Ken Borland

A top-class British and Irish Lions side that can play in a variety of ways awaits the Springboks at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

A World Cup winning Springboks side that has a simple, but highly effective game-plan awaits the British and Irish Lions at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.

So who is going to win what should be a gripping encounter? Either way, it is surely going to be a Test that keeps everyone on the edge of their seats.

A lack of international rugby since winning the World Cup has been held against the Springboks’ chances, but perhaps a team that has a simple, more focused strategy is going to be able to deal better with what will be a high-pressure game full of intensity.

The Lions seem intent on playing a high-tempo game that stretches the Springboks in the wide channels, but having so many options at their disposal could actually be a negative. Running around like excited puppies is not going to win the tourists the first Test, especially against a side that relishes defending as vigorously as South Africa do. The defeat to the SA A side showed the Lions that they too are human and costly errors were made under pressure.

Obviously having great depth in playing resources is a positive, but the other side of that coin is that there may be a lack of certainty in exactly what the Lions are planning to do on Saturday. Coach Warren Gatland made a great deal of how he and his coaching staff all had different selections when it came to the 23 for the first Test.

Eventually the team was chosen by consensus, but the possibility of horse-trading exists and this could lead to a lack of a united, singular vision for the Lions.

So what are the potential weaknesses of the Springboks?

Their backline all played and shone in that World Cup final win over England in 2019, but key players in Handre Pollard, Damian de Allende and Makazole Mapimpi could be a little short of rugby.

But, as in all closely-contested Test matches, it is all going to come down to the forwards. The selection of the two players who did not feature in the World Cup – loosehead prop Ox Nche and eighthman Kwagga Smith – would seem to be all about mobility and being able to defend in those wide channels the Lions have used so effectively.

While Nche is a wonderful ball-playing prop, and a strong defender, all eyes – and possibly even the outcome of the match – are going to be on his scrum battle with Tadhg Furlong, who many consider to be the best tighthead in the world.

Smith made his name in the Green and Gold colours of the Springbok Sevens team and he is a wonderful athlete and potent with ball in hand. He will have a key role at the breakdown and in defending the wide channels with Pieter-Steph du Toit. But Smith lacks the physicality of his predecessor, the injured Duane Vermeulen, which could make a difference when it comes to the key gainline battles which South Africa need to dominate.

Re the gainline battle, it is going to be interesting to see how the Lions cope with the likes of Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx and Rynhardt Elstadt coming off the bench in the second half to back up the mighty Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert.

The fact that the phonelines have been buzzing between the Lions camp and WorldRugby over a South African TMO being appointed and Rassie Erasmus acting as a waterboy on the side of the field suggests the tourists are feeling the pressure.

In many ways they are the favourites, which has allowed Jacques Nienaber and the Springboks to go into the match a little more under the radar.

An epic test awaits, but what a pity there won’t be 55 000 fans cheering on in the ears of the players.

Where Aiden Markram should bat in South Africa’s T20 team, if he should be selected at all, is one of the biggest issues to solve for the Proteas ahead of the World Cup in the shortest format of the game in the United Arab Emirates in October.

When South Africa take on Ireland in the second T20 international in Belfast on Thursday evening, Markram is likely to once again bat at No. 4, having top-scored there with 39 off 30 balls in the impressive victory in the first match in Dublin.

• Why has this become an issue?

            With captain Temba Bavuma probably best-suited to opening the batting in T20 cricket, Quinton de Kock in wonderful form up top and Janneman Malan showing he also belongs in the team, there is little space for either Markram or Reeza Hendricks in the top three.
            But Markram has, albeit in just 10 innings, the best record of all of them (see stats box). There has been a dearth of consistent finishers in the middle-order though, so moving Markram down the order has been mooted as a solution.

 

• What does Markram need to do in order to change his game to suit the middle-order?

“I’m doing a lot of work on my power-hitting and being able to go to that without having faced a lot of balls. As an opener, you’re used to getting to that stage having spent quite a long time in the middle already. So it’s important that I develop a power game that I can go to earlier on, I’ve been training to be able to pull the trigger after maybe just a few balls in my innings.

“As a middle-order batsman, your roles change based on the situation, so I try to go in with a lot of intensity. In the nets I look for the boundary every ball, if that’s not on then get the one or get it into space for two; I need the confidence that if the ball is in my slot then I am able to get it away,” Markram said on Wednesday.

In terms of a perceived lack of faith in the depth of the Proteas batting line-up, Markram said while George Linde and Kagiso Rabada are both really good ball-strikers who the team have faith in, it is the set batsman who needs to take responsibility for the last five overs and bat deep.


Top-order candidates’ T20I records

Aiden Markram                    349 runs at 34.90, SR 151.08; 4×50 in 10 innings

Temba Bavuma                     338 runs at 26.00, SR 125.18; 0x50 in 14 innings

Quinton de Kock       1578 runs at 32.87, SR 138.05; 9×50 in 53 innings

Janneman Malan      241 runs at 24.10, SR 130.97; 1×50 in 10 innings

Reeza Hendricks       812 runs at 25.37, SR 121.37; 5×50 in 32 innings

The British media have been gleefully pointing out how little rugby the Springboks have had against top-tier opposition since winning the World Cup in November 2019, but coach Jacques Nienaber has found haven in being able to select so many of the players who won that final for the first Test against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on Saturday.

