Ken Borland

DURBAN, KwaZulu-Natal – For the second day in a row, Louis Albertse found himself at the top of the Vodacom Origins of Golf Series leaderboard alongside Adilson da Silva as they go into the final round of the Mount Edgecombe event.

Albertse teed off in the afternoon on Friday and the 25-year-old from Dundee once again matched the veteran Brazilian all the way after Da Silva had come home in two-under 35 in the morning. The pair both shot one-under-par 69s in blustery conditions to go to five-under for the tournament, one stroke ahead of Ockie Strydom.

Although the rain that was an irritation on the first day had disappeared, there were gusty winds and rather fresh temperatures to contend with on Friday.

But Albertse, who is now in his fourth season on tour, felt at home, not only in the tricky weather but also being right in the mix at the top of the leaderboard.

“Conditions were not easy but I felt I handled them very well. In these conditions there are always going to be mistakes, but I’m happy that I’ve ended the day in a good position. There was no rain this afternoon, but the wind was definitely a factor. In my last six or seven holes it really picked up and it was a bit cold as well.

“At times the wind meant a difference of three or four clubs, and at this place when that happens then anything under par is good. I will approach the final round exactly the same, I’m playing nicely and there’s no need to change anything. Both my bogeys today were putting errors on the par-fives, which was really surprising because I’ve been putting well. I’ve played with Adilson before and he’s a really nice guy,” Albertse said.

With finishes of T10th, third (a career-best finish at the SunBet Time Square Challenge at Wingate Park), T42nd and T12th since the beginning of August, Albertse has risen to 21^st on the order of merit. He is certainly playing with more consistency now, which he puts down to the work he has done with strength and conditioning coach Jacques Swarts.

“I think my recent success is a factor of a lot of things coming right at a similar time. But with Jacques Swarts I’ve been working really hard in the gym for the last couple of years and since that I’ve become a lot more consistent because my body feels good throughout a tournament. It’s small things added together which have led to more consistency,” Albertse said.

Strydom, a winner of the Sishen Vodacom Origins of Golf Series leg in 2019, closed to within a shot of the leaders with his two-under-par 68 on Friday, which featured a double-bogey six on the 11^th hole and two other dropped shots, which were nullified by three birdies on each loop.

CJ du Plessis made a strong move into the tie for fourth on three-under-par with his 67, with experienced golfers Lyle Rowe, Anton Haig, Trevor Fisher Jnr and Hennie Otto lurking with intent on two-under-par with several other golfers.

Scores – https://sunshinetour.com/tournament-information/?tourn=VOWC&season=221S&report=tmentry~season=221S~alphaorder~#/profile

With flyhalf Curwin Bosch in sublime form, the Sharks produced an impressive 47-30 win over the Free State Cheetahs in their Currie Cup match in Bloemfontein on Saturday, going to the top of the log with the bonus point triumph.

Bosch was excellent with the boot, succeeding with nine of his 10 kicks at goal through five conversions and four penalties. He was also superb with ball in hand, sparking several of the counter-attacks that punished the Cheetahs when they kicked with a poor chase and also playing on the gainline with aplomb.

The Sharks made a horror start though. From the kickoff, the outstanding Rosko Specman’s brilliant chase led to a penalty. Although scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar missed the kick, the Sharks conceded a couple more penalties in the opening minutes and the Cheetahs finally punished them when Specman deservedly scored the first of his two tries, dotting down a Brandon Thomson grubber after a super run off a lineout by centre Siya Masuku.

It was a feisty match throughout and Pienaar then stupidly went around the side of a maul and slapped the ball out of hooker Kerron van Vuuren’s hands, earning him a yellow card. With the Free State captain off the field, the Sharks managed to get into the game.

Bosch produced two wonderful passes to firstly send impressive prop Nthuthuko Mchunu off on a storming run, and then eighthman Phepsi Buthelezi, centre Werner Kok scything over from the resulting ruck.

The Springbok flyhalf then sparked the counter-attack from a deep kick that led to the second try, on the half-hour, by scrumhalf Grant Williams, with the help of a powerful run by wing Marnus Potgieter.

The Sharks ended the first half with another wonderful counter-attacking try, wing Thaakir Abrahams this time taking a kick, evading the lone chaser and then slipping away from several other defenders, fullback Anthony Volmink completing the try to give the visitors a 24-11 lead at halftime.

Bosch added another penalty early in the second half to stretch the gap to 27-11, but the Cheetahs managed to partially dig themselves out of the hole with two tries in five minutes. Specman set up the first and then Masuku produced a brilliant run when his team were back-pedalling, leading to the second try.

