South Africa's second-string side face Tonga in the World Cup in Lens today determined to achieve atonement for their last dismal performance against a rugby lightweight.
In the run-up to the tournament, the Springboks fielded their "midweek" team against Irish province Connacht -- the weakest of the four Irish provincial teams -- in Galway and just managed to squeeze out a 18-3 win.
"It hurt like hell," scrumhalf Enrico Januarie admitted. "We learned a big lesson. There was just too much talking -- everybody spoke beforehand about how we should play and the talk didn't stop on the field."
"This time we want a whole lot more `doing' and much less talking," he said.
South Africa coach Jake White has retained just four of the players who started the 36-0 rout of England last weekend as the 1995 world champions chase their third win of their Pool A campaign.
With just the US left to face in the group stage, South Africa have already virtually made sure of top spot and a probable quarter-final clash against Wales.
But White, wary of that close-call in Galway, as well as the Tongans' impressive win over Samoa, isn't taking any chances by packing his bench with first choice stars John Smit, Victor Matfield, Juan Smith, Percy Montgomery -- who if he comes on will become the Springboks' record caps holder with 90 -- B.J. Botha, Bryan Habana and Francois Steyn.
Such is the 'Boks' strength in depth that the bench has more caps than the entire starting line-up.
"From experience, I know that the same team cannot play and win seven weeks in a row," White said. "So we have the opportunity to rest several key players and give others their chance."
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite