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Sport24.co.za | Bulls have nothing to lose – Lood

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Brenden Nel – SuperSport

Cape Town – Springbok lock Lood de Jager has sent out a warning to those writing the Bulls off at the moment, saying their sojourn to New Zealand may mean they are underdogs, but that they simply “have nothing to lose” at the moment.

De Jager has been one of the standouts in the team this season and is playing with a freedom that was last seen in 2015 when he burst onto the Springbok scene. The big loping lock even scored a beauty of a try to help his team beat the Hurricanes in Week 1 but has been a bit frustrated with the side’s form since then.

And now facing the Chiefs on Friday, few would give them a smattering of a chance in the game, but that doesn’t bother De Jager, who believes the lack of belief in their chances should be worn as a badge of honour and used as a motivation.

“It definitely doesn’t surprise me at all. People always write you off coming to New Zealand because their franchise rugby is so strong, as is their national side,” De Jager told the supersport.com website.

“Coming here you are always the underdog, but that gives us a bit more freedom to play, we have nothing to lose, we have our backs against the wall a bit and try and get a win on Friday.”

De Jager said coach John Mitchell’s influence had reignited his season and has been the reason why he is currently enjoying his rugby so much.

“A guy like John Mitchell has had a lot to do with that, he said to me at the beginning of the year he just wants me to play and not to think and worry too much about making mistakes, rather just give it my all and express myself,” he said.

“So that has really helped me and has taken a bit of pressure off my shoulders. It’s been good and I’m looking forward to the rest of the season and hopefully I can contribute to the team in more ways than one and help us play some winning rugby.

“I want to see myself as an all-round player, I don’t want to see myself as someone who just does one thing well. I want to do other things well as well and want to see myself as an all-round player. I’ve been enjoying the attack this year and there is a shackles-off mentality on attack, we can go out and express ourselves. It has definitely been nice and hopefully we can build on that this season.”

On the set-pieces that have plagued the Bulls in the last two games, De Jager says the players have taken note and believe they have rectified their own problems.

“I think it’s very important, you can’t compete in any competition if your set-piece doesn’t compete, our lineouts, scrums and mauls. Maybe a week ago our mauls cost us against the Lions and this last week our scrums weren’t good and we conceded a couple of penalties there. We will definitely go into the next game hoping to rectify that.

“The scrums on Saturday definitely disappointed. A few of those scrums were definitely 50-50 and they didn’t go our way. In one or two they outsmarted us a bit. We had a look at it already, and we will put in the work in the week and try and rectify it and hopefully get the results on Saturday.”

The Bulls will also face the Crusaders next week (March 23) before heading back to South Africa.

Teams:

Chiefs

15 Damian McKenzie, 14 Sean Wainui, 13 Anton Lienert-Brown, 12 Johnny Fa’auli, 11 Solomon Alaimalo, 10 Tiaan Falcon, 9 Brad Weber, 8 Liam Messam, 7 Sam Cane (captain), 6 Lachlan Boshier, 5 Mitchell Brown, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Angus Ta’avao, 2 Nathan Harris, 1 Aidan Ross

Substitutes: 16 Liam Polwart, 17 Karl Tu’inukuafe, 18 Jeff Thwaites, 19 Michael Allardice, 20 Luke Jacobson, 21 Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, 22 Marty McKenzie, 23 Declan O’Donnell

Bulls

15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Travis Ismaiel, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Divan Rossouw, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 Roelof Smit, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Pierre Schoeman

Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Lizo Gqoboka, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Jason Jenkins/Tim Agaba, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Embrose Papier, 22 Manie Libbok, 23 Johnny Kotze

Read the story on SuperSport.com

eNCA | No official report of train hijacking, says Rail Safety Regulator

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RUSTENBURG – No train hijacking has been officially reported, the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) said on Wednesday.

The regulator said that it noted with concern the claims made by the United Transport Movement and the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) regarding the Metrorail train hijackings.

“To date, the events in question has not been reported officially by Prasa to the RSR. It is the responsibility of operators to report railway occurrences and incidents to the RSR. The reporting of security incidents to the RSR by the railway operators is provided for in the South African National Standards (SANS 3000-1:2009 Edition 2 under SANS Category 4 – Hijacking of trains),” said spokesperson Madelein Williams.

Williams said the last train hijacking was reported to the RSR in January 2012. 

“Our records show that the driver of a Metrorail train was threatened with a knife by two males who boarded the train at Duff’s Road in KwaZulu-Natal at 8.50pm, forcing him to drive to Phoenix which was not his original route. On arrival at Phoenix, the driver applied the emergency brake and jumped off the train. The two males also got off the train at Phoenix and fled.”

