Gary Lemke looks back at this weekend’s action as the Boks dismantled Wales, Spain beat England to win the Women’s World Cup, Brad Binder grabbed second in Austria and more!
Boks cruise in Cardiff
Every Springbok Test victory is worth celebrating and players and fans alike enjoyed the victory in Cardiff over Wales – or, as some wags noted, a Jan van Riebeeck scoreline (16-52). It was a record-away win, helped by coming up against a mediocre Wales team who had no idea how to play against a rush defence.
However, it wasn’t a record between the Boks and Wales. That came in 1998 at Loftus, when the Boks won 96-13. I thoroughly enjoyed former Bok hooker James Dalton’s autobiography, called “Bulletproof”, and in it, he recalls the day. “I remember watching the carnage from the reserves bench in the last 10 minutes and Wales had used every substitute except one player,” he wrote. “I looked at this poor oke and wondered if he was relieved or insulted that he still hadn’t got on. The score at that stage was somewhere close to 80 and when we scored again, I just couldn’t resist. I called to him and said: ‘Hey China, how s*** must you be that they still won’t put you on.’ I can’t remember who he was but he did get on in the final couple of minutes and all he did was take up a position behind the posts when we scored our final try. I doubt he would ever have played for Wales again and I wonder what story he tells his grandchildren about the day.”
There were a lot of positives from Saturday’s win in Cardiff, especially the 40-minute comeback of Siya Kolisi and Canan Moodie’s man-of-the-match performance. But, one can only beat the team that’s put in front of you and for that the Books did the job. Anything other than 40 points on the day would have been disappointing.
🪓 SIYA KOLISI! pic.twitter.com/Mkub3ugmp7
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) August 20, 2023
Spain lift Women’s World Cup
Spain have won a second senior FIFA World Cup, and again did it 1-0. The men beat Netherlands by that scoreline to claim the 2010 edition of the tournament on South African soil and their women beat England by the same margin in Sydney on Sunday. Which means that football is not coming home, again.
Despite this being the Lionesses who came up short, the expectation was as high as it always is with the men. After all, Englandf are the European champions and had seen off hosts Australia in the semis. But, let’s allow the whole of Spain to celebrate. It is worth mentioning that they only made their women’s World Cup debut in 2015 and before this 2023 event, they’d only won one match in the tournament before – against Banyana Banyana in 2019.
That was a tense final 60 seconds for Spain’s bench and fans, but it ended in joy and jubilation 🤩
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) August 20, 2023
📺 Stream the #FIFAWWC final wrap live: https://t.co/TesYUfo62x | #HereForHer pic.twitter.com/JNpqrL3O0Z
DQ disappointment for Simbine
The Athletics World Championships have been thrilling to watch, even though the athletes themselves have taken some strain in the heat of Budapest, Hungary. Sunday saw the title of fastest man on earth go to American Noah Lyles in 9.83sec, while the impressive young Botswana sprinter Letsile Tebogo took silver.
The 20-year-old is a huge prospect whose better distance is 200m; a mouth-watering prospect is in store where I expect gold and silver to be between these two athletes there too.
Spare a thought for South Africa’s Akani Simbine though. He was declared a false starter in the semi-finals, and it was for the first time in his career at top level. “I reacted to the gun,” he said afterwards.
His reaction time of 0.078 was deemed to be “humanly impossible” with scientists saying anything under 0.100 is a false start. I have often wondered though. What if an athlete anticipates the gun and, as risky as it is given a false start becomes an instant DQ, can indeed manage under 0.100?
Akani Simbine will not be in the men’s 100m final in Budapest after being disqualified in the semi-finals ❌
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 20, 2023
📺 Stream the #WorldAthleticsChamps live: https://t.co/ACEUH7ePOB pic.twitter.com/DMHUzSWJej
Brilliant Binder continues to impress at KTM
Brad Binder’s second-place finish at the Austrian Moto GP again highlights that he belongs at the top table of the sport. The South African is in fourth place on the overall world standings and recently signed a long-term deal with KTM. A day earlier he had also finished second, in the sprint race. He claimed the second spot on the podium in the main race in front of 94 000 fans. Not too many South Africans can claim they have competed in front of a crowd that size, can they?
Our hero! @BradBinder_33 brings home 2nd at our HOME GRAND PRIX. 🔥🙌#KTM #ReadyToRace #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/pzgk2bnHRC
— Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (@KTM_Racing) August 20, 2023
Djokovic edges new rival Alcaraz in Cincinnati
The rivalry is well and truly on. Novak Djokovic reversed the Wimbledon final result when he saw off Carlos Alcaraz in a thrilling three-set final at the ATP Cincinnati Open. Djokovic, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, won 5-7 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-4) in a titanic struggle that lasted 3hr 44min, a marathon in three-set terms.
“It’s tough to describe. It was the toughest I’ve ever played in my life,” said the 36-year-old. “From start to finish, we both went through highs, lows, incredible points, bad games, heatstroke, comebacks. Overall this was the toughest and most exciting match I’ve ever been a part of.” The thing is, Alcarez is only going to get tougher, and better. He’s still just 20.
Carlos Alcaraz.
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 21, 2023
Novak Djokovic.
One of the best sets you'll EVER see.
Enjoy...#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/YGKYUhRm1s
