Ken Borland

The return of tighthead prop Thomas du Toit to the Sharks line-up and the absence of loosehead Steven Kitshoff for Western Province will be an obvious shift in the fortunes of the two teams for the Currie Cup semi-final at Newlands on Saturday, but Sharks coach Sean Everitt said on Thursday that it is what happens after the set-pieces that is of more importance than the scrum or lineout itself.

Everitt was able to choose both his Springbok props in Du Toit and Ox Nche on Thursday, while Kitshoff, South Africa’s No.1 loosehead and one of the world’s best in that position, was ruled out of the semi-final due to Covid-19 protocols.

“Even if you get set-piece dominance, what happens next is the important thing. After a dominant scrum or lineout is does make getting the gainline advantage easier, but the set-pieces are just a platform to play from. There are lot of other aspects that have to take place to get points on the board. But it will be good to have Thomas back after he was out for quite a while with Covid problems and injury before that.

“The set-piece battle is about the unit though and although Kitshoff is one of the best and exceptionally fit, Ali Vermaak is a good player as well and Western Province still have Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, JD Schickerling and Salmaan Moerat so it is a formidable tight five. So we certainly cannot take it easier and we are never happy when someone falls sick,” Everitt said on Thursday.

While Everitt had the full complement of players to choose from, the Sharks’ tight five does show a couple of changes from the outfit that would have been considered the first-choice selection a few weeks ago. The selections of Fez Mbatha to start at hooker and JJ van der Mescht at lock point to the KwaZulu-Natalians bulking up the scrum to counter Western Province’s key strength.

“Fez Mbatha went really well against Griquas and made the scrum stronger; Dan Jooste was struggling wit an eye injury last week and we actually weren’t sure whether he’d be fit this weekend, so he will start off the bench. JJ van der Mescht is purely picked on merit, he had one of his best performances against Griquas and Hyron Andrews hasn’t played for a while so we didn’t feel his body could last the whole 80 minutes.

“One would obviously like the continuity of playing every weekend and picking the same players, but we are level-pegging in that regard with the other three teams in the semi-finals. It’s all about how you train and the quality of your preparation. It’s a bit like the first game of the season, we all worry about how we’re going to go. But we’re on an equal footing with Western Province, it’s not as if they’ve been playing either,” Everitt said.

Sharks: Aphelele Fassi, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (c), Marius Louw, Yaw Penxe, Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Henco Venter, Dylan Richardson, Ruben van Heerden, JJ van der Mescht, Thomas du Toit, Fezokuhle Mbatha, Ox Nche. Bench – Dan Jooste, Mzamo Majola, Michael Kumbirai, Hyron Andrews, Thembelani Bholi, Jaden Hendrikse, Jeremy Ward, Manie Libbok.

The Sharks are currently in fourth position on the Currie Cup log and notwithstanding the Free State/Western Province match being the showpiece clash of the weekend, when Griquas rock up at Kings Park on Saturday afternoon, the home side will be involved in just as much of a do-or-die clash as the two teams in Bloemfontein.

The Free State Cheetahs are the team in fifth, one point behind the Sharks, so obviously the KwaZulu-Natalians cannot afford to slip up against the bottom side on the log. Especially since they play Western Province at Newlands in the last round of fixtures. Western Province have their own pressures because they could finish anywhere from first to fifth, and out of the semi-finals, depending on their results in the next fortnight.

Just to add to the pressure on the Sharks’ they are currently dealing with a Covid outbreak and with some players coming back and others testing positive, coach Sean Everitt has been forced to change the majority of his team over the last few weeks. And it has shown in heavy defeats on the road to the Lions and the Cheetahs.

Everitt was doing his best to paint a positive picture on Thursday.

“This team has had a good week’s preparation, they are very tough on themselves and they have high standards, they know they have not delivered the standards of performance we expect over the last two weeks. But it’s easily identifiable what went wrong against the Cheetahs and we know Griquas are always a massive challenge as well.

“They always run teams close and I feel they were unfortunate not to beat the Lions and Western Province. We have no doubt what they will bring, they are desperate as well and obviously motivated to knock over one of the big four. So we are under no illusions, we know it is going to be a physical battle and a big duel at set-piece. But our team is determined to bounce back,” Everitt said on Thursday.

