-free round that included two hat-tricks of birdies, from the fifth hole and the 11^th hole.

“But I had plenty of fun, it was pleasant out there and I hit the ball as well as I can and in the right places. I played it safe to the tough flags and just made sure I missed in the right places.

“Today was exceptional and I am in a good position. On the weekend I will just try to keep my head in the game, be positive and go out and hit the ball as well as I can,” Strydom said.

Lawrence sealed his lead, and held off Strydom’s challenge, by making four birdies in his last five holes.

“Ockie had an unbelievable round today, but fortunately I had a good finish,” Lawrence said. “He said this morning that I must break my course record and now he has done it.

“It will be lekker playing together in the third round and hopefully we can make sure a South African wins the tournament.”

Lawrence continued to attack the longest course in DP World Tour history off the tee, saying “Driver has been the best club in my bag all year”. Starting his round on the 10^th hole, he birdied the 12^th and 13^th, but his round then lost a bit of momentum as he made pars the rest of the way to the turn, three-putting the par-five 18^th for par. Bogeys at one and four meant his lead was well and truly under threat, but he then sank a series of impressive putts to pull clear again.

Frenchman Clement Sordet (66) and amateur Christian Maas (65) both enjoyed brilliant days as they moved to 10-under and tied for third.

It is not often that one can say a tour of Europe with a 50% winning record is a resounding success, but it is a fair evaluation that the Springboks have ended up hitting their targets for 2022.

It was after the Rugby Championship that I wrote a column saying we still did not know whether the Springboks would be genuine World Cup contenders next year as they were simply not clinical nor ruthless enough in finishing second to the All Blacks in a southern hemisphere competition that is no longer the gold standard for the global game.

There also did not seem to be much growth to their game and I ended with the hope that they would express themselves more in Europe.

It is with delight that I can now write that the Springboks have answered my questions in the affirmative.

That is despite losing to both Ireland and France. But both those defeats were by desperately narrow margins and it is fair to say that Ireland would have been beaten if South Africa had fielded a proper goalkicker, and France would surely have been seen off if Pieter-Steph du Toit had not received his unfortunate red card.

The Springboks played superbly in Marseille to dominate the World Cup favourites, and it was great to see the same ambition bear fruit the following weekend when they hammered Italy.

Last weekend’s win over England at Fortress Twickenham must rank somewhere on the hit parade of top Springbok wins, such was the all-round quality and sheer authority of their performance.

While the Springboks’ strength still undoubtedly lies in their magnificent pack – how incredible were they in the scrums? – perhaps the biggest surprise was the wonderful attacking intent shown by a backline missing their chief offensive organiser in Lukhanyo Am and playing with a relatively new, untested flyhalf in Damian Willemse.

While opposition teams might find a way to get around the physicality, defensive steel and aerial prowess of the Springboks, having that extra string to their bow in terms of the brilliant counter-attacking ability they have shown, makes them very tough to beat.

The Springboks now seem able to not only strangle or batter their opposition into submission, but also make the sharpest, most precise of surgical incisions into the heart.

Jacques Nienaber has done all this while still ensuring that he now has quality cover in all positions.

Perhaps the only negative from the end-of-year tour was the director of rugby, Rassie Erasmus, copping another ban for attacking the officiating at international level.

The Springboks’ relationship with the referees is at the lowest ebb since the dark days of the early 2000s, when they had a reputation for being the dirtiest, most ill-disciplined team in the game.

When Jake White took over the coaching reins in 2004, he knew the Springboks could only start getting fair treatment from the referees if they fixed that perception. The World Cup would never have been won in 2007 were it not for the hard work captain John Smit put in to win the referees over. Nowadays, charming the referee is considered one of the staple jobs of the captain.

The smart-arse in Erasmus may be entertaining the social media hordes and he is probably enjoying the cult status he is growing there. But the continual haranguing of the referees is hurting his team.

The saying goes that nobody ever ended a war by lifting up a sword. The talk of there being a conspiracy against the Springboks may or may not be justified, but railing against the officials is only going to make it worse.

As director of rugby, Erasmus needs to put personal desires aside and make sure the Springboks take the high road. The World Cup defence could depend on it.

New Proteas Test coach Shukri Conrad, captain Temba Bavuma, bowling spearhead Kagiso Rabada and batting consultant Neil McKenzie have all been or are currrently on the payroll at the Wanderers for many years, and Conrad said on Tuesday that it was that home ground knowledge that led South Africa to make the shock decision to play two spinners in the second Test against the West Indies, which starts in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

The first question Conrad was asked during Tuesday’s pre-match press conference was whether the hosts had settled on a starting XI, and the transparent coach surprised many when he began reciting the team. That surprise turned to shock when the names Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj were called out consecutively at numbers eight and nine.

