Category Archives: Sports News

News24.com | Top tennis coach and analyst says Roger Federer faces uphill struggle

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Renowned coach and tennis analyst Brad Gilbert believes former world No 1 Roger Federer will struggle to get his mojo back after the coronavirus-enforced break from professional tennis.

Unseeded, struggling to get his “mojo back” and the fact that he will be 39-years-old are just some of the things that “could mean trouble” for Roger Federer when he returns to tennis next year, according to

Federer announced last week that he is to miss the remainder of the 2020 season after suffering a setback following knee surgery.

The 17-time Grand Slam winner, who last played competitive tennis at the Australian Open, underwent an operation on his right knee in February and was hopeful of making a return in mid-June. However, he has had “an additional quick arthroscopic procedure”.

Federer confirmed that he is determined to make a comeback in 2021, but Gilbert admits the odds are stacked against him competing at the highest level again.

“I’m not going to write him off, but this is concerning,” analyst Brad Gilbert told ESPN. “Thirty-nine ain’t what it used to be, that’s for sure. But if tennis gets going again, he’ll probably be unseeded for the Australian Open in ’21 because he played so little early this year. And that could mean trouble.”

He continued: “We are in uncharted territory, the way guys are training and taking care of themselves.

“Sure, Ken Rosewall and Jimmy Connors [both played in majors after turning 39], but today’s game is more physical, and the players are tougher.”

Federer, who will turn 39 in August, is likely to struggle to find his rhythm immediately, warms Gilbert.

“When you take that much time,” he said, “even at 25, 26, it can take six months to get your mojo back. It’s not like you can take your time at 39, especially if you’re not protected by seeding.”

– TEAMtalk media

News24.com | Bidvest Wits’ PSL status bought by TTM FC, expected to move to Thohoyandou

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Wits coach Gavin Hunt (Gallo Images)

Wits coach Gavin Hunt (Gallo Images)

Bidvest Wits, the 2016/17 Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions, have sold their top-flight status, according to new owners Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila Football Club.

Wits were due to celebrate their 100th anniversary next season having been founded in 1921, but instead, will cease to exist.

“It is official. Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila Football Club has completed the sale of Bidvest Wits with all its players,” the club posted on its official Twitter page late on Saturday.

TTM FC are based in the Limpopo province and previously purchased their current GladAfrica Championship – the second tier of football in South Africa – status from Milano United FC in July 2017.

TTM-FC went on to confirm that they have lodged a request with the PSL for an official name change, suggesting from next season Bidvest Wits will be known as Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila FC. The team is expected to call the Thohoyandou Stadium home in the 2020/21 campaign.

TTM chairperson Lawrence Mulaudzi is reported to have confirmed the sale which includes all of Wits’ current squad.

However, a number of star Students players have in recent weeks been linked with moves to other clubs, including captain Thulani Hlatshwayo, Deon Hotto and Thabang Monare. It therefore remains to be seen which players will still be with the club for next season under the new owners.

The deal will still need to be ratified by the PSL Executive Committee before it is officially completed.

Should the deal get the green light – and depending on this season’s relegation – Limpopo could have as many as four PSL teams next season with Baroka FC, Polokwane City and Black Leopards already based in the province.

READ | Eight Wits players likely to be in high demand

Wits are currently in sixth place in the 16-strong PSL log with nine matches to play in the 2019/20 season, while TTM FC find themselves in fourth place in the GladAfrica Championship with six matches remaining.

– Compiled by Garrin Lambley

News24.com | Super Rugby: What’s wrong with red-card trial?

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Mike Fraser showing a red card

Mike Fraser showing a red card

Steve Haag/Gallo Images

  • There are mixed views on the imminent ‘trial’ of a sub being allowed on 20 minutes after a red-card offence.
  • Eventual infusion of a player off the bench would help rebalance a game in cases where the step has been harsh.
  • Potentially quarter of the game with 14 men is still a fair enough deterrent to any possible, fresh boom in thuggery.

Tinkering with rugby’s unions laws … I consider it a necessary evil.

