Ken Borland

Munster coach Graham Rowntree hailed a top-class performance and a plan coming together as the defending champions moved into the top three of the United Rugby Championship standings with a tenacious 27-22 win over the Bulls in Pretoria.

The bonus point win saw Munster leapfrog the Bulls, deserved reward for beating the South African powerhouses at their home fortress of Loftus Versfeld, where they had previously not been beaten this season in the URC.

A beautifully-controlled first half saw Munster lead 17-10, but the Bulls mounted a strong comeback in the third quarter to take a 22-17 lead. But a red card for a head-on-head tackle by flyhalf Johan Goosen in the 54^th minute was a big turning point against the home side.

A pair of tries in the 58^th and 74^th minutes sealed a hard-fought win for Munster and the 53-year-old Rowntree was a delighted coach afterwards.

“The composure was special today, we had a good plan at altitude and stuck to it. We were in a good place at halftime but not so good in the third quarter. But we are used to these end-of-season pressure games, we have learnt to deal with adversity and move on quickly, and we had a great bench today.

“We had to stick to the plan with great skill, there was no panic. We had to kick very smartly, go away from the way we’ve been doing things for the last two years, when we have generally tried to keep the ball on the field.

“There are still elements of our game that need to be better, but this was an incredible performance against a team we really respect. They have power and pace and can really rip teams apart and we needed to be so much better at the start of the second half. But we believe in our defence, it’s one of the best in the league. It’s got to be against such a powerful team,” Rowntree said.

While Bulls coach Jake White said Goosen’s red card was a 50/50 decision that could have been deemed a ‘rugby incident’, Rowntree said it was an obvious call.

“I thought it was quite clear and easy. There was no mitigation and I was happy with the process. We make sure that we keep our tackles low, we practise that late drop into the tackle,” the former England prop said.

Wing Shane Daly, the scorer of the opening try, said Munster were a team with belief.

“We believe in ourselves, we play against the big teams and we get the results. That’s the big thing about this team,” Daly said.

Munster will next take on the Lions, who slayed top-of-the-log Leinster on the weekend, at Ellis Park.

EDENVALE, Gauteng – Norway’s Maiken Bing Paulsen produced a second consecutive top-class round of golf, including a pair of chip-ins for eagle, on Thursday as she gave herself a handy two-shot lead going into the final round of the Jabra Ladies Classic at Glendower Golf Club.

Paulsen shot a four-under-par 68 in the second round on Thursday to climb to 10-under-par for the tournament, doing extremely well to back up her 66 on the first day on a day when the scoring was higher and no-one managed to shoot lower than her.

South Africa’s Cara Gorlei also fired a 68 on Thursday and lies second on eight-under-par, while Elena Hualde (Spain) and the Swedish duo of Lisa Pettersson and Moa Folke were also four-under for the second round and shared third place with England’s Gabriella Cowley (71) on six-under-par.

The 27-year-old Paulsen was level-par through the first seven holes, but then chipped in for eagle on the par-five eighth. She dropped her second shot on the par-four 11^th, but Paulsen caught fire in the middle of the back nine as she birdied the 13^th, chipped in again for eagle on the 15^th and birdied the 16^th.

Unfortunately she bogeyed the par-three 17^th, but Paulsen was still understandably delighted with her round.

“It was a good day even though my putting didn’t get the ball in the hole as much as the first day. But I had three chip-ins, for both of my eagles and to birdie the fourth, and I was really steady off the tee,” she said.

A small struggle with her iron play was the only worry for Paulsen, but she handled it with aplomb thanks to her excellent short game.

“My irons were a bit of a struggle, so hopefully I figure that out for the final round. I only gave myself a few good opportunities on the front nine and I almost lost my ball when I bogeyed the seventh. So it was an interesting front nine, but I just tried to keep going and stay positive.

“There were some interesting pins and because the course is still wet it was playing quite long. But there was a little less wind today, which was nice. I didn’t find a big difference in difficulty today, but then I was hitting the ball so well on to the fairways, I am quite long off the tee, so that advantage meant maybe I didn’t notice.

“I’ve been trying to work on my swing and I’ve changed a lot, so that’s why my irons are still a bit flaky. Mistakes will happen in this transition period, but in the final round I’m just going to keep doing what I do. It’s the boring answer, but I just want to give myself chances, be in the fairways, try and make sure my irons are decent and hopefully the putts go in and it’s a happy day,” Paulsen said.

It was also a happy day for Gorlei, who scorched through the back nine in four-under 32.

Russia’s Nina Pegova, who shared the first-round lead with Paulsen, started her second round on the back nine and reached the turn in one-under, but then had a nightmare start to the front nine as she bogeyed the second and double-bogeyed the fourth hole. She finished with a 73 to drop back to five-under-par, sharing seventh place with South Africa’s Stacy Bregman, who was also part of the impressive 68-Club.

A “powerhouse” DP World Lions men’s team are determined to claim a second trophy this season as they start their CSA T20 Challenge campaign against the GBets Rocks in Johannesburg on Friday night, and they will be fielding a top-class outfit.