The debate at the Wanderers is usually whether the Proteas will play even one frontline spinner, but from a pace-heavy attack for the first Test at Centurion, Conrad and the brains trust have now switched to fielding both off-spinner Harmer and left-arm orthodox Maharaj. It is the first time since the 1965 Test (37 matches ago) against England, when orthodox left-armer Atholl McKinnon and offie Harry Bromfield both played, that South Africa have selected two frontline spinners for a Wanderers Test.

But those who have watched much cricket at the Wanderers this year will know that the pitch has been unusually helpful to spinners, offering both turn and bounce. Conrad said they know the Wanderers pitch well enough to know this week’s track is different to what has been in use for Test matches there for several years.

“Frostie [new groundsman Brendon Frost, formerly of Willowmoore Park] has done a good job covering the massive bare patch so that it looks okay. But we have lots of cricket IP [intellectual property] in our squad when it comes to cricket here – myself, Temba, KG, Neil Mac have all been involved with Lions cricket for a long time,” Conrad pointed out.

“In the last year, we’ve seen that spinners do come into play more here. A Test doesn’t have to end on Day Three, and if we go to the fourth and fifth day then spin will definitely come into play.

“The pitch looks a bit abrasive and we think one end is going to be a lot more seamer-friendly. So we’re not just making the change for change’s sake,” Conrad said.

Local knowledge has also led to Ryan Rickelton getting a place in the starting XI, replacing the struggling Keegan Petersen. Since the hero of last summer’s epic series win over India tore his hamstring in the CSA T20 Challenge final in November, he has scored just 85 runs in six innings.

Rickelton, on the other hand, has been in tremendous nick, stroking three centuries in his five four-day innings. His absence from the Proteas team this summer has been perplexing; even his much-debated ankle injury has not been able to justify his omission.

“Ryan deserves a crack, he’s been churning out runs and probably deserves a chance more than anyone,” Conrad admitted. “Ryan is definitely going to be a big part of the side going forward.

“Knowing his character and the way he has performed at domestic level, we can start building a future team around him. I think he’s going to have a long and successful run.

“Keegan was the incumbent and I still think his best position may be number five going forward, looking at the way he plays. The batting unit is still a work in progress, but I think he will have a bigger role to play in the middle-order,” Conrad said.

South Africa: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma, Ryan Rickelton, Heinrich Klaasen, Wiaan Mulder, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Gerald Coetzee, Kagiso Rabada.

The Sharks have won both of their United Rugby Championship matches on tour thus far, but it’s not as if they have peacefully gone about securing that unbeaten record.

They had to withstand a fierce second-half comeback from Zebre in Parma, eventually holding on 42-37, and last weekend they mounted the last-ditch effort, snatching a 20-19 win over the Dragons in Newport. In both cases they were fortunate to win.

And now they come up against Leinster, seemingly in turmoil if you believe some critics, and yet top of the log with three straight wins.

“Leinster have won three out of three and yet everyone says they’re not playing well,” former Scotland stalwart John Barclay said speaking at a media call for the Vodacom United Rugby Championship on Tuesday.

“Their big guns have not come back yet and I’m sure they’ll be happy to have 14 points, they don’t want to play their best game in September. They are too well-versed in how to manage their squad to do that.

“They are super-experienced, they have the best of the best in their squad. They will be hugely disappointed in what happened last season, but you criticise them at your own peril,” Barclay said.

The Sharks, meanwhile, will look to emulate the Bulls, who were also written off when travelling to Dublin to play Leinster in last season’s semifinal, but they burst the multiple champions’ bubble, took away some of their mystique.

“They will have their internationals, but we really back ourselves. We want to play their best team, although it is obviously going to be a massive challenge on Saturday,” eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi said.

“It doesn’t really affect us not having our Springboks because there is so much depth in our squad, any team we put out can go and compete. What the Bulls did certainly gives us a lot of confidence.

“We know what we can achieve, we know our potential and we’re not even close to that yet. We just need to go out and execute our game-plan, we really do believe we have everything we need to not just win this game, but the whole competition,” Buthelezi said.

The Sharks’ grand plan revolves around contestable kicking to manage territory and lineout mauls, but also counter-attacking off turnover ball with mobility, tempo and keeping ball-in-hand. The make-up of their loose trio reflects this, but perhaps what they miss is a real motherbuffer who does the dirty grunt work.

Sharks legend John Smit recognises the selection conundrum.

“I quite like James Venter and Dylan Richardson attacking the ball, making the breakdown a mess and making life difficult for the opposition, but they do lack a ball-carrier, which puts more pressure on Phepsi.

“They will get Siya Kolisi back, but they tend to use him out wide, using his offloads. But the Sharks were not able to get the ball wide enough last season.

“It’s about what sort of game they want to play, and they’ve got Rohan Janse van Rensbirg and Ben Tapuai, two No.12s at centre, so there’s a lot more focus on them carrying,” Smit said.