Ken Borland

South Africa’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus posted a classic put-down on social media before the series against the British and Irish Lions about a lion not concerning himself when a sheep offers an opinion. Despite the Springboks proving those naysayers wrong with their brilliant effort to win the series, the critics somehow remain.

The bitter losers up north have been complaining non-stop about the ‘boring’ style of play of the Springboks, forgetting that it was the Lions who set the tone for the series when they dominated the second half of the first Test through their kicking game and driving maul.  Australasian critics have deliberately ignored the massive intensity and physicality of the series by saying the rugby was boring; maybe for the neutral, but certainly not for the supporters of the two teams.

Erasmus himself has been roundly criticised, and charged with misconduct by WorldRugby, for his video expose’ of refereeing mistakes in the first Test. Again, it has been forgotten that Lions coach Warren Gatland started that war by disgracefully questioning the integrity of a South African TMO who had to fill in at late notice due to Covid travel restrictions. Gatland denies doing this, but how did multiple British journalists have the same story? There is no doubt it was a calculated strategy to put pressure on the TMO, and Erasmus responded in kind a week later.

Rugby at that level is often brutal and the mind-games and off-the-field tactics are not for the fainthearted either. It is just a game, but we are not talking about hugging fluffy bunnies here – the Lions brought a manic determination to win at all costs and the Springboks were also extremely fired up to prove themselves and also bring some happiness to a society that was fraying around more than just the edges.

It was all very reminiscent of the 2009 Lions series. The tourists brought the same streetfighting attitude and had the same backing from their embedded one-eyed media. It brought out the best in the South African management, although Rassie’s video was probably not his finest moment.

But what Erasmus achieved was the same as what 2009 Springbok coach Peter de Villiers ensured. Following a predictable outcry from the touring media about dirty play by the Springboks, De Villiers took all the pressure off the players by making himself the lightning rod for all the attention with his comments about putting on tutus and doing ballet.

The players loved Snor for that and it was one of the prime examples of what a good man-manager he was. Erasmus did the same ahead of the crucial second Test, allowing the Springboks to produce one of their greatest second-half displays.

From the high point of 2009, when the Springboks also won the Tri-Nations Championship, their fortunes began to drop off, culminating in their nightmare years of 2016 and 2017. And then Erasmus arrived to give the Springboks their meds … turns out there was nothing wrong with their bodies, it was all in their heads.

Following the triumphs of 2007 and 2009, the same old chorus of boring Springboks echoed around the rugby landscape and, unfortunately, we listened. The Springboks must play more like the All Blacks, was the consensus. And we believed the narrative, which was always meant to take the Springboks away from their strengths. No-one can copy the All Blacks, that is their own, brilliant style, forged in their rugby-DNA.

The All Blacks now loom large in the Rugby Championship and I am sure the Springboks, rapidly regaining their confidence and peak conditioning, are not going to be distracted by the many words being published which are somehow trying to belittle their remarkable achievements.

By many accounts, the All Blacks were fortunate to win their last meeting, in the opening game of the 2019 World Cup, and since then they have lost record-breaking coach Steve Hansen and great players such as Ryan Crotty, Sonny Bill Williams, Ben Smith and Kieran Read.

This is not the same imperious New Zealand team and, although they are trying to rediscover the same high-intensity, high-tempo game as before, they have been spluttering over the last couple of years. And the ferocious Springbok defence, set-piece excellence and strong kicking game is a rather large obstacle for them to overcome.

No wonder they want the Springboks to change the way they play.

Sharks coach Sean Everitt was asked after their Rainbow Cup hammering at the hands of the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld what went wrong when they ran back out on to the field for the second half, and his simple answer was they were “manhandled”, which is why a 9-12 halftime deficit turned into a 43-9 hiding.

And it was the magnificent Bulls pack who did the damage, Duane Vermeulen once again being the talisman as the home forwards dominated the lineouts, scrummed powerfully, were commanding at the maul and without mercy on the gainline.

