Ken Borland

South Africa’s movement towards becoming a complete team ahead of next year’s World Cup was halted in Pretoria on Saturday, with atrocious conditions throwing up an unexpected stumbling block which saw their pack exposed by Argentina.

In the end, the Springboks scraped home 13-6 in their opening Rugby Championship fixture, but they spent the final minutes desperately defending their line as Argentina went after a late goal to level the scores.

Torrential rain and hail began falling during the anthems and kept up for the first half. Although conditions eased after the break, there was still steady rain throughout and the pitch was sodden. So there was no chance of the expansive style of play the Springboks are trying to develop, and they even struggled to get their more typical forward-dominated driving game going as the Pumas pack presented a brick wall of defiance.

Springbok captain Jean de Villiers, who has grown up in Cape Town, where winter storms blowing up from the Antarctic are common, described the conditions as “probably the worst I have ever played in”.

“The ball was so wet and so difficult to handle, you couldn’t play at all,” he said, before describing a comical situation in which Pumas flyhalf Nicolas Sanchez tried to kick off, but the ball refused to bounce up off the waterlogged surface.

“The All Blacks kick more and we now run the ball more, we wanted to play exciting rugby today, but we have to be able to play this sort of game as well. There will be more games like this, especially at the World Cup, and I’m not totally happy that we didn’t get a better platform up front,” coach Heyneke Meyer said.

“But even an arm-wrestle was difficult in these conditions, it was so wet that you just couldn’t get going. The rain made it a 50/50 game and 70% of Argentina’s team play in Europe and are more used to conditions like that. They have big, strong forwards and they like a slower game, because their tactics are more about contesting for the ball than continuity.”

The Pumas, despite their epic performance, were sad after the game because they saw it as a missed opportunity to register their first ever win over South Africa.

“We have had very few opportunities to win against the Springboks and we think that was one that we let pass. South Africa have a very good line-up and it’s maybe only today that they did not have their top game. So we are not happy, today was an opportunity to beat them,” Argentina coach Daniel Hourcade said.

The Pumas successfully dominated the Springboks in both the scrums and lineouts to deny them any solid first-phase ball, but referee John Lacey often penalised them at the scrums to give the under-pressure home side a reprieve.

“We complicated their lineout and we’ve worked very hard on our scrum and I think you could see that on the pitch. We consider that we were very good at the scrums, but we were penalised,” captain Agustin Creevy said with more than a hint of frustration.

The late withdrawal of Willem Alberts with a hamstring strain was part of the Springboks’ problems as it meant they were forced to play two openside flanks with Marcell Coetzee coming in for the enforcer in the Springbok pack. The wet ball also meant they focused their lineout throws on the front, where Argentina contested superbly.

Man of the match Francois Louw, the Springbok number six, admitted that his team could have adapted better to the conditions.

“We didn’t execute as well as we should have in the scrums and lineouts. It was a bit loose underfoot for the scrums and lineouts are always difficult in those conditions because you simplify your options and that gives them the chance to effectively compete.

“Those conditions require an immediate mindshift, you’ve got to tighten up and kick more, and our execution of that could have been sharper. We want to continue improving towards the World Cup so that we are on top of our game every time, in any place,” Louw said.

Johan Wessels and Ruben Claassen, two of the lesser-known stars of the Assupol Tuks team, enjoyed an extraordinary last day at the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals as they led the University of Pretoria to the title in the eight-nation, T20 students’ world cup at the Oval in London at the weekend.

Unbeaten through the group stage, Tuks then won a thrilling semi-final against defending champions Rizvi Mumbai College by five wickets with five balls to spare, before beating Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association by 40 runs in the final.

Wessels was named man of the match in the semi-final and final, scoring half-centuries in both games, and coach Pierre de Bruyn said it was players like him and Claassen, who had combined figures of three for 20 in eight overs on the final day, who had pleased him most.

“It’s the guys without the reputations who really stood up on the final day. Joe Wessels is proving to be a very good player, he played two magnificent innings in the knockout games and I’m ecstatic for him. I’ve used him as a bit of a wildcard and he’s really impressed me as a cricketer.

“Ruben out-bowled everybody in the tournament, including the spinners from the sub-continent. He and Corbin Bosch were the top two wicket-takers and Ruben has improved so much I believe he should be in the Northerns team this summer.

“He’s unique, he’s tall, he gets bounce and he’s not scared to experiment. David Mogotlane has also improved a lot, in all his skills. He’s worked out his game – he’s not a big turner of the ball, but he’s a clever bowler,” De Bruyn said.

In the final, pacemen Vincent Moore and Bosch shared seven wickets as the Jamaicans were restricted to 148 for nine in their 20 overs.