Correction: I prefer to think of it, ideally, as a very occasional necessary evil.

You must make allowance in this world for evolution, and rugby should be no exception to that.

What I don’t like is when the phenomenon becomes too frequent and far-reaching: to me the Varsity Cup – often a deliberately fertile landscape for annual, early-season “experimentation” in South Africa – has slightly lost rather than gained allure in recent seasons because of the variety of often gimmicky tweaks introduced.

Perhaps that’s just me, I concede.

But what I am reasonably excited about, as several law-change trials are effectively conducted with New Zealand’s Super Rugby Aotearoa – kicking off on Saturday – is the commitment to a replacement being allowed on the field 20 minutes after any issuing of a red card.

I have seen a mixed reaction to that step, on both Twitter and from some rugby-specialist scribes and commentators.

One forceful voice against the move recently, for example, was Chris Foy of the UK’s Daily Mail.

“Clearly this is a move designed to eradicate the growing issue of matches being wrecked by dismissals – especially early on – for acts which are not malicious, but require severe action, such as accidental contact with the head,” he said.

“But it would be better to implement World Rugby’s orange card proposal, which would give officials 15 minutes to review marginal incidents and upgrade to a red card if required.

“The problem with all law amendments is that they are adopted with often commendable intentions but soon become subject to manipulation and abuse.

“Part of the rationale for this innovation is to ensure a ‘fair contest’ for fans, players and coaches. But what is fair about violent conduct barely denting a team’s chances of victory?

“And while a quest to maximise the quality of the spectacle is understandable, especially at the moment, it can’t rely on a renewed tolerance of lawlessness. Rugby’s Wild West days were supposed to be in the past.”

He said the move was “ludicrous” and amounted to a “cheats’ charter”.

My conflicting view is that the “Wild West” days Foy refers to, largely are the stuff of history, indeed, and won’t suddenly be revisited because of this innovation … regular, overt thuggery, brawling and blood-shedding haven’t been significant stains on rugby for at least the last two decades.

I see a bigger picture: I have lost count of the number of times I have been watching matches (whether at stadiums or on television) and whoever may be next me quite rightfully sighs “ah well, there goes the contest” if a player is red-carded, especially when it occurs early in a game.

While there are famous, isolated exceptions, we all know that almost unfailingly the team reduced to 14 players, if there is meaningful time left, succumbs on the scoreboard at the finish.

It is also almost indisputably true to say that many red-card banishments are either extremely borderline, downright wrong or unjust -remember Bismarck du Plessis’ rotten fate for the Springboks, Auckland, 2013? – or subjectively ruled by the referee and/or television match official.

In cases like those, the element of reprieve allowed in infusing a substitute after 20 minutes is a pleasing rebalancer, to my way of thinking.

I also fail to see how the now-trialling, new rule will somehow inspire teams or their brains trusts to more maliciously begin targeting key opposition players for foul play because of the “protection” of a reinforcement eventually becoming permissible after a red card.

Twenty minutes (or quarter of a match) is still a pretty long time to be down to 14 players, after all.

No, that’s not a dice any right-minded rugby people would be wishing to roll too often, do you agree?

*Follow our chief writer on Twitter: @RobHouwing

News24.com | SA hosting 2010 Soccer World Cup made Madiba feel ‘like a 15-year-old again’

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FIFA President Sepp Blatter (R) and CEO of the South Africa 2010 Organizing Committee Danny Jordaan present the official match ball for the FIFA World Cup 2010 on December 4, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter (R) and CEO of the South Africa 2010 Organizing Committee Danny Jordaan present the official match ball for the FIFA World Cup 2010 on December 4, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Shaun Botterill

  • South African Football Association (SAFA) president Danny Jordaan, in an exclusive chat with Sport24, reflects on the 10-year anniversary of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
  • It was a moment Jordaan describes as the most unifying in South African history.’Ke Nako’ means ‘It’s time’.
  • The appropriately named 2010 logo reminds us again to celebrate the time we, as a country, showcased Africa to the world.

