South Africa are determined to prove their scrummaging dominance this weekend against an Australian side desperate to erase the memories of last week’s Tri-Nations drubbing by the All Blacks. The Springboks’ touring party has been weakened by injuries but still boasts a monster pack.
The headbutt: it’s the new butt of internet jokes. As swiftly as a speeding shot on goal, riffs on Zinedine Zidane’s infamous moment of soccer rage have invaded cyberspace. Though fans across the world are clearly divided on whether the French star deserves condemnation or sympathy for headbutting Italy’s Marco Materazzi, the web has been typically merciless.
Defending world drivers’ champion Fernando Alonso believes that this weekend’s French Grand Prix will see him bounce back from his disappointment in America last time out. The 24-year-old Spaniard could only finish fifth in his Renault at the United States Grand Prix as his title rival Michael Schumacher won for Ferrari to cut his championship lead to 19 points with eight races left.
Retired France captain Zinedine Zidane can do no wrong, according to his peers in the football world following his public apology on television for headbutting Italy’s Marco Materazzi. The 34-year-old great went on Canal+ and then TF1 TV stations in France to apologise to the world for losing his temper over jibes from the Italian centre-back in the World Cup final on Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s future with Manchester United was still up in the air on Thursday, despite the club insisting he was not for sale. The Portuguese winger has retracted slightly from his claim that he would be moving away from Old Trafford after the rumpus surrounding his role in the World Cup sending off of Wayne Rooney.
The European Union will start patrolling the West African coast from July 18 in an attempt to stem illegal immigration to the Canary Islands, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was on Thursday quoted by press reports as saying. Zapatero made the announcement on Wednesday on Tenerife, where he visited immigrant reception centres.
Australia flanker George Smith has reacted angrily to suggestions South African players are offering each other rewards for pulling out his dreadlocks during their Tri-Nations clash this weekend. The Sydney Morning Herald asked Smith about Joe van Niekerk’s comments that a colleague offered ” to the man who came off the field with one of Smith’s dreadlocks” during a 2004 Test.
A leading Zimbabwean rights group on Thursday demanded the "immediate release" of 220 protesters arrested across the country as they marched to press for a new Constitution. "Lawyers will be seeking the immediate release of the activists because they are being held by police illegally," Ernest Mudzengi, a senior official of the National Constitutional Assembly, said.
Elite cyclist Floyd Landis has Tour de France fans and even many physicians stumped. How can a guy whose hip is falling apart hop on a bike, let alone be a contender in this most grueling challenge? His degenerating condition has crumbled the ball of his hip joint so that it no longer fits neatly into the socket, his doctor says.
More than 100 volunteers have come to the aid of a stricken wild elephant who has been stuck in mud for a week in eastern Thailand, local officials said on Thursday. The elderly pachyderm, called Plai Khun Song, was unable to stand up after he took a rest in a mud hole in a sanctuary in Chanthaburi province, 245km east of Bangkok, district chief Viwat Chantanurak said.