WeeklySA_AdminELIMINATED: Without their inspirational captain the SA team were competely outclassed
By Sports Reporter
Earlier on the second day of the tournament, South Africa outplayed Samoa 26-7 to top their pool, but they could not find the same attacking direction without inspirational captain Selvyn Davids or Ronald Brown.
Brown picked up an injury against Samoa and Davids was suspended for a hight tackle against the islanders. With Justin Geduld also out suspended, they faced Australia with only 10 players at hand.
That proved a bridge too far for the SA side. Australia managed to negate their opponents’ tactic of kick and chase, something that worked wonders all weekend and in a tight match, scored once in each half to clinch the win.
Nathan Lawson opened the scoring after two minutes from a good counter-attack, while Maurice Longbottom scored a try with four minutes to go. He converted the try and kicked a long-range penalty goal two minutes later.
Stand-in captain Zain Davids said playing with a depleted squad was not an excuse.
“We trained hard back home in Stellenbosch and have scenarios like this worked into the sessions,” said Zain Davids.
“We were just not good enough in this match and that is very disappointing. We did not play 100% to our potential, that was our problem, not the numbers.”
Against Samoa, the Blitzboks showed good early momentum and held a 19-0 lead at the break. Tries by Shilton van Wyk, Quewin Nortje and Impi Visser eased them into a strong lead and although Samoa rallied in the second half, the SA side had the points in the bank.
The Blitzboks can still earn valuable log points on Sunday. They face Fiji at 09h00 (SA time) in the fifth place play-off.
“We can still finish strong in the tournament and redeem ourselves,” said Zain Davids.
“We had a good chat in the huddle now and everyone accepted that we did not play according to our standards and that the match against Fiji gives us a change to rectify that. So we come out stronger tomorrow.”
MUHAMMAD ALI’S MILLION DOLLAR TRUNKS
THRILLA IN MANILA: Iconic shorts to go under the hammer at much-anticipated auction
By Sports Reporter
The trunks worn by Muhammad Ali in his epic ‘Thrilla in Manila’ victory over Joe Frazier are expected to fetch more than $6m (£4.8m) at auction next week.
Ali’s iconic white satin shorts went up for sale with renowned auction house Sotheby’s on Thursday – and the bidding has already reached $3.8m.
The trunks, signed by Ali, were sold for $150,000 in 2012 but are likely to fetch 40 times that sum now. The auction runs at Sotheby’s New York branch until Friday 12 April.
The ‘Thrilla in Manila’, which took place in October 1975 in the capital of the Philippines, is one of the seminal bouts in boxing history. Read more about the ‘Thrilla in Manila’, external
Frazier, nicknamed ‘Smokin’ Joe’, had won the first meeting between the pair four years earlier, becoming the first man to defeat Ali when he successfully defended his world heavyweight title via unanimous decision in New York.
Ali won a controversial non-title rematch in 1974, paving the way for a rubber fight the following year, by which time he had regained the world crown by beating George Foreman in another iconic bout, the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo).
And the third meeting also went the way of Ali after 14 gruelling rounds when Frazier was retired by his corner team. The bouts are considered by many to be the greatest trilogy in boxing history.
As well as being signed by Ali, the Everlast trunks are also inscribed by his corner man, Drew ‘Bundini’ Brown, who died in 1988 – they fetched just $1,000 (£800) when auctioned after his death. Ali, one of sport’s legendary figures died in June 2016 at the age of 74 after living with Parkinson’s Disease for much of his post-boxing life, while Frazier passed away in 2011 at the age of 67.
