Ken Borland

DURBAN, KwaZulu-Natal  – Brazilian Adilson da Silva has been dogged lately by an inconsistent putter and a struggle to maintain focus on the course, but he put it all together in fine style on Thursday as he claimed a share of the lead after the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series event at Mount Edgecombe Country Club Estate.

Da Silva opened the third leg of this season’s Vodacom Origins of Golf Series with a polished four-under-par 66, sharing the lead with Dundee Golf Club’s Louis Albertse.

The 49-year-old Da Silva started at the 10^th on Mount Edgecombe’s The Woods course and moved to two-under with back-to-back birdies on the par-three 12^th and par-four 13^th.

There was a bit of a wobble though when he bogeyed the 18^th and second holes, sandwiching a birdie on the par-four first, but Da Silva said his efforts to stay mentally focused have started paying off as he picked up three more birdies, returning to the clubhouse in 32 strokes.

Playing in the wet, it was easy to get frustrated and allow a promising round to fritter away, but the experienced Da Silva regrouped brilliantly.

“With all the breaks between tournaments due to Covid, I was really struggling to concentrate on the course, but playing events now every couple of weeks has helped a lot. I’ve pushed myself to focus my mind on the target and not worry so much about my swing. Otherwise it’s a strange feeling of not really being there. So I’m trying to visualise, put more emphasis on the shot, keep my mind focused on the present.

“I missed a couple of putts and then made silly bogeys on 18 and two, you’re getting wet and it’s easy to get frustrated. But I just told myself to hang in there, I hit most of the fairways and greens after that and made some key putts.

“My putting has been on and off lately, which is so frustrating when you’re hitting the ball well but you feel like you’re not playing well because you can’t make a score. But today was better – 28 putts and I can feel something building,” Da Silva said.

The 13-time Sunshine Tour winner also shared the lead after the first round of his previous event, the Sunshine Tour Invitational at Centurion Country Club two weeks ago, before finishing in a tie for 12^th after closing with a pair of 71s. This time, with his putter playing along, Da Silva is hoping to maintain his first-round momentum. But he warns “You can’t just run after it here, this is a course that gives you nothing.”

Chasing Da Silva and Albertse, who coincidentally also finished in a tie for 12^th at Centurion, are Siyanda Mwandla and Riekus Nortje, who shot 67s on Thursday.

Eleven golfers are two shots back on two-under-par, including Alex Haindl, winner of the second leg of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series at Sishen at the end of last month, Ockie Strydom, Lyle Rowe, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Anton Haig.

Lukhanyo Am and Damian de Allende are like an old married couple fitting in so seamlessly with each other in the Springbok midfield that it’s easy to forget that they have only started 15 Tests together as a combination.

“South Africa is blessed to have had great centres and we now have to take over that responsibility. I feel like we’re doing a good job, but we’re always striving to get better. I’ve been playing with Doogz for just over two years now and we feed off each other. We’re getting experience together and learning all the time. We always want to keep on our toes,” the laconic Am said this week.

Barring the absence of the injured Cheslin Kolbe, South Africa will field their World Cup winning backline in their Rugby Championship Test against Australia on the Gold Coast on Sunday. An inexperienced Wallabies backline has lacked composure, making poor decisions, in their recent games against the All Blacks.

They have a 21-year-old flyhalf in Noah Lolesio, although stalwart utility back James O’Connor could make his return from long-term injury off the bench. Reece Hodge is tipped to come in at fullback and earn his 50^th cap, while another older player, Samu Kerevi, has been impressive at inside centre.

But their other centre options ae 22-year-old Len Ikitau, who only made his Test debut this year, and Hunter Paisami, a 23-year-old who has only played a handful of Tests.

This Springbok generation is certainly in touch with their female side when it comes to nurturing young players and Am, who made his Test debut in 2017, said team environment makes the difference in the tough world of international rugby.

“As a new player, it’s definitely a huge step-up compared to domestic or franchise rugby. So it’s really nice to come into a group with a lot of experience, it makes your job easier, having to go from training camps into Test matches. Helping the new guys is one of the shared responsibilities of this group.

