Ken Borland

The Sharks are following the manual on how to retreat into a laager to the letter this week as they head into their United Rugby Championship match against the Ospreys in Durban on Friday night refusing to discuss the firing of their head coach Sean Everitt or the fact that Siya Kolisi is injured.

Whether this is all an air of denial or one of defiance will only be seen on Friday night against an Ospreys side who gave the high-flying Bulls a tough second half at Loftus Versfeld last weekend.

Everitt had been at the Sharks for more than a decade and was a popular figure; since new director of rugby Neil Powell has arrived at Kings Park they have put in a flat performance against the Bulls and a horror show against Cardiff. But Powell has now officially taken over the coaching of the team.

The former Springbok Sevens supremo said on Thursday that he is satisfied that the team is behind him.

“Obviously it has not been an easy week, but it was important to get the whole squad of fifty together. We are all part of it and we’ve got to make it better. Our goals are still the same.

“It was important to discuss that and we’ve got buy-in already from the players. A lot has been said, but we can speak as much as we like, it’s time now for action.

“That’s where Siya and Eben Etzebeth have made a massive contribution for us this week as well, they were at every session and meeting, refocusing us on the job at hand.

“We will keep chipping away and moving in the right direction until we get success in terms of the focus and mindset,” Powell said, before revealing that Kolisi was unavailable for selection due to injury, while Etzaebeth is being rested.

When asked for more details of Kolisi’s injury, Powell said he was unable to say more.

But fellow Springboks Ox Nche and Bongi Mbonambi will bring their strength to the front row, while Vincent Tshituka has moved from the back row to lock, where Powell will hope he can ford the gainline with success.

Both regular eighthmen, Phepsi Buthelezi and Sikhumbuzo Notshe, are in the loose trio, along with the combative Jeandre Labuschagne.

Perhaps the most significant selection though is that of Curwin Bosch, back at flyhalf and being relied upon to lead the team into the right areas on the field.

“It’s important to try and maximize our pack and Vincent can make a massive contribution at No.4,” Powell explained. “And it does not make sense playing either Sikhumbuzo or Phepsi, you want your best players on the field.

“We’re looking to Curwin to manage the game from a kicking perspective, make sure we’re playing in the opposition half by getting on top of the kicking game. We want our flyhalf to manage the game better in terms of kicking and communication,” Powell said.

Sharks – Boeta Chamberlain, Marnus Potgieter, Francois Venter, Ben Tapuai, Makazole Mapimpi, Curwin Bosch, Jaden Hendrikse, Phepsi Buthelezi (c), Jeandre Labuschagne, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Gerbrandt Grobler, Vincent Tshituka, Carlu Sadie, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nche. Bench: Dan Jooste, Ntuthuko Mchunu, Khutha Mchunu, Hyron Andrews, James Venter, Grant Williams, Nevaldo Fleurs, Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

The golfing world’s attention this week will be focused on the Presidents Cup, which gets underway at Quail Hollow in North Carolina on Thursday, with the International team, under the captaincy of South African Trevor Immelman, left with a mountain to climb against the United States.

America have won the last eight editions of the Presidents Cup and if that weight of history were not enough, the International team has been hard-hit by defections to LIV Golf.

While American players such as Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka have also joined the breakaway league, the United States still boast five players in the top-10 of the world golf rankings in their team.

The riches on offer in LIV Golf translate into an awfully large amount of Rand, so Immelman is right when he says the players he does have will all be very hungry to win, given that they have shown that their loyalties do not necessarily lie with money.

The Americans have won 11 of the 13 Presidents Cup tournaments, so the event desperately needs to avoid becoming an insipid one-horse race. There were signs of revival in the Presidents Cup for the International team in 2019 at Royal Melbourne under another South African captain, Ernie Els, and Immelman has made it clear he intends to build on what his compatriot put in place.

United States captain Davis Love will have to deal with his team being massive favourites, and can call on seven members of the squad that hammered Europe 19-9 in the last Ryder Cup.

It is, however, the youngest ever U.S. team to play in the Presidents Cup.

Immelman will field a record five Asian players in his line-up, with Christiaan Bezuidenhout the only South African as LIV golfers Louis Oosthuizen and Branden Grace are not eligible.

Australia’s Adam Scott and former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama are the two senior International players who have considerable Presidents Cup experience.

