South Africa is bracing itself for one of the most thrilling domestic Currie Cup rugby finals in years when the Sharks host the Blue Bulls in Durban on Saturday.
The match is a repeat of last year’s Super 14 final when, with just seconds remaining, Bulls winger Bryan Habana scored a converted try to give his team their first Super rugby title, winning 20-19.
South Africa’s two premier provincial sides last met in a domestic final in 2003, with the Bulls winning convincingly 40-19, one of four titles won by former coach Heyneke Meyer, who is now in charge of English club Leicester.
For new Bulls boss Frans Ludeke, it has been something of a fairytale season with his team winning 11 of their 14 matches.
After a somewhat disastrous spell as coach of the Golden Lions and Super 14 Cats, Ludeke is on the brink of winning his first piece of important silverware.
But while the Bulls have dominated domestic rugby in South Africa for a good number of years, it is the Sharks who are desperate to claim the honors this weekend.
The Durban team, under New Zealand-born coach John Plumtree, have not won the Currie Cup for 12 years, their last triumph coming in 1996.
Since then, they have been runners-up three times in Super rugby finals and also played in three semi-finals.
In the Currie Cup, they have been runners-up four times since 1996 and fallen out at the semi-final stage on a further six occasions.
Plumtree’s team have been instilled as favorites after losing just twice this season and because they will field no less than 16 internationals in their match-22, including France flyhalf Frederic Michalak.
The Bulls, while having plenty of experience playing in finals, do not have as many Springboks in their ranks.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was