Ken Borland

South Africa’s Rugby World Cup victory over Samoa brought relief but soon there was a tear in the eye as the news filtered through that they had lost their captain, Jean de Villiers, one of the great Springboks, for the rest of the tournament. The man with 109 Test caps, 37 of them as skipper, announced his retirement the next day.

De Villiers had, of course, been the centre (pardon the pun) of intense speculation over whether he deserved his place in the team after a run of injuries and a distinct lack of sharpness in the awful loss to Japan. The 34-year-old was shifted to outside centre for the match against Samoa, with Damian de Allende making a massive impact with his hard, direct running over the gain-line and into space in the number 12 jersey.

While De Allende was the man who made the most difference to the Springbok backline, it was heartening that De Villiers was at least able to go out on a high, leading the Springboks to an impressive win and playing well himself.

The Springboks also gained a considerable amount by having Willie le Roux at fullback – he was able to be a second “general” at first-receiver, taking some of the load off young Handre Pollard, while his ability to read space made his intrusions into the backline in wider positions a consistent threat.

Fourie du Preez also provided a top-class service from scrumhalf – one can scarcely recall a single pass going astray – and the veteran 2007 World Cup winner is not only a brilliant reader of the game but also a fantastic enabler in terms of allowing the team to change their tempo.

But where the turnaround for the Springboks came was up front. I said before the match that grunt and physicality up front would be needed against the big, mean and physical Samoans, who carry the ball with an intent not matched by many, and the Springboks really needed all hands on deck at the gain-line, rather than forwards standing out in the backline.

My wife is no connoisseur of the dark arts of forward play and the tight exchanges, but even she noticed how the Springbok pack “really seemed to be playing” against Samoa.

It was most heartening that the first Springbok to step up and lead the way was Victor Matfield, who was a standout figure in the opening exchanges, leading from the front with the sort of talismanic performance coach Heyneke Meyer was no doubt hoping for.

The Springboks showed that they can use the ball on attack as well as anybody, providing their forwards have laid the platform first; they need to earn the right to throw the ball around and there is no shame (and an awful lot of good sense) in playing to your own strengths instead of trying to copy the All Blacks.

The good news for South Africa is that the damage of the Japan loss has almost been undone with the Springboks sitting on seven log-points, thanks to bonus points, only one shy of where they would have wanted to have been heading into this weekend’s game against Scotland.

The campaign is back on an even keel and the relief and joy in the Springbok camp after the Samoa game was obvious. But the level of performance now needs to be raised another notch against Scotland; the consistency of this Springbok team has been a concern throughout the four years of Meyer’s tenure and hopefully, with the pressure now having eased, they don’t slump back into bad habits.

Cheetahs coach Naka Drotske said this week that his team will attack the Hurricanes through the scrum and rolling maul, but it is the home side’s defence that will be the critical factor when the two teams meet in their Vodacom SuperRugby match in Bloemfontein on Friday night.

The Cheetahs – who at the start of the season were considered to be the only other real candidates alongside the Southern Kings for the promotion/relegation match – have a real chance of winning the South African Conference with four home games, visits to Port Elizabeth and Cape Town and a bye remaining in their regular season.

And it is because their defence has been so much better this year that they still have a say in the title race, conceding just 19 tries in 10 matches, which is second-best among the South African teams, equal with the Sharks.

Dominating the scrums and pushing the Hurricanes back with rolling mauls, even winning the territorial kicking battle, won’t win the Cheetahs the match. It is their defence and how well they frustrate the visitors, how many mistakes they can force them into, which will decide the outcome.

Although Drotske also said this week that the Hurricanes won’t try and run the ball from their own 22 like they did last weekend with disastrous consequences against the Bulls, they are a team that loves to attack with ball in hand and, if the only opportunities they get come from ball deep inside their own half, then they are bound to try it again.

That’s how the Bulls came away with the loot last weekend: forcing the Hurricanes into playing their game from bad positions and ensuring their offensive defence exposed them to turnover tries and penalties.

The Bulls have a bye this weekend and it is important for the Cheetahs to win and keep in touch with the Conference leaders.

