RUGBY

Finally the Springboks celebrated a win on their overseas journey with a victory over Italy on Saturday.

Under the watchful eye of former Bok mentor Nick Mallett Italy has certainly improved over the last couple of years and the scrum was yet again an area where they excelled.

While it was always one Peter De Villiers and his men were expected to win the Springboks had to dig deep to breach Italy’s stubborn defense.

It was pleasing to see BJ Botha return with a big bang while Beast Mtawarira and John Smit at hooker looked liked the medicine needed to a growing headache in the Bok scrum.

While there are still some worrying signs the Boks will breathe a huge sigh of relief as they start their preparations for a match against the Six Nations Champions this weekend.

It promises to be a cracker!!!

In other results Scotland surprised Australia by 9 points to 8; Ireland beat Fiji 41-6 while the All Blacks edged England by 19 points to 6.

CRICKET

After the 1st ODI was washed out on Friday, the Proteas were looking for a good start against England at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

Andrew Strauss won the all important toss and as was to be expected asked the hosts to take first strike.

Hashim Amla and Alviro Petersen passed the half century mark but some disciplined bowling from the tourists restricted Graeme Smith’s men to 250/9…

England lost Strauss and Pietersen in reply before Paul Collingwood and Jonathan Trott took control of the match.

England certainly deserved their win by a massive 7 wickets and it will be interesting to see how Smith and company respond with 3 matches to play. The 3rd ODI will be played at Newlands in Cape Town on Friday

SOCCER

Well played Tottenham Hotspur!! Spurs matched Manchester United’s class of 1995 with a 9-1 win against Wigan in a FA Premier League encounter..
England striker Jermain Defoe scored five goals, all in the second half - including a hat-trick in seven minutes - as Spurs ran riot at White Hart Lane.
After 13 rounds the Premier League table looks as follows:
1 Chelsea 13 11 0 2 33 8 25 33
2 Man Utd 13 9 1 3 26 12 14 28
3 Arsenal 12 8 1 3 36 15 21 25
4 Tottenham 13 8 1 4 32 18 14 25
5 Aston Villa 13 6 4 3 21 13 8 22
6 Man City 12 5 6 1 23 16 7 21
7 Liverpool 13 6 2 5 29 20 9 20
8 Sunderland 13 6 2 5 21 19 2 20
9 Stoke 13 5 4 4 13 15 -2 19
10 Burnley 13 5 2 6 16 26 -10 17
11 Blackburn 12 5 1 6 16 25 -9 16
12 Fulham 12 4 3 5 14 15 -1 15
13 Birmingham 13 4 3 6 11 14 -3 15
14 Everton 12 4 3 5 15 20 -5 15
15 Wigan 13 4 2 7 14 31 -17 14
16 Hull 13 3 3 7 13 28 -15 12
17 West Ham 13 2 5 6 19 23 -4 11
18 Bolton 12 3 2 7 15 26 -11 11
19 Wolverhampton 13 2 4 7 12 26 -14 10
20 Portsmouth 13 2 1 10 10 19 -9 7

Until next time!!
Johan