Ken Borland

A Bulls team comprising 11 Springboks was pushed all the way by a Griquas side without a single international in their Super Rugby Unlocked game at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria at the weekend, with the home team eventually coming back from deficits of 10-0 in the first half and 18-10 early in the second to win 30-23.

As Griquas coach Scott Mathie pointed out afterwards, even when you take the Springboks out of the equation, the Bulls have about R30 million rand more to spend on players than the minnows from Kimberley, and yet it was the visitors who handed out many lessons on Saturday night.

Here are the main things new coach Jake White would have learnt about the Bulls from the tough encounter:

There is enough character and skill in the team when they are under pressure

Having played half-an-hour of poor rugby, wasting several chances, the Bulls did not panic and managed to go into halftime all-square at 10-10. Similarly, after conceding eight points early in the second half, they stuck to the revised game-plan in the second half and closed out a vital win.

“There was good character shown by the team, to be 10-0 down after 35 minutes and to be able to go into the changeroom at 10-10 was a good character test. Credit to Griquas for stopping our momentum, the way they defended and chased everything showed a lot of fight and spirit. I would have preferred we played like we did against the Sharks and got five points, but you see different things under pressure.

“I don’t really know a lot of the players very well and I got time to see the players and how they react under pressure tonight. Fortunately we were able to win the little battles, those championship moments, and we scored 30 points despite not playing well. Everybody wants to see the perfect game and maybe some people expected that tonight, but it’s not always going to happen,” White said.

The Bulls, for all their attacking potential, have to ‘build an innings’, they need to be more direct first before trying to exploit space out wide

The Bulls backline again looked threatening with ball in hand and some ambitious rugby was played in the first half. But they were guilty of going wide too quickly and players were often isolated and turned over, while not using the forwards to punch holes first and get opponents on the floor, meant Griquas were able to flood the breakdown, winning numerous turnovers.

In the second half, the Bulls showed more patience and the likes of Marco van Staden, Jason Jenkins and replacement eighthman Elrigh Louw were able to get in behind the defending side.

“What was important in the second half was that from playing side-to-side in the first half, we were more direct. We were able to get the forwards with the ball under their arm, Jason Jenkins burst through, so did Elrigh Louw and Marco van Staden had a couple of good runs. We realised after the first half that we had to be more direct in our structure.

“So I told them at the break to be more direct, not to play so much touch rugby in the middle of the field. I was very happy with the set-pieces, we got enough ball and our forwards were relatively strong. I’m happy that we found a way to win,” White said.

The Bulls need to work on their breakdown strategy and need to commit more cleaners on their own ball

The Bulls conceded seven turnovers in the first half, mostly because of isolated players simply being rucked off the ball by the willing Griquas pack. Not enough attention was paid to the clean-out by the Bulls, who wanted players on their feet, but perhaps erred too much in that direction and did not focus enough on ensuring they secured the ball at the breakdown first.

“We didn’t have much rhythm and at times Griquas got away with it at the breakdown, but winning 16 penalties to eight conceded shows we could not complain. Because we had such a good shape against the Sharks two weeks ago, we probably thought things would be a lot easier at the breakdown. We probably should have put one or two more players in early on.

“We did not do enough early on to secure our ball and that gave them a sniff. We were probably a bit seduced by the last game and how easily we got quick ball, so tonight we didn’t think we needed to go in there and fetch it. And the side carrying the ball definitely wasn’t rewarded as much tonight, at one stage we had 65% possession and we were still getting penalised. But we showed we can win ugly, sometimes it’s not easy and you have to do that,” White said.

Morne Steyn did not have his greatest outing but he remains one of the best game-managers around

White admitted that Steyn did not have his best game, but the way the Bulls dominated territory in the final quarter was crucial. Possession was fairly equal throughout the game, but Griquas were forced into trying to play too much rugby in their own half, largely thanks to Steyn’s tactical kicking.

“We didn’t manage the game well enough and we need to be better at that,” Mathie admitted. “Our exits from our own half should have been better and we will be working on our decision-making. We sent too much time in our own half and didn’t exit as well as we should have. Just before halftime, we should have controlled the scrum better and then we would have gone into the second half in the lead.

“Those are the small moments that matter and you need clear heads at those times, you need to eliminate risk. We just needed a few better decisions but we’ve taken a point at Loftus and we will take a lot of energy from that and that we were able to win this game, we did enough to win,” Mathie said.

