Neal Collins
Philemon “Chippa” Masinga a man many feel could have gone on to be a force alongside compatriot Lucas Radebe at Leeds will return to English football this winter. But not at the top level.
Masinga has left Bari, where he enjoyed a successful five seasons, for relegated Coventry City in the first division. The Midlands side went down at the end of last season after 27 consecutive years in the top flight of English football.
Manager Gordon Strachan, famous for his flame red hair and matching temper, has got his former Elland Road teammate on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling after Masinga’s contract ran out in the summer.
At Leeds, where he scored five goals in 31 games, Chippa was known as “Waltzing Masinga” but his path to stardom was blocked five years ago by the arrival of free-scoring Ghanaian Tony Yeboah.
Coventry chairman Bryan Richardson says: “Gordon knows the player very well from their time together at Leeds and he is an excellent signing for us.
“He is big and strong and can hold the ball up very well, his experience will be invaluable.
“Masinga is still part of the South African international side and he will be an extremely useful addition to our squad.”
If Masinga wants to be picked for next year’s World Cup in Japan and Korea, it is worth his while to be playing in a league that is well followed in South Africa. He had hoped to play for an English Premier League side, with Bolton being mentioned.
If Masinga (32), passes his medi-cal later this week he will sign a two-year deal. He was injured for large parts of last season.
Ironically, Sundowns’ Nigerian striker Raphael Chukwu is likely to replace Masinga a former Sundowns player at Bari.
@Running into trouble
Very few South African athletes stand any chance of getting a medal in Edmonton, reports Martin Gillingham
South Africa’s feckless athletics selectors have done it again. For the second straight year they have failed to pick a specialist relay squad for a major championship and, in so doing, have thrown away one of the few chances our team has of winning a medal.
South Africa has four of the top 400m runners in the world but will be sending just three of them to the world championships, which start in Edmonton, Canada, in eight days’ time. The sport’s top administrator, Banele Sindani, is unrepentant. When challenged on the latest gaffe, he blasted: “You can write what you want because I don’t care.”
Eleven months ago, a South African 4x400m quartet should have contested the medals at the Olympic Games but, because of a selection blunder, lined up with a scratch team. They were eliminated in the semifinals with one member of the quartet, Hendrick Mokganyetsi, having to run with a stress fracture.
Sindani’s tirade suggests he is still feeling the heat despite having apparently survived recent accusations of theft and corruption, following the disappearance of R9-million from the governing body’s bank account. The controversy sparked by the theft allegations prompted team sponsor Absa to consider withdrawing its backing. The bank’s five-year deal with Athletics South Africa (ASA), worth R44-million, comes to an end in the next few months and speculation is rife that it is reluctant to renew it.
Against this background one of the few chances ASA has of presenting itself as an attractive proposition to sponsors is with a good performance by its team at the world championships. But the signs are not all good.
Two years ago South Africa’s athletes returned from the last world championships in Seville branded as failures by the sporting public and a bunch of whingers by the sport’s administration. In Seville, the only medallist was Hezekiel Sepeng, whose brave run in the 800m saw him overhauled in the last few strides by world record holder Wilson Kipketer. Behind Sepeng the best individual performance came on the anchor leg of the men’s 4x400m by Arnaud Malherbe, whose split of 43,78sec was the fastest by a non-American in the final.
It was a performance that took the South Africans to within 0,86sec of the bronze medal and a platform on which to construct a medal challenge at the 2000 Olympic Games and these world championships.
ASA’s selectors have not seen it that way, though. Malherbe, despite being ranked 20th in the world this year over 400m and having demonstrated his current well-being with two fast runs in Spain has been given the chop.
It’s a decision that is numbing in its stupidity. Picking athletics teams isn’t rocket science. It’s a sport of times, heights and distances where even allowing for the vagaries of climate and altitude comparisons are easily drawn. World rankings lists are updated on a daily basis and a judgement on just how far apart South Africa’s best are from the rest of the world’s is just a mouse click away.
Malherbe, although bitterly disappointed, says he has come to terms with his omission. “If I was there I believe we could have got a medal in the relay,” he says. “But if you want to get a medal then you have to pick your best team.”
