South Africa and Argentina go head to head in Johannesburg today, in a repeat of last year’s World Cup semi-final, with the hosts seeking to hit top form ahead of New Zealand and Australia clashes.
The World Champion Springboks are in third spot on the southern hemisphere Tri-Nations competition points table having won one of their three matches in Australasia, but a full points haul on home soil will almost guarantee the ’Boks their third Tri-Nations title.
They face New Zealand, who are currently in the top spot with 10 points from four games, in Cape Town next weekend before turning their attention to Australia, who are second on the log with nine points from three matches.
PHOTO: AFP
Victory, with a bonus point, for the ’Boks next weekend will see them draw level with the All Blacks at the top of the Tri-Nations standings, but before then they face Argentina in a match to celebrate former South Africa president Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday.
As World Champions and a team showing good form under new coach Peter de Villiers, the ’Boks go into the clash as deserved favorites, but that will count for nothing against a team looking to score their first ever win over the South Africans.
ON THE UP
Argentina showed at the World Cup last year they are a team on the up and need to be taken seriously and they’ll want to show that the semi-final performance — their worst in the competition — against the ’Boks last October was simply an off-day. New coach Santiago Phelan has picked 10 players in his side who played at the World Cup for this weekend’s match, but without inspirational former captain Agustin Pichot and flyhalf Juan Martin Hernandez, the visitors could find the ’Boks an even stronger outfit this time around than was the case in October.
’Bok boss Peter de Villiers has picked a strong team, but has resisted including winger Bryan Habana and flank Schalk Burger, who both picked up injuries in the ’Boks’ last outing. But World Cup stars Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, Juan Smith, Butch James, Jean de Villiers and Percy Montgomery are all in the match-22.
DISADVANTAGED
Also back from injury are Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie, who’ll get game-time off the bench in the second half. The ’Boks have also familiarized themselves with the new global laws that have come into the game, while for the South Americans, the ELVs (experimental law variations) will be a new experience.
Despite this disadvantage, captain Matfield says Argentina will be the perfect test ahead of the ’Boks’ coming challenges.
“They love to maul and enjoy the hit and go so it’s going to be a typically physical Argentina Test,” said Matfield. “But they’re also going to be the perfect test for us to get things 100 percent right before the Tri-Nations matches.”
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS