Gary Lemke looks back at a jam-packed sporting weekend as Liverpool were crowned Premier League champions, while the Hollywoodbets Sharks secured a comeback win over Ulster in the URC.
LIVERPOOL, TAKE A BOW. YOU’RE SIMPLY THE BEST
All hail Liverpool, the best team in England by a country mile and top-flight champions for a 20th time. Their 5-1 demolition of Tottenham at Anfield officially sealed the title, and the atmosphere will be remembered for life by anyone privileged to be inside that sporting theatre on Sunday.
Liverpool now join Man United on 20 top-flight titles – Arsenal are next on 13 – but they have won twice in the last six years, while United’s last championship was 12 years ago. United’s last-gasp 1-1 draw at Bournemouth left them in 14th, 43 points behind Liverpool.
In the FA Cup, it will be a Man City-Crystal Palace final after their 2-0 and 3-0 wins over Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa, respectively.
SHARKS BITE BACK TO SILENCE CRITICS
With the Hollywoodbets Sharks 19-0 down to Ulster in the United Rugby Championship, the social media keyboard trolls came out, directing their wrath at coach John Plumtree.
It’s one thing having passion, but when it gets personal, it’s disgusting. Then the Sharks staged a rousing comeback to win 22-19 and Plum was a hero again.
Elsewhere, there was no such vitriol for Stormers coach John Dobson as his side purred to a 56-5 win over Benetton, while the Bulls closed the gap on second-placed Glasgow Warriors to one point with a 26-19 away win. Even the Lions got in on the act, beating Connacht 26-7 to ensure a full house of wins for the South African franchises.
ALEX SWAPS PLACES WITH MARC AT THE TOP
Alex Marquez had double reason to celebrate as he both won the Spanish MotoGP and moved to the top of the rider standings, with namesake Marc, who led the standings heading to Jerez, only managing 12th. Brad Binder crossed the line in sixth on his KTM Factory Racing, 8.5 seconds behind the winner and a second ahead of teammate Pedro Acosta.
The race was contested over 25 laps (110km), but it did little to elevate Binder up the overall standings. He’s 11th after five races, one spot behind Agosta as the teams pack up and head for the next engagement in France.
ALEX MARQUEZ, YOU ARE A #MotoGP GRAND PRIX WINNER! 🏆#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/2u6hy6Jz9e
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) April 27, 2025
CAREER SETBACK AS SAAIMAN KO’D IN ONE
South Africa’s Cameron Saaiman returned to the octagon after a year’s break and ran into a right hand from Malcolm Wellmaker which ended the contest inside two minutes in Kansas City.
Saaiman had been hailed as an emerging force in the bantamweight division, but took a break after three consecutive defeats, and now a third in a row will have set him further back.
Wellmaker was making his UFC debut and has a day job in construction. He might well have to chuck that in and take up MMA full-time, while Saaiman has a job of his own convincing the likes of Dana White that he deserves another chance.
Malcolm Wellmaker lands a huge KO with a PERFECT shot on Cameron Saaiman. Welcome to the UFC! 🔥#UFCKansasCity
— Verdict (@VerdictMMA) April 26, 2025
pic.twitter.com/YPtOYMIyy0
LATE, LATE SHOW SEES SUNDOWNS REACH FINAL
The Springboks perfected the art of the final twist, and Sundowns did the same when a stoppage-time own goal gave them a 1-1 draw against Al Ahly and sent the visitors into the final of the CAF Champions League, where they will face another Egyptian opponent in Pyramids.
Both semi-final first legs had finished goalless, and with the away goal counting double in the competition, a score draw would be good enough to see the South Africans through.
It happened to Sundowns in the most dramatic fashion, but Pirates fell short, despite leading 1-0 and 2-1. The final is also over two legs, the first being at Loftus on 24th May and the second leg in Cairo on 1st June.
STAR QUALITY LIFTS ATHLETICS’ SPIRITS
South Africa’s athletes are on the rise, producing quality performances all around the world and bringing the focus back onto the track and field and road, rather than the chaos in the administrative boardrooms.
The SA National Championships took place in Potchefstroom and produced a string of world championship qualifiers. In China, Akani Simbine won the 100m at the opening Diamond League meeting of the season in 9.99sec, while Elroy Gelant broke the 26-year-old South African men’s marathon record, finishing the 42.2km race in Hamburg on Sunday in fourth place in 2min 5min 5sec, which was 57 seconds quicker than the previous mark set by Gert Thys in Tokyo.