“The Bulls forwards were outstanding and forced us to give away penalties. They dominated us physically and we had no answer, which was disappointing. We battled to stop their maul and that led to penalty on top of penalty, for which we paid the price this time. We were manhandled.

“Conceding a penalty at the maul just compounds the problem because then they kick to the corner and maul again. And when we were in a good position, we would have a lineout turnover or concede a penalty at the scrum. So it’s not as if they exploited our game-plan, but rather the fundamentals of the game which we did not get right,” Everitt said after the heavy defeat.

The Sharks coach did not feel that his team were particularly ill-disciplined, but said an enormous penalty count against them was rather due to an unrelenting battering they were receiving. The Bulls were truly merciless and flyhalves Morne Steyn and Chris Smith converted all nine of their kicks at goal.

“I can’t fault the effort in the first half, when we stuck to the plan well and fired all the shots – the Bulls did not look like scoring. We attacked well in that first half, I thought our plan was well-balanced between kicking and ball-in-hand, but then we’d lose the ball out wide. It was just a case of not being able to convert.

“But in the second half they made us tired and fatigued and it’s always a tough day when you’re going backwards and conceding penalties. You have to credit the Bulls, they were outstanding, they hardly made a mistake and they kept us out. They have improved a lot under Jake White, but there is still a lot of rugby to be played and we are certainly not out of the race,” Everitt said.

Decision-making is normally brilliant in the offices of SuperSport Park but out on the field at Kingsmead on Friday the Titans made a number of wrong decisions that saw them lose their crucial T20 Challenge match against the Dolphins by seven runs and be eliminated from the playoffs.

Their mistakes started in selection as ace spinner Simon Harmer was left out of the side for seam-bowling all-rounder Grant Thomson. It left the Titans with just one specialist spinner, while the Dolphins’ pairing of Prenelan Subrayen and Keshav Maharaj thoroughly dominated the first half of the Titans innings, conceding just 35 runs in their first seven overs combined.

Thomson did not bowl and batted number seven, and although he hit the first ball of the final over for six, he had little impact on the game. Off-spinner Harmer, who has an economy rate of just 5.13 in his 83 T20 games, may well have been able to deal with left-hander David Miller, who was the key batsman in the Dolphins innings, his 49 not out off 35 balls lifting them to 151 for six.

Sending all-rounder Dayyaan Galiem in at number three did pay off for the Titans as he scored a plucky, unselfish 45 off 39 balls to lift a flagging run-rate that saw only 26 runs scored in the powerplay of six overs.

But when Dean Elgar was dismissed by the impressive Kerwin Mungroo (4-0-29-2), the Titans needed 101 from 60 balls but sent in Sibonelo Makhanya instead of Heinrich Klaasen and Chris Morris, who have shown their finishing ability at international level.

By the time Makhanya was also dismissed by Mungroo, for 15 off 13 balls, the Titans needed 55 from 26 deliveries, the required run-rate having increased to 13.09.

Morris came in next but failed, before Klaasen gave the Titans hope with a courageous 29 not out off 14 balls.

But with 14 runs needed off three balls, the Titans were thrown a lifeline as Ottneil Baartman bowled a head-high delivery way down leg which was called no-ball and went for four byes.

That left the Titans needing nine off three balls, but Klaasen could only hammer the free hit straight to Miller at extra cover. Inexplicably he took the single, leaving tailender Lizaad Williams to score eight off the last two balls.

Williams failed to score as Baartman found the blockhole with the last two deliveries.

The Dolphins had won the toss and batted, and went on the attack from the outset as Sarel Erwee (33 from 20) led them to 62 for one after seven overs.

The Titans attack fought back well, Lungi Ngidi leading the way with an outstanding three for 20, but their batting has not been at its best in this tournament and their demise sees the Warriors play the Imperial Lions in Saturday’s playoff, which will decide who plays the Dolphins in Sunday’s final.

Everything went wrong for South Africa’s men’s side in a nightmare first half in which they conceded seven goals, before they regrouped and eventually lost 9-1 to Belgium in their Hockey World League match at the Wits Astro on Monday night.