The United Transport Movement on Tuesday said trains were hijacked or robbed every week by commuters who become frustrated when trains run late or criminals robbing crews and passengers. 

“Commuters get furious and they simply point a gun at a train driver and force him either by throwing stones or with a knife or a gun to continue on a route,” spokesperson Sonja Carstens said.

The union said the Railway Safety Regulator allowed Prasa to operate trains with manual authorisation if they drive below 30 km/h‚ which contributed to delays.

A manual authorisation was when the two control officers in different stations are not speaking to each other and allow train drivers to continue en route.

The Rail Safety Regulator said manual train authorisations were an accepted international practice for all train operators during degraded modes of operation, for example, signal failures. 

“The RSR would like to highlight that there is no link between manual authorisations and train hijackings. The speed limit during manual authorisation has been in place since February 2013, following an accident between two Metrorail trains which collided between Cor Delfos and Kalafong Stations on 31 January 2013.”

The regulator said at the time, a directive was issued restricting the maximum speed at which a train may be authorised to travel during degraded modes operation to 30km/h.

“The RSR would like to reiterate that manual authorisation is a fall back procedure. However, in Prasa’s case manual authorisation has become the norm instead of the exception due to the high rate of vandalism and theft of safety critical equipment, such as signal and telecommunications equipment.”

African News Agency

Health24.com | Rare brain condition forces 11-year-old girl to make heartbreaking decision

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At just 11 years old, she had to decide whether to undergo a drastic operation which would leave the left half of her body paralyzed The Birmingham Mail reports.

Shania, from Telford in England, suffers from a rare disease called Rasmussen’s syndrome. Only 1.8 million people worldwide suffer from it.

The syndrome causes chronic inflammation in one half of the brain. That brain hemisphere then swells, leading to seizures. Shania has more than 30 seizures a day.

“Shania’s first seizure was in January 2016, just before her 10th birthday,” her mom, Tilly, said.

“I remember it like it was yesterday, it was so frightening. Up until then, she’d been a normal, healthy child. This came completely out of the blue.”

Because Rasmussen’s is so rare, it took 18 months before Shania was diagnosed, The Mirror reports.

Tough decision 

Doctors have told the family there is one way to treat it – but it will be one of the most difficult decisions they’ll ever make.

Shania’s parents had to decide between her continuing to get upwards of 30 seizures a day – which could eventually kill her – or doctors would isolate the right hemisphere of her brain. But that would mean the left half of her body would be completely paralyzed for the rest of her life.

She would be blind in her left eye and she wouldn’t be able to walk or use her left hand. But without the operation, her condition might only worsen.

“It was such a hard decision to make, but it had to be done,” Tilly says. “She [Shania] said she couldn’t do it.

“I wanted to help her and I couldn’t think what to do. We’re fighters and I wanted to show her she wasn’t on her own, and that she had lots of support. So I set up a Facebook page called Shania’s Rasmussen Fight.

“She received hundreds of messages of support – and even a letter from America. She saw all the messages, she said, ‘I couldn’t do it but now I will.’ ”

No more seizures 

Tilly knows her daughter loves Disneyland, so before the operation they took her on a care-free day trip to give her a last chance to just be a regular kid.

The operation was done on 21 February and was successful – Shania’s hasn’t had another seizure since. She’s undergoing intense physical therapy to learn to walk again, according to The Mirror.

“She can’t stand or walk on her own yet, she has to be hoisted up and out of bed,” Tilly says.

“They took away a piece of my brain and they’re testing it now because it’s a rare condition,” Shania says. “Hopefully, what they find will help other people with Rasmussen.”

Image credit: Facebook (@Shania’s Rasmussen fight)

Jacques Myburgh

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eNCA | WATCH: NPA briefs Parliament

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Editor’s note: This live event has ended. You may watch a recording above.

JOHANNESBURG – The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) briefed Parliament on Wednesday night on the cases it is handling.

The prosecuting authority appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa).

The NPA was expected to make an announcement on the prosecution of former President Jacob Zuma on Thursday. 

However, it now says it first has to inform relevant stakeholders of its decision before making the decision public. 

On Wednesday, the Constitutional Court dismissed a bid to block Abarahams from announcing his decision. 

The application was brought by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution.

Casac argued it would be inappropriate for Abrahams to make this decision, given the uncertainty about  Abarahams’ future in his job.

On December 15, North Gauteng Judge President Dunstan Mlambo ruled that Abrahams’ appointment was questionable.

The court gave then-deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa two months to appoint a new NPA head.

Zuma and the NPA appealed the ruling.

READ: NPA makes decision on Zuma prosecution

However, following his election as president, Ramaphosa withdrew the appeal.

