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Smith, Rathbone to face Cheetahs

Wallabies George Smith and Clyde Rathbone will return to the ACT Brumbies starting team for this weekend’s Super Rugby qualifier against South Africa’s Central Cheetahs, the club said Friday.

The players are making an unlikely finals appearance in Canberra on Sunday after Rathbone came out of retirement this year and Smith was loaned by his Japanese club Suntory Sungoliath.

Making way for winger Rathbone is Joe Tomane, who played for the Wallabies against the British and Irish Lions this month, while Colby Faingaa also goes to the bench with flanker Smith taking the number seven jersey.

Scrum-half Nic White also returns to the starting side for the first time since injuring his shoulder with Ian Prior returning to the bench.

“Bringing two guys like Clyde and George into our starting side will give us experience when we need it. Those two guys have both won championships at Canberra Stadium and it’s exciting to have them involved,” coach Jake White said.

“The Cheetahs are a side which has made huge improvements over the last two seasons and it’s a credit to them that they are now a competition threat.”

It will be the Brumbies first finals match since they won the Super Rugby title in 2004. – AFP

Super Rugby: McCaw v. Cooper as Crusaders face Reds

Richie McCaw’s return will add extra spice to Saturday’s Super Rugby qualifier between Canterbury Crusaders and Queensland Reds as the All Blacks skipper comes up against old foe Quade Cooper.

McCaw is back after a six-month sabbatical from rugby and has been named among the replacements as the seven-time champions look to stay alive in the Super 15 title race in the sudden-death encounter against the 2011 winners.

The Reds are looking to overturn a six-match losing record in Christchurch, and have not beaten the Crusaders in New Zealand since 1999.

The winners will progress to next week’s semi-finals against either holders Waikato Chiefs or triple champions Northern Bulls, who have a bye after finishing first and second in the final standings.

McCaw’s debut appearance of the season provides a psychological lift for the Crusaders, who also have All Black ace Dan Carter calling the shots in his fly-half duel with discarded Cooper.

And there’s little love lost between the Wallaby and McCaw.

Cooper shoved the Kiwi in the head after James O’Connor scored a match-winning try in the 2010 Bledisloe Test in Hong Kong.

During the 2011 Tri-Nations decider the Australian kneed McCaw following a ruck but was later exonerated.

Cooper said he was anticipating a torrid time from the Crusaders’ supporters following his past incidents with the revered All Blacks skipper.

“I expect that every week. Nothing changes. We just played down in NSW and I take it I’m not the most favourable bloke down there either,” Cooper said.

“It is what it is and that’s part and parcel of rugby and rivalries in rugby. We’ve got a great rivalry with the Crusaders as a team. We played them in 2011 and managed to get the win. I’m sure that will add to the occasion.”

Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder said of McCaw: “While he’s mentally tough, he won’t be physically fit to the level that’s required. He’s a quality player and he’s Richie McCaw, of course, but at the end of the day we’ve still got to put this team first.”

The match will have a Test feel to it with 13 All Blacks (nine present and four former) in the Crusaders up against a Reds team containing 14 Wallabies (six present and eight former).

The Reds will also be strengthened by the return of key Wallabies –scrum-half Will Genia and lock James Horwill — who missed last week’s 14-12 win over the Waratahs.

While Queensland haven’t won in Christchurch for 14 years they have beaten all four New Zealand sides they have played this season.

If they defat the Crusaders they will become the first Australian team to clean sweep all five Kiwi opponents.

In Sunday’s other qualifier, South Africa’s Central Cheetahs are searching for their first victory in five trips to Canberra when they take on the ACT Brumbies.

It will be the Brumbies’ first playoff game since 2004 when they downed the Crusaders in the final, while the Cheetahs are making their debut in the finals.

The Brumbies lost out on the important second spot to the Bulls after their 21-15 last-round slip-up against the lowly Western Force in Perth.

Wallaby flanker George Smith will return to the Brumbies starting side after playing 30 minutes off the bench against the Force.

“For me now it’s about picking a team that can win the competition,” Brumbies World Cup-winning Springbok coach Jake White said.

