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/ 13 October 2003
Prepare for Boer War Two. Werner Greef, the South African full-back has warned England to expect the full treatment next Saturday. Greef, yellow carded for a stiff-arm tackle when the Springboks disgraced themselves at Twickenham last November, insists England don’t scare him.
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/ 13 October 2003
England coach Clive Woodward is ready for the crunch against South Africa on Saturday — but he doesn’t expect a repeat of last year’s ”Boer War” at Twickenham. Woodward says the Springboks looked in good physical shape against Uruguay and played the game ”in the right spirit”.
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/ 13 October 2003
England’s nothing special, says controversial Springbok captain Corne Krige: ”Our traditional rivalry is against New Zealand. It’s nice if we beat England, it’s a big game. But England is not our biggest rivalry.”
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/ 10 October 2003
Remember Cameroon vs Argentina, the first game of the 1990 soccer World Cup in Italy? Or Senegal vs France, the opening clash of the 2002 World Cup? Now let’s look ahead to Argentina vs Australia in Sydney on Friday. Initially I thought a Puma-ling might be on the cards … but now I’m not so sure.
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/ 30 September 2003
GROUP A Favourites: Australia They face a tough opener against Argentina on Friday and a difficult closing game against Ireland. But expect the holders to progress, with captain George Gregan prompting matters from scrum-half, they should reach the last four. But that’s where the good news ends. Unimpressive against England in June, they struggled in […]
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/ 30 September 2003
Favourites: FRANCE Yeah, yeah, they ended England’s 17-game winning streak in Marseille last month. But it was only our reserves! They’re a good side, despite the first-half walloping they received at Twickenham a week later. They also have the advantage of finding themselves in the weakest group of the lot. Captain: Fabien Galthie is right […]
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/ 30 September 2003
Favourites: ENGLAND What can I tell you that we don’t know already? They’re ranked No 1 in the world no matter how you look at it. First came successive home wins over New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Then came the long-awaited Six Nations Grand Slam. That was followed by seriously impressive wins in Wellington […]
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/ 30 September 2003
Favourites: NEW ZEALAND Despite the narrow defeat against England in Wellington’s ”Biscuit Tin”, the All Blacks must start as favourites. They were supposed to co–host this World Cup and anger over that debacle will lie behind their performance here. Unbelievably, they haven’t won the World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1987. Expect that to […]
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/ 26 September 2003
A former Tranmere Rovers stalwart who spent 15 years in the lower reaches of no-nonsense professional football, Football Association chief executive Mark Palios has seen it all. But I suspect even he was startled when Arsenal lost it on Sunday. He acted like a stern father, furious with a family member.
I’ve just read a yellowing copy of last season’s Premiership preview. You know, the one where some fool predicted Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season at Manchester United would end in tears.