The Members Council ‘owned’ the Fundudzi Forensic Report auditing the affairs of Cricket South Africa in the wake of the suspension of then-CEO Thabang Moroe from the moment they commissioned it last December and they are hopeful that they will finally get to see it without onerous conditions this weekend.

CSA announced in the early hours of Friday morning that the CSA Board of Directors and the Members Council would hold “a joint workshop this weekend to discuss critical matters” and while their statement was in response to Sascoc’s intervention in their affairs revealed on Thursday evening, provincial presidents have confirmed to The Citizen that Saturday’s agenda includes a discussion of the forensic report, which was completed in June.

“We will all be under one roof and hopefully we will at least get a partial view of the report that we will dissect and analyse. I’m pretty sure the forensic report will be made available, or at least what can be made public knowledge will be. This weekend is really make-or-break time for Cricket South Africa, I believe. And then hopefully we will meet with Sascoc on Sunday,” a Members Council delegate told The Citizen on Friday.

According to a president of a major CSA affiliate, efforts to get the organisation, which has postponed the AGM they were meant to hold on September 5, back on track by allowing the Members Council to be informed of any other directors or staff implicated in the misgovernance which saw Moroe being formally dismissed last week, have been hampered by the seven Board members who also sit on the Members Council.

“I’m disappointed by the Members Council to be honest, we just seem unable to make a decision, some representatives are just going along with whatever the Board members say,” the president said.

“There are seven other members of the Members Council and three of them have been especially vocal, but there seems to be a very serious conflict of interest amongst the Board because some of them earn double what their normal income would be by being directors. It’s a flaw in the system but Sascoc are dealing with the Members Council as we look at our Memorandum of Incorporation as well.”

According to their constitution, CSA have to hold an AGM by November 5.

Darren Fichardt birdied the last hole for a six-under-par 64 and a one-stroke victory in the Betway Championship at Killarney Country Club on Friday and said he was grateful for the return of butterflies in the stomach after five months without any competitive golf.

Fichardt’s 64 was the lowest round of the tournament and saw him sign for a three-under-par total of 207, one ahead of fellow veteran Ulrich van den Berg, who himself had a birdie putt on 18 for the tie and a playoff, but it shaved the hole from 12 feet out.

The 45-year-old Fichardt holed out from eight feet on the last for his sixth birdie of the day and his 18^th Sunshine Tour title as the Betway Championship launched the new Rise Up Series that marks a return for professional golf.

“I’m very happy to win and it’s just awesome to have those competitive golf butterflies in the stomach again after five months on the couch. Going into the final round six shots behind it’s just a case of whatever happens, happens. It’s a case of all or nothing. My tee-shot on 18 was a bit short, so I had to keep my approach under the trees, it was a bit low, but it helped because with a high floater you never know how it’s going to bounce.

“At the start of the day I was missing short putts for birdie and getting frustrated. With the scoring system now after Lockdown you can see all the scores all the time and I saw how my good friend Jaco van Zyl was burning up the course with a 65. So I thought I better start getting some birdies and to get three straight around the turn was good because this is a tough course,” Fichardt said after claiming R95 100 for the win.

Overnight leader Alex Haindl fell down the final classification with a two-over-par 72, finishing in a tie for third. Two birdies on the front nine kept him neck-and-neck with Anton Haig, who eagled the fifth, but successive bogeys at the seventh and eighth saw Haindl slip and he came home in 37.

Haig collapsed on the back nine with five bogeys and a double-bogey on the par-three 17^th when he was short of the green, but struggled to get out of a grass bunker.

Jaco Prinsloo and Ruan Korb shared third place with Haindl on one-under-par. Prinsloo was in a share of the lead but bogeyed the last two holes.

Fichardt said it was a brutally tough return to action for the Sunshine Tour golfers, likening the course, which was dry with greens like ice-rinks, to a U.S. Open layout.

“It was frustrating because it’s a short track but the greens were tricky with the lines difficult to read and a lot of short putts missed. It was like playing in the U.S. Open. The first day was really cold and windy and I would have been happy with eight-over never mind three-over-par. The second round [70] was a bit better and then today was much better. “I realised today that you just have to get the ball into play here, you have to position yourself. It was definitely experience that carried me through today, after I was a bit more aggressive in the first two rounds,” Fichardt said.

One of the key features to come out of the discussions around racism in cricket has been the acknowledgement that it has to be okay for stakeholders who feel discriminated against or marginalised to speak out. Without that freedom, the status quo merely continues and we won’t know that the system is broken until there is something akin to an explosion of anger.