But there are eight rookies in all in the Presidents Cup line-up.

SOUTHBROOM, KwaZulu-Natal – The most obvious thing young, up-and-coming golfers need is the opportunity to compete, and veteran Sunshine Tour campaigner Hennie Otto has praised the sponsors of this week’s event at San Lameer, Vodacom, for the critical role they have played in the development of the sport in this country.

Otto has been on tour since 1997/98, when it was actually known as the Vodacom Tour, and is teeing it up this week in the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at San Lameer Country Club as one of the favourites, given his ninth position on the current Luno Order of Merit.

As a senior statesman of the tour and someone who has enjoyed its benefits so much, Otto is eager to ensure the younger generation get the same exposure and rewards.

“Vodacom have been involved in golf in this country for more than 20 years and what they’ve really done is develop golfers,” Otto said after the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Am at San Lameer.

“Every young golfer needs opportunity in order to have a successful career, and if nobody creates those opportunities for them, then they won’t get them.

“I’ve played with Mr Mzimba [William, CEO Vodacom Business Group] a few times in these Vodacom Origins of Golf Pro-Ams and he tells me about the dozen or so development players they help. Hopefully those guys really come through, and even if just five of them do then it is still something special.

“The tour is definitely growing and I think in the years to come, it is just going to get bigger,” Otto said.

While the Sunshine Tour has seen a number of very promising young players shine this year, the fairways are still very much the lair of experienced pros like Otto, Jean Hugo, who is seventh on the Luno Order of Merit, and Jaco van Zyl, who won last weekend at Selborne Park Golf Club.

The 46-year-old Otto is still hitting the ball well and looked in hot form last weekend when he finished second to Van Zyl at the Gary and Vivienne Player Challenge. It was his fourth top-six finish this season, a ray of hope after a couple of very tough years following the passing of his wife in 2020.

“As a senior, some of the guys call me ‘Oom’, but this ‘Oom” can still play now and again,” Otto smiles. “I’ve been doing nicely, I just haven’t finished off like I want to.

“But I’m close to where I want to be both mentally and physically, although I’m a bit overweight – I’ve had a few braais,” he laughs.

“But there are nice tournaments coming up, we’re building up and up for the big ones at the end of the year, and the more you finish up the leaderboard, the more confident you get.

“I’ve played all those tournaments before, I know the places, so I’ll be even more comfortable,” Otto said.

All Blacks captain Sam Cane on Tuesday described their squad as being “disappointed and hurt” by their comprehensive defeat in their opening Rugby Championship Test against the Springboks in Nelspruit last weekend, and he says this week has been all about ensuring they are more clinical and efficient.

While the Springboks are buoyant after their 26-10 win, their second biggest ever over their greatest rivals, the All Blacks go to Ellis Park on Saturday having lost three matches in a row this year including the previous two defeats to Ireland.

“As disappointed and hurt as we are, there is nowhere else we would want to be than having another crack at them,” Cane said after New Zealand’s training session in Inanda on Tuesday.

“We are far happier getting back on the horse that sitting on the plane back home not having won a Test. Yesterday [Monday] we had a good look at the opportunities we wasted and where we need to be sharper.

“We have been brutally honest with each other, it’s nothing personal but just trying to get better as a team as a whole. We’re obviously not happy with the results, but there’s been no lack of effort.

“It’s a good camp to be involved in, hand on heart we are tight as a group, but it’s just frustrating that that’s not translating on to the field. There’s a trophy [Freedom Cup] on the line at Ellis Park and we are desperate for a better performance,” Cane said.

While the loose forward praised the Springboks for “knowing their game and executing extremely well”, he said the All Blacks had focused in their training on not just key weak points in Nelspruit like the aerial battle and the breakdown, but also on the unexpected.

“There were 15 contestable kicks last weekend and we only took five of them, so we expect the Springboks to keep going with that, and they also had good success at the breakdown,” Cane said.

“But it would be naïve not to think they will try to exploit us in different areas too. So our focus has been more on what we can control.

“I thought we had good intensity last week, but their pressure in key moments flipped our momentum. In the first half we were hardly able to have a crack at them.

“Our defensive intensity was right up there, we defended the breakdowns really well. So I don’t think we’re far off and there were definitely steps in the right direction,” Cane said.