Argentina – Page 2

Springboks lead Argentina at half-time

The Springboks led Argentina 26-6 at the half-time break in their opening Rugby Championship match at FNB Stadium on Saturday.

Referee Chris Pollock awarded a penalty try 10 minutes before the break after Argentine hooker Eusebio Guinazo deliberately knocked an Adriaan Strauss pass down metres from the tryline. Guinazo also received a yellow card for his indiscretion.

Three minutes later JJ Engelbrecht went over for the second try of the match, with flyhalf Morne Steyn converting.

Steyn converted four penalties, while Argentina flyhalf Felipe Contepomi converted two of his attempts at goal. – Sapa

Springboks to play with Mandela effigy on sleeves

South Africa’s national team will have an outline image of Nelson Mandela on a sleeve of their shirts when they tackle Argentina Saturday in the Rugby Championship.

A Springboks spokesman said a logo that included the image would be worn by each player, and captain Jean de Villiers vowed his team would triumph to “make Madiba smile”.

Most South Africans call Mandela, a long-time political prisoner who in 1994 became the first democratically elected president of the republic, by his clan name Madiba.

“We are ready to play for Madiba and to bring a smile to his face by defeating Argentina,” centre De Villiers, 32, said after a warm-up session at the match venue.

“Every game you play for the Springboks is special and if you add to that playing for Madiba as well, then suddenly the occasion just becomes massive.

“This is an occasion to celebrate the life of a fantastic man and of a person who has given so much to rugby, to sport, and to the country,” said 87-cap De Villiers.

It is the first time an outline image of a person will appear on the green and gold shirt, which traditionally carries a sponsor logo, the national sport emblem, and a leaping Springbok.

The match is part of a historic day of sport at the 94,000-seat Soccer City stadium in Soweto that also features a friendly match between the national soccer team and Burkina Faso.

Branded the ‘Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day’, the event includes a football match between former South African and Italian stars and a music concert.

International icon Mandela turned 95 during July in a Pretoria hospital, where he has spent more than two months after being admitted for a recurring lung infection.

The latest official bulletin on his condition said Mandela remained “critically ill”, but doctors added that the former president “is making a slow but steady improvement”.

While president, Mandela had a huge influence on rugby and football, inspiring the Springboks to win the 1995 World Cup and Bafana Bafana (The Boys) to win the Africa Cup of Nations a year later.

A government brainchild, the Sport Day stages two football matches before the pitch markings are changed and the goals give way to posts during a 90-minute pre-Test break.

“We have practiced the changes several times and are confident they will be done quickly,” said a Soccer City management spokesman.

The organisers, who say they sold 50,000 tickets by Friday, believe it is the first time national football and rugby teams have played in the same stadium on the same day.

Tickets range between $22 (16.50 euros) and $50 and with the cheapest $18 more expensive than for local football fixtures, there is concern that more affluent rugby supporters may dominate the crowd.

While the Springboks lost two previous Tests at the Soweto ground — to the New Zealand All Blacks in 2010 and 2012 — they are favoured to make it 15 wins in 16 outings against the Pumas.

But there is less optimism about Bafana Bafana, who were outplayed by African champions Nigeria two days ago and lucky to lose only 2-0 in Durban. – AFP

Boks gather ahead of Argentina clash

The Springboks gathered on Monday for a training camp ahead of the Rugby Championship.

Coach Heyneke Meyer’s squad of 30 players are preparing for their opening game against Argentina at FNB Stadium next Saturday.

The squad includes a number of overseas-based players with Fourie du Preez the surprise selection.

Meyer explained that he has no hard and fast policy on selecting overseas-based players.

SARU has given the Bok coach the go-ahead to pick them, and so this group of 30 includes players from France, Japan as well as Great Britain and Ireland.

Besides for the surprise inclusion of Du Preez and perhaps Gurthro Steenkamp, the bulk of the squad has remained unchanged from the June internationals.

Meyer is looking to build on the small gains made during the June Tests.

The Boks were far from convincing against Italy, Scotland and Samoa so there is plenty to work on during this training camp.

New Zealand, Australia and their first opponents in the Rugby Championship, Argentina, will be far tougher opponents. – eNCA

Zenani Mandela’s black Merc arrives at hospital

Former president Nelson Mandela’s eldest daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini arrived at the Pretoria hospital on Wednesday where the elderly statesman is believed to be receiving treatment.

Her black Mercedes-Benz entered the Medi-Clinic Heart Hospital before 11am. She stopped briefly and talked to police officers at the entrance on Park Street in Arcadia.

Mandela-Dlamini, who is South Africa’s ambassador to Argentina, arrived home this week following her father’s admission. The ailing icon was spending his fifth day in hospital.

On Saturday, the presidency announced that Mandela had been admitted to hospital in the early hours of the morning and was in a “serious but stable” condition. His condition has remained unchanged since then.

The presidency said on Tuesday that the doctors treating Mandela gave President Jacob Zuma a thorough briefing on Monday night.

“President Zuma has full confidence in the medical team, and is satisfied that they are doing their best to make Madiba better,” spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement.

Mandela was still in a “serious but stable” condition. Police had taken over security at the hospital. Seven officers were guarding the facility’s entrance. Pedestrians’ bags and vehicles entering the premises were searched.

Local and international media continued to hold vigil outside the hospital and Mandela’s Houghton, Johannesburg, home.

This is the third time this year the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been hospitalised.

At the end of March and in April he spent nine days in hospital receiving treatment for recurring lung problems. Earlier in March, he was admitted to a Pretoria hospital for a scheduled check-up and was discharged the following day. – Sapa

Falklands will be under Argentina’s control ‘soon’

The Falkland Islands will be under Argentina’s control within 20 years, the country’s foreign minister told British press, claiming that the UK “has never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity to find a solution” to the issue.

Speaking to reporters from The Guardian and The Independent, Hector Timerman stressed that “not one single country in the world” supports Britain’s claims to right of rule in the Falkands, to which he referred by their Spanish name, the Malvinas.

“I don’t think it will take another 20 years,” he said, talking about re-gaining Argentine control over the islands. “I think that the world is going through a process of understanding more and more that this is a colonial issue, an issue of colonialism, and that the people living there were transferred to the islands.”

In the interview, the Argentine foreign minister ruled out military action to resolve the issue, accusing the British government of militarizing the South Atlantic region in a grab for oil and natural resources.

“Wherever there is a smell of oil, big powers start to look around and they find a reason to stay there. I think probably oil will complicate the peaceful solution that is asked for by the United Nations. I think in history that Britain has had a tendency to stay in places where there are natural resources belonging to other people.”

Timerman expressed his willingness to discuss the issue with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who refused to meet his Argentine counterpart in London. The Foreign Office insists that such a meeting will not take place without Falklands Islands representatives present.

Meanwhile Timerman underlined that “according to the United Nations, there are only two parties to the conflict – the United Kingdom and the Republic of Argentina,” and that by insisting on the introduction of a third party, that being the Falkland Islanders, London is ignoring more than 40 UN resolutions calling on the two countries to negotiate.

“I think the fanatics are not in Buenos Aires, [but] maybe in the United Kingdom because they are 14,000 kilometers away from the islands. And I think they are using the people living in the islands for political [reasons] and to have access to oil and natural resources which belong to the Argentine people,” the top Argentine diplomat said, as quoted by The Guardian. – RT