For the Stormers, on the other hand, victory in Sydney against the Waratahs is imperative because they are already eight points behind the Bulls, who get four more points from the Sanzar wise men for doing nothing this weekend.

The Stormers have been under pressure the whole season and the cracks are showing. The Sanzar disciplinary council is investigating alleged abuse of officials by their sideline management during their win over the Hurricanes in Wellington on 26 April and last weekend they dominated almost all facets against the Blues, but still ended up on the losing side.

The Waratahs, with their pack of eight Wallabies and lethal attackers out wide in Israel Folau, Peter Betham and Adam Ashley-Cooper, have the resources to punish the Stormers for any mistakes.

A lot of those mistakes – poor tactical kicking, a lack of vision on attack and bad discipline at the rucks were all in evidence in Auckland last weekend – are caused by pressure.

The Stormers will have to be at their best, 100% focused and efficient in their execution, if they are to beat the Waratahs.

Jean de Villiers’s team can also do with the New South Welshmen suffering from some travel fatigue after flying back from South Africa this week.

The same pressure is on the Sharks, with the additional burden of a terrible injury list, as they face the Reds in Brisbane, and those same mistakes have been evident as an unfocused team has sunk to four straight defeats.

The Sharks have only won eight out of 29 matches in Australia, but those stats don’t reveal that they beat the Reds in Brisbane in last year’s playoffs, against great odds, and hammered them 59-16 there in 2007.

In tough times, rugby teams tend to look inward and play for each other, and Sharks coach John Plumtree is hoping that’s exactly what will happen as last year’s finalists battle to stay alive in the competition.

“We want to take the pressure off, play for each other, play for the jersey, that’s important. We’re in a different set of circumstances with the team because of the fact that we have so many guys out, we just have to put our heads together. We’ve sent four-to-five guys home and we are only halfway through the tour. We’ve had to change personnel, we’ve had to play players out of position and that is not great,” Plumtree said.

Springbok wing JP Pietersen is one of those players out of position as he shifts into midfield to replace Francois Steyn, who is out for the rest of the campaign, while Jean Deysel is back in the loose trio. Former Lions captain JC Janse van Rensburg makes his first start in the front row.

On paper, the Sharks certainly have enough power in their pack – with the added boost of Willem Alberts coming off the bench – and enough skill all round to beat the Reds, who will be without their indisposed captain and lock, the inspirational James Horwill. But what really matters is what frame of mind the Sharks are in after all their travails.

The Southern Kings are playing host to overseas visitors again on Saturday and will hopefully not be as gracious as they were last weekend to the Waratahs. The Australians had just come from Tshwane with their tails between their legs after a 30-19 loss to the Bulls, but the Kings opened their defensive lines and allowed them to help themselves to 11 tries in a morale-boosting 72-10 win.

The Highlanders visit this weekend and they have already been boosted by their victory over the Sharks in Dunedin last weekend, their first of the season. And they boast way more quality in their side than their recent record suggests.

Saturday’s match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is the Kings’ last before the bye and, having looked in a state of near-exhaustion last weekend, they will need one final big push to ensure they don’t get humiliated again.

One of the men who has really given them steel and purpose this season, loose forward Jacques Engelbrecht, is out injured and lightning-fast wing Sergeal Petersen is away with the SA U20 team preparing for the Junior World Championship.

Luke Watson returns as starting flank and captain, and a tired team, after 10 straight matches, could really do with some inspiration from him.

The Highlanders are now just one point behind the Kings on the log and Saturday’s encounter could decide the wooden spoon, which the Eastern Cape team have done heck of a well to avoid up till now.

But if they err in defence like they did last weekend, then the Highlanders have the players to cut them to shreds in Aaron and Ben Smith, Hosea Gear, Tamati Ellison and Colin Slade.

It will be the likes of All Blacks Mose Tuiali’i, Brad Thorn, Andrew Hore and Tony Woodcock who will lay the platform up front for the visitors.

