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GARY LEMKE’S WRAP: Sharks finally show bite, Brazil upstage England and more!

Gary Lemke looks back at a jam-packed sporting weekend where the Hollywoodbets Sharks finally showed their bite in the URC, Brazil upstaged England at Wembley and more!
Phepsi Buthelezi of the Hollywoodbets Sharks celebrates after scoring a try BKT United Rugby Championship, Hollywoodbets Kings Park.

Gary Lemke looks back at a jam-packed sporting weekend where the Hollywoodbets Sharks finally showed their bite in the URC, Brazil upstaged England at Wembley and more!

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

RARE FAILURE FOR VERSTAPPEN DOWN UNDER

In a world of “breaking news” on social media where it’s considered just that when an “influencer” sneezes, this really was more breaking news in the traditional sense. Max Verstappen did not win the Australian GP. He retired at the end of the fourth lap, with flames coming out of the back of his Red Bull, which propelled him to 19 wins out of 22 last season and the first two races of 2024. Shock, horror.

Lewis Hamilton also retired, while his Mercedes teammate George Russell crashed on the final lap in Melbourne. Three drivers who would be more regularly seen on the podium were the only three DNF’s. For the record, the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charl Leclerc finished 1-2.

BINDER CLOSES GAP IN MOTOGP CHAMPIONSHIP

Ducati duly won the second race of the MotoGP calendar, in Portugal, and led home a 1-2 finish, but the KTM’s of Pedro Costa and Brad Binder finished third and fourth, respectively, to show they could be competitive throughout the year. Binder was the big winner on the day, despite missing out on a podium.

With Francesco Bagnaia not finishing, Binder collected enough points to move him to 29 after two races. Bagnaia leads with 31 points, the South African is second and Martin has 28. It’s early days, but, can we dare to dream?

SHARKS FINALLY SHOW BITE IN BIG WIN

Speaking of breaking news, the Sharks won a rugby match. Their impressive win in beating Irish visitors Ulster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park was only their second in 12 matches in the United Rugby Championship, but there was nothing flukey about the 22-12 win.

It lifted them off the bottom of the table and is hopefully a turning point in their season. In fact, all four South African sides registered victories, with the most impressive being the 38-14 dismantling of Connacht by the Lions. Throw in the Bulls beating the Dragons 31-10 in Cardiff and the Stormers scoring seven tries in a 43-21 beating of Edinburgh, and it was a perfect weekend for the SA franchises.

BRAZIL UPSTAGE ENGLAND AT WEMBLEY

As we suggested in our pre-weekend look, the most interesting of all the International football matches was at Wembley, where England came up against Brazil. All the talk was about the hosts, unbeaten at the stadium in their previous 20 games, and the debut of Man United’s Kobbie Mainoo, who made his debut for the Three Lions a month away from his 19th birthday. However, it was another teenager, 17-year-old Endrick, who scored the only goal of the game, coming off the bench to secure the win in the 80th minute.

Despite England not having Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka involved, it’s still a bit premature to ask the engraver to start carving their name on the upcoming Euro 2024 trophy just yet. Elsewhere, Christoph Baumgarter created history with the fastest-ever International goal – for Australia against Slovakia after just six seconds!

‘ZULU SHARK’ JOKES AT BAFANA’S EXPENSE

George Dearnaley pulled an old one out the bag, in fact it’s more of a Dad’s Joke these days. However, he did get a reaction on his Twitter (X) page. He’s used it before, when South Africa lost to Sudan in 2021, but he again got a rise from his followers. He wrote: “I’m not criticising Bafana Bafana’s performance vs Andorra (1-1).

I don’t think my Bafana team of 1992/93 would have done much better but that’s because we are all in our mid-50’s now.” Bafana get a second chance to get back in the “W” column when they take on Algeria in another friendly on Tuesday night.

SAAIMAN SUFFERS CRUSHING UFC DEFEAT

Cameron Saaiman had been touted as a potential main card fighter, especially given the success of Dricus du Plessis, with them being the two South Africans on the UFC roster. However, Saaiman suffered his second straight defeat, and this time it was painful to watch at UFC Vegas 89. He was battered and bruised and finished off just 0:21 into the second round by Payton Talbott in their bantamweight encounter.

All fighters lose, and he’s still only 23, but with 3 wins and 2 defeats in the UFC it’s only going to get tougher for him to fulfill the lofty expectations.

IPL BOWLERS BATTLE TO STOP RUN FLOW

The 2024 Indian Premier League began this weekend and there are matches for 50 consecutive days. It’s impossible to make a call who’ll be the team to beat at the business end but the Chennai Super Kings had an eye-opening first win when they chased down 193 runs away to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets.

The first five completed games heading into Monday saw totals of 162, 168, 173 (twice), 174, 176, 177, 193, 204 and 208 for an average of 180 per innings. When T20 first arrived, 140 was considered a par score. This IPL is already showing that 170 is the new par.

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