“George has all that experience, has played in play-offs and won the competition before so any bit of advantage we can get going into this knockout stage of the competition is going to be vital.”

The Cheetahs narrowly lost 24-23 on their last trip to Canberra. – AFP

Cheetahs outsiders in Super rugby playoffs

The Bloemfontein-based Cheetahs will celebrate their best season in Super Rugby on Saturday by gate-crashing a playoff party for former champions.

The Cheetahs – who have qualified for the playoffs for the first time -are the only one of the six remaining teams which has never won a Super Rugby title. Their quarterfinal opponents, the ACT Brumbies, have two; the Canterbury Crusaders, who host the other quarterfinal, have seven and their opponents, the Queensland Reds have one.

Two teams received a bye to the semifinal stage: the Hamilton-based Chiefs will defend their only Super Rugby crown and the Pretoria-based Bulls will attempt to win their third title and their first since 2010.

The Cheetahs are unused to being among such illustrious company.

Their best-ever finish was seventh in 1997, after which they left the tournament for nine years. Since rejoining the competition in 2006, they have never finished higher than 10th.

But this season, under former Springboks hooker Naka Drotske, they have perfected one of the most expansive gameplans in the competition, winning 10 of 16 regular-season games and showing an ability – vital to South African teams – of winning in Australia and New Zealand.

They won at the Dunedin-based Highlanders, the New South Wales Waratahs and the Western Force, losing only to the Chiefs on their overseas games.

“We have a confident atmosphere in the team and we know if we play well, we can beat any team on the day,” Drotske said.

“The last two tours – where we have won in Australia – have done our confidence the world of good. And we prefer to play the Brumbies. They are also new to the playoffs and their current group of players hasn’t played in this round of the competition yet, so it is a new thing to them as well.”

The Cheetahs were underestimated by many opponents, and hope to exploit the same advantage on Sunday when the Brumbies, champions of the Australian conference, might take them too lightly.

“We play better as a team when we are underdogs as there is absolutely no pressure on us,” Drotske said.

The Brumbies have been the top team in Australia this season but the confidence of many players may have been dented by being part of an Australia team that was beaten by the British and Irish Lions, while the ACT was also beaten last week in Perth.

Brumbies coach Jake White says veteran flanker George Smith will definitely be among his starting lineup for the match, though Smith had a tough time in the third Lions

test after suffering an early head knock.

The Crusaders have named All Blacks captain Richie McCaw on the bench and international lock Luke Romano in their starting lineup for Saturday’s match at Christchurch.

McCaw expected to miss all of the Super Rugby season during an eight months “sabbatical” which began after New Zealand’s loss to England at Twickenham in December. He was due to return for the All Blacks’ first Rugby Championships match against Australia on Aug. 17 but has answered the Crusaders’ call for late-season reinforcement.

The Crusaders are attempting to win an eighth Super Rugby title. This will be their 12th-straight appearance in the playoffs but the players are not yet jaded.

“You have got to treat it as an honor, not a burden,” scrumhalf Andy Ellis said. “As soon as you think ‘we have been here so many times, we should win it, we should win it’ it just creates anxiety.”

Queensland has named Wallabies James Horwill and Will Genia in their starting lineup, though they have lost center Anthony Faingaa, winger Rod Davies and utility Mike Harris from a backline which has changed in four places after last week’s narrow win over New South Wales.

“There is always going to be some damage at this time of the year and while it’s disappointing to be without a few guys, we are getting the experience of James and Will back,” coach Ewen McKenzie said. “Their influence can’t be understated and you need world-class players and strong leaders if you are going to win these games on the big stage.” – AP

Tiger felt ‘different energy’ with Mandela

Black golf star Tiger Woods has remembered how his first meeting with Nelson Mandela 15 years ago was an experience like no other.

“I went down there to play [at] Sun City, and he [Mandela] invited us to his home. And my father and I went to have lunch with him. It still gives me chills to this day, thinking about it,” Woods told journalists at Muirfield in Scotland on Tuesday, where the start of the British Open on Thursday coincides with Mandela’s 95th birthday.