Sindani says a South African team will compete in the men’s 4x400m relay but, as in Sydney, it will be a scratch side. The 400m specialists Hendrick Mokganyetsi (world number six); Marcus la Grange (world number 18) and Adriaan Botha (world number 21) will be joined by one of the team’s three 400m hurdlers or Sepeng. Under normal circumstances, Llewellyn Herbert would be the fourth man but he’s struggling with injury and not yet certain of even getting to Edmonton.
Considering Herbert’s condition and the fact that the only other country with four 400m athletes ranked in the world’s top 21 is the United States, then the absurdity of the South African selectors’ decision is clear for all to see.
The chief executive doesn’t agree. “When you talk about Sydney last year you are comparing two scenarios which are different,” he says. “This time we’ve got three 400m runners and three hurdlers, which is adequate.”
Where Sindani is realistic is in his medal predictions. Even allowing for the fact his selectors may have given one medal back to the organisers before they start, an improvement on Sepeng’s solitary silver from Seville is a realistic expectation. “I am hoping to at least equal our three in Sydney,” he says.
So who will bring home the bacon?
Hestrie Cloete
For the second straight year the high jumper goes into the year’s major championship the best prepared of the South African contingent. Quiet and unspectacular during the domestic season, she has improved steadily during the Grand Prix and Golden League in Europe to clear a season’s best of 1,99m in London last Sunday. Though there are three above Cloete in the world rankings (Venelina Veneva of Bulgaria heads the lists at 2,04m) her performance at the Olympic Games in Sydney, where she won silver, suggests she’s capable of winning.
Frantz Kruger
For a short time in Sydney he might have fancied his chances of winning but he came home with the bronze medal in the discus. At 26, the former world junior champion is a youngster in an event traditionally dominated by men in their thirties. He ranks second in the world this year with 69,96m which he threw at Stellenbosch in March. Though he hasn’t been in that sort of form in Europe in recent weeks, Kruger has the temperament to get it right when it matters.
Hezekiel Sepeng
The 1996 Olympic 800m silver medallist is coming into form at the right time and has consistently been South Africa’s best athlete in championship competition in recent years. Though beaten into third in Monaco last Friday night, his 1min 43,47sec ranks him third in the world. And with one of the two who beat him then, the Russian Yuriy Borzakovskiy, missing Edmonton, the way is open. But Sepeng has a tendency to make a hash of tactical races. As brilliant as his run was in Seville two years ago, when he was second to the world record holder Wilson Kipketer, Sepeng can also run some clueless races. Last year in Sydney was a good example of that.
Janus Robberts
His throw of 21,97m in Oregon on June 2 was the best by any shot- putter this year but is also Robberts’s most recent in competition. Earlier this year Robberts told ASA he wasn’t interested in going to Edmonton, but a combination of his improved performances and arm-twisting from the governing body sees him on the plane to Canada. If the student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas can find 90% of the form that has made him the world number one, then he will get a medal. But after 10 weeks away from competition will he be able to do that?
The best of the rest
Under normal circumstances Llewellyn Herbert (400m hurdles) would go to these championships with a favourite’s chance. But he’s been struggling with a hamstring injury and hasn’t competed since March. He’s bypassed a chance to compete in Europe in favour of a period of training in Los Angeles. He’s due to run a time trial to test his fitness before leaving for Edmonton. If that doesn’t bring good news then he might opt to re-route to Johannesburg. Heide Seyerling (400m) and Hendrick Mokganyetsi (400m) were outstanding successes in Sydney and have improved this year. They go to Edmonton as outsiders for medals but will have to improve significantly to do so. Josia Thugwane (marathon) was the hero of Atlanta in 1996 but has slipped since then. In fact, the best chance of a marathon medal is probably Gert Thys though he has run in championships before and failed to deliver. Youngsters such as Rene Kalmer (1 500m) and Jacques Freitag (high jump) will gain invaluable experience but, for the rest, the only medals they’re likely to come back with will have chocolate inside.
@Watch the waltzing Wallabies
Strange selections and superb opposition make the Springboks the underdogs on Saturday
Andy Capostagno
Listen! Can you hear it? It’s the sound of the plot being lost. Braam van Straaten was called into the Springbok squad ahead of last week’s Tri-Nations match against New Zealand, but omitted from the team on a dismal Cape Town day suitable for ducks, All Blacks and reliable place-kickers.
