Ken Borland

Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus may be downplaying the importance of winning the inaugural Nations Championship, but filling his team with World Cup winners and first-choice regulars to play England at Ellis Park on Saturday makes it clear how seriously South Africa are taking their opening Test of the year.

With only the injured Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu absent, the backline is probably the one Erasmus would name if it were the World Cup final on Saturday. And up front are all the formidable old names – the now-established first-choice loose trio of captain Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jasper Wiese; Eben Etzebeth and Ruan Nortje in the second row, and Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Thomas du Toit in the front row.

One can probably vigorously debate whether Grant Williams or Cobus Reinach are the number one scrumhalf; but Williams has played 28 Tests already and can no longer be called inexperienced, while Reinach has not played any rugby since his injury on Stormers duty at the end of April.

Du Toit may or may not be South Africa’s best tighthead prop, but English pundits have nothing but praise for him, the 31-year-old having taken the European game  by storm during his three years at Bath. With Wilco Louw fatigued after a tough URC campaign, the Sharks-bound Du Toit gets an early chance to lay down a marker in the Springbok jersey, his mobility for a high-paced game at altitude being a plus.

It is fit and proper that Erasmus and the Springboks are taking England so seriously, in contrast to many South Africans who expect them to be filling their boots against Steve Borthwick’s visitors.

Yes, England struggled in the Six Nations, but let’s not forget that at the start of this year, it was this weekend’s clash at Ellis Park that was creating the most excitement for the early rounds of the new Nations Championship. England had risen to third in the world rankings thanks to their unbeaten run through their Autumn Internationals, including a 33-19 dismantling of the All Blacks, and them versus South Africa seemed to be a match-up between the two most in-form teams on the planet.

The momentum was lost in the Six Nations, until England nearly beat champions France in Paris. They looked back on the up again and showed that they do still have some potent weapons.

“Our mindset is just to win another Test match and I’m pretty sure England are the same. The Barbarians match was a nice warm-up and it helped get the guys into the structure, but this is now a big Test. England are always tough, their strength in numbers is really good, many of their players were in the Premiership final so their standard is very high,” Erasmus warned when announcing his team this week.

“There are not a lot of games against England in our squad and it will be all about how quickly we can get cohesion, alignment and playing together. England should have won their last game against France, they only just lost, and having been here a while, they’ve probably adapted to altitude.

“We’ll have to see how they run the ball, but they have a young and energetic side that fits an open, running game. We’ll have to get the better of them facet by facet of the game, try and win by dominating the different departments of the game.

“This is a big year for us, there are young guys there in our squad but they don’t have a lot of caps and next year is the World Cup. The priority is to keep our momentum and belief, so we’re just trying to win, we won’t be chasing bonus points. If we win all our games, we’ll win the Nations Championship.

“We just want to try and get on the front foot, get momentum, but it’s not going to be easy. Which is why we’ve chosen a more experienced side. If it goes well on Saturday, then we can use more youngsters in the next few weeks,” Erasmus said.

The double World Cup winning coach’s caution is also justified by history: the last Test the Springboks played at Ellis Park was their embarrassing 38-22 defeat to Australia on August 16 last year, while the last time they played England in Johannesburg was on June 16, 2018.

On that occasion, the Springboks won 42-39, recovering from a horror start in which they went 24-3 down. It was just Rassie’s second Test as head coach and Siya Kolisi was the first Black African to lead South Africa in a Test match. The lesson from that game was that momentum can shift very quickly at Ellis Park.

Last year’s defeat to the Wallabies provided another salient lesson and warning – it is easy, given how fast-scoring matches can be at Ellis Park, to get carried away. The Springboks were near-perfect in the opening quarter, leading 22-0 with some scintillating rugby. But then they hit a speed wobble, over-played and Australia were well-deserved winners.

Using Manie Libbok at flyhalf worked marvellously when the Springboks were in charge and on attack, but his game management was exposed when the Wallabies fought their way back into the contest. It seemed on that day that Libbok had only one gear – flat out – and their game eventually spiralled out of control, a bit like what has happened to English cricket with their Bazball.

This Saturday at Ellis Park will be the first Test since then that Erasmus is using Libbok in the No.10 jersey. The injury to Feinberg-Mngomezulu nows gives the former Stormers star the chance to show that the effective job he has done coming off the bench since then can be repeated from the start.

