South African Sports News – 4 November

Francois Hougaard

Bulls tame Cheetahs to take Currie Cup
It was all smiles for the Loftus Versfeld faithful in Pretoria on Saturday night when their darlings, the mighty Blue Bulls, defeated a stubborn Cheetahs outfit 36-24 to become 2009 Absa Currie Cup Premier Division champions. The Bulls stormed to a 24-0 lead after just 25 minutes courtesy of a try from right wing Francois Hougaard (pictured with ball in hand) and a brace from left wing Bryan Habana, but the Cheetahs, as always, staged a spirited fight back to close the gap to just six points after 48 minutes. Continued

South African Sports News – 28 October

Joseph Henyekane

Arrows shoot down hapless Ajax
Golden Arrows were crowned MTN8 champions in Soweto on Saturday night when they crushed Ajax Cape Town 6-0 in one-sided MTN8 final at the Orlando Stadium. In the process, Arrows won their first major trophy and a record
R8-million winner-takes-all prize.

The match was effectively over as a contest after 20 minutes when the KwaZulu Natal outfit took an unbeatable 2-0 lead courtesy of some positive attacking soccer and some shocking defending from a woeful Ajax outfit. Despite Ajax’s poor display it was an excellent win for Arrows and their 38-year-old coach Manqoba Mngqithi, who is one of a number of promising young coaches in the Premier Soccer League (PSL). Mngqithi deserves applause for his positive tactics of attacking and taking the game to Ajax and, if he keeps up this sort of approach, it will surely not be too long before Arrows win another major tournament. Continued

South African Sports News – 21 October

Jacques-Louis Potgieter

Cheetahs stun Sharks in Durban
Cometh the hour cometh the man and that man was none other than Free State Cheetahs flyhalf Jacques-Louis Potgieter (pictured) who slotted a last minute drop goal against the Sharks at the Absa Stadium in Durban on Saturday, to book his side a place in the 2009 Absa Currie Cup Premier Division Final.

Potgieter’s stroke of genius spelt doom for the Sharks who were leading 19-18 with just one minute to go. However, a solid scrum by the Cheetahs set the platform for Potgieter to deliver the killer blow and ensure an excellent 23-21 win for the visitors. It was a devastating blow for the Sharks and their loyal supporters who had a great season with 12 wins from 14 league outings. Continued

Sharks to face Cheetahs in semis … and other sports news

Stefan Terblanche

Sharks to face Cheetahs in semis
The Sharks managed to overcome a spirited effort by Griquas in their final league match of the season to qualify for the 2009 Absa Currie Cup Premier Division semi-finals when they defeated the diamond miners 45-30 at GWK Park in Kimberley on Saturday afternoon.

The KwaZulu-Natalians outscored their opponents by seven tries to four and deserved their win, but will have to tighten up their defence considerably if they hope to prevail in Saturday’s semi-final against the resurgent Cheetahs at the Absa Stadium in Durban. The Sharks missed 25 tackles against Griquas and conceded some soft tries with some of their defenders showing a distinct lack of commitment. Griquas centre Barry Geel exploited these defensive frailties to grab a hat trick of tries with Sarel Pretorius adding another to ensure a bonus point for the home team … Continued

Proteas choke yet again and other sporting news …

Graeme Smith

Proteas choke yet again in major tournament
The Proteas failed to shake off their unpleasant label of chokers with regard to their performances in major International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments, when they were unceremoniously bundled out of the ICC Champions trophy in Centurion on Sunday.

Graeme Smith’s men were defeated by a resurgent England and fell 23 runs short of a victory target of 324 to finish on 301 for nine wickets in their allotted 50 overs. It was a bitterly disappointing defeat for the Proteas who went into this tournament as clear favourites, but ended it in shame as they lost two out of their opening three games for an early exit … Continued

Boks edge All Blacks to win Tri-Nations and other sporting news

Francois Steyn

Boks edge All Blacks to win Tri-Nations
The Springboks silenced their critics and detractors alike when they defeated the All Blacks 32-29 in Hamilton on Saturday to secure victory in the 2009 Tri-Nations and cement their reputation as one of the greatest Springbok teams of all time. The victory was a great achievement by the Boks who recorded their third successive win against the All Blacks for the first time in 60 years, with the bonus of adding the Tri-Nations to their 2007 Rugby World Cup triumph and series victory over the 2009 British Lions.

The Boks went into this match as distinct underdogs after their disappointing 21-6 defeat to the Wallabies in Brisbane the previous weekend, but only needed a single bonus point to secure the championship. However, they ended up taking it in style by standing up to the New Zealanders and matching them blow for blow with no quarter asked or given. Continued

Dust off your running shoes …

Since spring has sprung it is time to dust off those running shoes or cycling shorts and start to shed a few of those extra kilo’s that have crept up over the winter months. Here are a few idea to get your motivated to do some exercise!

The Crazy Store Table Mountain Challenge takes place on Saturday 12 September and is a 35km trail run around Cape Town’s world famous Table Mountain. Both professionals and novices can enjoy this off-road run on the slopes of this mountain, which is a finalist in the New 7 Wonders of Nature. If you are feeling up to the challenge Continued

Boks subdue Wallabies and other Sporting News from South Africa

Bryan Habana

Boks subdue Wallabies to inch closer to Tri-Nations glory
The Springbok rugby team are riding the crest of a wave at the moment and it seems at though nothing short of the Apocalypse can stop the Boks from winning this year’s Tri-Nations competition after they defeated the Wallabies 32-25 at the Subaico Oval in Perth, Australia on Saturday. The Boks outscored their opponents by four tries to three with flyhalf Morné Steyn contributing a valuable 10 points with the boot.

