Ken Borland

The character of the Bulls was enough for them to weather the loss to injury of key players and the stern challenge of the tenacious Lions side as they registered an impressive 37-22 victory at Ellis Park in their United Rugby Championship derby on Saturday afternoon.

The joy of the bonus point victory was tempered, however, by the awful injury toll the Bulls suffered. Both the co-captains, Ruan Nortje and Elrigh Louw, both key Springbok forwards, face lengthy time on the sidelines.

Nortje limped off the field in the first five minutes with a leg problem, but it was the terrible injury to Louw that was most disturbing. A typically barn-storming run by the 25-year-old had ended with his leg trapped and then twisted. The agonising pain was obvious and he was already in surgery by 5pm.

The in-form Cameron Hanekom was also off the field at the time, for a head impact assessment. If the Bulls seemed shellshocked early in the second half as they tried to overturn a 10-11 deficit from the first half, then it was understandable.

But Hanekom returned and so did the Bulls’ mojo. The bench, boasting four Springboks in Akker van der Merwe, Nizaam Carr, Willie le Roux and Canan Moodie, played a key role in turning the tide and it was the visitors who certainly finished the game the stronger side. The Lions could only put up with the high-tempo battering for so long and the different financial positions of the two teams was clearly seen in the bench depth.

But the temptation to think everything was going against them and it was just not their day was there for the Bulls. But the champion character was what shone through in the end.

“I’m really proud of the team, after all the disruptions and then we went 10-14 down, some teams would have thought ‘well that’s it’. They could have capitulated,” coach Jake White said.

“But it says a lot about their character and they got the bonus point as well, you’ve got to play really well to do that at Ellis Park. We needed our bench to be really strong in terms of accuracy and the bottom line is we had four Springboks on our bench, which is a massive bonus.

“We needed that collective impact to come on and it was probably the best we have finished a game for the last two or three seasons. The Lions looked a bit tired and we could put pressure on them in a very high-tempo match. It was good to see that we had that vasbyt, that we could play at that tempo for the full 80 minutes, and it means a lot to the team to turn a potential loss into a bonus point win,” White said.

The Bulls began well and led 10-0 after 16 minutes. A tremendous steal by prop Gerhard Steenekamp was followed by flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain kicking across the field and into the Lions’ 22; busy wing Sergeal Petersen snaffled the ball out of the air and fed David Kriel on his inside for the opening try.

But the Lions enjoyed a strong second quarter, the Bulls’ efforts being deflated by some ill-discipline, soft mistakes and inopportune turnovers. Two penalties by flyhalf Sam Francis were followed by Henco van Wyk charging over for a try, having gathered a clever little kick by his midfield partner, Rynhardt Jonker.

A sombre mood settled over Ellis Park following the Louw injury, but then an excellent game of rugby emerged. The Lions were leading 17-13 after 53 minutes, but that was when the Bulls bench began to make their presence felt, along with the returning Hanekom and lock Cobus Wiese, who enjoyed an outstanding game.

The Bulls showed their composure and went back to basics, their scrum winning penalties, their forwards carrying powerfully through the middle and using the maul to good effect. Wiese and flank Marcell Coetzee both powered over for tries and it was replacement hooker Van der Merwe who claimed the bonus point as he rounded off a whirling dervish of a lineout drive.

“It’s disappointing because at one stage in the second half I thought we had turned the momentum,” Lions coach Cash van Rooyen said. “But under pressure we just started to do things differently. Some parts of the game we handled really well, others not. But you can’t buy experience and speeding up learning when we only had 205 caps in the whole team is difficult.

“Decision-making, communication and execution in the moment, these are things we work on every day. But inexperience makes a difference,” Van Rooyen said.

The DP World Lions will be hoping the weather plays along and there are no interruptions to the action in the top-of-the-log CSA T20 Challenge clash between our #PrideOfJozi and the Dafabet Warriors at the Wanderers Stadium on Wednesday evening.

The Lions are still well-placed in second position on the log despite the shock rain-affected loss to the Tuskers in the weekend’s action, while the Warriors come to the DP World Wanderers Stadium as the only unbeaten side in the competition.

The DP World Lions’ last two matches at the Bullring have been affected by the weather and have seen our Pride not being able to produce their best. They scraped a one-run win over Western Province in a Super Over, having been cruising to their target before a rain interruption. The start of their match against the Tuskers was delayed by showers after the toss, and Keith Dudgeon, who used to represent the Pride, then laid waste to the top-order in the sort of conditions seam bowlers dream of having.

But the DP World Lions will be confident that they have the beating of any side in a full 20-over contest, even the in-form Warriors.

Ryan Rickelton, having set alight the SA20, has been the star performer with the bat for our Pride, averaging 41.25 with a strike-rate of 147.32, while he has international-class back-up in Wiaan Mulder, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma and Reeza Hendricks.

