Ken Borland

The frustration of red cards ruining thrilling rugby matches was once again to the fore as the British and Irish Lions hammered the Sharks 71-31 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night, the match turning into a one-sided affair after Sharks scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse was sent off for a moment of madness.

The Sharks had produced a ferocious response to their drubbing in midweek in their first meeting with the Lions, and at 26-26 after a dazzling first half, the stage was set for a marvellous second half.

But then five minutes after the break, Hendrikse, who is generally an infuriatingly niggly scrumhalf to play against, crossed the line by hitting a Lions player on the back of the head with his elbow. Referee Wayne Barnes quite rightly red-carded him and that was the end of the contest.

The Sharks, so valiant and determined in the first 40 minutes, had the stuffing knocked out of them as the Lions roared their way to seven more tries in the second half. Hooker Jamie George, flank Tadhg Beirne and wing Anthony Watson, who showed why everyone in the UK raves about him, all came away with braces.

In the first half, the Sharks had rebounded from their mauling in midweek with a superb display of scrambling defence and they were extremely stingy with the amount of space and time they gave the Lions. The tourists, under such determined pressure, showed that they are human as well and the mistakes came.

Wings Anthony Volmink, who scored twice, and Thaakir Abrahams showed their ace finishing skills, while Hendrikse scored a fine intercept try inI the 24^th minute and lock Reniel Hugo charged down a kick for outside centre Werner Kok, who again played with great fervour, to score.

The loose trio of Phepsi Buthelezi, Celimpilo Gumede and Dylan Richardson were outstanding for the Sharks.

The second half promised so much but true rugby fans will have hated the mismatch it became. On the bright side, the Sharks showed in the first half that the dominance of the Lions and the shackles they impose can be broken.

Scorers

Sharks – Tries: Anthony Volmink (2), Thaakir Abrahams, Jaden Hendrikse, Werner Kok. Conversions: Lionel Cronje (3).

British & Irish Lions – Tries: Chris Harris, Jamie George (2), Duhan van der Merwe, Tadhg Beirne (2), Jack Conan, Elliot Daly, Anthony Watson (2), Tom Curry. Conversions: Dan Biggar (8).

There are still six weeks of action remaining in the Indian Premier League, but notwithstanding the weak performances of the Proteas T20 side, there were some strong showings by South Africans in the first week of the biggest tournament in cricket, highlighted by David Miller and Chris Morris combining to steer the Rajasthan Royals to a thrilling win over the Delhi Capitals.

AB de Villiers had not played a competitive game of cricket since the previous IPL finished in November, but he opened his 2021 campaign with a matchwinning 48 off 27 balls for the Bangalore Royal Challengers in their thrilling win over the defending champion Mumbai Indians. In their next game, he was still trying to work out the wizardry of leg-spinner Rashid Khan when he was dismissed for just a single.

Chris Morris has had a frustrating start to the IPL in terms of his fast bowling, having figures of two for 41 in four and one for 27 in three overs, but he vanquished all those negativities as he roared to 36 not out off just 18 balls to win a thriller for the Rajasthan Royals against the Delhi Capitals.

David Miller missed the Rajasthan Royals’ loss to the Sikhs from the Punjab Kings in their opening game, but played hide-and-seek with the Delhi Capitals’ bowlers, hammering 62 off just 43 deliveries as he led the recovery that was finished by Morris after coming in at 17 for three.

Marco Jansen has been thrust into the limelight at the IPL from the outset by the champion Mumbai Indians, but the 20-year-old has shown immense heart with the ball. His debut was impressive as he took two wickets in the 15^th over of the Bangalore innings, including that of Glenn Maxwell, finishing with fine figures of two for 28 in his four overs. He then bowled two overs for 17 runs against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Unfortunately he has made ducks in both his visits to the crease.

Kagiso Rabada played in that thrilling Rajasthan Royals’ loss to the Delhi Capitals and was the bowler of that penultimate over that cost 15 runs as Chris Morris hit him for two sixes. Rabada had been excellent with the ball before that, taking two for 15 in three overs. He also scored nine not out off four balls with the bat.

Quinton de Kock missed the first game and then scored just two off six balls, but he can still console himself with the fact that his Mumbai Indians team can still defend a low total like 152 as they beat Kolkata by 10 runs.

Faf du Plessis never got going in his opening IPL match, being dismissed for a three-ball duck as the Chennai Super Kings lost by seven wickets to the Delhi Capitals.

Lungi Ngidi and Imran Tahir have not yet played a game, while Anrich Nortje’s participation with the Delhi Capitals was delayed by a false positive Covid test.