“The Wallabies have got a balanced backline though, with experience and a couple of new guys. But inexperience means nothing, you can never underestimate the rookies or try and use that against them. Australia are currently playing very good rugby and they’ve just been unfortunate not to get the results,” Am said.

Some observers may be wondering why the SA A team to take on the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on Wednesday night is basically a shadow Springbok Test side – and the reason is simple: every opportunity for the national team to play together is like gold at the moment.

The Springboks have only played the one Test against Georgia in the 20 months since winning the 219 World Cup and even that game only really shook off the rust. The world champions are still a long way off the tight, clinical unit that triumphed in Japan.

With the second Test against Georgia cancelled, the SA A match is the last opportunity to warm up before the first Test against the Lions on July 24, which is why director of rugby Rassie Erasmus named a team with a dozen players who featured in the World Cup final. Of the SA A side. The vast majority of the 23-man squad is expected to line up for the first Test against the tourists.

“We are working towards the first Test, the guys need playing opportunities, they need to get game-time. We have been struggling for that opportunity. The biggest goal is always that first Test and we need the World Cup guys to get good minutes under their belt, especially guys like Lukhanyo Am and Faf de Klerk, who did not play against Georgia.

“We are not where we were at the 2019 World Cup final and we will appreciate any opportunity for any practice game, I see there have even been rumours over us playing against the Bulls on Saturday. It’s no longer about what we have done in the past, it’s time now to write a new script and we couldn’t ask for a better team to do it against than the Lions,” assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said on Tuesday.

While the Springboks have been making sure they train with Test match intensity, it’s the match fitness – the big collisions against opponents who really want to smash you rather than your team-mates; the collisions that cause the bruises that these players wear with honour like the finest jewellery – that needs to be sharpened.

“We will see how we are placed on the physical side tomorrow,” captain Am said on Tuesday afternoon.

Test rugby is always a high-stakes endeavour, but the series against the British and Irish Lions is going to be as tightly wound as the bobbins on the machines that used to stitch together the four panels that comprised a rugby ball, which is why the Springboks will be relying on the tried and tested experience within their squad, according to backline coach Mzwandile Stick.

The Lions’ last two Tests were a 15-15 draw and a three-point win over the All Blacks in 2017, and South Africa won the 2009 series through a five-point win in Durban and then the 28-25 thriller in Pretoria. So while there is much excitement over the likes of Aphelele Fassi, Damian Willemse, Rosko Specman, Yaw Penxe or Sanele Nohamba pulling on the Green and Gold next month, Stick preached caution on Thursday.

“There’s going to be massive pressure and we have to make sure we build the confidence of the youngsters. We can’t just throw Aphelele, Rosko and Yaw in together. We’ve still got a guy like Willie le Roux, who has massive experience and understands what it takes at Test level. We want Aphelele to feed off Willie and not wait until he retires to be able to learn that stuff.

“The new guys are all asking good questions, interacting and training with the experienced guys, and seeing what stuff they do off the field to prepare as well. If Willie can help Aphelele now, then it means he won’t take seven years to learn those things. We really want to build our depth and start from scratch at scrumhalf when someone like Faf de Klerk decides to move on,” Stick said.

The curse of the Covid pandemic, and South Africa’s hard lockdown, means the Springbok management has also had to focus strictly on the conditioning of the locally-based players in order to make sure they will be up to the intensity of Test rugby when they step on to the field at the Cape Town Stadium on July 24.

“As coaches we were never lectured in a pandemic and I think the last one was in 1918! But it’s been a tough challenge for the players as well and we had to improve our ball-in-play time. We know at Test level that it’s close to 38-40 minutes, but in our Currie Cup we were averaging 26 minutes. So we needed to control the stoppages and what happens off the ball.

“Fortunately the standard has really improved, skills-wise too. We know the last time we played together was in the World Cup final in 2019, but the last time the Lions played together was in 2017, so both teams are in the same situation. Luckily our overseas players have had tough, physical competition week in and week out. And no-one is interested in excuses anymore,” Stick said.