Ken Borland

Sharks coach Sean Everitt on Thursday brought five new starters into the conversation – and two more on the bench – for their SuperRugby Unlocked match against the Pumas in Nelspruit.

Three of the changes were forced by injury, with openside flank James Venter (ankle), tighthead prop Thomas du Toit (calf) and eighthman Sikhumbuzo Notshe (slight hamstring strain) all not available this weekend.

The new faces

Dan Jooste – Everitt has been talking all season about hooker Dylan Richardson adapting to his new position in the front row, but now the 21-year-old former junior international gets the chance to show how interchangeable he is with openside flank as he replaces James Venter in the No.6 jersey.

Jooste is a Paarl Boys’ High product and former Stormers representative who is of similar physical dimensions to Richardson and, according to Everitt, “needs game time after coming off the bench on SuperFan day and against the Lions following a considerable length of time out with a shoulder injury”.

John-Hubert Meyer – The absence of World Cup winner Du Toit will leave the Sharks a bit bereft of leadership and grunt up front, but the Sharks have managed to locate an experienced replacement in Meyer, also born and educated in the Western Cape. The 27-year-old is a seasoned scrummager and knows his way around the gainline.

JJ van der Mescht – The Sharks second row has not been particularly good at either dominating the lineouts or making their presence felt in the collisions, and Everitt has made a change to try and generate more momentum from the tight five. Van der Mescht replaces Ruben van Heerden in the starting line-up, and while both Pretoria products are two metres tall, the 21-year-old Van der Mescht weighs 130kg (14kg more) and is a big force with ball in hand.

Henco Venter – Everitt has been at pains to point out how well his loose trio have actually been playing, but in private he must be concerned over how they have been bullied twice by the Bulls. Former Free Stater Henco Venter, at 1.93 metres and 107kg, will add a harder edge in the loose.

Madosh Tambwe – The exciting speed merchant has been nursing a hamstring strain since the start of the season, but Tambwe is now ready to go and Everitt is eager to give him game time despite the energy brought to the back three by Werner Kok.

Michael Kumbirai – According to Everitt, tighthead prop Kumbirai has worked really hard since his arrival from Western Province and there is excitement at Kings Park over getting him in the mix. “Michael is so keen to get on the field and add value, he’s got the ability to shine and hopefully he takes this opportunity. He’s a physical specimen, well-built and athletic,” Everitt said.

Thembelani Bholi – Bholi has recently moved to Durban from the Bulls, having first made his name with the Southern Kings. A loose forward with a hard edge, Bholi is well-versed at making a physical statement at the gain-line, having spent much of his career at Loftus Versfeld. He is also growing his skills and is able to turn out at eighthman as well.

Sharks team: Manie Libbok, Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am (c), Marius Louw, Madosh Tambwe, Curwin Bosch, Sanele Nohamba, Phendulani Buthelezi, Henco Venter, Dylan Richardson, Hyron Andrews, JJ van der Mescht, John-Hubert Meyer, Dan Jooste, Ox Nche. Replacements – Kerron van Vuuren, Mzamo Majola, Michael Kumbirai, Ruben van Heerden, Thembelani Bholi, Grant Williams, Jeremy Ward, Yaw Penxe.

Pretoria Country Club probably has two favourite current professional golfers in George Coetzee and Tristen Strydom and on Friday the two ‘pets’ went head-to-head in the final round of the Titleist Championship with Coetzee emerging as a four-shot winner in a contest he said was tighter than the final margin suggested.

Coetzee and Strydom began the day both on seven-under-par, but Coetzee added to his two Tshwane Open titles at the Waterkloof course by firing a superb six-under-par 66 on Friday, winning himself R95 100.

The 23-year-old Strydom, in just his second season on the Sunshine Tour, performed admirably to post a 70 and earn R69 000, more than his total previous earnings of R58 877. And the resident and member of the Pretoria Country Club estate would have been properly in contention were it not for consecutive double-bogeys on the par-three fifth and the par-four sixth holes, from which he did exceptionally well to still shoot two-under-par.