The Bulls have obviously done plenty of work honing their bodies in the gym and on their skills, but for Victor Matfield, one of their great former players, it was their heart that stood out as they clinched the Currie Cup final with a thrilling comeback and an extra-time try.

Matfield was a driving force behind the last great era of Bulls rugby when they won three SuperRugby and five Currie Cup titles between 2002 and 2010, and he sees a similar sort of belief building in this current Bulls side.

“It was a great final and the Bulls had to adjust to a lot – coming off the field for lightning, having to play extra time … They showed a lot of character because they were deep in trouble. In normal time they managed to defend that lineout right at the end on their line and get the turnover, and then in extra time they really took control.

“But they have shown that character before – that victory over Western Province at Newlands with 14 men, and again in the semi-final when the momentum had gone completely the Lions’ way after they scored two tries. Again this weekend they kept calm and went back to what works for them, they started to maul the Sharks,” Matfield told The Citizen on Monday.

It seems likely that there will be several more tightly-contested clashes between the Bulls and Sharks in the near future as well, what with MVM Holdings now investing millions in the Durban franchise and the Bulls also having healthy financial resources as well as a wealth of young talent.

“They are the two best sides at the moment, the Sharks were at the top of the Super Rugby competition before the Covid break and the Bulls did really well all through Super Rugby Unlocked and the Currie Cup. And the Bulls have a lot of great youngsters, they are the U19 and U21 champions as well so there is a lot of talent coming through.

“But you can’t take away from the influence of experienced guys like Duane Vermeulen, Trevor Nyakane and Morne Steyn. We don’t know how much longer Morne and Duane are going to play for, so the Bulls will need to replace them. The guys in like the middle stages of their careers will need to step up and become Springboks. Hopefully a few of them who did well in the Currie Cup will get that opportunity soon,” Matfield said.

As the Currie Cup approaches what will hopefully be a thrilling end, there have been some apocalyptic comments about the poor quality of the rugby and how South Africa are allegedly once again miles behind the rest of the world.

People going on about the end of the world being nigh should generally be treated with some scepticism and it was good to hear Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus provide some much-needed perspective this week. In case anyone has forgotten, our Currie Cup teams are trying to play rugby in the middle of a global pandemic.

Obviously the major focus is to ensure nobody contracts the virus, which means there is regular testing being done on the players. Covid tests are not particularly pleasant, but the effects of this pandemic do not end there.

While Covid has disrupted the lifestyles of so many, it has had a terrible effect on the structured preparation rugby players have become used to in the professional era. According to Erasmus, rugby teams normally spend 280-300 minutes training together in the week before a game. But due to Covid protocols, that figure has now dropped to less than half of that.

That’s because after a match on a Saturday, teams can only do their Covid tests on Tuesday morning, because 48 hours have to pass before testing, otherwise contact tracing would have to be done in terms of who had too much physical contact during the last match. That means teams cannot train on a Monday in case anyone is positive and spreads the virus through the squad.

The results are only returned on the Tuesday night, which means all the scrum, maul and breakdown work has to be done on the Wednesday. A team could train on the Thursday, but that’s two days before the game and coaches and conditioning experts often are a bit wary of doing that so close to a match.

Captain’s runs on a Friday are now also mostly a thing of the past. When one adds in the effect of teams only being selected in the second half of the week, and the absence of coaches and players from week-to-week due to positive tests, it is clear there has been an awfully disruptive effect on the preparations of teams.

Players who do test positive return to action via a detailed nine-day quarantine period and then, once they return a negative test, a return-to-play protocol that measures the effect of the virus on the body through tests on the heart, lungs and other vital organs. It works out to be about 16 days – the equivalent of two matches – away from the game.

And even players or coaches who test negative, but are deemed to be close contacts of someone who has the virus, have to quarantine for 10 days.

These players and coaches, who have all taken pay cuts as well, are at the vanguard of keeping the South African game afloat in far from ideal circumstances. They deserve our thanks and appreciation, not our opprobrium.

With competing in Europe on the horizon, it really is a brave new world in so many ways for our rugby players. They will need our support.

They are taking the hits on and off the field, it’s midsummer when they have never been playing before, and the good thing one can say about the Currie Cup this year is that it’s still as uncompromising as ever.

Saturday’s matches between the Bulls and Lions at Loftus Versfeld, and Western Province and the Sharks at Newlands, might not be thrilling in terms of dazzling running rugby, but for sheer intensity alone they will hopefully be enthralling to watch.