While South Africa were undeniably poor, flatfooted and always half-a-yard off the pace of the game, credit must also go to Belgium for a dazzling first half in which everything they touched turned to gold, thanks to some ruthless finishing.

The home side, except for 18-year-old Dayaan Cassiem, waging a lone battle as he ran impressively up front, showed little of the fight that had characterised their women’s side in their memorable win over the USA the night before.

The first 20 minutes were bad enough for South Africa as they found themselves 3-0 down, Belgium scoring through an Alexander Hendrickx short-corner goal, Nicolas de Kerpel one-timing a loose ball into the roof of the net for a wonder-goal, and then captain Thomas Briels scrambling in the third.

Except it would get worse as Belgium then piled on four goals in the last five minutes of the first half. Simon Gougnard was allowed to waltz along the baseline before passing to a totally unmarked Briels to score the fourth; Sebastien Dockier also just ran away from his marker to get a good pass from Gauthier Boccard and slam a reverse-sticks rocket in; and Loick Luypaert’s fluffed short-corner drag-flick then somehow eluded goalkeeper Rassie Pieterse and post-man Tim Drummond; before Cedric Charlier, the driver of much of Belgium’s attacking play, got on the end of an overhead from Augustin Meurmans, showed good skill dribbling into the circle and then shot home between the goalkeeper’s legs.

South Africa coach Fabian Gregory said the mentality of the shellshocked team for the second half was just to make it a contest, which they succeeded in doing.

“In the first half we made unforced errors, our basic skills were non-existent and we could not keep the ball, and you cannot do that against a world-class team like Belgium, they punished us every time, but I was disappointed by some of the soft goals we let in.

“The second half was the type of hockey I expect from the team after a really disappointing first half. It was about how much we could compete, we said we were starting again at 0-0 and we will try and salvage something from the game,” Gregory said afterwards.

The second half did not start well for the hosts though as Jethro Eustice made a good tackle in the circle but the ball went back towards his own goal, and Matthew Guise-Brown slipped in trying to clear it and Dockier was presented with an easy goal.

But South Africa were on the scoreboard two minutes later as Guise-Brown fired a superb short-corner drag-flick into the top-right corner and they had a handful of other good chances in the second half.

It was Belgium who would have the final say, however, as more soft defending by South Africa in the 59^th minute saw them just stand off and allow Boccard to run into the circle and fire the ball into goal past Richard Curtis, who replaced Pieterse for the second half and impressed.

Gregory said he was particularly unhappy that his team did not stick to the strategy that had been decided beforehand.

“If I’m brutally honest, the team did not execute tactically what we asked for, the application of that strategy was terrible and that’s why we did not cope well with the Belgian press.”

South Africa will now play a promotion/relegation game against Japan on Friday and will be desperate to stay up in the elite Hockey World League.

Germany, Belgium, Ireland and Egypt will go through to the quarterfinals from Pool B, to play France, New Zealand, Spain and Australia respectively.

Results: Germany 2 (Tom Grambusch, Martin Zwicker) Ireland 0; Australia 7 (Mark Knowles, Jake Whetton 2, Dylan Wotherspoon, Aran Zalewski, Tom Wickham, Jeremy Hayward) Japan 2 (Shota Yamada, Hirotaka Zendana); Spain 4 (Josep Romeu, Enrique Gonzalez, Alvaro Iglesias, Pau Quemada) New Zealand 3 (Shea McAleese, Nic Woods, Kane Russell); Belgium 9 (Alexander Hendrickx, Nicolas de Kerpel, Thomas Briels 2, Sebastien Dockier 2, Loick Luypaert, Cedric Charlier, Gauthier Boccard) South Africa 1 (Matthew Guise-Brown).

Tuesday’s fixtures (women’s quarterfinals): 11.15 USA v Japan; 1.30 Argentina v Ireland; 3.45 England v India; 6pm Germany v South Africa.