“Tristen is a really exciting player, he hits the ball so good and definitely has a bright future. Were it not for just a couple of holes he would have really had me sweating,” Coetzee admitted. “But it’s always special winning at Pretoria Country Club and being a Titleist player, they have both supported me my whole career. I’m really happy to have won in front of everyone who was expecting me to perform, I could hear their cheers from a long way off,” he added below the clubhouse balcony that was littered with people supporting Coetzee and Strydom.

“Usually expectation is the killer so it was nice to pull it off,” Coetzee continued. “I really enjoyed the pressure of playing while in the lead, being in a tournament situation and under stress, because I’ve worked a lot on my mental game in Lockdown and made a lot of good strides. I felt comfortable attacking the flags, tending to a certain side if I missed so I would still be safe.”

Coetzee actually made an awful start to the day with bogeys on the first two holes. A five at the first was in fact a big escape for the 34-year-old, who had to fashion a cunning piece of innovation to only drop one shot as his ball was against the boundary wall. Coetzee hit it into the wall and rebounded it back on to the green.

“The last time I was against that wall was when I was 13 years old, I learnt my lesson then but obviously forgot it today. In the end I was very happy to make bogey because it was a tough putt,” he said.

Another bogey on the par-four second may have suggested Coetzee was vulnerable but it was one of the great cons as he powered his way back from his poor start with six birdies between the fourth and 10^th holes. He added two more birdies on the par-three 14^th and the par-four 17^th holes to complete his 11^th Sunshine Tour victory.

“On the second I basically hit the ball flush over the green so I had really hit just one bad shot, so I was still pretty happy and was confident to still go for the flags,” Coetzee said.

On a glorious sunny day that was fantastic for those wanting to work on a spring tan, Darren Fichardt made the biggest move on the final day with a top-class seven-under 65 that lifted him into fourth place on six-under. Jaco Ahlers completed a solid week’s work with a 67 to finish third on seven-under, two behind second-placed Strydom.

The Rise Up Series now takes a three-week break before resuming with the penultimate event at ERPM Golf Club on September 23.

Professional golf returns to action this month with two events in the Rise Up Series sponsored by Betway and African Bank, and the Sunshine Tour is also confident they will complete negotiations with three other investors for a further trio of tournaments next month.

The country’s top golfers will return to competition on August 19 with the Betway Championship at Killarney Country Club, followed by the African Bank Championship at Glendower Golf Club from August 26-28. Three other events are lined up for Pretoria Country Club (September 2-4), ERPM Golf Club (September 23-25) and Huddle Park (September 30-October 2). Each tournament has a purse of R600 000.

“These are exciting times with the Rise Up Series. We would love to be playing for much more money, but these are tough times. But we are going to do some clever things with our wonderful sponsors. For the Betway Championship there will be a birdie challenge with a R50 000 pot, the golfer with the most birdies wins R25 000, second-most gets R15 000 and third is R10 000.

“African Bank also jumped at the opportunity to get involved and they will be bringing their portfolios in and around the golf clubs. SuperSport are tour partners as well and we have other hooks in the water. We are just waiting for confirmation but we are hopeful of having title sponsors for all five events. Plus there will be live streaming of the action for the last three-and-a-half hours every Friday, so that’s further reach,” Sunshine Tour deputy commissioner Thomas Abt said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

Sunshine Tour stalwart Jake Roos said the players are just delighted for the opportunity to both play some competitive golf again and earn a living.

“The last time we played was the Tour Championship back in February, so everybody is very grateful to the Sunshine Tour staff who have shown a lot of dedication to get us playing again. It’s important for us pro golfers to compete again, you lose your edge if you don’t play, and it will be nice to earn some money too. We are all super-excited.

“It will be unchartered waters because we’ve had six months off and a lot of guys have never had more than a few weeks without competing. Luckily we have been playing and practising for a couple of months now, but until the pressure of a tournament you never know how your game really is. But we are all refreshed and have had time to work on some technical things,” Roos said.

Boeta Dippenaar and Pat Symcox are two former cricketers I have admired and whose company I have enjoyed from time to time, but I hope their faces are as red as tomatoes after their ill-judged reactions to Lungi Ngidi’s comments that the Proteas need to make a stand against racial discrimination.