South Africa 2010 remains the first and only Soccer World Cup to have been hosted on the African continent. In a historic moment in 2004, South Africa clinched the right to host the 19th edition of the tournament after agonisingly missing out by a 12-11 vote count to Germany for the 2006 showpiece.

“We really took a chance to again bring Nelson Mandela to the announcement ceremony of the host country in Zurich, because we weren’t sure we’d win after narrowly losing out to Germany before,” Jordaan told Sport24.

“But we took the chance and the actual ceremony was agonising as Sepp Blatter, forever the showman, took such a long time to finally open the envelope.

“When we saw the top of the S, we all jumped before he could even get a chance to fully announce the name.

“It was a very special moment and Madiba, who was so happy, he turned to us and said he felt like a 15-year-old again. He said, ‘I listened to the 1966 World Cup on the radio and never expected to be sitting here seeing my country being named to host a World Cup’. So it was a special moment for him.”

Hosting a successful tournament in itself was a massive achievement for South Africa. There were many doubts whether an African country had the ability and the necessary infrastructure to pull it off.

More than three million spectators attended 64 matches in nine host cities. This was, at the time, the third highest aggregate attendance – behind only the 1994 World Cup in the US and the 2006 tournament in Germany.

“A strange thing happened, where for the first time in international football, immediately after we were awarded the event, there were calls for a ‘Plan B’ for South Africa,” Jordaan adds.

“So I think the eventual success of the event helped to dismiss Afro-pessimism and all the negativity around us as hosts.”

The tournament kicked off on 11 June 2010, and for the next month South Africans of all races and backgrounds came together, dressed in their yellow Bafana Bafana jerseys, to embrace “the people’s game”.

From 11 June to 11 July, as a fan, you knew exactly what your plans for the weekend were and which match or fan park you’d be attending. “It was the most unifying moment in the history of South Africa,” Jordaan said.

“Because everybody owned the World Cup. The people of South Africa were all involved and it showed the transformative ability of football.

“It was an event that was for all of us and, during that period from 11 June to 11 July, everyone would agree was the best that South Africa could offer and was a wonderful opportunity for the country.”

News24.com | SA Rugby makes huge strides in transformation progress

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Springboks (Getty Images)

Springboks (Getty Images)

Following the completion of an annual audit, Jurie Roux, CEO of SA Rugby has announced that the organisation had made huge strides in their transformation progress last year.

In a statement released to the media on Tuesday, the organization said that their transformation barometer had improved by a margin of 22% from 59% success in 2018 to 81% in 2019.

This improvement took place in the first year of the organisation’s refocused Strategic Transformation Development Plan 2030 (STDP 2030).

SA Rugby say they have achieved success in 38 of their 47 areas of measurement in the dimensions of access; demographics and empowerment:

  • The numbers of rugby-playing schools and clubs exceeded the targets
  • Demographic targets for generic black players and black African players were achieved in eight out of nine national teams
  • 16 of 18 targets were achieved in coaching, refereeing, team support staff, board members and SA Rugby staff.

The nine areas in which SA Rugby didn’t reach their targets include failing to field either an under-18 women’s national team or U16/U17 male national teams and at the senior male national level where the target for black African representation was achieved but generic black representation was at 38% to a target of 45%.

“We are very satisfied with the progress we have made,” said Roux.

“The advances made in the first year of STDP 2030 is a testimony to the commitment of the organisation to our goals and the benefits that will accrue to the sport as well as the nation when we succeed.

“It’s great credit to our rugby department and strategic performance management department that we’ve been able to go into high gear in our transformation process.”

Roux also praised all 14 provincial unions who had each achieved a minimum of 60% of their agreed targets in the provincial barometer, which was measured against similar dimensions at a provincial level.

“The collective responsibility taken by provincial leadership has been commendable,” said Roux. “Their improvement impacted on the national improvement.”

The results show a marked improvement on the findings of the Eminent Persons’ Group, which reported its 2018 findings over the weekend.

