A South African double-header is set to take place in Perth as the Springboks face the Wallabies in a second Rugby Championship Test before Dricus Du Plessis faces Israel Adesanya in a middleweight bout.
PERTH TO MAKE DRICUS FEEL AT HOME
There are some 200,000 Saffas living in Australia and don’t be surprised if most of them are in Perth to watch Dricus du Plessis defend his UFC middleweight belt against Israel Adesanya around 5am on Sunday morning (SA time).
Whatever the case, you’ll hear plenty of Afrikaans spoken as Bok heroes Siya Kolisi and Eben Etzebeth walk Du Plessis to the octagon. ‘Suid Afrika, hulle weet nie wat ons weet nie’, will be a familiar call, shortly followed by ‘eet hom’ and ‘moer hom’. This is the headline act of UFC 305 and Du Plessis’ first title defence after beating Sean Strickland for the belt. Strickland had dethroned Adesanya to himself become champion. Should you fancy Du Plessis to retain his title, he’s at 1/1 to do so.
RASSIE CHANGES SHOW DEPTH OF BOKS
It highlights the strength in depth that the Springboks have that Rassie Erasmus is able to make 10 changes for the match against Australia in Perth on Saturday and still be considered 10-point favourites to win the game.
Last week the Boks blew away the Wallabies 33-7 and the coach feels confident enough to rest the likes of veterans Siya Koliso, Frans Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi and Willie le Roux for the Test. Salmaan Moerat captains the team from lock for the second time in only nine Tests. In the other Rugby Championship match, the All Blacks will be desperate to reverse last week’s upset to Argentina.
CITY COULD BE TOO SLICK FOR CHELSEA
It’s the start of the English Premiership and with it comes the opening Friday night fixture. The last three seasons have opened with no draws and in all three instances only one side scored. That might be something to consider for your Superbru.
On Friday night it’s promoted Leicester hosting Tottenham, but the big match of the round is on Sunday when Chelsea welcome champions Man City. Although predictions are very much hit-and-miss at this stage and pre-season results must be viewed with suspicion, Chelsea seem to be starting off where they finished last season – in disarray. They would view a point at home as a win against City who are again title favourites.
PROTEAS SEARCH FOR SERIES CLINCHER
The Proteas are in action against hosts West Indies in Guyana, where it doesn’t look like any amount of bad water would stop a win result after last week’s first draw in 28 consecutive Tests. This is the second match of a two-Test series, so there’s the series up for grabs for whoever wins this weekend. You might have time for a round of Sunday golf. There were 17 wickets on day one where the Proteas were 97-9 before a last-wicket partnership of 63. They then had the hosts 97-7. And breathe.
BAGNAIA DOMINATES BUT MARTIN LEADS
Francesco Bagnaia has this season become more dominant in MotoGP than Max Verstappen has in Formula One, though you don’t hear anyone calling MotoGP predictable. The Italian has won six of the 10 MotoGP races staged so far and heads to Austria this weekend as 12/10 favourite to make it seven wins in 11 on his Ducati.
However, his dominance is not reflected on the standings where he is second to Jorge Martin. Try explaining that to the neutral. Martin has two wins (seven podiums), while Bagnaia has six wins (eight podiums) from the 10 races so far. South African allegiance again lies with Brad Binder, flatlining in seventh spot on the standings with one podium.
ON THE DOMESTIC SCENE
The MTN 8 Cup semi-finals see Sundowns and Pirates on opposite sides of the draw, setting up a potential blockbuster final. First, Sundowns need to beat Stellenbosch, while Pirates must get past Cape Town City. The odds of both happening in normal time are 2/1 …
Currie Cup rugby is into round seven with the Bulls the only unbeaten side, chased by the Golden Lions and Cheetahs. The picture should be the same by Sunday as the Bulls meet the Pumas, the Lions host WeePee, the Cheetahs are at home to the Sharks, while Griquas and the Griffons, with one win between them, meet in a basement battle.