This week Van Straaten is reborn as an inside centre because, as everyone knows, when you play against a team that routinely scores tries by the hatful, on a hard field in crisp, dry weather, at altitude, what you really need is a reliable place kicker.
To put it bluntly, Harry Viljoen should have found a way to get Van Straaten into the side last week (at tighthead prop if necessary) because the weather conditions that had persisted all week dictated a tight, forward-based game where the team that took its scoring opportunities best would win.
But that game is over and done with and, until next time, so should be the idea that Van Straaten can win a Test match with his unerring boot. This week the opponent is not a rather limited All Black team happy to tackle all day and live off scraps of possession. This week it’s the all- singin’ all-dancin’ Wallabies.
Let us begin by listing the reasons why Australia might not win at Loftus. They are without the injured Stephen Larkham. They are away from home at a ground where they have never won. They decided to prepare at home and flew into South Africa only on Tuesday night. They have a new coach in Eddie Jones, following the retirement of Rod Macqueen.
Let us now list the reasons why these disadvantages count for very little. Larkham may be injured, but George Gregan is fit. The Wallablies have never won at Loftus, but they have played there only twice. They have been coming to South Africa on a regular basis for six years now and if they believe that preparing in Perth and travelling four days before the game is the way to go it is unlikely to be a random decision made by clueless bureaucrats.
And if you have to replace a coach who has won the World Cup, the Tri-Nations, a series against the Lions and a host of other trophies, you could do a lot worse than appoint as his successor the coach of the reigning Super 12 champions.
All of which might make it seem that Australia only have to turn up to win and that is far from being the case. Even without Victor Matfield, who covered himself in glory in his first Test match start last week, the Springbok tight five is superior.
Given that that was an area of major concern in the first three Tests of the season the question has to be asked, what has gone right? The answer seems to be Lukas van Biljon. He may only have played a match and a half, but during that time the Springbok lineout and scrum has worked properly for the first time this season.
Gone are the ballet-dancing lineout tactics based upon the curious theory of “beating lllyour llman on the ground before you can beat him in the air”. There was an old-fashioned look to the Bok lineout at Newlands, with Matfield winning the ball in the middle, Bob Skinstad at the tail, while Mark Andrews busied himself in disrupting the opposition throw.
The scrum looked better than it has for two years and should have been used as an attacking weapon more than it was. There were three changes in the tight five that helped to achieve this and the coaching staff will have to look long and hard at the alchemy they unwittingly produced.
The suspicion is that, llonce again, old-fashioned virtues were behind the success in the scrum. Cobus Visagie is an old school tighthead, not as mobile as Willie Meyer, but a bigger psychological threat in the tight. Matfield brings bulk, technique and athleticism to the second row, while Van Biljon is quite simply a proper hooker, not a manufactured one like John Smit.
Which is not to say that Smit must look for alternative employment, merely that he needs to work a lot harder on the two most vital areas of the hooker’s art, throwing in at the lineout and doing more in the scrum than dangling between two props.
But if the tight five has been sorted out (injuries permitting), there is a problem in the back row. At Newlands the Boks won the tight phases, but lost the race for the ball on the ground. If the same thing happens at Loftus, George Smith will win the game for the Wallabies.
Viljoen decided to leave Corn Krige, the only genuine openside flanker he has left, on the bench this week. His omission gives a one-paced aspect to the back row, something likely to be cruelly exposed by the Wallaby combination of Smith, Owen Finegan and Toutai Kefu.
The time is fast approaching when Viljoen will have to admit that the selection of Skinstad at number eight is limiting his options. If Skinstad really is back to his pre-injury best then he should play the fetcher role on the side of the scrum and allow his pace to dictate play.
Our selectors are traditionally frightened of throwing youngsters into the fray, but there is little point in having Johan van Niekerk on the bench to play 10 minutes per game.
He is potentially the number eight the team has lacked since the sorry business with Gary Teichmann and he could be exactly the partner to bring the best out of Skinstad. Unfortunately the idea is entirely too radical to be approved and we may have to put up with yet another dose of watching Australian sportsmen celebrating their superiority.