SA Rugby was praised in the report for “the high quality of data input” with an overall barometer achievement of 59%, which was consistent with the previous two years.

The EPG – established by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture – sets the pass mark at 50%, the point at which federations can face sanctions from the minister.

The EPG also referenced the separate National Transformation Charter – which set goals for sport to achieve by 2030. Against those future measures SA Rugby achieved 43% achievement in 2018. However, the impact of the 2019 initiatives had seen that rise to 61% in SA Rugby’s audit.

“It’s clear that the first year of STDP2030 was a positive step in the right direction on our collective transformation journey towards an accessible, equitable, sustainable, demographically representative and competitive rugby system,” said Roux.

“We have many exciting challenges such as growing the game of women’s rugby and to continue to increase the number of black Africans at all levels of the game.

“But we moved the needle in 2019 in areas such as B-BBEE compliance among the membership with 80% now reaching Level 4 or better, and we expect to do the same in other focus areas between now and 2030.”

Details of SA Rugby’s transformation performance can be found in the annual report here. 

News24.com | Jaco Kriel a step closer to much-anticipated Lions return

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Jaco Kriel (Gallo Images)

Jaco Kriel (Gallo Images)

  • Lions favourite Jaco Kriel is one step closer to a long-awaited return in franchise colours.
  • Their stock at loose forward will be further bolstered by the recovery of Vince Tshituka.
  • Medical testing will dominate this week’s return to training protocol.

Lions supporters’ longing to see Jaco Kriel back on the field would’ve been encouraged by the franchise’s latest medical update.

The dynamic 30-year-old flanker’s return since re-joining the team in February has been delayed by a long-term ankle injury as well as the suspension of Super Rugby.

Yet as the country’s professional outfits return to training this week, Kriel will be in the thick of things – relatively speaking of course.

The Lions’ medical staff have cleared him for agility training, which broadly entails that he can start doing footwork and change of direction drills, all exercises that will put pressure on his ankle.

The prospect of Kriel becoming eligible for selection again is a major boost for the franchise as they’ve battled in 2020 to find their feet in a definitive period of transition.

Inexperienced head coach Cash van Rooyen and his staff only managed one victory from six starts in this year’s campaign.

Kriel last month told Sport24 that he has no immediate thoughts on a Springbok recall, instead focusing on his long-term fitness and providing much-needed experience for a young squad.

The Lions’ punching power in the loose trio will also be boosted by Vince Tshituka having recovered from ankle surgery too.

The 21-year-old is one of the squad’s few options on the blindside flank and his improving defence could be useful.

His presence would also make team management breathe easier about not having to overplay veteran Willem Alberts.

Robust lock Rhyno Herbst is also on the mend after shoulder surgery.

Meanwhile, the Lions – like their counterparts – will predominantly be engaged in medical testing.

– Compiled by Sport24 Staff

News24.com | Springboks v Lions too close to call: ‘I wouldn’t put 1 cent on it’, says Jonathan Kaplan

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  • Jonathan Kaplan believes the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa will see a tough series that is too close to call.
  • Kaplan has refereed in four Lions series’ to date.
  • That includes the tour by the Lions to South Africa in 1997 and 2009 in which he refereed warm-up matches as well as two Tests in which the Lions faced Australia and New Zealand.

Former South African Test referee Jonathan Kaplan believes that 2021’s British and Irish Lions‘ tour of South Africa should be a humdinger of a series that’s too close to call.

Register your interest for the British & Irish Lions tickets in South Africa 2021

Speaking exclusively to Sport24, Kaplan, who has refereed in four separate Lions’ series, believes the visitors will be more than a match for the world champion Springboks.

“I think they will come well prepared,” said Kaplan.

“I refereed four Lions’ series, I think I am the only ref to have done that. I refereed them against the Sharks when they came here in 2009, I refereed them against Free State when they came here in 1997 and then I referred them in the second Test against the Wallabies and the third Test with the All Blacks.”

Over those four series’ Kaplan said he noticed just how much the Lions continue to improve with every tour.

