Rob Houwing’s TV sport column

If Morne Steyn doesn’t get the Springbok No 10 jersey for the start of the Test series against the British and Irish Lions, it won’t be for want of approval from the panel on the SuperRugby magazine programme on KykNet.

The Afrikaans Monday-night show, anchored by Kobus Wiese, featured Breyton Paulse in a now pretty regular slot, but also a welcome, engaging appearance from recently-retired Bok and Lions (the Doornfontein kind!) wing Ashwin Willemse.

To call confessed ex-gangster Ashwin “street wise” would be an understatement, but I guess the sort of life experiences he had before turning “clean” and rugby-driven, inadvertently aided the sort of smiling self-assuredness – not arrogance, though – he exhibited on the show.

Many of the callers to the hour-long programme were gleeful Bulls supporters, understandably trumpeting the victory over the Sharks some 48 hours earlier, and often reserving special praise for the influential showing of Steyn at flyhalf.

With Butch James out of the equation and current Bok favourite Ruan Pienaar hobbling off gingerly before the finish of the Absa Stadium cracker, Steyn certainly took the opportunity to show the ever-increasing strings to his bow after carrying a slightly “robotic” reputation for a few seasons.

Willemse said the thing that really struck him about Steyn’s display was his “amazing calmness” in an environment not far off Test status for intensity.

“Morne has played for the Bulls the whole season and got better all the time … you have to ask whether Ruan has played enough rugby to be (sharp) for the Lions series.”

Paulse, meanwhile, extended the praise-singing by saying Steyn was playing with key maturity and showing the dual asset of “good hands and feet”.

Who knows whether Peter de Villiers and Dick Muir were watching, but it seems public sentiment is behind the Bulls man for the Bok pivot job – at the outset of the series, at least.

On a different note, Wiese got the Stormers’ latest blond fullback dynamo Joe Pietersen on the blower to congratulate him both on his sharpness in successive late-season victories for the embattled franchise, and on the occasion of his 25th birthday.

A caller later suggested that whenever Pietersen got the ball, “something seemed to happen”, much as had been the case decades earlier with the great HO de Villiers.

He has certainly provided marvellous thrust on attack in the consolation wins over the Force and Cheetahs, although this writer remains mildly concerned about his lack of centimetres when it comes to fielding the high bombs.

*This has been one of the tougher weekends for me to select my top four televised attractions, so before you read the list below and plan to lynch me, allow me to throw in a handful of “also highly recommended” options:

These include the final day of the English Premiership soccer season, featuring the key Aston Villa v Newcastle United clash in the relegation conundrum (Sunday 17:00, SS3), the local Nedbank Cup final featuring Moroka Swallows against giant-killers Pretoria University (Saturday 15:00, SS4), the Sevens World Series in London (Saturday and Sunday, SS1 and other), the Heineken Cup rugby final between Leicester and Leinster (Saturday 18:00, SS5) and the F1 Monaco Grand Prix (Sunday 14:00, SS7 & CSN).

SABC2 joins the giant sports party by screening Sunday’s Comrades Marathon from 05:00.

And a gentle reminder further up the drag to Wednesday, too, about a certain Champions League soccer final – Barcelona v Manchester United in Rome (20:45, SS3 & M-Net HD).

Rob’s awesome foursome:

1. Chiefs v Hurricanes, Super 14 rugby semi-final
Hamilton, Friday 09:35, SS1 & M-Net
I read in the Kiwi press that cerebral Wallabies and former Crusaders coach Robbie Deans tips the visiting Hurricanes to grab this spicy New Zealand derby, despite their 16-8 loss in the league-phase clash only two weeks back, and that beefs up my own hunch that the ‘Canes will spoil the Chiefs’ admirable, standout season. After all, if the game is on a knife-edge late on and that formidable midfield unit Ma’a Nonu gets the ball at speed five yards out from the posts … lights out, defending fullback!

2. Bulls v Crusaders, Super 14 rugby semi-final
Pretoria, Saturday 15:00, SS1 & M-Net
The Crusaders are an incredibly clever side and there’s a tired old joke that the Bulls are … well, short of a few rocket scientists in their midst, if you like. But that would be doing an injustice to the composed and highly competent way the Loftus side have played in recent weeks. No, it’s Bulls for me, with some conviction to go with my forecast, especially if the jet-lagged defending champions field a semi-fit Brad Thorn or not at all. The Bulls will opt for a pacy, power-driven formula to sadistically burn the Crusaders’ lungs. But not without some salvoes of quality return leather thrown, mind.

3. Indian Premier League, T20 cricket final
Johannesburg, Sunday 16:30, SS2, CSN & M-Net HD
Yes, you could say that the final comes not before time, especially as heavily-flogged South African pitches start looking as slow as a belching removals truck on the Tradouw Pass. The finalists were not yet known at the time of writing. But will you take a lingering sneak-peek anyway at the showpiece and after-game cordite extravaganza? Course you will! But it will be nice when DLF Maximums mercifully revert to plain old sixes in our lingo again, too.

4. French Open day one, tennis
Paris, Sunday 10:30, SS5
This may not be automatic viewing for all of you, but staunch tennis fans like to be at their remotes for the first day of the Grand Slam season at Roland Garros. There may be heightened interest because seasoned Roger Federer stopped being defending men’s singles champ Rafael Nadal’s near-routine whipping boy a few days ago, beating him in “straights” for the Madrid Masters title. The women’s crown this year, of course, is defended by Ana Ivanovic.