And there are certainly a lot of angry people in the cricket community at the moment, many with good reason because the leadership of the game has failed them so thoroughly. Many people are thoroughly disgruntled by how mediocre the returns have been after millions of rand have been spent on transformation over more than 20 years.

It is not okay, however, for people to spread division, blatant lies or push agendas designed to further the interests of only a select few. Unfortunately many of those divisive voices have been given prominence in the last few weeks.

The troubles in South African cricket seem to have given birth to an extreme version of Africanism that threatens to shut everyone else out of the game.

We now have a situation where White members of CSA management, specifically acting CEO Jacques Faul, director of cricket Graeme Smith and head coach Mark Boucher, are being pilloried, not for anything they have or have not done, but simply because they are White. No matter how often they express their support for BLM or for transformation, some people simply cannot get past their skin colour.

The corollary of this is the perception that Black Africans should not be held accountable for their actions. Suddenly suspended CEO Thabang Moroe, who left the game in such crisis last December that Faul and Smith had to be parachuted in, is the darling of certain sections of the media, who are pushing for his return. The irony that they are supporting someone who nine months ago took away the accreditation of journalists who were critical of him is totally lost on them. Are they are in favour of media freedom or do they support someone who has also looked to destroy the players’ trade union – the South African Cricketers Association?

Convicted matchfixers Thami Tsolekile and Ethy Mbhalati have also been given platforms that are far too exalted for the manner in which they betrayed the game. Tsolekile in particular spouted forth on a well-known radio talk show – with very little counter-interrogation – on how the whole matchfixing investigation of the 2015 T20 competition targeted Black players. He and his host conveniently failed to mention that the entire process was presided over by Bernard Ngoepe, one of the country’s most respected judges. Are they saying he is racist? Sounds like the typical protestations of the criminally guilty to me.

Equally appallingly, Tsolekile accused and named two White players of being involved in matchfixing without a shred of evidence. Their rights have been trampled on and I expect them to go to the courts to protect their names. CSA have subsequently released a statement saying the one player was one of their star witnesses because he immediately reported a corrupt approach and the other was just a name bandied about by arch-conspirator Gulam Bodi in order to get other people involved. They were both thoroughly investigated, by the ICC as well, and totally exonerated.

Even the legendary Makhaya Ntini seems to have been allowed to get away with a one-sided narrative. I’m sure in the early years of his international career there were days when he felt isolated and alone. But he has been unfair in his criticism of Cricket South Africa.

If it weren’t for Ali Bacher personally getting involved and organising proper legal representation for him, Ntini would have spent several years languishing in jail after being incorrectly found guilty of rape, and Proteas manager and team doctor Mohammed Moosajee has revealed the felicitations the great fast bowler received from CSA at the end of his career.

“What Makhaya said I think surprised every one of us because he was a beacon for every youngster. He was in the team with me for the last 8 years of his career and I never noticed him sitting alone. Many players ran from the ground back to the hotel. Many times when we went out to dinner, we would stick to our own, but there were also many other times when we would join the other guys.

“Even when his contract ended, he was paid an extra year of salary which had never happened before, and he was given a special benefit game at Moses Mabhida Stadium. He played his last game for South Africa in January 2011 and his CSA contract continued through to the next April and then he received another year after that,” Moosajee told an Ahmed Kathrada Foundation webinar on racism in cricket recently.

“I did not see him on his own, he always had other players around him, but we need to unpack the way he felt, we need like a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for cricket. I’m sure he felt isolated when he first came into the team because he was in the minority, international sport is very difficult and you feel nervous about where you fit in. It was probably the same for Hashim Amla, but once the colour of the team and the administration changed then a lot of that went away,” Moosajee added.

Doc Moosajee, who has been a great servant of the game, went on to slam those for whom power in cricket is like an aphrodisiac.

“It’s important to remember that a number of communities contributed to the struggle but unfortunately some selfish administrators are looking to create divisions now. We need to move away from the idea that you need to be Black African to have a role in transformation; all communities, including Whites, have a role. Driving only an Africanist agenda has become divisive.

“We can’t continue to pay lip-service to transformation after 26 years, we need tangible action. In terms of Affirmative Action, the question we need to ask is whether the policies have benefited us or promoted racism? There is no doubt it has become polarised. Grassroots is where the issue is and there’s no doubt that has not been addressed. The numbers game has created challenges,” Moosajee said.