“I noticed a step up every single time in terms of the intensity and what it had meant to be playing for that jersey, the coaching staff, how well they were prepared for the conditions, for the opposition. They had clearly done their homework.”

He singled out the last time the Lions toured South Africa in 2009 as some of the most brutal rugby he had ever witnessed and expects that again in 2021.

“Some of the Test matches in 2009 were of the most brutal I have seen, especially the second Test at Loftus in 2009, when the whole series was riding on that Test. It was just a stunning series,” said Kaplan.

At this point, Kaplan says the 2021 series is simply too tight to call.

“I’d say it’s a 50/50 series. I wouldn’t put 1 cent on the winner at the moment, I think there is too many variables. So I don’t think it’s clear cut at all.”

Kaplan was the first referee to reach a half-century of Tests, having made his debut in Harare in May 1996.

He officiated at four Rugby World Cups – 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 – including the semi-final between England and France in 2007.

In all, he refereed 425 first-class matches and brought to the game a style and application that was unique.

News24.com | Jonathan Kaplan hails Johan Goosen as schoolboy ‘prodigy’

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  • SA refereeing legend Jonathan Kaplan identifies Johan Goosen as the best player he saw operate at schoolboy level.
  • Kaplan says Goosen and Handre Pollard were ‘streets ahead’ of the other gamebreakers he saw.
  • Schalk Burger was a ‘beast’ at school and commanded the respect of his peers.

Former South African referee Jonathan Kaplan says that Springbok Johan Goosen was the best gamebreaker he saw operate at school level.

Kaplan retired from international refereeing with 70 Tests to his name. 

He was a mainstay of the South African refereeing circuit for around 25 years and officiated at all levels, seeing countless players go through the system from schoolboy level through to the Springboks. 

In an exclusive interview with Sport24, Kaplan was asked about who stood out most for him as a schoolboy. 

“They all occupy different positions and it’s not fair to say this flank is better than that flyhalf,” Kaplan said.

“So as far as gamebreakers go, Handre Pollard and Johan Goosen stand out. They were streets ahead of anyone else and you could see it at schoolboy level already. If I had to pick one at schoolboy level, not because of the team he was playing for, but I think that Johan Goosen was a prodigy. He started to play quite soon after for the Free State and had a couple of injuries which is unfortunate and then went to France. But I just think he is a rare talent, definitely someone I put right up there.”

Goosen attended Grey College in Bloemfontein.

“Handre Pollard was more considered, more thoughtful and he fitted into a game plan well, had a shotgun boot and played for a very successful team. Those two are miles ahead of the others.”

Pollard, South Africa’s general at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, was schooled at Paarl Gimnasium. 

Kaplan then listed numerous others who he remembers shining at school level.

“Schalk Burger at school (also Paarl Gimnasium) was a beast. He was a freak in terms of his strength and you could see how the team looked up to him in term of leadership. He had a massive career, probably around 20 years. If not for his Meningitis and travelling to Saracens, he might have played a few more Tests and got close to 100. From that perspective, he was incredible,” Kaplan said.

As recently as last year, Kaplan was still reffing schoolboy matches. 

Jonathan Kaplan’s schooboy XV:

15 Willie le Roux (Paul Roos), 14 James Small (Greenside), 13 Paul Jordaan (Grey College), 12 Jan Serfontein (Grey College), 11 Dillyn Leyds (Bishops), 10 Johan Goosen (Grey College) and Handre Pollard (Paarl Gimnasium), 9 Herschel Jantjies (Paul Roos), 8 Bob Skinstad (Hilton College), 7 Schalk Burger (Paarl Gimnasium), 6 Siya Kolisi (Grey High), 5 Andries Bekker (Paul Roos), 4 Marvin Orie (Tygerberg), 3 Frans Malherbe (Paarl Boys’ High), 2 Ashley Johnson (Paarl Gimnasium), 1 Thomas du Toit (Paarl Boys’ High)

Sport24.co.za | Conor O’Shea urges rugby chiefs to seize ‘moment’ for change

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The Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) performance director Conor O’Shea on Thursday urged the sport’s bosses to use the enforced coronavirus break to sort out the global calendar “once and for all”.

