Ken Borland

The Highveld heat and altitude engendered a more unstructured game and caused Munster to wilt, allowing the valiant Lions to snatch a 23-21 victory with a tremendous final-quarter comeback in their United Rugby Championship match at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Lions flourish in unstructured play

For the first hour of the match, Munster were the slicker, better organised side as they built up a 21-10 halftime lead. Their brilliant phase play allowed them to mount relentless attacks with their forwards carrying and offloading superbly.

In contrast, the Lions looked disorganised and messy behind their rucks, which meant several attacking opportunities inside the Munster 22 fizzled out. The home side did not protect their ball well enough and were counter-rucked on several occasions.

But in the final quarter, with Munster visibly tiring, the match became loose and unstructured, which suited the Lions. They were superb in lifting the intensity, applying pressure and converting their chances as Wandisile Simelane, who had moved to the wing, scored and Jordan Hendrikse kicked two penalties.

All-action terriers

What the Lions lack in experience or big-name stars, they made up for in tenacity and effort. Leading the way in that respect was blindside flank Vincent Tshituka, who was all over the ball whether carrying, defending or bringing pressure at the breakdown.

Hendrikse showed there is more to flyhalf play than just being a general with a strong kicking game. Fullback Quan Horn provided the big boot for the Lions, and a couple of lovely runs, but Hendrikse was a constant thorn in the Munster flesh with his abrasive style. Playing flat, he was all about testing the defence, while he put in several big tackles and was a constant menace at the breakdown. And he also, crucially, succeeded with all five of his kicks at goal.

Scrum power pays off

Our rugby is well-known for its reliance on powerful scrummaging and initially there was a tremendous tussle in that set-piece as Carlu Sadie, Sti Sithole and Jaco Visagie put Munster under pressure. They did not get any reward though as Munster were clever in absorbing and nullifying the pressure.

That all changed in the second half when the replacement front row of Ruan Dreyer, JP Smith and PJ Botha came on. They were superb in not only winning three crucial scrum penalties but contributing brilliantly in open play with strong carries and breakdown steals.

The Lions are a different animal at Ellis Park

Given the 11-place gap between the two teams on the URC log, Munster were deservedly clear favourites for the match. And in the first half the Lions showed few signs of being able to tame them.

But playing at Ellis Park in the early afternoon, heat and altitude are always going to be factors and the Lions used them perfectly. They were able to up the tempo in the final quarter and simply scrummed and ran Munster off their feet, while competing ferociously at the contact points.

Scorers

Lions: Tries – Edwill van der Merwe, Wandisile Simelane. Conversions – Jordan Hendrikse (2). Penalties – Hendrikse (3).

Munster: Tries – John Ryan, Josh Wycherley, Fineen Wycherley. Conversions – Jack Crowley (3).

Kyle Verreynne and Andile Phehlukwayo scored valiant half-centuries in a record sixth-wicket stand, but once that partnership was over, the Proteas bowed to the inevitable and lost the series-deciding third ODI against Pakistan by 28 runs at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Wednesday.

Chasing a testing 321 for victory, South Africa started brightly with openers Janneman Malan and Aiden Markram putting on 54 in nine overs. But although Markram (18) and Jon-Jon Smuts (17) looked good, the slow pitch and the Pakistan spinners began to take effect, with the required run-rate quickly climbing to above seven to the over.

Captain Temba Bavuma added a run-a-ball 50 with Malan to regain some momentum, but the 24^th over, bowled by left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz, was pivotal. A magnificent delivery that drifted in, gripped and turned, trapped Malan lbw for an impressive 70 off 81 deliveries. Given that he has now scored 222 runs in four innings, it may be difficult to overlook Malan in future.

Three balls later, Bavuma over-ran a quicker delivery and was bowled for 20. Heinrich Klaasen (4) quickly fell to Nawaz (7-0-34-3) as well, and at 140 for five in the 28^th over, South Africa’s hopes of winning seemed over.

But Verreynne, playing in just his fourth ODI, looked an accomplished veteran with a composed 62 off 53 balls, Phehlukwayo showing his experience and a welcome return to best form with the bat as he made 54 off 61 deliveries. Together they added 108 for the sixth wicket in 16 overs, a record for SuperSport Park.

It was asking too much for them to win the match though as both eventually fell to attempted big hits.

In the final analysis, South Africa’s last two overs going for 43 runs provided much food for thought.

After opener Fakhar Zaman had feasted again with a superbly controlled 101 off 104 balls, putting on 112 for the first wicket with Imam-ul-Haq (57), South Africa, led by Keshav Maharaj’s outstanding three for 45, fought back as they reduced Pakistan from 206 for one after 35 overs to 277 for six after 48 overs.

The back-up spinners had also contributed well, off-spinner Markram bowling his full 10 overs for the first time in an ODI and taking two for 48, while left-armer Smuts had gone for a run-a-ball through seven overs. His eighth over, though, the penultimate one of the innings, went for 25 as Hasan Ali (32* off 11) blazed four sixes.

Phehlukwayo bowled the last over and conceded 18 as Babar Azam made merry to finish with a classy, composed 94 off 82 balls.

