Gary Lemke looks back at the best of this past weekend's sporting action as the Boks held off France to claim a RWC semi-final berth, Ireland crashed out at the hands of New Zealand and more!
BRILLIANT BOKS TO GO ALL THE WAY
Wow! Wow! Wow! Simply breathtaking rugby served up by France and the Springboks in a Sunday night World Cup quarter-final for the ages. The Boks won the all-time classic by point and 60 million South Africans are already looking beyond this weekend’s semi-final against England and towards a final against the All Blacks.
That’s certainly the way things are looking as both NZ and SA took out the two best teams in the competition. I really think that France and Ireland were slightly better than their opponents on the night, but they both lost. That’s sport.
I gave Eben Etzebeth a 10 out of 10 rating as man of the match, and that included a point deducted for a yellow card. Most pleasing too was that the players and occasion was applauded, with whinging about the refs and officials a sign they did their jobs admirably.
I feel the Boks have played the two best sides in the world currently in France and Ireland, and can’t see them losing the final in a fortnight.
IRELAND A TOUCH UNLUCKY TO LOSE
Now we know the semi-finalists for the Rugby World Cup. it’s Argentina vs New Zealand and South Africa vs England. The All Blacks vs Ireland quarter-final was another worthy of a final itself, with both teams belting one another black and blue.
I felt Ireland were marginally the better side on the night, but ironically they seemed to bottle the big moments more than their opponents. Johnny Sexton, the 38-year-old captain, missed one shot at goal and on other occasions he spurned the three points and went for the corner to set up the lineout and driving maul.
I reckon the Springboks would rather face New Zealand in the final than the prospect of Ireland.
CROWD OF 130,000 CHEERS INDIA HOME
India set down their marker as favourites for the Cricket World Cup with an emphatic seven-wicket win over Pakistan. The fans turned up, as one would expect them to do, at the Narendra Modi Stadium, and there were some 130,000 of them.
Most of us South Africans have probably been in a capacity 80,000 as a maximum, so it’s quite difficult to comprehend 130,000 if you haven’t experienced it.
The hosts fed off the energy and after reaching 155 for 2, Pakistan collapsed to 191 all out. Back in the day eyebrows would have been raised at Pakistan losing eight wickets for 36 runs, but thankfully we have (mostly) moved on from match-fixing.
BAGNAIA GOES FROM 13TH TO FIRST
There was a close finish to the Indonesian MotoGP at the Mandalika International Street Circuit, where Francesco Bagnaia took the checkered flag first, ahead of Maverick Vinales and Fabio Quartararo.
Less than half a second covered the three riders after 41min 20sec of racing. South Africa’s Brad Binder finished sixth on his KTM, 11.23sec off the pace. While Bagnaia started from 13th on the grid, Binder had a good qualifying session, which is not always the case, and was fifth when the race started.
ANOTHER BLACK EYE FOR BOXING
Two “fights” broke out in Manchester’s AO Arena on Saturday night – with the best of the action being after the actual official “contests” were completed.
For what it’s worth, Tommy Fury, the brother of heavyweight champ Tyson, was awarded a points decision after six turgid rounds with “YouTuber” KSI.
However, the scorecards were shared on social media and one judge added up his card incorrectly. Still, Fury “won”, although it sparked more “anger” afterwards. Also on the same card Logan Paul, the 28-year-old “influencer” beat MMA “star” Dillon Danis by disqualification after Danis attempted a ju-jitsu move on Paul.
Cue more “outrage” and another skirmish between dozens of people. It’s a disgrace to have “fights” sanctioned when it’s more of boxing’s version of the scripted WWE.
BOOKING THEIR TICKETS TO GERMANY
There’s still plenty of International football action going on, and the first round of the current set of Euro 2024 qualifiers played over the weekend saw some noteworthy developments.
There are going to be 24 teams at next year’s tournament, and hosts Germany have qualified automatically. This past weekend they were joined by France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain and Scotland, with a number of others on the brink of booking their seats in their next game.
The big match of the round takes place on Tuesday, when Group C leaders England host second-placed Italy.