Woods became a poster boy for multiracial America in 1997 when, at just 21, he became the first black golfer to win a major, a feat all the more startling as he did it on a course that up until seven years previously had been off limits to African-Americans.

He described his private lunch the following year with Mandela, South Africa’s anti-apartheid hero, as unforgettable.

“We walked in the room and my dad and I were just kind of looking around. And I said, ‘Dad, do you feel that?’ And he says, ‘Yeah, it feels different in this room.’ And it was just like a different energy in the room,” Woods said.

“And maybe, I’m guessing probably 30 seconds later, I heard some movement behind me and it was [former] president Mandela folding up the paper. And it was pretty amazing.

“The energy that he has, that he exudes, is unlike any person I’ve ever met. And it was an honour to meet him at his home. And that’s an experience that I will never, ever forget.”

Mandela, who overcame 27 years in jail to become South Africa’s first black president and bring an end to decades of whites-only rule, is confined to his Pretoria hospital bed on life-support as the world prepares to mark his birthday with a raft of celebrations and charity events.

Defending British Open champion and South African sporting legend Ernie Els, also paid tribute to Mandela at Muirfield and said it would be “wonderful” if a South African player could win this week and give his sports-mad nation a much-needed morale boost.

“Obviously sport has been a key factor in bringing South Africa together into a democratic place and state,” Els said on Monday. “And president Mandela played such a big part in that; also back in the early 1990s, and the World Cup and … African Nations Cup.”

Els is one of 10 South Africans competing at Muirfield, along with Thomas Aiken, Richard Sterne, Tim Clark, George Coetzee, Charl Schwartzel, Branden Grace, Louis Oosthuizen, Justin Harding and Darryn Lloyd. – AFP

Rugby sevens team to play for bronze

The South African sevens rugby will compete for the bronze medal in the rugby sevens tournament at the World Student Games after going down in a narrow 17-14 defeat to hosts Russia in the semifinals, in Kazan, on Tuesday.

Clearance Khumalo dotted down to give the South Africans the early lead, but Russia hit back to take a 12-7 advantage into the interval.

And while Khumalo scored again in the second half — both his tries were converted by Stefan de Villiers — the host nation managed to bag a surprise win.

Earlier, in the quarterfinals, the SA men, who had gone unbeaten in the group stages, charged into a 21-7 half-time lead and held off some resistance from Belgium for a 26-12 victory.

South Africa will face Great Britain, who were defeated 33-12 by France in their semifinal, in the bronze medal match on Wednesday, the final day of the Games.

Meanwhile, Alistair Davis finished fifth with a score of 25 from 10 shots in the men’s double trap shooting semifinals, narrowly missing out on a place in the bronze medal contest.

Earlier on Tuesday, the 20-year-old Olympian had been fourth best of the first-round qualifiers, progressing to the penultimate round.

In the pool, the SA 4x100m medley relay quartet — Richard Ellis, Nico Meyer, Leith Shankland and Giulio Zorzi — finished seventh in the final in 3:42:22. Russia secured the gold medal in 3:34.27. – Sapa

Peyper to referee Super rugby playoff

South African referee Jaco Peyper will be in charge of the first Vodacom Super Rugby qualifier between the Crusaders and the Reds in Christchurch, New Zealand, on Saturday.

This was confirmed by the SA, New Zealand and Australian Rugby (Sanzar) body on Tuesday.

The second qualifier, scheduled for Sunday morning in Canberra, Australia, between the Brumbies and the Cheetahs, would be refereed by New Zealand’s Glen Jackson.

Sanzar also confirmed that the first semi-final of the southern hemisphere franchise competition would be hosted at Loftus Versfeld, in Pretoria, when the Bulls take on the highest placed qualifier at 5.05pm on July 27.

The second semi-final, between the Chiefs and the other qualifier, would take place at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, New Zealand, at 9.35am (SA time) on the same day.

Referee appointments for the semi-finals would be confirmed early next week. – Sapa

Stormers hungry for consolation win

Turning out in their final game of the 2013 Super Rugby season may seem like a formality, but departing winger Bryan Habana says the Stormers will play their hearts out against the title-chasing Bulls at Newlands on Saturday.