The #PrideOfJozi boast a couple of players named in the Betway SA20 Team of the Tournament in Ryan Rickelton and Wiaan Mulder, there is a thrilling prospect of Kagiso Rabada and his protégé Kwena Maphaka sharing the new ball, and a wonderful batting line-up with other Proteas stars in Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma.

Apart from Rickelton and Mulder blazing a trail in the SA20, the DP World Lions are guided by a coach in Russell Domingo who has played a key role in the Sunrisers Eastern Cape winning back-to-back titles as their batting coach. The experienced Domingo will know exactly how to play winning T20 cricket in South Africa.

Rickelton, who was the leading run-scorer in the SA20 with 530 runs at an average of 58.89 and a strike-rate of 173.77, is setting a confident tone right up front.

“We will have a full squad, barring KG when he goes to the IPL, so we have a powerhouse team, obviously we’re going to put our names up for the overall win. We would be upset if we don’t get that far and we’re really looking forward to it after winning the four-day title, which was a big incentive for us because we haven’t won that in a while,” Rickelton said.

“While the tournament was obviously a major let-down for us at MI Cape Town, I have clarity about my batting. Coach Robbie [Peterson] was quite decisive about what he wanted us to do and we really strived to win the powerplay. So I had to execute my role as well as I can with Rassie, because of the power we had to come behind.

“The opportunity was there to really take the game on there up front, to really maximise the powerplay. I had the freedom to fail and I just tried to keep it simple, while training specifics. Now I want to make sure I make an impact for the Lions, that is hugely important for me,” Rickelton said.

All-rounder Mulder earned a spot in the SA20 Team of the Tournament mostly for his batting, where he averaged a healthy 37.13 and scored at a dynamic 157.14, continuing what has been a top-class summer with the bat. Mulder shone as a finisher, but also as a safeguard who could come in during the powerplay and lay a platform for the spectacular hitting of Heinrich Klaasen.

Mulder said he went into the competition with confidence, thanks to, again, the freedom given him by the DP World Lions coaches, and a clear job description from Durban Super Giants coach Lance Klusener.

“Russell Domingo and Hashim Amla have been incredible for my game, they have really motivated me and allowed me to just go and play, to break the shackles. Because of them I took a lot of confidence into the SA20.

“I discovered a couple of new things about my game during the tournament. I worked really hard on playing spin and finishing, which is a part of the game Mark Boucher told me he didn’t think I had when he was Proteas coach. I spent quite a lot of time working with Heinrich and Dwaine Pretorius, but I’m never going to be that type of batter, having a perfect swing and getting carried away hitting sixes.

“But I can hit space and I can score different sorts of boundaries, I can still score 50 off 25 balls. Lance backs me quite a lot, my technique gave me the opportunity to bat in the top five and my role was to face quite a lot of balls and protect Heinrich. You can get some real jaffas in the powerplay, but you can play with a lot of freedom afterwards,” Mulder said.

With the players that the Lions have, playing at a fast-action venue like the DP World Wanderers Stadium, and with so many of them knowing exactly what to do to win T20 games, there is no reason why our Pride should not back themselves to bring home another trophy.

Aiden Markram said it was “all about finding a way” on a spicy Perth Stadium pitch as he and David Miller scored top-class half-centuries to take South Africa to victory by five wickets with two balls to spare in a thrilling T20 World Cup clash with India on Sunday.

India had chosen to bat first and struggled to 133/9 against a bombardment from a ferocious Proteas attack led by Lungi Ngidi (4-0-29-4) and Wayne Parnell (4-1-15-3). But India then swung the ball superbly up front to reduce South Africa to 24/3. Markram and Miller then battled to 40/3 after 10 overs, at which point they had to make a brave push for victory. They had to shift the momentum and then ran with it.

Markram attacked first, his 52 off 41 balls, swinging hard for six fours and a six, serving to loosen the grip of the Indian attack. Miller then completed the task with typical class and composure, scoring 59 not out off 46 balls.

“Conditions were incredibly tricky for batting, we expected the extra bounce, but the ball was also nipping around quite a bit,” Markram said. “In T20, you have to take risks and play a positive brand of cricket.

“But the ball gets big on you from just short of a good length and makes you look silly at times. I felt far from being in form, but it was about finding a way.

“It’s tough when there’s that extra bounce, but you need to make a play, you’ve got to take the short ball on or you won’t be scoring quickly enough. After 10 overs, we had to pick someone to target, who we felt most comfortable against in the conditions.

“We discussed it at the drinks break and we knew that if it comes off then it would give us a chance,” Markram said.

While batting was something of a daunting adventure on a pitch with so much pace and bounce, Markram also praised the bowlers for not getting carried away when conditions were so much in their favour.

“It was important for us to set the tone up front and Wayne Parnell has been doing that for us in a lot of games. He’s got the experience and the calmness because he knows his skillsets with the ball.

“In conditions like this, Lungi is also a massive weapon for us and he executed extremely well to get the early breakthroughs for us.

“It was important to hit the right hard lengths to extract that extra bounce. Both bowling attacks bowled very well and made it difficult to score.

“You can get carried away in terms of your lengths and then start giving freebies, but neither attack did that. They made life very difficult for the batsmen,” Markram said.