Teams

The Sharks (v Reds, Friday 11:40): Riaan Viljoen, Piet Lindeque, JP Pietersen, Meyer Bosman, Lwazi Mvovo, Pat Lambie, Charl McLeod, Keegan Daniel, Jean Deysel, Marcell Coetzee, Franco van der Merwe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Wiehahn Herbst, Kyle Cooper, JC Janse van Rensburg. Replacements: Monde Hadebe, Jannie du Plessis, Anton Bresler, Derick Minnie, Willem Alberts, Tian Meyer, Odwa Ndungane.

Cheetahs (v Hurricanes, Friday 19:10): Hennie Daniller, Willie le Roux, Johann Sadie, Robert Ebersohn, Raymond Rhule, Burton Francis, Piet van Zyl, Phillip van der Walt, Frans Viljoen, Heinrich Brüssow, Francois Uys, Lood de Jager, Lourens Adriaanse, Adriaan Strauss, Coenie Oosthuizen. Replacements: Ryno Barnes, Trevor Nyakane, Ligtoring Landman, Boom Prinsloo, Sarel Pretorius, Elgar Watts, Ryno Benjamin.

Stormers (v Waratahs, Saturday, 11:40): Joe Pietersen, Gio Aplon, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Gary van Aswegen, Dewaldt Duvenage, Duane Vermeulen, Rynhardt Elstadt, Siya Kolisi, Andries Bekker, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Deon Fourie, Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: Scarra Ntubeni, Pat Cilliers, Don Armand, Nizaam Carr, Louis Schreuder, Elton Jantjies, Gerhard van den Heever.

Southern Kings (v Highlanders, Saturday 17:05): George Whitehead, Marcello Sampson, Ronnie Cooke, Andries Strauss, Siyanda Grey, Demetri Catrakilis, Shaun Venter, Cornell du Preez, Luke Watson, Wimpie van der Walt, David Bulbring, Steven Sykes, Kevin Buys, Bandise Maku, Schalk Ferreira. Replacements: Virgile Lacombe, Grant Kemp, Daniel Adongo, Devin Oosthuizen, Nicolas Vergallo, Shane Gates, SP Marais.

Other fixtures: Chiefs v Force (Friday 9:35); Blues v Rebels (Saturday, 11:40).

Byes: Bulls, Crusaders, Brumbies.

http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-05-09-superrugby-preview-defence-and-patience-key-for-the-cheetahs/#.VdsFKPmqqko

New Springbok captain Schalk Burger is not the sort of leader who will tell his team to run through brick walls; instead, he will run through first and lead the way for his charges.

Burger, who was named as South Africa’s 55th Test captain on Tuesday for the Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park against New Zealand on Saturday, is the epitome of “leading from the front” and one could tell it was a special moment too for Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer when he announced the appointment of the 32-year-old.

“A Springbok captain needs to lead from the front and Schalk’s play speaks for itself. He’s not a big talker but he brings calmness and experience and I’m 100% certain I’ve made the right decision by appointing Schalk. He’s a warrior and a born leader and it just shows that one should never give up on your dreams; he’s an inspiration for the team, for the country and for me,” Meyer said.

Burger himself said he would not be doing too much speaking ahead of the clash against the old foe.

“I’m not going to talk too much, leading from the front is just the way I play. Obviously there’ll be a lot of emotion involved, playing in front of a full house at Ellis Park in one of the games you dream of playing in. I don’t think it will affect my game because, whether I’m captain or not, I have a leadership role in the team. And there’ll be a big group of leaders around me as well on Saturday,” Burger said.

It is actually a surprise that one of the legends of Springbok rugby, someone who has been wearing the Green and Gold since 2003, hasn’t captained the team before, but it is entirely fitting that Burger gets the honour in a match against the All Blacks, the arch-rivals and with whom there is much mutual respect.

“I don’t think the challenge can get any bigger. As a youngster, everything revolves around you playing against the All Blacks, in the wet Cape Town winter, it was always a Test against New Zealand that you were playing. It’s going to be a big responsibility, but I won’t be leading alone, there are other senior players around me. But it’s a big honour which I thought was neusie verby [an opportunity no longer available] for me,” Burger said.

As for Saturday’s Test, Burger said there was much to learn from the Springboks’ last-minute loss last weekend to Australia as well as their 79th-minute win over the All Blacks in the corresponding match at Ellis Park last year.