@Best of sport on television
friday
Boxing: Zolile Mbityi vs Xolani Dneleni, plus undercard, at 5.15pm on SuperSport1 (SS1)/CSN
Cycling: Tour de France, 18th stage, at 2.55pm on SS2
Golf: Senior British Open at 12.50pm on Supersport Extra1 (SSX1); Dutch Open at 2.20pm on SuperSport International (SSInt); John Deere Classic. from Illinois, at 10pm on SS2
Soccer: English premier league, goals of the season, at 6.30pm on SSInt
Swimming: Fina world championships at 11am on SS2
Water polo: Women’s world championship, final, at 9.10am on SS2
saturday
Cycling: Tour de France, 19th stage, at 2.55pm on SSX2
Golf: Senior British Open at 4.50pm on SSX1; Dutch Open at 2pm on SSInt; John Deere Classic at 10pm on SS2
Horse racing: Emirates World Series, Diamond Stakes, from England, at 4.25pm on SSX2
Motor racing: Formula One, German Grand Prix, qualifying session, at 1pm on SABC3
Rugby: Youth international friendly, South African Schools vs French under-18 team, from Loftus,at 2.30pm on M-Net/SS1; Tri-Nations Test, South Africa vs Australia, from Loftus at 4.45pm on M-Net/SS1
Soccer: Telkom Charity Cup, Ria Stars vs Moroka Swallows at 10am, Orlando Pirates vs Kaizer Chiefs at noon, final at 4pm, all on SABC1; Amsterdam tournament, AC Milan vs Valencia at 6.15pm, Ajax vs Liverpool at 8.30pm, both on SSInt
Swimming: Fina world champs at 9.10am on SS2
sunday
Boxing: Roy Jones Jnr vs Julio Gonzales, plus undercard including Erik Morales vs Injin Chi, Andrew Lewis vs Ricardo Mayorga, Christian Bejarano vs Lee Willis, from Los Angeles at 3am on SSInt (repeat at 2.30pm on SSInt); South African lightweight title fight, Martin Jacobs vs Petros Padi, at 5pm on SABC2
Cycling: Tour de France, final stage to Paris, at 1pm on SS2
Golf: Senior British Open at 4.50pm on SSX1; Dutch Open at 2pm on M-Net/SS1; John Deere Classic at 9pm on SS2
Motorbike racing: World Superbikes, from Brands Hatch, England, first race (recorded) at 3.30pm, second race at 4.30pm, both on SSX2
Motor racing: Formula One, German Grand Prix at 1.30pm on SABC3 (repeat at 11pm on SABC3)
Soccer: African Soccer Show, magazine programme at 2pm on e.tv; South African premier league, season preview, at 2.30pm on SABC2
Swimming: Fina world champs at 11am on SS2
Water polo: Men’s world championships, final, at 9.25am on SS2
monday
Soccer: MTN/Kickoff magazine programme at 6.05pm on e.tv; World of Soccer at 8.30pm on SABC1; On the Ball at 8.15pm on SSInt
Tennis: Masters Series, from Montreal, at 5pm on SS2
tuesday
Soccer: German Bundesliga, season highlights at 8.20pm on SSInt
Tennis: Masters Series, from Montreal, at 5pm on SS2
wednesday
Soccer: Ryan Giggs testimonial match, Manchester United vs Celtic at 1.10pm on SSInt; BPTop 8 special at 10pm on SABC2
Tennis: Masters Series, from Montreal, at 5pm on SS2/SSInt
thursday
Athletics: Faster and Faster, documentary on Maurice Greene and Marion Jones, at 11.30pm on SSInt
Cricket: Third Ashes Test, England vs Australia, from Trent Bridge, Nottingham, at noon on SS1
Golf: Scandinavian Masters, from Sweden, at 3pm on SSX1; The International, from Castle Rock, at 10pm on SS1/CSN
Tennis: Masters Series, from Montreal, at 5pm on SS2
friday
Cricket: Third Ashes Test, England vs Australia, from Trent Bridge, Nottingham, at noon on SS1
Golf: Scandinavian Masters at 3pm on SSX2; International, from Castle Rock, at 10pm on SS1/CSN
Rugby: Provincial A series, Mighty Elephants vs Leopards at 5pm on SS1/CSN; Currie Cup, Mighty Elephants vs Lions at 7pm on SS1/CSN
Tennis: Masters Series, quarterfinals, from Montreal, at 7pm on SS2
ENDS