Habana, who leaves for big-spending French outfit Toulon at the end of the campaign, did not believe the Bulls’ log aspirations would weigh heavily on the Cape players’ minds.

“This Saturday is not about trying to spoil the Bulls’ party,” Habana said.

“It is about the (Stormers) players getting some pride back for the supporters.

“There is a lot of pride at stake for the Stormers and for me personally. I feel disappointed that I haven’t contributed enough to see us get into the playoff stages.”

The late kick-off slot means the Stormers, in seventh place and out of the running for the playoffs, could have a say in the final outcome of the log, with the Bulls eager to remain in top spot overall after the last game of the regular season.

Bulls coach Frans Ludeke knew his charges had a mountain to climb at Newlands.

“We are up against an opponent we know. It is always very physical and there are no easy metres to be gained,” Ludeke said. – Sapa

Lions team to face Griquas in friendly rugby match

Lions head coach Johan Ackermann named his side to face the Griquas at Ellis Park this Saturday. Kick-off is at 15h00.

The friendly match was being used by the Lions as part of their preparations for a two-leg Super Rugby promotion/relegation playoff against the Southern Kings. The matches take place on July 26 in Port Elizabeth and August 2 in Johannesburg.

Lions: Ruan Combrinck, Deon van Rensburg, Stokkies Hanekom, Dylan des Fountain, Anthony Volmink, Marnitz Boshoff, Guy Cronje, Lambert Groenewald, Derick Minnie, Warwick Tecklenburg, JJ Breet, Hendrik Roodt, Julian Redelinghuys, Francois du Toit, JC Janse van Rensburg (captain).

Replacements: Mark Pretorius, Jacques van Rooyen, Ruan Dreyer, Hugo Kloppers/Gavin Annandale, Willie Britz, Ross Cronje/Viaan van der Watt, Lionel Cronje, Chrysander Botha, Deon Helberg.

Jean de Villiers returns for match against Blue Bulls

Jean de Villiers in the Springbok jersey

Springbok captain Jean de Villiers has recovered from his sternum injury and will lead the Stormers against the Bulls in Saturday’s Super Rugby clash at Newlands.

De Villiers, who missed the Stormers’ last two wins — over the Cheetahs and the Southern Kings — returns to the starting line-up in one of five changes ahead of Saturday’s meeting with the newly-crowned SA Conference winners.

To make room for the captain, Damian de Allende drops to the bench, while Gio Aplon shifts from wing to fullback(in place of the injured Joe Pietersen.

Gerhard van den Heever comes onto the right-wing, Gary van Aswegen will start at flyhalf and Rynhardt Elstadt returns at number seven.

“Jean de Villiers is the captain and the incumbent No.12 so the plan was always to bring him straight back if he was fit,” said coach Allister Coetzee on Wednesday.

“With Gio at fullback being a left-footer, bringing in Gary at flyhalf gives us the important option of having the combination of a left- and right-footed kicker in our backline.”

Don Armand and Elton Jantjies join De Allende on the bench while Springbok prop Pat Cilliers is named among the replacements once again.

Record-breaking wing Bryan Habana will be playing in his final match for the Stormers, which will be his 57th appearance for the franchise, having scored 18 tries in the process.

“It’s massively important for us to win this weekend. We’ve only lost to the Crusaders at home this year and we lost to the Bulls at Newlands in 2011,” said Coetzee.

“We’d like to finish on a high and carry that momentum into the next competition.”

Stormers team: Gio Aplon, Gerhard van den Heever, Juan de Jongh, Jean de Villiers (captain), Bryan Habana, Gary van Aswegen, Louis Schreuder, Nizaam Carr, Rynhardt Elstadt, Deon Fourie (vice-captain), De Kock Steenkamp, Eben Etzebeth, Brok Harris, Scarra Ntubeni, Steven Kitshoff.

Replacements: Martin Bezuidenhout, Pat Cilliers, Gerbrandt Grobler, Don Armand, Nic Groom, Elton Jantjies, Damian de Allende. – Sapa

British & Irish Lions end a 16-year drought

After making the selection call that could have divided the British and Irish Lions along national lines, Warren Gatland’s coaching career was in the balance. The doomsdayers were even hinting at the future of the combined ‘home nations’ tour concept hinging on the outcome of third test in Sydney.

They started with a bang, literally, in the first scrum and opened the scoring within two minutes, setting the tone for a record 41-16 win over Australia in Saturday’s series-deciding match that ended a 16-year drought for the Lions.

Gatland was the target of vitriolic criticism for three days after dropping Irish center Brian O’Driscoll, the most loyal servant of the Lions in the modern era. The coach was ultimately vindicated as he delivered the combined team from Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England its first series triumph since 1997.

Gatland has had great success since taking over the Wales national team in 1997. And despite being a New Zealander, he was the obvious choice to coach the British and Irish Lions on a 10-match tour that opened in Hong Kong last month and included nine matches in Australia. It was his ability to stand back and look at the overall picture that undoubtedly helped the Lions.

But even after the victory in Sydney, he was still reeling from the torrent of criticism he’d copped.

“I was absolutely shocked at the vitriolic terms of the criticism,” Gatland said. “I haven’t enjoyed the last 72 hours, it’s been tough personally.

“Maybe in a week or two I might get some pleasure out of tonight. But at the moment there hasn’t been a lot of pleasure out of feeling vindicated at the amount of criticism directed at me personally.”

Having said that, he later told a British tabloid that he’d “jump at the opportunity” to take charge of the Lions on their next tour in 2017 – to New Zealand.

“It would be a massive honor and extra special to take them to my home country,” Gatland was quoted as saying by the Mail on Sunday.

New Zealand’s 2011 World Cup-winning coach Graham Henry was in charge of the Lions when they lost the 2001 series in Australia 2-1, after opening that series with an emphatic win. England’s 2003 World Cup-winning coach Clive Woodward was in charge for the 3-0 drubbing in New Zealand in ’05. Gatland was an assistant coach in 2009 when the Lions lost the series 2-1 in South Africa.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in the last two tours – 2009 was about restoring some real pride into that Lions jersey and felt we did that in South Africa,” Gatland told a news conference late Saturday night. “This wasn’t about that. This was delivering. This was winning the series. And we’ve achieved that. The pleasing thing for everyone, we saw how special Lions tours can be.”

He’s already plotting the next tour – or at least offering his advice to anyone who succeeds him.

“Going forward, you need to make sure that the amount of interest it creates, the amount of hype, the amount of money it generates, you’ve got to do the Lions tour properly,” he said. “You’ve got to have the right preparation time. When the Lions negotiate a series it’s got to be done properly.”

Gatland said he was frustrated at the start of the tour with the limited preparation time for his squad, and that was compounded by easy wins in Hong Kong against the Barbarians and the Western Force in Perth in the first two matches.

The Lions tour attracted an accumulated crowd of 389,400 at nine matches in Australia, including records for each of the test venues in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney – finishing off with the 83,702 people cramming into the Olympic stadium which was reconfigured after the 2000 Games. An estimated 40,000 traveling British and Irish Lions fans swelled the population of expats already living in Australia, and made the downtown areas of test cities a sea of red jerseys on match day.

O’Driscoll was delighted in the end, capping off his fourth Lions tour with his first series victory. He played in the first two tests – winning the first 23-21 in Brisbane and losing the second 16-15 in Melbourne -but Gatland benched him for the third, the first time O’Driscoll had been dropped in his 133-test career. But after the match, the 34-year-old Irishman was delighted to hold the Tom Richards Cup high above his head and do a circuit of the pitch for the Lions fans. – AP

“This is fantastic for rugby going forward,” Gatland said. “It’s great for the Lions, and it creates an interest and excitement for the future for the Lions tours.”

Golfers hope for Mandela recovery

The Sunshine Tour’s professional golfers showed their support for ailing former president Nelson Mandela by wearing beaded South African flags during the first round of the Vodacom Origins of Golf tournament at Selborne Park Golf Club in KwaZulu-Natal.

Jean Hugo, a 13-time winner on tour sported the flag on his cap on Wednesday.

Mandela was known, over the years, to phone South Africa’s top golfers when they achieved internationally.

Shortly after he was admitted to hospital on June 8 for treatment of a recurring lung infection, South Africa’s most successful golfer post 1992, Ernie Els, said Mandela had often contacted him earlier in his career.

“When I won a lot of tournaments in the ’90s and early part of the 2000s, we spoke a lot on the telephone,” Els said in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, where he was preparing to play in the US Open.

“He always felt proud of what the sporting athletes out of South Africa did for the country, you know, winning worldwide events. He always felt very proud of that. Yeah, through that instance we had a really nice relationship.

“We’ll just — we’re hoping for the best. Whatever outcome that might be. I just want him to be well.”

Els said he had not met Mandela for a number of years, but hoped for his recovery.

“Yeah, South Africans, we’re obviously very concerned about President Mandela. He’s 94-years-old now. He’s almost on to his 95th birthday, and he’s been quite ill for a while now.

“So we’re just hoping for the best. I haven’t seen him for quite a few years now. I haven’t seen him for probably seven or eight years now. But we’ve had always a great relationship.” – Sapa

Mandela is ‘amazing, influential’: Roger Federer

Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer hailed ailing Nelson Mandela as “influential and amazing” on Monday as the anti-apartheid icon remained in a critical condition in a Pretoria hospital

“He’s been very influential, an amazing personality, you know, believed in something, had to pay a big price for it,” said Federer.

“Someone you can definitely look up to and that’s very important for me. Clearly there’s many that come and go, but he has been there for a very long time.

“And he’s very much respected and loved. So we hope he does well here now in this process.”

Federer was speaking after reaching the Wimbledon second round on Monday with a 6-3, 6-2, 6-0 win over Romania’s Victor Hanescu.

The Swiss star has been a regular visitor to South Africa over the years where he has a charitable foundation.

The country is also the birthplace of his mother, Lynnette.

In 2011, Federer was voted second to Mandela in an international survey to find the world’s most respected, admired and trusted personality. – AFP

Rugby: Loftus tickets reduced to attract spectators

The Blue Bulls Company has reduced ticket prices for the final round of the four-nation Incoming Series rugby contest, Beeld reported on Monday.

Tickets for the upper east pavilion and restricted viewing seats in the south pavilion had been reduced by R100 to attract a larger crowd to Loftus Versfeld where the Springboks face Samoa and Italy meet Scotland, on Saturday.

A disappointing 23,663 spectators witnessed the first double-header in Durban, while 30,018 spectators were present in the 41 ,000-capacity Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Saturday. – Sapa

Soccer: Hong Kong introduces anti-racism measures

Hong Kong’s football authority announced a slew of measures to punish and prevent racist behaviour at games, after Philippine football chiefs complained to FIFA about racist abuse of its players and fans.

The moves could see home and away supporters being segregated and will impose bans on abusive fans.

Hong Kong supporters hurled rubbish and insults at rival players and fans during a June 4 friendly won by the visiting Philippine team, according to the Philippine Sports Commission.

Sections of the home crowd called the Philippines a “slave nation” during the game and booed the Philippines national anthem when it was played, media reports from the southern Chinese city and the Philippines said.

The Hong Kong Football Association said late Friday that it will ban fans who are being racist and discriminatory for two years in accordance with FIFA Statutes and will consider formal segregation of seating for opposing spectators on a match-by-match basis.

The association also said it will make public announcements to warn fans of the consequences of using racist language and will work with the police in apprehending “spectators engaged in racist activity”.

“The allegation of disrespectful and discriminatory behaviour by home fans is the first incident of this nature at a football match in Hong Kong,” the association said, adding the accusations were levelled against “a small minority of people”.

“No amount of political tension or provocation or frustration can justify any incidence of racist or discriminatory behaviour,” it added.

Tensions between the Philippines and Hong Kong, which employs tens of thousands of Filipina maids, have simmered since a bungled rescue attempt by Filipino police of Hong Kong tourists taken hostage by a rogue police officer in 2010.

The fiasco left eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage-taker dead.

The city’s administration has maintained a black “outbound travel alert” for the Philippines since the incident, telling residents to “avoid all travel” to the island nation. The only other country listed in the category is Syria. – AFP