“You have to play at a high level for 80 minutes against the All Blacks, you have to keep playing. Last week we didn’t consciously take our feet off the pedal, it was just that we couldn’t get any field position in the last 20 minutes. We weren’t as accurate as we wanted to be in that final quarter,” the stand-in captain for Victor Matfield said.

But Burger has seen many disappointments during his career and there are not many players who are better than him at bouncing back from adversity.

There are not many current international players who finished a Test with a broken neck and have returned to the highest level as good a player if not better.

Laureus awards are highly sought-after in the world of sport and Burger richly deserved his for Comeback of the Year having recovered from a life-threatening bout of bacterial meningitis in 2013. He made his return to the Springboks last season after a three-year absence and now he is finally going to lead them out on to the field.

“Obviously when I was that ill, I was just begging to play one more Test. It probably sounds like a fairytale,” Burger said.

As last week’s bitter defeat in Brisbane showed, experienced players and leaders are vital for a successful World Cup campaign and Meyer’s planning has revolved around that.

“I was thinking what if Jean de Villiers can’t make it to the World Cup and then Victor gets injured, so I wanted to give someone a go because I don’t want to appoint a new captain at the World Cup.

“Games in the World Cup will go down to the wire and you have to go to that tournament with experience. The pressure showed in the SuperRugby playoff the Stormers lost and for us in Brisbane in the last 20 minutes.

“I never thought I’d be in this position in a World Cup year, having to use new players and there could be one or two more new caps this week. I always said I wanted everyone to have 30 Tests going into the World Cup, like Eben Etzebeth and Marcell Coetzee do. Having players with 50-60 Tests makes a huge difference and I would love to have that,” Meyer said.

As the coach said, the Springbok captain also needs to be a role-model off the field and in Burger he has one of the most popular and respected people in rugby. Whatever the result on Saturday, there’s no doubt the team would have run through walls for the veteran loose-forward.

The S3 Sabie River Road between the Paul Kruger and Phabeni Gates of Kruger National Park takes you through some dense woodland alongside the acacia thickets and grassveld that characterise the south-central parts of the reserve, and is ideal habitat for the Gabar Goshawk, a typical small raptor of the well-treed regions.

Although the road is along the river, there aren’t too many vantage points to look at the water, but there is nevertheless plenty of life to be seen thanks to the gallery forest that fringes the Sabie.

Apart from the Gabar Goshawk hunting from a perch within the trees, other raptors seen on a grey, rainy morning were Whitebacked Vulture and Gymnogene, while the proximity to the water and ample food meant Elephant, Impala, Bushbuck, Giraffe, Warthog and Waterbuck were common along the gently ascending road.

The Bearded Robin is generally uncommon in Kruger Park, but the Sabie River is one of the best places to see it, hopping around in the undergrowth.

Typical woodland birds like the Emeraldspotted Wood Dove, Arrowmarked Babbler, Southern Black Tit, Scimitarbill and African Hoopoe are easily seen, while Whitefaced Duck were spotted flying above the river.

The other side of the Sabie River is less untouched wilderness and more human development, which does at least provide better access to the river, allowing Hippopotamus, Water Dikkop, Blacksmith Plover, African Pied Wagtail, Greenbacked Heron and Pied Kingfisher to be viewed.

The woodlands around the Sabie River are also great for Brownhooded Kingfisher and Blackbacked Puffback.

Sightings list

Hippopotamus

Little Swift

Water Dikkop

Blacksmith Plover

Glossy Starling

Emeraldspotted Wood Dove

Helmeted Guineafowl

Rattling Cisticola

Elephant

Forktailed Drongo

Impala

Arrowmarked Babbler

Blackeyed Bulbul

Southern Black Tit

Bushbuck

Giraffe

Cape Turtle Dove

Scimitarbill

African Hoopoe

Goldenbreasted Bunting

Grey Heron

Warthog

Gabar Goshawk

Whitebacked Vulture

Gymnogene

Waterbuck

Whitefaced Duck

Bearded Robin

African Pied Wagtail

Greenbacked Heron

Hadeda Ibis

Pied Kingfisher

Brownhooded Kingfisher

Blackbacked Puffback