Ken Borland

The Springboks have no idea when or where their next Rugby Championship appointment will be, but coach Jacques Nienaber said he was “unbelievably proud” of his team for getting over what he described as a “massive” hurdle when they beat Argentina 29-10 in their second Rugby Championship Test at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday evening.

For now, the Southern Hemisphere tournament is in limbo following New Zealand’s unilateral decision to not travel to Australia next week or host South Africa in their matches scheduled for September 25 and October 2. As accustomed to uncertainty the Springboks have had to become in these Covid times, Nienaber hinted that the shock developments on the eve of Saturday’s Test could well have rattled his team.

“I’m unbelievably proud of the squad because this was a massive Test for us, not far off the World Cup final, winning the Rugby Championship in Salta or the last Test against the Lions. I was actually very nervous about this game, we put lots of pressure on ourselves and the guys challenged themselves massively. Our focus had to be on this game and not if we’re going to stay in South Africa or travel to the UK or Brisbane or wherever.

“The players deserve all the credit, they are the ones who sacrifice their bodies for the country at the end of the day. I’m delighted for them. The game-management was excellent for the first three-quarters of the game, but we weren’t perfect because there were opportunities created that we did not finish. But you need to look at that from the perspective that we were up against a very desperate Argentina side,” Nienaber said after the win.

Despite their dominance, the Springboks only scored two tries, flyhalf Handre Pollard giving a polished goalkicking display as he added the other 19 points. Nienaber pointed to his team’s heavy schedule recently and the disruption caused by replacement scrumhalf Jaden Hendrikse’s injury, which forced South Africa into playing the last eight minutes with only 14 men as wing Cheslin Kolbe had to shift to halfback, as mitigating factors.

“We’ve had to play six Tests on the trot, which you seldom have to do and doing that at this intensity takes its toll. We would have loved the bonus point and we went all out for it. But we also had to make changes because we need some guys to get more experience. We did that, we had to rotate and guys like Jaden Hendrikse, Damian Willemse and Kwagga Smith came on early.

“We were going full on at the end for the try that would have given us a bonus point and we said to them they should take chances, so I am not disappointed with the try we conceded in the last minute. It was absolutely worth it and it’s fantastic that we were in the position that we could go for it. But there were lots of things we also didn’t get right on our side,” Nienaber said.

The Currie Cup has now reached the stage when the strength of the gizzards of the six remaining teams in contention will be tested and there are crunch games being staged in Nelspruit on Saturday and Kimberley on Sunday.
The Free State Cheetahs visit the Pumas on Saturday for a midday game that they know they have to win if they are to keep their faltering challenge for a semifinal spot alive. On Sunday afternoon Griquas host Western Province and the winners of that clash will have a good chance of finishing third on the log.
Meanwhile, at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon, it is the Lions, who have bowed out of the running, who will want to show their intestinal fortitude by winning their last game and giving themselves a chance of not finishing last on the log when they take on the Sharks.
The visitors have much to play for themselves as they still need to nail down home-ground advantage for the semifinals, never mind the final, and coach Sean Everitt is expecting the Lions to make it very tough for them.
“It’s a very important game as far as the log is concerned, we have the opportuity to catch the Bulls at the top if they slip up against the Cheetahs next weekend, and the next thing for us is a home semifinal. But even then, with Western Prvince getting five points in their last game, it’s vital we get a full house of points against the Lions.
“But the Lions are going to be really desperate because they want to rise from the bottom of the log. No-one can fault their effort this season, just a few things have gone wrong for them and they’ve been punished for it. They will give it their all and they are a dangerous team who score a lot of points,” Everitt said.
The one improvement Everitt knows the Sharks have to show is in their discipline and he was cross about how many penalties they conceded in struggling to beat a 14-man Cheetahs side last weekend.
“We have to get right what we got wrong against the Cheetahs, which was giving away far too many penalties. It meant we weren’t able to get into our game. It’s an old Rainbow Cup problem that has resurfaced. Against a team like the Lions who use their opportunities, we need to keep them out and we can’t be giving them penalties otherwise they will score,” Everitt said.

South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus posted a classic put-down on social media before the series against the British and Irish Lions about a lion not concerning himself when a sheep offers an opinion. Despite the Springboks proving those naysayers wrong with their brilliant effort to win the series, the critics somehow remain.

The bitter losers up north have been complaining non-stop about the ‘boring’ style of play of the Springboks, forgetting that it was the Lions who set the tone for the series when they dominated the second half of the first Test through their kicking game and driving maul.  Australasian critics have deliberately ignored the massive intensity and physicality of the series by saying the rugby was boring; maybe for the neutral, but certainly not for the supporters of the two teams.

Erasmus himself has been roundly criticised, and charged with misconduct by WorldRugby, for his video expose’ of refereeing mistakes in the first Test. Again, it has been forgotten that Lions coach Warren Gatland started that war by disgracefully questioning the integrity of a South African TMO who had to fill in at late notice due to Covid travel restrictions. Gatland denies doing this, but how did multiple British journalists have the same story? There is no doubt it was a calculated strategy to put pressure on the TMO, and Erasmus responded in kind a week later.