“I have a clear understanding what my role is. I need to go out there and lead with my voice, drive the team around the park and make sure we execute our game plan. I need to do my exits, make sure we are in the right areas and play with the right balance,” Libbok told SuperSport this week.

“It’s especially about looking after the forwards, not wasting their energy and overplaying them. I need to handle the pressure, kick at the right times and get in their territory,” Libbok said, perhaps in reference to the feeling that the Springboks had shot their bolt way too early against the Wallabies last season.

South Africa are going to have to box smart against England and it will require a much more controlled performance from them if their proud record against the Red Rose in Johannesburg is not going to go the same way as their one against Australia went to everyone’s shock last year.

England have not won at Ellis Park since 1972 and anywhere on the Highveld since 2000, while Australia’s previous win at the intimidating venue came in 1963 and they had not triumphed anywhere in South Africa since 2011.

England are a competent side across the board and the Springboks will be looking for a knockout blow via their usual weapons of physical dominance at the gainline and in the set-pieces, with a lethal backline able to both create space and take advantage of what materialises thanks to their mighty forwards.

When Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said after the game that Munster had been “able to prevent us from playing”, it was said with grudging respect more than churlishness, and few could argue that the defending champions were not deserving winners at Ellis Park even if the 33-13 scoreline maybe did not fully indicate how competitive the home side were.

The brilliance of the Munster performance was that the more the Lions roared, huffed and puffed, the more resolute and clinical Graham Rowntree’s side became. The coach said afterwards that the sheer power his players had shown had been why the Lions were stifled, the key to victory in a match in which Munster only had 36% of possession and 31% of territory.

“I was very pleased with our power game, especially the way we stopped their maul and used ours. It was a very good defensive display and we managed to get our power game going, which is something we have drilled a lot,” Rowntree said.

“It’s been very special that we’ve shown power on both sides of the ball against two big South African teams now and I’m delighted that we’ve come away from this trip with 10 points.

“We had a plan and we stuck to it, except for a few moments where we strayed off and were a bit loose and our discipline let us down. But we have some tremendous leaders, guys who are real warriors in the big moments, and we are always moving on from our mistakes.

“There are still elements of our game we need to think about, to not score more tries is maybe a bit frustrating, but the fundamentals are always there. Last year told us that we have composure when we are in the fire,” Rowntree said.

Given their ability to win away from home and the fact that they seem to play better the stronger the pressure, Munster certainly look capable of defending their United Rugby Championship title. But Rowntree is blacklisting any talk that is focused too far ahead.

“We have momentum but we still have to take it game-by-game. Winning both games on the highveld gives us a lot of confidence and we do have some guys coming back from injury. It’s pretty much knockout rugby from now till the end of the competition,” Rowntree said.

Van Rooyen praised Munster for their management of the game.

“You could feel them dictating the tempo of the match, and then they got ahead and managed to squeeze us. Once we got going, we looked dangerous, but that’s all part of the squeeze, they didn’t allow us to counter.

“We’ve got to try and generate pace in our play, but they kept kicking the ball out, they made us battle at the breakdown and they spoilt our momentum in the lineouts as well. Munster didn’t do anything we didn’t expect, but they just executed so well and they make everything slow. We have been outsmarted,” Van Rooyen said.

A 46-40 victory over group winners Bordeaux-Begles has ensured the Bulls will be listed in the final 16 of the Champions Cup, and coach Jake White is delighted by that, but he did admit to being a little bemused by how hard they made life for themselves at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday afternoon.

The Bulls scored six tries, some of them absolutely brilliant, with flank Marcell Coetzee going over twice and wing Devon Williams, centre David Kriel, fullback Willie le Roux and scrumhalf Embrose Papier, with a superb individual effort, also getting on the try-scorers’ list. Flyhalf Johan Goosen converted five of the tries and his replacement, Jaco van der Walt, kicked two crucial late penalties.

Bordeaux-Begles also scored six tries, taking two bonus points from the match, which was enough to confirm they will finish top of the group.

The Bulls twice found themselves in a rock-solid position of dominance, leading 21-7 after 26 minutes and then 40-21 after 53 minutes, but on both occasions their concentration and game-management wobbled and they ended up letting the quality Bordeaux side back in the game.

