This week Gary Lemke looks at Arsenal aiming to bounce back in the Premier League, Blitzboks in Canada Sevens action, Six Nations taking centre stage and more!
CURTAIN COMES DOWN IN THE CAPE
They say all good things come to an end and so it is with the Cape Racing Summer season. Saturday sees the final meeting of the “Season of Champions”, with the headline act being the Cape Derby over 2000m. The winner of this race, featuring the best classic three-year-olds in the province, has often ended up taking part in the Hollywoodbets Durban July.
Having said that, this year the field has only nine runners and there are a couple who seem optimistic entries, at best. Favourite is the colt Green With Envy, while the dangers, according to the betting, are Hluhluwe and the filly Beach Bomb.
It’s a tough card in general. I’m quite sweet on Talk To The Master (race 1), Royal Aussie (race 5) and Speed Racer (race 10). That treble is 24/1 at Hollywoodbets.
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— SABC Sport (@SABC_Sport) February 23, 2024
Get ready for the thrilling Splash Out Cape Derby, where horse racing meets lifestyle! 🏇
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GUNNERS LOOKING TO MAKE AMENDS
There’s eight matches coming up in the English Premier League this weekend. Liverpool have already beaten Luton, while the Chelsea vs Tottenham match is postponed. This is because it’s the Carabao Cup final on Sunday. Liverpool are strong favourites to lift the trophy over Chelsea.
The juiciest tie of the League round is at the Emirates where Arsenal host Newcastle, while the rival title-chasers, Man City, are away to Bournemouth. That other Manchester club, United, host Fulham. For the record, in the first round of fixtures, Arsenal lost 1-0 to Newcastle, City hammered Bournemouth 6-1 and United beat Fulham 1-0. Where’s that wide-eyed emoji?
Let’s bring the energy tomorrow, Gooners! 👊
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) February 23, 2024
SET YOUR CLOCKS FOR VANCOUVER SEVENS
All roads, and flights, head to Vancouver this weekend for the fourth round of the World Sevens circuit. South Africa have again got representation in the men’s and women’s competitions and both need things to go their way to improve their standings. The Blitzboks are fourth of 12 teams on the log, while the women are 11th of 12.
The men have a group which includes New Zealand, Ireland and Great Britain, while the women are pooled with New Zealand, Ireland and Brazil. A reminder, South Africa is 10 hours ahead of Vancouver.
Therefore, the SA times for the SA teams are: Men: vs NZ (Fri, 11.52pm), vs GB (Sat, 4.56am), vs Ireland (Sat, 11.05pm). The women are at 10.26pm (Fri, vs Ireland), 3.08am (Sat, vs NZ) and 9.59pm (Sat, vs Brazil).
"The work is done and it is now over to the effort on the field" - more here: https://t.co/kv0Mkw9z5S ✅#Blitzboks #PoweredByUnity #HSBCSVNS pic.twitter.com/8BLlMKjpTC
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) February 23, 2024
SIX NATIONS AND SUPER RUGBY ON THE MENU
Rugby action sees the Six Nations take centre stage again as the URC takes a week off. First up on Saturday are Ireland, who will love being in front of their home fans as they look to go three from three, with Wales the visitors.
Scotland were unfortunate in the extreme to not be awarded a match-winning try by the TMO in their last game, against France, which makes their showdown against England the tie of the round. The remaining fixture sees France host Italy, in what should be something as a gimme for the hosts, despite their unconvincing performances against Ireland and Scotland.
Oh yes, Super Rugby 2024 kicks off this weekend. It started on Friday with the Chiefs playing the Crusaders in what could yet turn out to be the final later in the season.
💥 Round 3 Incoming 🤩#GuinnessM6N pic.twitter.com/LcEmwlVgID
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) February 23, 2024
BATTLES OF THE BRANDONS IN MEXICO
There’s more fighting in the octagon this weekend, taking place in Mexico. The main event at UFC Fight Night is the rematch between Brandon Moreno (21-7-2) and Brandon Royval (15-7-0).
These two flyweights met in December 2020, with Moreno winning in the first round. He’s understandably favourite to repeat the performance when they square off around 7am SA time on Sunday.
Both are in line for a title shot against the division’s champion Alexandre Pantoja, Moreno is the No1 contender and Royvalk is the No3, but the oddsmakers see it as an easy night for the home town hero.
#UFCMexico is going down THIS Saturday 🇲🇽
— UFC (@ufc) February 23, 2024
Brandon Moreno vs @BrandonRoyval
Who do you think will come out on top? pic.twitter.com/pUNd2mqe5c
ENGLAND’S UNBEATEN ‘BAZBALL’ RUN UNDER THREAT
If Test cricket is what gets your engine going then the fourth Test between India and England, which started Friday, is sure to be enjoyable. India beat England in the third Test – beat is probably the wrong word, more like lambasted – by 434 runs and a seven-series unbeaten run in the “Bazball” era is under severe threat.
The pitch in Ranchi is “very dark and crumbly” according to England captain Ben Stokes, and India have rested their best seamer, Jasprit Bumrah. Win the toss, bat first and win the game then? If only Test cricket was so easy.
Stokes won the toss, England batted and limped to 112 for 5 at the end of the first session. The spinners took two of those wickets. You might well think of booking a game of golf for Sunday.
A day all about this man ❤️
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 23, 2024
🇮🇳 #INDvENG 🏴 #EnglandCricket pic.twitter.com/H9wQ7ZSgkc