Rugby at that level is often brutal and the mind-games and off-the-field tactics are not for the fainthearted either. It is just a game, but we are not talking about hugging fluffy bunnies here – the Lions brought a manic determination to win at all costs and the Springboks were also extremely fired up to prove themselves and also bring some happiness to a society that was fraying around more than just the edges.

It was all very reminiscent of the 2009 Lions series. The tourists brought the same streetfighting attitude and had the same backing from their embedded one-eyed media. It brought out the best in the South African management, although Rassie’s video was probably not his finest moment.

But what Erasmus achieved was the same as what 2009 Springbok coach Peter de Villiers ensured. Following a predictable outcry from the touring media about dirty play by the Springboks, De Villiers took all the pressure off the players by making himself the lightning rod for all the attention with his comments about putting on tutus and doing ballet.

The players loved Snor for that and it was one of the prime examples of what a good man-manager he was. Erasmus did the same ahead of the crucial second Test, allowing the Springboks to produce one of their greatest second-half displays.

From the high point of 2009, when the Springboks also won the Tri-Nations Championship, their fortunes began to drop off, culminating in their nightmare years of 2016 and 2017. And then Erasmus arrived to give the Springboks their meds … turns out there was nothing wrong with their bodies, it was all in their heads.

Following the triumphs of 2007 and 2009, the same old chorus of boring Springboks echoed around the rugby landscape and, unfortunately, we listened. The Springboks must play more like the All Blacks, was the consensus. And we believed the narrative, which was always meant to take the Springboks away from their strengths. No-one can copy the All Blacks, that is their own, brilliant style, forged in their rugby-DNA.

The All Blacks now loom large in the Rugby Championship and I am sure the Springboks, rapidly regaining their confidence and peak conditioning, are not going to be distracted by the many words being published which are somehow trying to belittle their remarkable achievements.

By many accounts, the All Blacks were fortunate to win their last meeting, in the opening game of the 2019 World Cup, and since then they have lost record-breaking coach Steve Hansen and great players such as Ryan Crotty, Sonny Bill Williams, Ben Smith and Kieran Read.

This is not the same imperious New Zealand team and, although they are trying to rediscover the same high-intensity, high-tempo game as before, they have been spluttering over the last couple of years. And the ferocious Springbok defence, set-piece excellence and strong kicking game is a rather large obstacle for them to overcome.

No wonder they want the Springboks to change the way they play.

Dwaine Pretorius has bent the selectors’ ears his way shortly before a world cup on two previous occasions and the 32-year-old all-rounder will be hoping to do it a third time when the Proteas tour Sri Lanka next month.

South Africa has such a great tradition of all-rounders and competition for those places has been stiff, but Pretorius made the cut for both the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2019 World Cup. The latter tournament was the last time he played an ODI for South Africa and he finished a wretched tournament for the Proteas as their most economical bowler.

And now the T20 World Cup looms in October/November and Pretorius has one chance to stake his claim for that touring party with his performances in Sri Lanka. That he has left it this late is no fault of his own – he has had terrible luck with injury and then caught Covid, which meant his last match for the Proteas was in February in Pakistan.

“The last six months have been the most frustrating of my career ever. First I broke my ribs taking a catch and then the night before flying to the West Indies I tested positive for Covid. Missing that one flight meant I missed two tours, to both the Caribbean and Ireland, so it was a shocker. Covid has brought a lot of new challenges, bubbles aren’t easy and there’s no leeway.

“So it’s been a tough one, but I just have to get over it and deal with it. It’s the third time I’m going through this sort of pressure, it was the same in 2017 and the 2019. I just take it game-to-game and focus on what’s in front of me now. I will try and play my brand of cricket that I believe can add value to the team,” Pretorius told The Citizen on Thursday.

The T20 World Cup is also being played on the subcontinent and Pretorius has bowled cannily in those conditions before and he strikes the ball strongly in the lower middle-order. He is a really valuable white-ball cricketer.

Andile Phehlukwayo has been left out of the T20 squad for Sri Lanka and that leaves Pretorius, Wiaan Mulder and spinner George Linde to fight for probably two all-round places in the XI.

“If I try and do a role that is not me, then the chances of success are so much less. I know I can do the fifth/sixth bowler role and I have the power with the bat to finish innings. I will just try and prove that again and hopefully the selectors will decide I am the type of player they want in the World Cup squad.

“It’s a fight-or-flight situation and you just have to back what makes you you. I can score boundaries from ball one, but it’s risky and I could get out for less than 10 every time and then I will miss the World Cup,” a philosophical Pretorius said.

Opener Janneman Malan has also been left out of the T20 squad and Lungi Ngidi (personal reasons), Quinton de Kock (resting) and David Miller (hamstring injury) will miss the ODIs in Sri Lanka. Fast bowler Junior Dala returns to the Proteas squad, having also last played in Pakistan in February, and he will boost the wicket-taking capability of the attack.

Proteas squads

ODI – Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma (captain), Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Wiaan Mulder, Andile Phehlukwayo, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Junior Dala, Beuran Hendricks, Lizaad Williams.

T20 – Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock, Reeza Hendricks, Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, Dwaine Pretorius, George Linde, Wiaan Mulder, Bjorn Fortuin, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi, Beuran Hendricks, Sisanda Magala, Lizaad Williams.