Zuma is facing 18 charges, including fraud and corruption.

eNCA

Store Assistant (Qumbu)

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Remuneration: negotiable Basic salary 
Benefits: UIF, Provident Fund, Medical aid
Location: Qumbu
Job level: Junior
Type: Contract
Reference: #SA , Qumbu
Company: Rage

Do you love fashion? And would like to join our dynamic team? Then Rage is the place for you.

Rage has an exciting opportunity for shop assistants in for a person who is ambitious about the retail industry and loves interacting with people on a daily basis.

Requirements:

  • Retail experience
  • Can keep the store and stockroom neat and tidy
  • Sales driven
  • Good customer service
  • Target driven
  • Achievement orientated
  • Advantageous
  • Customer service skills: customers are going to ask to speak to the manager. How you interact with customers is crucial for repeat business, employee morale and the health of your company
  • Great customer service skills will help you solve issues before they become problems, and help create customer loyalty
  • Excellent communication
  • Strong customer focus
  • Attention to detail

Posted on 14 Mar 15:50

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Shop Assistant/Sales Assisant (Eshowe)

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Remuneration: negotiable Basic salary 
Benefits: UIF, Medical Aid and Provident Fund
Location: Eshowe
Education level: Matric
Job level: Junior
Type: Permanent
Reference: #SA Eshowe
Company: Rage

Job description

Do you love fashion? And would like to join our dynamic team? Then Rage is the place for you.

Rage has an exciting opportunity for shop assistants in KwaZulu Natal, Eshowe for a person who is ambitious about the retail industry and loves interacting with people on a daily basis.

Requirements

  • Retail experience
  • Can keep the store and stockroom neat and tidy
  • Sales driven
  • Good customer service
  • Target driven
  • Achievement orientated
  • Advantageous
  • Customer service skills: customers are going to ask to speak to the manager. How you interact with customers is crucial for repeat business, employee morale and the health of your company
  • Great customer service skills will help you solve issues before they become problems, and help create customer loyalty
  • Excellent communication
  • Strong customer focus
  • Attention to detail

Posted on 14 Mar 15:47

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Store Manager (Bapong Keya Rona)

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Remuneration: negotiable Basic salary 
Benefits: UIF , Provident fund and Medical aid
Location: Bapong Keya Rona
Job level: Junior
Type: Permanent
Reference: #Bapong Keya Rona SM

Rage is looking for a store manager/supervisor at one of its stores in the North West, Bapong Keya Rona

Driving turnover to ensure achievement of targets
Controlling expenses
Managing stock losses to ensure shrinkage is in line with the company standard
People management, including recruitment, development and training of staff, employee relations and performance management
Executing in-store merchandise strategy and standards
Ensuring customer satisfaction by executing our customer service strategy and fulfilling the demands of our customers

Posted on 14 Mar 15:13

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Release of the Quarterly Bulletin on Tuesday, 20 March 2018

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Publish Date: 2018-03-14
Category: Media Advisories

The March 2018 Quarterly Bulletin will be released on Tuesday, 20 March 2018, at 10h00. 

Members of the media who would like to have access to the bulletin ahead of publication can attend a lock-up which will run from 07h00 to 09h00. The lock up will be followed by a media briefing. Both the lock-up and the media briefing are covered by the embargo.


 

Members of the media who would like to attend the lock-up, or the media briefing, or both, should confirm attendance with Leisel Radebe via leisel.radebe@resbank.co.za.

​

Store Manager (Ikageng)

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Remuneration: negotiable Basic salary 
Benefits: UIF , Provident fund and Medical aid
Location: Ikageng
Job level: Junior
Type: Permanent
Reference: #Ikageng SM

Rage is looking for a store manager/supervisor at one of its stores in the North West, Ikageng

Driving turnover to ensure achievement of targets
Controlling expenses
Managing stock losses to ensure shrinkage is in line with the company standard
People management, including recruitment, development and training of staff, employee relations and performance management
Executing in-store merchandise strategy and standards
Ensuring customer satisfaction by executing our customer service strategy and fulfilling the demands of our customers

Posted on 14 Mar 14:59

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Sales Assistant (Rustenburg)

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Remuneration: negotiable Basic salary 
Benefits: UIF , Provident Fund
Location: Rustenburg
Job level: Junior
Type: 3 momths
Reference: #Rustenburg SA

Do you love fashion? And would like to join our dynamic team? Then Rage is the place for you.

Rage has an exciting opportunity for the shop assistant position in Rustenburg, North West for a person who is ambitious about the retail industry and loves interacting with people on a daily basis.
Retail experience
Can keep the store and stockroom neat and tidy
Sales driven
Good customer service
Target driven
Achievement orientated

Posted on 14 Mar 14:54

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