Rugby has faced a number of thorny issues since it turned professional 25 years ago, including how best to balance the competing demands of northern and southern hemisphere countries and clubs.

But the Covid-19 outbreak has allowed time for leading representatives of Europe’s Six Nations and the southern hemisphere’s SANZAAR to hold talks on the future of the game.

For O’Shea, Italy’s coach at last year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan, where Eddie Jones’ England lost in the final to South Africa, it has been an extraordinary time.

“It’s been bizarre. The last game I had was Italy v New Zealand and that was cancelled by a typhoon and then you come back — within a couple of months we’re in a pandemic and lockdown again,” O’Shea told a conference call.

“But one of the things I’ve seen since I’ve come back and especially over the last number of months, is the collaboration… it’s forcing everyone to really come together and actually start looking how to best solve things.

“I really hope and believe this is a moment in time.”

The former Ireland fullback said the “fault lines” in the sport had been obvious since 1995.

“Things will never be perfect but we’ve got an unbelievable opportunity,” he said. “All I’m seeing now, from conversations I’m having every day virtually on the phone, is a real will to try to get this right once and for all.”

RFU chief executive Bill Sweeney said the Six Nations could be played as a home-and-away tournament next season if the illness prevented the November internationals going ahead as planned.

Sweeney is optimistic England could still play their scheduled Twickenham matches against New Zealand, Tonga, Australia and Argentina.

But he said both the northern and southern hemispheres were making contingency plans.

“One of them is if you’d play a Six Nations tournament in that autumn that would combine with fixtures next year and for the first time ever you’d have home and away. It’s possible.”

Officials are still looking at how to complete the 2020 tournament, which has been suspended because of the virus.

Sweeney was speaking as the RFU announced a “roadmap” for the return of the community game, although officials stressed it was too soon to say when matches could restart.

He said the RFU would come out of the crisis strongly, even though he acknowledged the consequences of the virus would linger.

“We were investing in and will continue to invest in our high-performance pathways,” he said.

“We’ve got an outstanding crop of players and a World Cup coming up in 2023 (in France). We’ve got a great head coach and we want to make sure we don’t go backwards in any way.”

Sport24.co.za | Carter in shock Super Rugby comeback – reports

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2020-06-03 22:35

  • Daniel Carter was playing for the Kobe Steelers in Japan but returned to New Zealand after due to the coronavirus pandemic.
  • He is a former three-time world player of the year and won the World Cup in 2011 and 2015 with the All Blacks.
  • What role Carter will play at the Blues if he signs is not yet known as they have Beaudan Barrett on their books after he joined the franchise this season.

Two-time World Cup winner Dan Carter is set to make a surprise return to Super Rugby with the Blues, New Zealand media reported Thursday.

Carter, a three-time world player of the year, moved back to New Zealand earlier this year after the coronavirus-enforced shutdown of rugby in Japan, where he was playing for Kobe Steelers.

According to several media outlets, the 38-year-old agreed a short-term deal to play for the Blues in Super Rugby Aotearoa — a domestic version of the southern hemisphere competition which is due to start this month.

Radio New Zealand said Blues coach Leon MacDonald alerted his players to the recruitment coup in a message on Wednesday.

“His motive is to give back to NZ Rugby by sharing his experience/knowledge with us,” it said.

“Great opportunity to learn from one of the games’ greats,” Macdonald wrote.

It said the champion flyhalf was coming into the squad as cover for the injured Stephen Perofeta.

The Blues already have incumbent All Blacks playmaker Beauden Barrett – himself a two-time world player of the year – meaning Carter may fill the role of supersub off the bench.

Carter played the first of his 112 Tests for the All Blacks in 2003, scored a record 1,598 points during his international career and was the world player of the year in 2005, 2012 and 2015.

He first played for French club Racing 92 after retiring from Test rugby following the 2015 World Cup, before signing a two-year deal with Kobe Steelers in 2018.