Ken Borland

Getting overwrought about it would be counter-productive, but the Sharks really need to be more clinical with their finishing if they hope to beat Edinburgh in their United Rugby Championship match at Kings Park on Saturday.

Edinburgh, who at one stage were second on the log before slipping to their current fifth place, are the highest-ranked team the Sharks will be facing since losing 35-24 to Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun early last October.

The Sharks do have the confidence of a four-match winning streak, but they only just beat a 14-man Bulls side in Pretoria before wins over Benetton Treviso, Scarlets and Zebre Parma (the last two at home) were comfortable enough, but there was enough sloppiness for coach Sean Everitt to be agitated.

Against a top side like Edinburgh, the try-scoring chances will be fewer and further apart, and the Sharks cannot afford to let the 150-year-old Scottish club gain a foothold in the match through their own wastefulness.

“We need to finish the opportunities we have created,” Everitt said this week. “We can’t leave four tries on the table like we did against Zebre, two of which were open-line passes that went astray.

“They were all elemental, quite fundamental errors that cost us the tries. It’s a shame because the guys have worked hard off the ball and we would have had really good wins if we had scored those extra tries,” Everitt said.

It will certainly be a highly motivated Edinburgh side as they look to arrest their slide and also make up for their 30-17 loss to archrivals Glasgow in last week’s 1872 Cup derby.

The Edinburgh team for Saturday is studded with South African products in props Boan Venter and Luan de Bruin and replacement flyhalf Jaco van der Walt. Blair Kinghorn is back from the Scotland team to start in the No.10 jersey for Edinburgh, while flank Hamish Watson, the 2021 Six Nations Player of the Tournament, also returns. Fullback Emiliano Boffelli will be well-known to South African fans as one of the stars of the Jaguares team in Super Rugby. Wing Ramiro Moyano is also a former Jaguares kingpin with 34 caps for Argentina.

“Edinburgh are a dangerous team that plays similar to Scotland. They keep the ball moving and they have dangerous backs.

“They will also bring a lot of pressure at the breakdown. We will have to defend well to keep their attack in check,” was the info Everitt was willing to divulge about his opposition.

Thriston Lawrence was only nine years old at the time, but he remembers when Tiger Woods won the Open Championship at St Andrews in 2005 that the greatest golfer of his generation said before the Major that the key to winning would be not hitting any of the bunkers at the home of golf.

The 24-year-old South African will follow the same tactic when he tees it up for the 150^th edition of the great tournament on the legendary course, having qualified for the Open thanks to his breakthrough victory at the Joburg Open at Randpark Golf Club on Saturday.

The top three previously unqualified finishers at the Joburg Open gain berths to the Open Championship, with Lawrence leading the way thanks to being given the title in the rain-shortened event due to his four-stroke lead after 36 holes. Compatriot Zander Lombard is also off to St Andrews in July after finishing second, with Englishman Ashley Chesters taking the last qualifying spot as he shared third place with South African Shaun Norris, who has already qualified.

“It’s going to be a lifelong dream come true because I’ve never played in a Major and for my first one ever to be at St Andrew’s, and the 150^th celebration, is going to be unbelievable,” Lawrence said.

“I’m so excited, I can’t wait for July. It’s going to be the best feeling in the world to play my first Major at the home of golf.

“I have fond memories of watching on TV and Tiger Woods, when he won at St Andrews, saying his plan would be to avoid all the bunkers. He was able to not hit a single bunker, which obviously I’ll try to do as well.

“Louis Oosthuizen’s win in 2010 was also very special. So I have a lot of memories of the Open,” Lawrence said.

Lombard was no doubt disappointed that the Joburg Open final round on Saturday was washed out because he would have backed himself to catch his younger countryman, but a spot in the Open Championship was a great consolation prize for the 26-year-old.

“It’s a pity this tournament finished the way it did, but to have the opportunity to play in the 150^th Open and at the home of golf is incredible, you can’t dream of anything bigger. And I’ve played well on that St Andrews course before … ” Lombard said.

Faf de Klerk would be in the conversation when it comes to a World XV but the Springbok scrumhalf certainly rates the credentials of the Australian number nines that he will be up against in their Rugby Championship Test on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

Tate McDermott is the starting scrumhalf and comes from a Sevens background, so he is a lively ball-runner who definitely adds another dimension to the Wallabies attack. Reserve No.9 Nic White is more of a kicker, but also knows exactly where the tryline is, as well as being a deft off-loader in the close channels. He is also quite physical and combative.

“Tate McDermott is an exciting youngster and he will definitely threaten us around the rucks, plus Nic White is there as back-up. So it’s going to be a massive challenge for us on defence. The Wallabies are going to try and run us off our feet, so it’s going to be a huge challenge defensively.

“If you look at their recent scores, they haven’t been so good. But the way they have played has shown that if you switch off against them, then you can quickly be 14 or 21 points down. If we’re not mentally right then we’re going to come badly second. So we’re under no impression that it’s going to be easy. Defence is going to be very important and who can manage the game best,” De Klerk said.

Meanwhile, former Springbok coach Jake White, now director of rugby at the high-flying Bulls, has said playing in front of a hostile crowd is going to be an obvious hurdle for the tourists to overcome. Rugby in South Africa has not had spectators since the arrival of Covid 18 months ago.

“The one significant thing that is going to be completely different in Australia is that there’s going to be a crowd. Our guys would have forgotten what that’s like. When we got to Treviso for the Rainbow Cup final, having the home crowd in was incredibly different to what we were used to because we hadn’t done it for so long,” White said on Friday.

Losing 50% of their outstanding World Cup second row quartet would be sheer bad luck for the Springboks, especially with the British and Irish Lions having such brilliant lineout forwards as Alun-Wyn Jones, Maro Itoje and Courtney Lawes in their ranks, but forwards coach Deon Davids is hopeful that RG Snyman and Lood de Jager will still be able to feature against the tourists.

While Franco Mostert and Eben Etzebeth are fit and a great combination, Snyman, apart from the bad burns he suffered in the Munster fire-pit incident, had the misfortune to suffer another knee injury last month just when his rehab from a rupture of his ACL ligament was nearing completion, while De Jager suffered a particularly nasty injury when he broke his tibia in December, also damaging his ankle and knee in the process.

“It’s an ongoing process with RG and Lood, they are busy with rehab, and hopefully they can join us in the next couple of weeks to come. All the overseas players will be here on Sunday and they will have a thorough assessment so we can see where they are exactly medically. We will know then if they will take part.

“Obviously the lineouts are going to be key against the Lions, but it doesn’t only end with the locks, the combination of the loose forwards needs to be added in there too. Wyn-Jones and Itoje are world-class, but Lawes is also a very good lineout athlete. It’s going to be an interesting battle because if we have all our locks available, they have proven their worth at the World Cup,” Davids said from Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

The Springbok forwards coach also confirmed that they were keen on having Duane Vermeulen, currently recovering from ankle surgery, in the camp even if just in an off-field capacity.

That Vermeulen is an inspirational presence can be seen by the Bulls pretty much turning into cows in his absence, and the man of the match in the 2019 World Cup final is certainly a talisman for the Springboks as well.