After some tenacious play in England, it smells like team spirit. Every time England faltered, South Africa swarmed all over them. That’s the mark, not necessarily of a great team — although great teams always possess this quality — but of a good team that believes in itself.

Chelsea have completed the €24-million euro transfer of French midfielder Claude Makelele from Real Madrid. The move appeared threatened because Real were said to be refusing to give the player his slice of the transfer fee.

What was once the world’s largest hippopotamus population has been slashed by 95 percent by civil war and poaching, the World Wide Fund for Nature said last week.

Springbok and Blue Bulls lock Geo Cronje on Monday spoke publicly for the first time since the alleged ”racism” row between himself and fellow Bok lock Quinton Davids became public last week.

Did he lie or didn’t he? University of Durban-Westville (UDW) vice-chancellor Saths Cooper’s various statements about his remuneration package are now at the centre of the governance crisis rocking the conflict-ridden campus.

Nine years after international outrage stopped the cull of elephants in the Kruger National Park, more than 3 000 of the beasts face the new threat of a death sentence — because science has failed to come up with a cheap elephant contraceptive.