The South Africans got stuck into the Australians from the get go and were already 12-0 up after just 10 minutes courtesy of tries from scrumhalf Fourie Du Preez (converted by Steyn) and centre Jaque Fourie. Steyn then added three more points six minutes later when the Wallabies were penalised for an infringement, pushing the score to 15 without reply … Continued

This Week in South African Sports – 26 August 2009

Mbulaeni Mulaudzi

Rich medal haul for South African trio in Berlin
Mbulaeni Mulaudzi had the last laugh at the World Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on Sunday when he ran a superb 800m race to clock 1 min, 45.29 secs to secure a gold medal for South Africa. Mulaudzi did not run particularly well in his semi-final heat on Friday, finishing fourth and having to wait to see if he would qualify for the final as the second of two fastest losers, which he did by the smallest of margins.

And so, despite his somewhat tepid performance in the semi-finals, the 29-year-old Mulaudzi found himself in the final against the world’s best 800m runners, including the likes of defending champion Alfred Yego from Kenya and Yusuf Kamel of Bahrain … Continued

This Week in South African Sports

Caster Semenya

South Africa pinning hopes on Caster Semenya in Berlin
The 12th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Berlin are well under way and there have been some phenomenal performances on display with Jamaican sprinting sensation Usain Bolt’s unbelievable 9.58 secs in the 100m final, undoubtedly the pick of the bunch. However, the South African contingent have struggled to achieve their potential in a fiercely competitive environment, with medal hopes LJ van Zyl, Sunnette Viljoen and Ruben Ramolefi failing to produce the goods when it counted most.

Van Zyl was blown away by the competition in the first of Sunday night’s 400m hurdles semi-finals, clocking an ordinary 48.80 secs for sixth position. Continued

The Week that was in SA Sports – Sports Wrap

22 July – The week that was in South African Sports and what’s coming up – by Guy Mortimer

Oscar Pistorius

Oscar still falling short
Twenty-two-year-old double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius finished a respectable fourth in the 400m event in Velletri, Italy, on Saturday. The Pretoria-based Pistorius, aptly nicknamed the ‘Blade Runner’ due to his carbon fibre prostheses, was hoping to qualify for next month’s World Athletics Championships in Berlin, but his time of 47.42 sec was 1.87 sec adrift of the difficult 45.55 sec qualifying standard.

Consequently, Pistorius will probably have to wait until 2010 to qualify for a major able-bodied event as there are no more global championships taking place this year. However, he still has till August 3 to make the South African team for Berlin and had the satisfaction of defeating seasoned Mauritian runner Eric Milazar on Saturday - albeit by a mere one hundredth of a second. The race was won by Michael Mathieu of the Bahamas in 46.81 sec … Continued

The week that was in South African Sports

Khotso Mokoena

Athletics
There were some outstanding performances by male South African athletes at the 2009 Athletissima Super Grand Prix in Lausanne, Switzerland, on Tuesday night. Pick of the crop was Olympic silver medallist Khotso Moekoena’s performance in the long jump where he secured victory with a distance of 8.05m for his fifth international win of the year.

Bloemfontein’s Johan Cronje ran out of his skin to finish an excellent second behind Antar Zerguelaine of Algeria in the one miler, while LJ van Zyl finished a credible third in the 400 metre hurdles. In the 800 metres, Mbulaeni Mulaudzi ran an excellent race to finish second behind Sudan’s Ismail Ahmed Ismail. Mulaudzi’s time of 1 min 44.97 sec was only 0.16 sec slower than his winning time in the national championships at Stellenbosch in March … Continued

Our new Sports Writer, Guy Mortimer

We are thrilled to announce that sports journalist Guy Mortimer will be contributing to the SA-Venues.com blog, writing a weekly Sports Wrap for us. Guy will be reporting on ”the week that was” in South African Sports and advising us all on upcoming sporting events to watch out for.

Guy Mortimer

About Guy:
“I’ve been a sports nut ever since Grade 1 and played, rugby, cricket, soccer, tennis and athletics throughout most of my school career. After school I took up road running and enjoy participating in short distance events of between 5 to 15km.

I’ve loved writing from as far back as I can remember and becoming a freelance sports journalist was a natural progression for me as it combines my two passions, sport and the written word”.

Great to have your voice on our Blog Guy! We look forward to some entertaining Sporting News!

The South African Golfing Experience

Steenberg

South Africa has a rich golfing heritage, having produced such golfing greats as Gary Player, Bobby Locke and Ernie Els. These great golfers, however, would not have had the opportunity to become champions had it not been for the outstanding golf courses that South Africa has to offer. The Western Cape, in particular, boasts many world class golf courses and estates and with its moderate Mediterranean climate and spectacular scenery, it has become one of the world’s premier golfing destinations.

Royal Cape is the oldest recognised golf course in the city and it was here that golf was first played in South Africa. It was founded by British Settlers in 1885, first at Wynberg Military Camp and then on the site that is now the Rondebosch common, but later moved to its current site in Wynberg, a 15 – 20 minute drive from the city centre and Cape Town International Airport. Royal Cape is a club steeped in tradition and is the most exclusive in the peninsula. It is a flat parklands course with pristine fairways and views of the mountain, but is a stiff challenge of a golfer’s repertoire of shots, especially when the South-Easter is blowing. Continued