For the record, Ngidi was asked a direct question about the Black Lives Matter movement and whether the Proteas team would seek to support it as the West Indies and England sides have done in their return to action in the Southampton Test.

Ngidi said: “It’s definitely something we need to discuss in person but we are all well aware of what is going on. It’s something we have to address as a team, as a nation as well because we’ve had racial discrimination in the past. It’s something we need to take very seriously, we need to make a stand like the rest of the world.”

Now saying a stand should be made against racial discrimination is surely not something so divisive that the Proteas would be halved into different camps for and against? Surely Ngidi was standing for something everybody can support, like being against gender-based violence?

So why the furious reaction?

It was another former Protea, top-order batsman Rudolf Steyn, who fired the first shot with a social media post that read: “I believe the Proteas should make a stand against racism, but if they stand up for ‘black lives matter’ while ignoring the way white farmers are daily being ‘slaughtered’ like animals, they have lost my vote.”

Firstly, it has to be in very poor taste to start bartering over whether you will support someone else’s right to life depending on them supporting your cause. Yes, All Lives do Matter, but in the world as a whole, the priority has to be to ensure that the importance of Black Lives are upgraded so that we no longer see the shocking, senseless deaths of people like George Floyd and Collins Khosa.

If someone told you that their father had died of a heart attack, would you say “what about all the people who have died of cancer”? If someone asked you to support research into eliminating breast cancer, would you say “only if you support anti-HIV initiatives”?

By responding to a question about Black Lives Matter, it by no means suggests Ngidi is against any other lives mattering. In fact, a furious response to Black Lives Matter suggests an attitude that they don’t matter as much as other lives.

Both Symcox and Dippenaar then replied highlighting the plight of farmers and farm attacks. Also a worthy cause.

Many critics of Black Lives Matter say it has become politicised but this is also true, perhaps even more so, of Farm Attacks. According to AfriForum’s own figures, there were 57 farm murders in 2019 and, while every one of those deaths is a tragic injustice, to somehow extrapolate that into an organised campaign of racial genocide is ridiculous. In fact, 57 murders a year is quite close to the daily figure for all murders in our terribly violent country. The Transvaalse Landbou Unie released a statement this week saying there had been 26 farm murders so far this year.

Or do some lives take priority over others? Which I guess is exactly the point of Black Lives Matter. As West Indian great Michael Holding put it this week, we all know White Lives Matter, that has never been in doubt.

Cricket in general has often been halfhearted in responding to issues of social justice so the efforts of the English and West Indian teams, and even the ICC match officials, have been tremendous to see.

I was also impressed with how Cricket South Africa’s relatively new director of cricket, Graeme Smith, handled the grenade when it was tossed to him at the same press conference as Ngidi’s. He was a huge driver of diversity and inclusivity when he was a Proteas captain, but he has not been a ‘suit’ for that long and has had a couple of mishaps already when it comes to dealing with political issues.

Smith said: “We are all very aware of what is going on around the world and our role as CSA. When the team gets together again we will figure out how to play an effective role in the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s important to have buy-in and for everyone to be invested. I have no doubt that will be the case, but to have the discussion is important. There certainly needs to be something done and we will discuss various ways of handling it in an effective and authentic manner.”

And the Titans, who have won more domestic cups than any other franchise, have also led the way in responding to the cause. The squad unanimously agreed that coach Mandla Mashimbyi should issue the following statement:

“We know only too well how important the Black Lives Matter movement is. We bat vehemently against discrimination of any kind, and we will always strive to provide opportunities within our Titans family for all the colours and cultures of our rainbow nation. We also want to lend our voice to those shouting for the scourge of violence against our mothers, sisters and daughters to stop.

“The only way we can stand against evil is by showing acts of love to people no matter their race, religion or gender. We should see love as the foundation that helps us find solutions, find refuge and hope because love is the foundation of life. If we can begin to view things through the perspective of love before race, religion or gender we will move forward as a society,” Mashimbyi said.