Much of the hard work, however, was done by outstanding off-spinner Claassen, who took one for 10 in four overs, claiming the key scalp of Cassius Burton for 55.

The Tuks total of 188 for six was built around a ferocious 61 off 40 balls from Wessels.

De Bruyn has spent the last few months telling everyone how good a cricketer Wessels, who has no first-class experience nor national U19 caps, is and the 22-year-old was magnificent on finals day, when it really counted.

Aiden Markram had given the Tuks innings a good start, after they had won the toss, with his 33 off 26 balls, but Wessels kept the scoreboard ticking and then had the run-rate boiling over as the University of Pretoria students went into the break with a formidable total on the board.

Sean Dickson scored 39 off 31 balls to finish the job, while Tian Koekemoer (18* off 7) and Bosch (11* off 4) provided important cameos right at the death.

“We’ve had three years of dominance in South Africa and now we wanted to represent our country and measure ourselves on the world stage. I’m over the moon to be able to say we are the best university cricket team in the world, but we worked for it,” De Bruyn said on Sunday.

“We planned for everything and we proved ourselves to everyone. I’m proud of the success and the culture of this team, and nobody can take that away from this side.”

The semi-final was a far tenser affair for De Bruyn and his team.

Rizvi Mumbai had won the toss and elected to bat first, and had cruised to 50 for one after six overs and 83 for two in the 12^th over before Tuks regained control through spinners Claassen and David Mogotlane.

Claassen produced another brilliant spell of 4-1-10-2, with Mogotlane applying pressure at the other end as his four overs went for just 20 runs, and the Rizvi lower-order then collapsed to the canny death bowling of Bosch (2-26) and Moore to finish on 122 for nine.

Rizvi seamer John Ebrahim then had Tuks behind the eight-ball as he removed openers Markram and Gerry Pike in his first two overs, before Theunis de Bruyn (31) and Wessels steadied the innings with a third-wicket stand of 54 in 7.2 overs.

But the dismissal of captain De Bruyn, who was named as the Player of the Tournament, and both Koekemoer and Dickson in quick succession meant Tuks were under pressure at 90 for five after 15 overs.

But vice-captain Heinrich Klaasen (18* off 12) and the reliable Wessels (56* off 52) mounted a rearguard action that took Tuks home in the final over.

The efforts of Theunis de Bruyn and Markram in the group games were enough for them to finish as the two leading run-scorers in the tournament, while Wessels charged into third position on the final day.

But all these Tuks cricketers will be heading into the new summer confident of once again really making their mark.

South Africa U19 captain and Big Sports Management client Aiden Markram is on his way to England with the Assupol Tuks team for the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals, effectively his second World Cup of the year.

Markram was the player of the tournament when he led South Africa to victory in the ICC Junior Wold Cup in Dubai at the start of the year, and the University of Pretoria cricket team will also be relying on his powerful strokeplay at the top of the order as they represent the country in what amounts to a T20 Varsity World Cup.

“I’m happy with my form and I know how important it is to get the team off to a good start, whether that means posting a total on the board or chasing a target. But I’m not taking anything for granted, that’s the last thing you want to do, and I’m going to keep working hard. As a batsman, I have to get the runs on the board,” Markram said on the eve of his team’s departure for London for the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals which start on Monday.

Markram will be playing in England for the first time and said he will be relying heavily on the knowledge of Tuks coach Pierre de Bruyn, who spent 10 years as a professional in the United Kingdom, apart from also playing for the Titans and Dolphins in South African franchise cricket.

“It will be my first time in England, but I’m fortunate to have coach Pierre and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I believe the ball does a lot at the start of the innings, but I’ve prepared as best as I could. We know there’s going to be good opposition, so we must just stick to what we know and not take the opposition for granted,” Markram said.

Tuks, having won the national club championships for the last three years and beating SA A in two warm-up games in the last week, undoubtedly have their sights set on next Saturday’s Red Bull Campus Cricket final.

To get there, they have to finish in the top two of their group and then win a semi-final earlier on Saturday. The student champions from the United Kingdom, Australia, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the West Indies are the other competitors and the eight finalists will be split into two round-robin groups of four, with the draw only being done on Sunday evening.

The round-robin fixtures will be held at the picturesque Wormsley Cricket Club ground, on the Getty family estate and a venue where South African touring teams have played in the past, while the semi-finals and final will be held at the famous Oval, the scene of Hashim Amla’s historic 311 not out in 2012.

“As a team, we’ve played well and each person knows their role and how to execute that. We’re really confident and we trust the abilities of each other,” Markram said.

De Bruyn was more forthright when he said: “Some people don’t like pressure, but we want it, we thrive on it. We don’t pretend it’s not around and we’ve coached the players to deal with it. They make sure they find a way to perform under pressure and that plays a massive role, they have belief when they’re under the pump because they’ve overcome most pressure situations in the last three years.”

