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/ 31 October 2003
Is it really 13 years since Craig Jameson and Naas Botha marched their sides on to the field at Loftus for the defining Currie Cup final of the modern era? On Saturday the two sides will meet again in the Currie Cup final, having somehow managed to avoid each other in the showpiece event of South African rugby since 1990.
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/ 31 October 2003
Depending on who you listen to, Bryan Robson is either already the manager of Nigeria, will be soon enough, or it’ll never happen. This level of confusion demonstrates the problem with clarity in African football. Dozens of players are about to become embroiled in the biennial European club versus African country row.
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/ 31 October 2003
At least two top Comrades athletes will be breathing a sigh of relief with the news that the blood samples taken at this year’s race have been destroyed and will not be further tested for the latest designer steroid, tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). But there is little hope for would-be THG junkies.
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/ 31 October 2003
An old Bill Tidy cartoon still raises a smile. The Oxfam truck has arrived in a scorched African desert carrying a load of red-and-white scarves. “I see Arsenal lost again,” sniffs a local. The humour might be lost on the premiership, where Arsenal do not lose that often, and indeed have yet to be beaten this season.
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/ 31 October 2003
A week ago, the prospect of a depleted Samoan side causing the greatest upset of the 2003 Rugby World Cup seemed highly unlikely. Then came South Africa’s lacklustre effort against Georgia in Sydney last Friday, a performance which will live uncomfortably in the memories of this generation of Springboks.
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/ 31 October 2003
Rio Ferdinand will almost certainly miss out on Euro 2004, and possibly much more, because of the missed drug test which has turned his life upside down. Although the Football Association has opted against charging him with wilfully evading UK Sport’s drugtesters, it still has the power to ban him for two years.
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/ 31 October 2003
While Phillip Ndou has been acclaimed the best pound-for-pound boxer in South Africa since he beat Cassius Baloyi two years ago, on Saturday he faces an opponent who will put his ”greatness” in perspective. He meets one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world when he challenges “Pretty Boy” Floyd Mayweather.
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/ 31 October 2003
After a train accident last week at a Cape Town station, a police officer, describing what happened to journalists, saw fit to mention that the train driver was a female who could be charged with culpable homicide. When was the last time you heard it mentioned that the driver involved in an accident was a male? And when brakes fail, does the gender really matter?
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/ 31 October 2003
These days only two things are certain about Paul Adams. The first is that he will hook a nasty fast bowler en route to a boisterous 12, and look marvellous doing it. The second is that once an over he will drag his Chinaman down short, probably at leg-stump and straight into the sweet spot of grateful heave through midwicket.
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/ 31 October 2003
D-Day has arrived for the South African 2010 bid company. Five inspectors from world soccer’s governing body, Fifa, arrived on Thursday to see for themselves whether South Africa is ready to host the World Cup in 2010. Only African countries are in the running for 2010.