Nienaber announced a Springbok team on Tuesday in which only six of the 23 players were not on the field on that heady evening in Yokohama. Starting loosehead Ox Nche and replacement flank Rynhardt Elstadt are the only players who were not part of the triumphant World Cup squad.

“Without any Test rugby in 2020 and limited preparation games now, obviously selecting players who have been in the system is quite important. That experience, to have over 500 Test caps in the starting team and more than 700 in the squad of 23, is what we’re looking for. These are guys who have been here before, they understand the pressure they will be under.

“And there will be immense pressure, so it’s great to have players who have experienced it before. This is the real thing and we are going to need calm, steady heads. I think we are going to have new pictures thrown our way by the Lions and will be forced to make solutions on the field. One of the big challenges is that the Lions have a very versatile squad that can play in multiple styles,” Nienaber said on Tuesday.

Amongst the backs, there have been fitness question marks over Handre Pollard, Makazole Mapimpi and Damian de Allende, so Nieneaber has decided not to field the Bomb Squad 6-2 split on the bench. He understandably has confidence the forward replacements – Steven Kitshoff, Malcolm Marx, Frans Malherbe, Lood de Jager and Elstadt – will be able to man up to whatever the Lions pack throws at them.

“Handre has not played a lot of rugby and he’s just come back from Covid, Makazole is the same. If we were fully confident about them then we could have gone with a 6-2 split. It’s probably just not the right time to only have two backs on the bench. We are comfortable with a 6-2 split, we will go with it again, but there just wasn’t the opportunity for this specific game.

“We’re not 100% sure everyone will last the whole 80 minutes because, due to Covid, some of them have not been exposed to much rugby for quite some time. The bench might only come on for 20 minutes, but it will happen the moment a player on the field is not producing his required role due to tiredness. We look to the subs when the performance starts to drop off,” Nienaber explained.

As selections go, it is a vote of confidence in the tried and tested, even if that means a gamble on recent returnees like captain Siya Kolisi, De Jager and Mapimpi. Given the opposition and the question marks over their preparation, it would be silly for the Springboks not to look at their World Cup winners.

Springbok team: Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handré Pollard (vice-captain), Faf de Klerk, Kwagga Smith, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (captain), Franco Mostert, Eben Etzebeth, Trevor Nyakane, Bongi Mbonambi, Ox Nché. Replacements – Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Frans Malherbe, Lood de Jager, Rynhardt Elstadt, Herschel Jantjies, Elton Jantjies, Damian Willemse.

It was back in August 2015 in Umhlanga, the Springboks’ base ahead of Tests in Durban, when then coach Heyneke Meyer said Pieter-Steph du Toit reminded him of 2007 World Cup hero Danie Rossouw because of his versatility and exciting all-round ability.

Du Toit started his Springbok career under Meyer as a lock, but just as Rossouw excelled as a loose forward as well as being able to cover in the second row, the 28-year-old Du Toit is now firmly entrenched as a flank and won the 2019 WorldRugby Player of the Year starring in the No.7 jersey as he spearheaded South Africa’s World Cup success.

But a rash of injuries to locks in the current Springbok squad means Du Toit might yet find himself back in the second row. Eben Etzebeth picked up a rib injury in the first Test against Georgia at the weekend and RG Snyman’s return now seems further away as he is recovering from a skin graft operation after his unfortunate fire pit incident in Ireland. Lood de Jager is also making his way back from long-term injury.

While Georgia presented a physical challenge for the Springboks, Du Toit knows the British and Irish Lions will ramp that up to another level, so he is happy to fit in wherever required in the South African pack.

“I haven’t played lock for a while, but when I started my career that’s where I played. It will mean some extra work in the scrums, but I will play wherever they need me. But for now, every game you play as if it’s your last match and we need to get our systems better for the Lions series. The physicality of Georgia was a good test, they’re big and naturally strong as well.

“The Lions are very spoilt in the loose forward department, they definitely have world-class players there and they seem to have a player for every game-plan and every situation. I guess they’ll assess what their best combination is against the franchises, and we can judge what their strategy might be from that,” Du Toit said on Sunday.

As far as the performance against Georgia goes, Du Toit was as considered as when he is back home in his bermudas on the Riebeek Valley wine farm, tasting the latest bouquets from their Kloovenburg estate.

“It gave us a good indication of where we are at and what we have to work on. There were a few things lost in the detail and clearly they need some work, some decision-making here and there was not that good.

“I also felt sad for someone like Jasper Wiese running on for his debut and there were no fans shouting. That moment was so special for me, I dreamt of it from a young age. We’ve had experience of no crowds at franchise level but it makes a massive difference in Test rugby, it’s like that small flame that gives you extra motivation needs to find a different place,” Du Toit said.