ONETIME: Currie Cup 2008, Bafana Bafana, French Grand Prix, and Golf News

I would like to start the report on a sad note. The great Australian fast bowler Glen McGrath’s wife, Jane, age 42, lost her long-term battle with cancer. According to the family she passed away today Sunday after a long and brave battle. I would like to convey my condolences on behalf of all sports fans.

So it was the start of the ABSA Currie Cup 2008 and what a great game to kick it off: The Sharks vs. WP!

The Sharks were down 22-11 down at halftime thanks to the deadly boot of Willem De Waal. Bottom line to all opponents playing WP, don’t mess up within kicking distance for De Waal; he is a sniper.

The Sharks showed guts and determination to fight their way back into the game and then winning it on a ruling of the new laws. The TMO was called into acting for a tramping of a Sharks player. Why the TMO did not pick up No. 19 is beyond me, but the correct call was made and with 90 seconds left Man of the match Rory Kockott slotted the penalty to give the Sharks a 28-25 win.

Just a big shout out to Christie Du Preez. Sir, you had a great game and will only go far if you continue to manage games that way. Well done!

In other results, the Bulls beat the Lions 7-21 at Ellis Park, and it seems like the Lions have picked up where they left of in the Super 14, playing poor rugby. Boland beat the Valke 42-48 in Brakpan; and The Cheetahs beat the Griquas 16-20.

In international rugby, The All Blacks drilled England, for want of a better word. Not too sure if the English players' minds were on the game with allegations of  an off-field incident of sexual assault of a woman in the English hotel room. Will they not learn?

The final score 44-12 to NZ, although some concern will arise in the Kiwi camp with injuries to Richie McCaw and Ali Williams. Although Williams should be ready in two weeks it seems that Richie might only be back half way through the Tri-Nations.

The Springboks had to work hard for their 26-0 victory over Italy. The interesting thing about this game all the Sharks scored the points for the Boks. The weather was not great, but I think it will do them well for their tour of NZ and Australia, because this seems to be weather they may get down under.

The Beast scored his first try for the Boks. Bismarck got two and Steyn scoring the first try of the game. Good news was seeing The Schalk back in action, thank you Luke; now go away!

On the soccer front Bafana, Bafana, should now be called Baboons, Baboons. Can somebody tell me what is going on with our national disgrace of a football team?

How are we supposed to even want to watch or support them when they can’t even beat Sierra Leone at home 0-0? I am sorry, but I would rather watch the breeding patterns of the one legged Silk Worm than bother to watch them play soccer.

You guys are a joke, and come 2010, you will be nowhere unless you start showing guts, determination and pride. They should look at the video of Russia beating the Netherlands and see what I am talking about.

Russia had no right to win 3-1, but win they did. It seems my top four is down to one for the time being. Only Germany 3-2 over Portugal is through to the semi-finals. Croatia lost on penalties 1-1 at full time to Turkey. Currently Spain and Italy are at 0-0 in extra time.

The France Grandprix was not a very eventful GP, in the way that Ferrari took a 1-2 with Massa being granted a win due to a blown exhaust, which lost him about 60-70 brake horse power, about a second per lap.

Toyota's Jarno Trulli came in third. Louise Hamilton came in ninth after getting a drive-through penalty for not giving back a place after overtaking too hot under braking missing the track and coming out in front of Coulthard.

Ferrari again seem to have the better race set up for the faster tracks and with the British GP coming, they would again be favorites to win. In Donington Park, Casey Stoner beat Valintino Rossi to take the British Motor GP.

Tiger Woods will miss the rest of the 2008 golf season after taking the Open last week. His knee has been damaged again and will have to have more knee surgery to repair it.

In Germany Martin Kaymer became the first German to win the BMW German Open. Charl Schwartzel ended up in tied sixth. So it will be a very “open” Open in Royal Birkdale on July 17, maybe El Nino will take his first major.

Okay, my favorites for Euro 2008 have just won on penalties 0-0 (4-2). So Spain will play Russia and German will play Turkey in the semi-finals.

Turning to local rugby, Varsity turned in one of their best performances of the season by thumping Wentworth 48-7 in the seconds and 46-10 in the firsts. Considering that Varsity are on mid-year vacation and the seconds where a Telkomside they did very well.

This meted of sweet revenge for a game that should never have been lost in the first round. The bottom line in once a team gets some constancy in a team, results will start to appear.

But it will be a season of “If Only.” Watch this space: this young team will go places if they can stay together for the next few seasons. Again refereeing decisions left a lot to be desired and at times had both coaching camps befuddled.

To be fair, many of their errors stem from not enough coaching of these young referees. Positional play is so important—yes, even for referees, as they tend to miss incidents, which in turn frustrates players.

This then leads to players doing stupid things. At one stage there were five players in the sin bin at the same time. But at least the reffing was 100 times better than what was experienced in PMB last week.

Well, tomorrow, sees the start of the All England Grass Court Championship or better known as Wimbledon and with two weeks to go, who is going to win the Durban in July?

Until next week, take care, keep fir and enjoy the sport.

ONETIME