The coach said it was vital his team hit the ground running when the Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals start on Monday.

“How we start is going to be crucial, there’s no room for us to start slowly, there’s no room for us to try and find our feet or get into an innings or a bowling spell. We have to be on the button from the first ball on Monday,” De Bruyn said.

India have dominated the previous two Red Bull Campus Cricket Finals – the inaugural event in 2012 was won by DAV College Chandigarh, while last year’s tournament was won by Rizvi College from Mumbai.

While Markram will set the tone up front with his broad bat, he will be backed by new Titans batting star Theunis de Bruyn, as well as exciting strokeplayers in Heinrich Klaasen, Sean Dickson and Johan Wessels.

The bowling will be led by Markram’s SA U19 team-mate Corbin Bosch, the man of the match in the Junior World Cup final, and left-armer Vincent Moore, backed by tidy seamers in De Bruyn, Wessels and Tian Koekemoer, and an array of spinning options – off-spinners Ruben Claasen and Markram, leg-spinner GC Pretorius and orthodox left-armer David Mogotlane.

“We’re going to be under pressure, we’re going to be tested, especially by the sub-continent teams because they have something different, like unorthodox spinners. But we’re a tight unit and this sort of environment is what we aspire to – I don’t think we could be better prepared, we’ve done the hard work and now we just need to express our skills with confidence,” captain Theunis de Bruyn said.

Participating teams: Leeds Bradford MCC (United Kingdom); University of New South Wales (Australia); University of Liberal Arts (Bangladesh); Rizvi College (India); Karachi University (Pakistan); University of Pretoria (South Africa);International College of Business and Technology (Sri Lanka); Jamaica Inter-Collegiate Sports Association (West Indies).

Tuks squad: Theunis de Bruyn, Heinrich Klaasen, Sean Dickson, Gerry Pike, Aiden Markram, Corbin Bosch, David Mogotlane, Tian Koekemoer, Vincent Moore, Nsovo Baloyi, GC Pretorius, Ruben Claassen, Johan Wessels.

– http://www.bigsportsmanagement.co.za/NewsInterviews/tabid/591/itemid/1090/amid/4719/18-july-2014.aspx

New Springbok women's rugby cap Cindy Cant

The South African women’s rugby team leave for London on Wednesday for their World Cup warm-up tour and nobody is more excited – or has a better story to tell – than Pretoria resident Cindy Cant.

Nobody has waited longer than Cant, or held on to their dream for so long, to play for the Springboks. The 31-year-old Bulls captain will be making her debut for South Africa after a dozen years of top-flight rugby.

“It is a dream come true and very unexpected. I’ve always dreamt of playing in the Green and Gold, but it’s been very hard with a few ups and downs. Every time you see the men singing the national anthem, some part inside of you wants to do the same thing. That dream is always there, it feels like something you haven’t accomplished,” Cant told The Pretoria News at the Springbok women’s training camp at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre.

Cant has had to endure awful World Cup disappointment before. In 2006 she was widely acknowledged as one of the top centres in women’s provincial rugby but missed out on selection for the Springboks; in 2010 she made the squad, but had to withdraw because she had just started a new job.

“Four years back, around this time, I was part of the squad, but then I had to withdraw. There were long tears cried then and I had to come to grips with the thought that playing for the Springboks had passed me by. So I was a bit shocked when I got chosen this time!” Cant said.

Springbok women’s coach Lawrence Sephaka sees Cant’s place in the team as being at fullback and the Richard’s Bay product was given a window of opportunity in that position during two trials games last month.

“I’m usually a number 13 but the coach is using me at 15, where I started my rugby many moons back. I also played fullback in the two trials games and I thought I had nothing to lose, so I just gave it my all. I could hardly walk afterwards!” Cant said.

The former Tuks student says she kept playing high-level rugby, despite the sacrifices it has forced her to make as an amateur sport in this country, because of her “passion and love for the game”.

“From when I was very young, I used to watch with my dad and play with the kids in the street in Richards Bay. It was our ‘gang’ and we played all sorts of rugby,” Cant said.

There was a moment in the training camp when she realised just how desperate she was to play for the Springboks.

“We had a session with a psychologist and he told us to picture ourselves standing in France with our Springbok jerseys on. I was just crying and crying because I wanted it so much,” Cant revealed.

Her Springbok selection was also celebrated by her colleagues at the fashion school where she is the vice-principal.

“They were very happy for me and threw me a surprise party with green cupcakes!” Cant said.

Her stability at the back, good kicking skills, strong defence and ball skills was the sort of all-round package coach Sephaka could not ignore and a long-awaited call-up to the national team was the gift for Cant from the former Springbok prop.