Kagiso Rabada and Kwena Maphaka may be away representing the #PrideOfJozi on the IPL stage, but the ever-reliable left-arm spinner Bjorn Fortuin will be there to lead the attack, while seamer Codi Yusuf has shown he is a fast-rising talent.

Having suffered a rare defeat, there is no doubt the DP World Lions will be raring to bounce back and produce a dazzling all-round performance to solidify their place in the top two of the CSA T20 Challenge.

GEORGE, Western Cape – After a day of very bad weather at Fancourt, with strong gales and torrential downpours, Ana Dawson was the only golfer to finish under-par after the first round of the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am and she had good reason to feel delighted.

Dawson, who hails from the Isle of Man, played the Outeniqua course in one-under-par 71 and so ended the opening day one stroke ahead of another three international golfers who finished on level-par: Germany’s Carolin Kauffmann, Scotland’s Kylie Henry and Englishwoman Lauren Taylor.

If the vile weather did not dampen Dawson’s mood then even a three-putt for bogey at the par-four last hole was not going to do it either.

“It was really hard weather and with all the delays, keeping your round going was probably the trickiest bit. It’s always a shame to three-putt the last, it leaves a bit of a sour taste, but I’m still very happy,” the 22-year-old Dawson said.

“If someone had offered me one-under today at the start of the round I would definitely have taken it. I had a nice draw because Outeniqua is a bit shorter and a bit more forgiving, but you still have to play well. I honestly hit just one bad shot today, but I struggled on the greens.”

Dawson enjoyed a fast start with a birdie on the par-four first hole, but she had to stay very patient thereafter as three pars were followed by a bogey on the par-four fifth. She birdied the sixth and eighth holes, but then dropped a shot at the ninth to turn in one-under.

The back nine was more grind with birdies on the 10^th and 14^th holes, but another bogey on the par-three 12^th.

Dawson said the tough conditions actually suited her because it allowed her to take her time.

“It was quite slow out there, but in a way that was nice because it meant I didn’t have to try and rush, which has happened to me in the past. I felt I didn’t need to hurry at all today and that helped me. I really took my time and made sure everything was ready and right before I played,” Dawson said.

Henry and Taylor both took on the Montague course that is rated as being more difficult.

Henry was excellent on the front nine, going out in two-under, but the back nine bit back as she bogeyed three of the first four holes. A birdie on the par-five 18^th was a great way to end though, restoring her to level-par.

Taylor recovered brilliantly from a disastrous front nine. After three pars, a double-bogey seven at the fourth would have knocked the wind out of her sails. She also dropped shots on the sixth and ninth holes, partially offset by a birdie on the par-three eighth, but the 29-year-old was three-over at the turn.

But Taylor stormed to three birdies in the first five holes of the back nine, not dropping any more shots on her way back to the clubhouse.

Kiera Floyd and Lejan Lewthwaite are the leading South Africans, tied in fifth place on one-over-par with Alexandra Swayne of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

South Africa would obviously back themselves to beat any of the qualifiers in the T20 World Cup, but the stakes are going to be raised even higher on Monday with their opening match in Hobart under threat of the weather.

The Proteas will play the team that tops Group B in the qualifying tournament that ends on Friday, with Scotland, Zimbabwe, the West Indies and Ireland all on two points after playing two of their matches.

But there is an 80% chance of rain on the island of Tasmania on Monday, so South Africa will be anxious not to drop points in their opening match, considering their opponents in the rest of Group II are Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

Unfortunately, the flood rains that are sweeping over the east coast of Australia are showing no signs of abating, and South Africa’s last warm-up match, against Bangladesh in Brisbane on Wednesday, was abandoned, the seventh preparation game to be lost to the rain.

That washout meant Proteas captain Temba Bavuma has not played a match since October 6 and his return to Proteas action since an elbow injury kept him out for two-and-a-half months has seen him score just 11 runs in four innings. That form will also be a cause of anxiety for the squad.

Bavuma is undoubtedly a top-class batsman in the longer formats, but a snub in the SA20 Auction has cast a harsh light on his T20 record, especially a strike-rate of just 116 at international level.

With Reeza Hendricks a wonderfully in-form and ready-made replacement for Bavuma, and a couple of able captaincy options in Keshav Maharaj and David Miller, it is a dilemma for coach Mark Boucher and the selectors.

Does one leave out the appointed captain, a respected man who enjoys a great standing amongst the Black community, but is going through a slump, backing the batsmen who are in form right now? Or does one give Bavuma a vote of confidence in the hope that he will find a way to score runs, and briskly?

A decision to drop the captain can often have a destructive effect on team dynamics, but what would a World Cup be without South Africa supplying a healthy dose of drama?