The Sharks’ lead had been cut to 27-23, but Bosch quickly produced another moment of magic, dummying, slipping through a gap in the defensive line and getting his offload away in the tackle to Mchunu, who put in another great run for Williams to score his second.

Specman replied with a scintillating solo effort from 62 metres out, but the Sharks kept piling on the pressure, with Bosch kicking two more penalties and Van Vuuren scoring a lineout drive try.

Scorers

Free State Cheetahs – Tries: Rosko Specman (2), Brandon Thomson, Duncan Saal. Conversions: Ruan Pienaar, Reinhardt Fortuin. Penalties: Thomson, Pienaar.

Sharks – Tries: Werner Kok, Grant Williams (2), Anthony Volmink, Kerron van Vuuren. Conversions: Curwin Bosch (5). Penalties: Bosch (4).

Anrich Nortje is the rapidly improving fast bowler who won the Newcomer of the Year award last season for the Proteas, and now on Monday night he was crowned the overall Player of the Year. And the 27-year-old just wants to be the bowler who keeps hitting the top of off stump more than anyone else.

As well as being named the SA Men’s Cricketer of the Year,  Nortje took the titles of Test Cricketer of the Year and the Fans’ Player of the Year, and also shared the prestigious Players’ Player of the Year award with Aiden Markram.

“I was not thinking about winning four awards after such an up-and-down season with Covid and not playing a lot of games. I had a decent season but I’m just very happy to be part of the awards again. I’m quite happy with how I progressed, there were just moments here and there where I needed to lift. I’ve had a short career but there have been a lot of highlights in the Tests.

“I’m looking forward to building on that momentum and I’m very excited about going to the West Indies. I’ve heard a lot of good stories about the place, but I’m not sure if it will suit fast bowling. When you know the conditions aren’t going to suit you, then you just have to concentrate extra hard on the basics, try and hit the top of off stump as often as possible,” Nortje said.

Fellow fast bowler Shabnim Ismail was the SA Women’s Cricketer of the Year and she also sounded like someone who had passed their exams, acknowledging that the 2020/21 season had been a testing one. She was also voted the Players’ Player of the Year and the T20 Cricketer of the Year.

“I’m truly happy with the awards because they show all the hard work behind the scenes has paid off. I was really happy with my performances and I’m just really grateful and happy to win these awards. I put in the hard yards, I was getting career-bests and I’ve done well for the team. I was chuffed with my performances and happy overall.

“I have to give credit to my team-mates because I could not do it without them and our new strength and conditioning coach has helped with my loads and our whole management team is just so positive. We wanted to portray ourselves as a different South African team and I think we did that in the last two series against Pakistan and India. And now hopefully we can win the World Cup,” Ismail said.

The Sharks are adamant that the Bulls should not think things are too roomy at the top of the Rainbow Cup log and they have also promised the Stormers no armchair ride when they meet at Kings Park on Saturday.

The Bulls hammered the Sharks 43-9 last weekend to take a three-point lead in the Rainbow Cup standings, but that could be overturned when they come to Durban on June 12, in the last round of round-robin play.

Of course the Sharks, in the meantime, need to see off the challenge of the Stormers, and coach Sean Everitt has warned the Cape side not to judge his team by last weekend’s performance. And he has promised that the same pack that he said was “manhandled” by the Bulls is ready to fight fire with fire against the visitors this weekend.

“Given our play in the last 20 minutes against the Bulls, the Stormers might see an opportunity and they definitely have a good pack. We saw in the Currie Cup that they were very forward-oriented and I think they will go back to that because they were probably lucky to win against the Lions and will want to tighten up. But we are unbeaten at Kings Park for one-and-a-half years and we will protect our fortress.

“It’s never pleasant getting a beating like that one in Pretoria and the guys have taken a lot of criticism, a lot of pressure has been put on them. But it could be personal for them on Saturday because you should never judge a team on one game and people forget we beat the Stormers in Cape Town three weeks ago. Our team hasn’t changed, we just had an off day,” Everitt said.

Everitt maintained that there is still not much between his team and the high-flying Bulls, despite last weekend’s lopsided scoreline. He pointed to the Currie Cup final, which went into extra time, during which Lady Luck decided she no longer liked the Sharks.

“We were unfortunate not to win the Currie Cup final and you can’t expect to win six-out-of-six local derbies. There’s still a lot of rugby to be played and we’re certainly not out of the race with the Bulls only three points ahead and we’ve still got them at home, where we have not lost for a while.

“What an experience it would be to make the Rainbow Cup final, travel to Europe and play against the best they can offer. That would be just reward for finishing top of the Rainbow Cup and would provide us with a bit of a measure as to where we are, going into the Pro16,” Everitt said.