Desperation, motivation, physicality and set-piece prowess are also all the sort of properties the Pumas, those other ‘minnows’ of the Currie Cup, will bring to their match against the Lions on Saturday, especially since they are playing in Nelspruit.

While the Lions are rightfully wary of their neighbours, they are also targeting a bonus point win because that could make a massive difference in their hunt for a home semi-final. Ivan van Rooyen’s team are currently in third place, two points behind Western Province and six behind log-leaders the Bulls.

Momentum is with the Lions and they are also quite fortunate in terms of player availability, with in-form prop Sti Sithole probably their only first-choice player who is out injured at the moment.

Sanzaar obviously had to make changes to SuperRugby because the crowds were not reflecting the status of the competition, but I struggle to understand why South Africa have to give up two teams.

Our previous wins at the Sanzaar negotiating table have been because we could always use the threat of going to Europe and our TV figures to get our own way.

So why do New Zealand keep five franchises and South Africa have just four, but we’re a much bigger nation! I know the argument based on the performance of the teams, but in 2013 we had four teams in the top eight and in 2012 three sides in the top six. So we have had the strength, and the Bulls were a dominant force in SuperRugby from 2005-2010, which is not so long ago!

So I struggle to comprehend how a team like the Cheetahs, who are such a strong rugby region, can be facing the axe. Everyone understands that the Kings will have to go due to their financial woes and because they are propped up by Saru, but it will be very disappointing to lose the Cheetahs after they have been in SuperRugby for so long. And the Free State and Griqualand West region has provided a heck of a lot of players who have gone on to greater things.

What really concerns me is that the Springboks will miss out on an extra 30 players to choose from, while New Zealand will have a pool of 150 SuperRugby players, a 20% bigger selection pool.

And it’s easy to say we will retain more players because we will now have more money, but as Faf de Klerk’s offer from Sale shows, guys can still earn more than triple what they’ll get in South Africa by going overseas. I believe we’ll actually retain fewer players because there will be less opportunity with only four franchises. Our coaching ranks will also be diminished with less opportunity for them too.

The funny thing is, a year ago Sanzaar said everything was fine and a big fuss was made about how the new format would mean much less travel for South African sides – a maximum of two flights overseas.

The tournament did need expansion and Argentina have now been able to keep their best players, they haven’t gone to Europe, because there’s a clear pathway for them to develop and express themselves at the highest level. We’ve seen that with the Sunwolves too.

People say it’s not our job to develop rugby in South America and Asia, but that’s shortsighted. Rugby has to be a global game, if it just stayed within the Commonwealth and Argentina, it would die.

Exposing a team from Japan to higher levels of rugby has certainly brought an improvement to their play. There were 22 000 people at the Bulls game in Tokyo and the excitement was incredible, especially considering that the last game in Tokyo saw the Sunwolves lose 83-17 to the Hurricanes!

But there was a great atmosphere and huge interest in the Bulls game, but more on that shock result later on.

In my view, the SuperRugby format should be a 16-team competition – so five New Zealand and South African franchises, four from Australia and the Sunwolves and Jaguares – with everyone playing everyone else once. You would have two three-week tours as part of that.

Six teams would then progress to the playoffs, with the top two sides initially having a bye straight into their home semis against the winners of the quarterfinals, which would be third versus sixth and fourth against fifth.

This weekend I am really looking forward to the match between the Lions and the Stormers, which should be a high-tempo, all out attacking game, but the side that defends best will win it. For the main Easter weekend game to be between the two conference leaders is going to provide a great spectacle.

The quality and skill level of the Stormers last weekend against the Chiefs shows that they have reached a new dimension and you have to credit Robbie Fleck and his staff, and the players, for their willingness to play like that. It’s really high-risk, high-reward rugby and, believe me, it has to be coached!

What was especially pleasing was the way they really matched a New Zealand team at the back end of the game, when it’s normally been a huge struggle for South African teams.

The Sharks also had a good win, even though they are not scoring a lot of tries. They are playing off the other side’s mistakes, like their spectacular intercept try against the Jaguares.