It was the home side’s replacements who saw out the final quarter, their strong ball-carrying earning them the two penalties that enabled them to just hold off the French challenge.

“We did make it difficult for ourselves and maybe at halftime we started to think about winning by 36 points because that would have seen us top the pool if Bordeaux didn’t get any bonus points,” White admitted afterwards.

“Maybe we were seduced into that style of play, it became like a sevens game and that probably helped Bordeaux, who are a good team. This is such a big competition and there are very small margins, those are the things we need to be sharper on.

“But I can’t be cross with the team, we had four forwards under the age of 22. This is the next step to Test rugby and the only way the team is going to learn to cope with these sort of situations is by going through it. We need to be more streetwise, but that comes with time. When we have our debrief, we’ll look at what some of the best options should have been.

“But I’m obviously still very proud of the win and scoring 46 points versus Bordeaux, they don’t often concede that many and they have been dominant in France. So I’m happy and it’s nice to learn when you’ve won,” White said.

The Bulls gave the visitors, on an eight-match winning streak, a ferocious welcome as eighthman Cameron Hanekom was ruled to have just lost the ball over the line and tighthead prop Carlu Sadie was yellow-carded for a ruck offence. After seven minutes, the Bulls were finally on the board as Coetzee went over from a tap-penalty.

Bordeaux equalised six minutes later when fullback Romain Buros knifed through to score, but the Bulls then thrilled the crowd of more than 10 000 with a superbly-executed try off a lineout. Strong carries by hooker Jan-Hendrik Wessels and lock Ruan Nortje were followed by a lovely pass out wide from Goosen to Williams, who scampered over for the try.

Coetzee forced his way over for a second try on 26 minutes, but in the last 10 minutes, the Bulls had to call on all their scrambling ability in defence as Bordeaux put them under severe pressure following prop Gerhard Steenekamp’s yellow card for ruck offences.

The Bulls did concede a try to lock Adam Coleman, but half-time beckoned with them still in the lead, 21-14, and then they added a vital score against the run of play. Stedman Gans sparked the counter with a half-break and lovely offload to Le Roux, who was through the gap in a flash and then threw a pinpoint pass to Kriel, who went all the way from long range.

The 26-14 lead would have pleased White, and the try that opened the second half would have delighted him even more. Goosen produced a brilliant up-and-under despite being under big pressure from two defenders, wing Sebastian de Klerk made a fine aerial win and Kriel then made the initial break before Le Roux was, as is his trademark, in the right place at the right time to score.

Papier’s try was a brilliant piece of individual play as his team presented him with untidy, backfoot ball, but the scrumhalf spotted a hole in the defence and raced through it before swerving past the cover defence to dot down.

But White would have then been po-faced as Bordeaux scored three times in the next 15 minutes. But the smile was back as his team held on for a good win.

With Saracens beating Olympique Lyon later on Saturday night, the Bulls remained second in the final group standings and will have a home match in the last 16.

Ironically, White believes finishing second and getting a home match in the last 16 could boomerang on the Bulls.

“I would love to have a home knockout game in this competition, but that means we will play Dragons and Leinster away in the URC, come back for a home last-16 Champions Cup match and then an away quarterfinal before coming back to Loftus to play Munster.

“It will be helluva tough flying back and forth like that. But the nice thing is it shows the improvement and growth we’ve had in the Champions Cup. There is belief that we can win it, but we also need to understand that the big guns are now coming.

“It will be teams where 20 of the 23 are internationals playing against youngsters who are still growing and learning the ropes. I’m a realist and this competition now goes on steroids,” White said.

Scorers

Bulls – Tries: Marcell Coetzee (2), Devon Williams, David Kriel, Willie le Roux, Embrose Papier. Conversions: Johan Goosen (5). Penalties: Jaco van der Walt (2).

Bordeaux-Begles – Tries: Romain Buros, Adam Coleman, Madosh Tambwe, Tevita Tatafu (2), Paul Adadie. Conversions: Zack Holmes (3), Mateo Garcia (2).

by Mike Green

There will be more rubbish spoken about this than there will be at a conspiracy theorists’ convention. But in the end, neither of the protagonists in the great golf culture war can with any certainty at all claim to be the winners with this great ‘merger’.