Although it was undoubtedly a valiant effort by the Springboks, they can’t feel hard done by after their exit from the World Cup at the hands of the All Blacks in their semi-final at Twickenham over the weekend.

It is often said that you can’t play rugby without the ball and that is also true of territory: against top defensive patterns like New Zealand have, you’re not going to be causing many problems if you’re playing from your own half all the time.

South Africa only had 33% territory against the All Blacks – in other words two-thirds of the game was played in their own half. We saw magnificent defence from the Springboks, but we didn’t see anything else. As predicted before the game, they could only offer one-off ball-carriers, strong as they were, and no variety to their attacking play.

Much of the territory problems came down to poor exit strategies. When your scrumhalf is chiefly responsible for clearing your lines via a box-kick from the base – which by its very nature is going to be a higher, shorter kick – then you’re not going to be gaining as much ground compared to when your flyhalf, with a bit more space, can fire a long, raking touchfinder off after a couple of phases. It’s become a bugbear of mine, but Handre Pollard has a massive boot, why wasn’t it used more to drive the All Blacks back?!

The Springboks were hoping that their physicality would wear down the All Blacks, but that’s not going to happen when the opposition can match you physically and is better conditioned. In fact, it is the defending champions who did all of the wearing down, because they constantly asked different questions of the defence, as Nick Mallett pointed out.

“The All Blacks tried to attack in a variety of ways – they had Julian Savea coming off his wing, they played off nine, then they tried going to the backs with Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu carrying the ball, then they went to pick-and-goes and they even tried grubbers. They kept on trying different things, which keeps the pressure on the defence. They don’t just have one game plan, they have a whole variety of attacking options and we were beaten by a better team. We were lucky it was a very wet day,” Mallett said on SuperSport after the game.

There is understandably some negativity around South African rugby at the moment, but I believe our glasses aren’t just half-full of talent, they are full to overflowing, as shown by some of the wonderful Currie Cup rugby produced by the Lions, Western Province and Blue Bulls.

Experienced, visionary coaches are a bit thinner on the ground, but appointing Heyneke Meyer as Springbok coach again is not going to take our rugby forward. The high-intensity, ball-in-hand game plan which Meyer flirted with and then ditched is the way forward, but he clearly does not believe in it and/or cannot coach it.

Two of the most promising young coaches in the country, Nollis Marais of the Bulls and John Dobson of Western Province, have both gone on record in the last couple of weeks as saying the Lions’ brand of rugby, which is all about laying a platform up front and then using the ball while playing what is in front of you, is the way forward.

Lady Luck is a fickle mistress in the arena of top-level sport, but she seldom favours the team that isn’t willing to try anything; the team that hardly plays any rugby at all.

The Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras mounted a valiant effort to chase down 322 to win their Sunfoil Series match against the Chevrolet Warriors at St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Sunday, but ultimately fell just 16 runs short in a thrilling encounter.

Andrew Birch had produced a tremendous all-round performance to set up victory for the Warriors, lashing 88 off 83 balls to lift the home side from 176 for six to 317 all out, and he then claimed two early wickets to reduce the Cobras to 53 for four.

Dane Vilas (84) and Sybrand Engelbrecht (72) then added 159 for the fifth wicket to get the Cobras back in the game.

But the persistent Birch returned to remove both of them in successive overs and off-spinner Simon Harmer then took three quick wickets to send the Cobras crashing to 237 for nine.

But life quickly became miserable for Harmer as number 11 batsman Dane Paterson belted him for five fours and a six in two overs.

Suddenly the Cobras were making significant progress towards their target, with Paterson and Justin Kemp adding 68 in 12 overs.

Kemp carted Birch for three fours in an over on his way to 34 not out and Paterson launched left-arm spinner Jon-Jon Smuts for six to take the Cobras past 300.

But Paterson tried to cut the next ball and thick-edged a knee-high catch to Ryan Bailey in the gully to be dismissed for a pugnacious 42 off 36 balls.

The Cobras are the defending champions, but they have only flattered to deceive in this season’s Sunfoil Series, propping up the log after losing three of their four games.

*Fast bowler Daryn Dupavillon and spinner Keshav Maharaj took eight wickets between them as they bowled the Sunfoil Dolphins to a crushing 242-run win over the Chevrolet Knights in Kimberley on Sunday.

The Knights, chasing a daunting 369 for victory, began the final day on 11 for three and Dupavillon (15-4-38-5) condemned them to defeat with a three-wicket burst that reduced them to 89 for six.

Maharaj then wrapped up the tail, the Knights being bowled out for just 126, to clinch a second victory for the Dolphins, which keeps them in the title race, 20 points behind the first-placed bizhub Highveld Lions, with a game in hand.

The Lions were unable to extend their lead in the competition as they were held to a draw by the Unlimited Titans at Willowmoore Park in Benoni.

The Titans began the final day on 374 for four in their first innings, still trailing the Lions by 111 runs, and they batted on until 550 for five when they declared.

By that stage, Heino Kuhn boasted a franchise record 244 not out and Qaasim Adams made a maiden Sunfoil Series century.