They hung on in there against the Argentinians and it was an important win for their conference, although they will be a bit disappointed they gave the Jaguares a point. But it’s good that they were able to grind it out, hopefully they can get on a roll and get their confidence going.

The humidity in Durban made the ball very slippery and there were similar conditions for the Bulls in Tokyo, a match I was fortunate enough to attend. It was very wet and the Sunwolves managed the conditions better. The Bulls are not far off but they were simply not good enough last weekend.

They took time to get into their stride, they struggled to get control of the game. But then they had control when they were nine points ahead, they were in the pound seats, but the yellow card obviously had a huge influence.

After that the Sunwolves took a scrum with 10 minutes to go and scored the matchwinning try. The lesson for the Bulls is that when a backline player like Jan Serfontein gets a yellow card, then you must replace him. It’s better to have a full backline because you need that speed on defence. It was standard procedure when I was with the Springboks that if a backline player got a yellow card late in the game then we would take a forward off and replace him. Otherwise you’re defending with six versus seven, which is why the Sunwolves were able to break out so easily.

The Sunwolves were also able to keep the ball in play and did a good job of nullifying the Bulls’ lineout maul threat by standing off. That meant the Bulls had to mostly play from static ball. The home side were also very good with their kicks and chips, while the Bulls could have done much better with their chips, especially the one from their own 22 that led to a try.

The Bulls will be really hurting, but they now have a lot of games at home. No other team in the competition has had such a tough start away from home, and the Bulls will now hope they can get some form and a winning run at Loftus Versfeld.

John McFarland is the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game. Before that, McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.

The two teams who have lost just one game in the Sunfoil Series this season – the bizhub Highveld Lions and the Sunfoil Dolphins – clash in a crunch match at the Wanderers from today, but one of the most important games of the tournament will also be played in Port Elizabeth, where the Chevrolet Warriors and the Unlimited Titans meet.

While the log-leading Lions will be desperate to reverse the trend of the other two domestic competitions in which they led at the halfway mark before fainting before the finish line to not even make the finals, the Titans and the Warriors, second and third, are probably the two most in-form teams in the country at the moment.

While the Titans won the Momentum One-Day Cup from a position they had no right to win from, the Warriors have won six of their last seven matches in both the 50-over and four-day competitions.

There will be no Albie Morkel for the Titans at St George’s Park, however, as the hero of the Momentum One-Day Cup final recovers from a side-strain, while Jacques Rudolph, contracted for the one-day competition, will play no further part in the domestic season.

It’s no major issue for the Titans because they will still field a powerful top-order of Dean Elgar, Heino Kuhn and Theunis de Bruyn.

Mangaliso Mosehle will continue to don the wicketkeeper’s gloves despite his messy showing in the final and his poor form with the bat.

“We back Mangi to come good, he had a good start to the four-day competition,” coach Rob Walter told The Citizen yesterday.

The Titans also have plenty of bowling options, including David Wiese and Junior Dala, two players who did so much to ensure the Momentum One-Day Cup is now housed at SuperSport Park.

The final selection is going to be a tough choice for Walter, with wrist-spinners Shaun von Berg and Tabraiz Shamsi, left-arm seamer Rowan Richards, Dala and Ethy Mbhalati all competing for three spots.

Walter said the triumph in the Newlands final had now been put aside and the Titans are hungry for a second trophy.

“We’re certainly not resting on our laurels, although we’ll use that momentum from the One-Day Cup, and we’re very driven to shoot for that second trophy,” the coach said.

The injured trio of pacemen Aya Gqamane and Rusty Theron, as well as senior batsman Davy Jacobs, are not available for the Warriors, but the recent form of Colin Ingram and Michael Price with the bat bodes well for the home side, while Andrew Birch and Simon Harmer will be the key performers with the ball.

The other match sees the Chevrolet Knights hosting the Nashua Cape Cobras, the defending champions, at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley in a match-up between the two bottom sides on the log.

The Cobras are still trying to get over the manner in which they lost the Momentum One-Day Cup final to the Titans, and the four-prong Knights pace attack of Quinton Friend, Corne Dry, Malusi Siboto and Dillon du Preez is sure to increase the pressure on them.