The PGA Tour and their ‘strategic partners’, the DP World Tour, have climbed into bed with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. The PIF was the monetary force behind LIV Golf, so, naturally, all the headlines are that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are ‘merging’. In truth, there appears to be much still to be worked out. So it’s not entirely clear what the merger entails.

Reading and re-reading the press releases, and watching the ‘interview’ video of Keith Pelley of the DP World Tour (it was patently and painfully staged), and the MSNBC interview of the PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan and PIF’s Yasir Al-Rumayyan, there is not a single word about the continued existence of LIV in any shape at all after its 2023 season.

To quote Eamon Lynch (I realise that doing so might not sit well with some people, but so be it): “If this were a genuine victory for LIV’s concept, the announcement would have featured Greg Norman, the league’s chief executive and propagandist. Instead, he was not mentioned. Still, not the first man disappeared after his utility for the Saudis concluded.”

Of course, Norman’s is not the only ‘big’ name conspicuous by its absence from the announcement. If ever anyone went out on a limb (forgive the expression in this Saudi-soaked context) for his cause, it was Rory McIlroy. Quite what this sudden rapprochement has done to him can only be imagined. And as the cosying up between Monahan and Al-Rumayyan appears to have been about seven weeks in the making, perhaps it is no surprise that McIlroy slow-marched his way through two turgid performances in the Masters and the PGA Championship. And withdrew from an ‘elevated’ PGA Tour event, the virtues of which he himself had so evangelically extolled. His career might have looked very different had he not taken on himself the leadership role – or was it forced on him? – in the battle against the godless LIV. Someone owes him something that will be, at very least, an apology.

How will all of this kissing and making up change the face of golf? It would appear that the long-ballyhooed ‘global schedule’ might, at last, make an appearance, at least in rudimentary form, from 2024.

In that global schedule, it seems probable that there will be a nod to LIV’s alleged ‘selling point’, the team concept. If it takes place in a small window – say from September to December – Ernie Els will feel vindicated for his suggestion for accommodating Norman’s fantasies (I believe he might have used the term ‘hit and giggle’) in the ‘silly season’ before the end of the year.

It also seems probable that several of the DP World Tour’s events will enjoy some sort of elevated status, both in terms of prize-money and in having the week to themselves, or at least unchallenged by a PGA Tour event of remotely similar status.

Lost between those broad brushstrokes is the position of a circuit like the Sunshine Tour. There is hard work to be done to make the co-sanctioned tournaments it has with the DP World Tour retain a status that justifies the interests of the newly-born behemoth. Perhaps the PIF people will pour some of their money into a tournament like the South African Open to help it retain its status as one of the prestigious titles around the world. Perhaps the lure of increased visibility on a global stage will entice local commercial support too – and not just for the flagship of the local schedule.

As for the players that have been caught in the crossfire, the only winners seem to be those who kept their powder relatively dry. Brooks Koepka, for example, will emerge from this with his reputation and ability to compete at the highest level (that’s neither LIV nor the PGA Tour, if you were wondering) intact. Koepka has never been much of a stoker of animosities – other than with Bryson DeChambeau, and wasn’t that fun? He stayed true to himself and his belief that the LIV jump was of personal benefit to him on a number of levels, and he didn’t waste his energy on the pettiness that characterised much of the conversation about the great divide. There are one or two others like him, but they haven’t shown much yet. Much golf, that is.

The most vocal of the anti-establishment critics have been players who were already in the process of riding off into the sunset. Many of them will stay on the edges in the new dispensation, and probably remain outside consideration for Ryder Cup captaincies, for instance. Their golfing relevance is in any case tending towards the PGA Tour Champions, or the Legends Tour, now.

To their credit, the South Africans playing in LIV this season have remained admirably uncommunicative about their situations. But it will be good to see them able to participate in the mainstream again. All of them have international success in their futures, and now, perhaps, that can be achieved without the wretched dogfight that was the golf landscape over the last two years.

With details conspicuously absent from what we know so far, it’s premature to celebrate anything just yet. But it does seem sure that LIV Golf as we have come to know it is winding down.

First published on the SA Tour Golf website – https://satourgolf.co.za/2023/06/06/comment-who-wins-and-who-loses-in-great-merger/