One of the most pleasing aspects for South Africa coach Allister Coetzee of the Springboks’ comprehensive 37-14 victory over France at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday was the final five minutes when his team were pinned inside their own 22.
France pushed hard for what would have been a consolation try, but despite having already won the game, the Springboks threw tired bodies into the defense of their line.
It was something that had been missing for much of a disastrous season last year, the worst in their history in which they lost eight of their 12 Tests, suffering historic losses to Ireland, Argentina and Italy.
Photo: EPA
“It was not a perfect performance, but what I can say is that there is a fantastic team environment that has taken shape,” Coetzee told reporters. “The last five minutes of the game, which was basically won, was spent in our 22 and we didn’t concede a try. There is a brotherhood building, about putting your body on the line for one another.”
The Springboks scored four tries and were noticeably more willing to keep the ball in hand rather than the aimless kicking that characterized their game last year.
“We have closed the chapter on 2016,” Coetzee said. “I was very happy with the performance. We are moving in the right direction. This is the first step of 13 games this season and our defense, attack and kicking game were all improved.”
“We had enough width to attack, the breakdown was unbelievable, in the physicality and the collisions, I thought we were ahead,” he said.
Unlike last year’s Springboks that looked fearful in the face of the opposition, Coetzee said there was a new “attitude” and positivity around the team.
“You can fix mistakes, but it is harder to fix attitude. That is what the players showed. When there was a mistake, there was a scramble to fix it and a lot of positivity and encouragement,” he said.
Marloon Herrera was crying — happy tears. With Cuba trailing in the fifth inning of its Little League World Series (LLWS) opener on Thursday, Herrera lined a two-run double to give his team the lead. When the Czech Republic, representing Europe-Africa, made a pitching change, he ran over to give his third base coach a hug. Cuba went on to win 4-1. It was the first game at this year’s tournament for both sides, but it was also the beginning of Cuba’s second appearance in the series ever — and it was emotional. “You breathe baseball in Cuba,” manager Everaldo Machado said on
Taiwan on Friday beat Australia 11-0 at the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Taiwan are represented at the tournament by Taoyuan’s Gueishan Elementary School, who won the Asia-Pacific regional tournament to earn the trip to the US. Australia are represented by the Hills Red team from Sydney. Taiwan advanced to a game tomorrow against Santa Clara, representing Cuba, who won 4-1 against the Czech Republic’s Brno, the Europe-Africa regional qualifiers. Australian starter Sayre Howick had a tough time controlling his pitches at Volunteer Stadium, one of which allowed Taiwan to open their account. They scored six in the inning and
World Boxing, an international amateur boxing organization formed last year after a breakdown in relations between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Boxing Association (IBA), has announced the admission of Taiwan, along with four other nations, into its growing list of members. In a statement released on its Web site on Friday, the Swiss- based organization said that in addition to Taiwan, admitted as Chinese Taipei, Bhutan, Ecuador, Fiji and Pakistan have also become members. The new members all have well-rounded national and international boxing programs as well as transparency in the leadership and management of their national boxing programs,
COOLED DOWN: Du Plessis apologized after the fight for comments about his Nigerian-born opponent, after Adesanya said he planned to take the belt back to Africa South African Dricus du Plessis yesterday took a flurry of body hits across four rounds before defeating Israel Adesanya by submission to retain his middleweight championship at UFC 305. After scoring some early takedowns, Du Plessis (22-2) had to withstand a flurry of body strikes from Adesanya through the middle rounds, which appeared to be taking a toll on the 30-year-old South African as the fight progressed. However, a left hook followed by three rights helped bring Adesanya down, giving Du Plessis the opening he wanted as he swiftly got the choke hold that forced the Nigerian-born New Zealander to tap out