Ken Borland

The return of Jeandre Rudolph to the Cheetahs team turned around their Currie Cup fortunes in midweek and the loose forward was here, there and everywhere in their victory over Western Province in Bloemfontein, causing the Sharks to effectively pick two openside flanks for when they travel to meet the Free Staters on Saturday.

The 100kg Rudolph gave a glorious display of chasing after the ball, he was plucky in defence and carried the ball with authority as well, confirming earlier impressions that he is one of the Cheetahs’ stars. His ability to strangle teams at the breakdown and the effective partnership he forms with Junior Pokomela and Aidon Davis marks him out as a key man for the Sharks to contend with.

And the Sharks responded on Thursday by naming both Dylan Richardson and James Venter in their starting loose trio.

“We’re fortunate to have two guys who can fetch and they are both in world-class form at the moment, they both did exceptionally well against the British and Irish Lions. They’re both very good ball-carriers and have a very high work-rate, so we decided to experiment a bit with Henco Venter out with concussion and Thembelani Bholi and Celimpilo Gumede needing to cover lock.

“The Cheetahs are playing better now that they have some players back from injury and Jeandre Rudolph had a massive game against Western Province. You never go to Bloemfontein and get easy points, I asked the guys how many of them had won against Free State in Bloemfontein before and not many of them had, and none of them more than once,” coach Sean Everitt said on Thursday.

Everitt said his young Sharks team had learnt a lot in their two matches against the British and Irish Lions and he hoped this would result in increased maturity, leading to his team playing like full-grown adults in the Currie Cup and not the kids many of them are in terms of age.

“We’ve created a great vibe in the camp by giving everyone an opportunity against the Lions and we now need to build on that experience we gained and take it into this weekend. We want to play at high intensity for 80 minutes. We need to put in a performance similar to the one in the first half of the second game against the Lions, because the Cheetahs are desperate to win the Currie Cup and they have a point to prove.

“We’ve had two weeks rest, although one of those weeks was pretty tough mentally with food shortages, but the focus now is on ourselves and our intensity going forward. We have seven Currie Cup games left – this one against the Cheetahs and then the second round of six matches – and hopefully from now on there will be no more disruptions,” Everitt said.

Sharks – Anthony Volmink, Marnus Potgieter, Werner Kok, Marius Louw, Thaakir Abrahams, Curwin Bosch, Grant Williams, Phepsi Buthelezi (c), Dylan Richardson, James Venter, Reniel Hugo, Le Roux Roets, Khutha Mchunu, Kerron van Vuuren, Ntuthuko Mchunu. Bench: Dan Jooste, Mzamo Majola, Lourens Adriaanse, Thembelani Bholi, Celimpilo Gumede, Cameron Wright, Lionel Cronje, Jeremy Ward.

The Springboks have two things they can lean on for confidence as they go into the third and decisive Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on Saturday: the momentum from a top-class performance in the second half of the second Test and the knowledge that the last time they were put into a high-pressured ‘final’ situation, they came through with flying colours.

Captain Siya Kolisi acknowledged on Friday that a performance as good as last weekend, when they won the second half 21-0, does not deserve to be wasted and become a mere footnote in history, all but forgotten should the Springboks lose the third Test and the series.

And it was just four Tests ago, albeit in November 2019, that South Africa shocked England in the World Cup final in Japan, thumping them 32-12 after leading 12-6 at the break.

“There’s definitely a similar feeling but this opportunity to win the Lions series won’t come again for a lot of us. We get one shot on Saturday, that’s the mentality and the message to the team. It’s definitely a final for us, that’s the talk. We have worked so hard to get in this position. You play to get somewhere and after last weekend now we are here.

“This is the one that counts though, what happened before does not count. We have been seeing how we can get even better this week. Last week does give us confidence but we want to remember this last game more than anything else. It’s always a huge honour to play in a series like this and hopefully it’s going to be a good, proper game. It’s going to be special,” Kolisi said.

Apart from the absences of flank Pieter-Steph du Toit and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk through injury, the Springboks are happy as Larry approaching the decider. Their issues with the officiating seem to have been resolved by the fine job done by Ben O’Keeffe and his assistants in the second Test, and Kolisi said they have the luxury of sticking with the same game-plan because they know it works.

Indefatigable lock Franco Mostert will move to blindside flank to replace Du Toit, as he did last weekend, while the experienced and in-form Cobus Reinach starts in the number nine jersey in place of De Klerk.

“There’s not much we can do about injuries, but Franco really stood up last weekend, his work-rate is second-to-none. He knows his role, he did it last week, so nothing changes for me and Jasper Wiese,” Kolisi said on the loose trio.

“Cobus has been with us for years, he was at the World Cup and he has experience of playing against these guys in the Northern Hemisphere, so he has had a big impact in the squad. Our backline is really balanced, we have the experienced guys and then the speed of Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe. We’re not going to read too much into their side and all the changes they’ve made, we know they will still be excellent and physical,” backline coach Mzwandile Stick said.

The Lions almost seem to be suffering from a surfeit of personnel and playing options. Coach Warren Gatland has made six more changes to his team for the decider and their failure to truly commit to one game-plan has many neutral observers wary of their chances of winning the series.

Even the team for Saturday’s third Test could fall between the two stools of playing a physical, kicking game or a more expansive, fast-paced style to stretch the incredible Springboks defences.

Teams

Springboks: 15–Willie le Roux, 14–Cheslin Kolbe, 13–Lukhanyo Am, 12–Damian de Allende, 11–Makazole Mapimpi, 10–Handré Pollard, 9–Cobus Reinach, 8–Jasper Wiese, 7–Franco Mostert, 6–Siya Kolisi, 5–Lood de Jager, 4–Eben Etzebeth, 3–Frans Malherbe, 2–Bongi Mbonambi, 1–Steven Kitshoff. Replacements – 16–Malcolm Marx, 17–Trevor Nyakane, 18–Vincent Koch, 19–Marco van Staden, 20–Kwagga Smith, 21–Herschel Jantjies, 22–Morné Steyn, 23–Damian Willemse.

British & Irish Lions: 15-Liam Williams, 14-Josh Adams, 13-Robbie Henshaw, 12-Bundee Aki, 11-Duhan van der Merwe, 10-Dan Biggar, 9-Ali Price, 8-Jack Conan, 7-Tom Curry, 6-Courtney Lawes, 5-Alun-Wyn Jones, 4-Maro Itoje, 3-Tadhg Furlong, 2-Ken Owens, 1-Wyn Jones. Replacements – 16-Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17-Mako Vunipola, 18-Kyle Sinckler, 19-Adam Beard, 20-Sam Simmonds, 21-Conor Murray, 22-Finn Russell, 23-Elliot Daly.

The Lions Series Medical Advisory Group has found that there has been no slip-up in the Springboks’ Covid protocols and the squad was given the green light to resume training on Monday afternoon, despite two positive tests as they assembled in Johannesburg over the weekend.

“In light of … the strict precautionary measures taken by the team and the effective isolation protocols since the squad assembled, the Springboks can resume their training programme from Monday afternoon”, SA Rugby said in a statement issued on Monday.

The Lions Series Medical Advisory Group is made up of medical experts from both South Africa and the four Home Nations, and both CEOs, SA Rugby’s Jurie Roux and Lions managing director Ben Calveley, sit on the panel.

There were initially three positive tests reported, but scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies, who has already been through a bout of Covid, was confirmed as being a false positive and will return to training. He is therefore likely to feature in the 23-man squad for the first Test against Georgia on Friday, but wing Sbu Nkosi and prop Vincent Koch will miss out because they have been infected by the virus, although they are asymptomatic.

Cape Town media have not passed up the opportunity to speculate that the entire Lions tour could be moved from Covid-ravaged Gauteng, but Bulls CEO Edgar Rathbone, whose Loftus Versfeld stadium is set to host the first Test against Georgia and then the Bulls’ match against the Lions on July 10, dismissed the reports.

“We still have all the branding up in the stadium, we’re going ahead with preparations for Friday’s Test and next week’s game against the British and Irish Lions. There have been no discussions with us about moving the tour matches out of Gauteng,” Rathbone told The Citizen on Monday.

The Springboks will announce the team to play Georgia, their first Test since winning the World Cup final in November 2019, on Tuesday.

The Lions tourists flew into O.R. Tambo International Airport earlier on Monday.

Following their disappointment in the Rainbow Cup final, Bulls coach Jake White has had to carefully manage not only his players’ morale but also their bodies, with the team getting over the first of two Currie Cup hurdles in six days with their tight 32-27 win over the tricky Pumas in Pretoria at the weekend.

White said he knew his team were always going to be severely tested by the Pumas, who are fired up after not being involved in the Rainbow Cup and starting the Currie Cup with a bonus point hammering of the Lions. The Bulls, on the other hand, are tired, according to their coach. And they now have to travel to Bloemfontein to take on the Free State Cheetahs on Wednesday.

“Considering we had to fly home this week from Italy, it was long travel and we are tired, and I expected the team to be a bit flat. But we played really nicely, we kept the ball and built some phases. I would have liked it to have been easier after leading 25-10, but you can never underestimate the Pumas – they are a good side with lots of time to prepare for this match.

“So I am very happy to get five points and the guys had to dig deep. It was always going to be tough and we knew the Pumas would come hard, everyone wants to beat us. Unfortunately we let them slip back into the game at 25-10, but overall we’ve got to be happy. And it doesn’t get any easier, last year we lost to the Cheetahs away, so we know how tough that match will be and we need to do a lot of planning,” White said.

While the Bulls’ doctors were yet to examine Gio Aplon when he spoke, White said he feared the worst for the veteran Springbok who hobbled off the field just 25 minutes into his first start for the side.

“Gio really wanted to be a part of the team and it’s really unfortunate what happened. But we are playing so much rugby, week after week, and there are no easy fixtures in South Africa so the attrition rate is big. Gio was always here to help as a senior player because our backline is very young and we needed someone older and wiser. He knew the risk but he wanted to be part of it.

“He’s a fantastic person and a wonderful rugby player, he should have played 100 times for the Springboks, and you don’t want it to eventually end like that. But his chances are slim because he’s done his knee again and it’s the same knee. Sometimes you don’t get the ideal ending, in sport you can’t always write the script you want to have,” White said.