SA stand a chance?

The South African hopes of a successful Olympics was high before these games. The performance so far does not match those hopes. It is still early days but having only 1 medal isn't a good start. The shining light however is Cameron Van Der Burgh who won gold in the 100m breast stroke and also claimed the world record. The other positive would be Chad le Clos who qualified for the 200m butterfly. Our hockey teams were thrashed in their first games and look doubtful to continue as well as Banyana Banyana.

The only sport so far where we have looked competitive is swimming. The other disciplines have just been average and at this level you have to be better than the best. South Africa may have been ambitious in their medal attempts but it is early days and our athletes may surprise us.

Amateur hour at Olympic road race

The Olympic cycling road race did not live up to the hype that was expected of it. The pre-race favourite Mark Cavendish and team GB were nowhere to be seen when the race concluded. It was expected to be a magnificent sprint finish but the outcome was far from this.

Team GB who consisted of mainly team Sky members, 4 of which won stages in this years Tour de France and was dubbed by Bradley Wiggins as 'the best British cycling team ever assembled'. You would not have thought so from their performance. They were unable to catch the breakaway at any stage of the race and their team dropped off at the end of the race when they were needed the most.

Not to sure what was going through their minds as they were unable to close a gap of 50 seconds from 20 kilometres. What was supposed to be an exciting sprint of the heavyweights turned out to be a dash for the retired as Alexandre Vinokourov took the gold with team GB and Cavendish nowhere to be seen. Fabian Cancellara who was in the breakaway and looked favourite to win made a rookie mistake by going straight into the barrier on a corner. Team GB seemed calm the entire race and even at the end when they needed to close down the gap they didn't up the pace enough.

The coverage of the race was amateur at best with the commentators not knowing who the riders were at times. They were unsure about who got bronze. The camera work seemed to have been done by someone who has never filmed before. If you had turned over to the race you would have thought it was coverage of an amateur cycling event. This is not something you would expect form an Olympics. From watching the Tour which was in depth coverage, it was a very poor showing. Overall it was a poor showing from all parties and a disappointment and frankly a waste of time.

Chiefs ruin show for 7 time champs

The Chiefs proved today that reputation means nothing when they defeated 7 time champions the Crusaders. The Crusaders coming off a convincing win over the Bulls last week looked to be in good form and would have been favourites being so successful at this level of competition for so long. This was not the case in Hamilton as the Crusaders had no answer for a Chiefs side which looked to be fired up from the first whistle. On attack the Chiefs looked deadly, scoring 2 tries to the Crusaders 1. They looked dangerous with ball in hand and seemed to open the Crusaders defence at every opportunity. They seemed strong on defence, stopping a Crusaders attack which seemed to be going nowhere with a lot of ball.

Could the week off have been the difference between the 2 sides? The 7 time champions looked dead on their feet many times during the game, not being able to keep up with the high tempo of the Chiefs. The score 20-17 does not show a true reflection of the game as the chiefs were far superior and should have scored more tries. Deserved winners, who will they face in the final? Will the Sharks suffer the same fate as the Crusaders having played last week and travelled back from Australia. Only time will tell, who wants it more and who is best on the day.

Cavendish for the win?

This Saturday Britain's Mark Cavendish will be looking to win gold at the 2012 Olympic road race in London. He won the test event held along the same route so he should be the favourite to take gold. There will be a few riders who will give him a run for his money. Can they contain the sprinting ability of the Isle of Man's 'missile'?

Cavendish had a quiet Tour de France this year by his standards. Having the yellow jersey of Bradley Wiggins to look after, his team was unable to give him the chance to sprint for victory. When he was given the chance, he took the opportunity with both hands taking 3 stage wins. On all the occasions he was lead out by overall winner of the tour Bradley Wiggins, just showing that cycling really is a team sport. Cavendish will have fellow Sky team members Bradley Wiggins and Christopher Froome for teamates again when they ride for team GB. They will look after Cavendish over the course, repaying him for the work he did for them during the tour.

It won't be cut and dry for Cavendish however as he will face not only tough opposition but a tough course. His closest rivals will be Peter Sagan who won 3 stages of the Tour as well as the green jersey points classification, Matthew Goss who was his former lead out man, Tyler Farrar,Andre Greipel just to name a few. Other possible hiccups for Cavendish could be that a breakaway forms with strong riders who will not be caught by the pelaton. Riders will the talent to do this may include Sky Team mate Edveld Boassen Hagen, Luis Leon Sanchez and many other riders who will look to ruin the show for Cavendish. Vincenzo Nibali and Cadel Evans could be looking to reconcile their tour loss by taking victory in London.

A wild card could be youngster Tejay Van Garderen who showed his talent by finishing high in the tour standings. Anything could happen but if Cavendish comes to the finish with the pelaton in tact i doubt there will be anyone to stand between him and gold.

(image from http://www.london2012.com/)

History repeats itself?

On Saturday the Sharks will take on the Stormers at Newlands after they beat the last year champions the Reds. The Sharks will be boosted by their recent run of form and will be confident going to Cape Town. They will however have a few injury setbacks as fullback Patrick Lambie looks doubtful for the encounter as well as Paul Jordaan. Louis Ludik has been in good form in his absence at fullback. He is, in my opinion the weak link in the Sharks line up, costing them a try last week against the Reds, he is shaky on defense and the Stormers will look to attack his channel. Especially with their inside runs using Juan de Jongh and Gio Aplon to great effect. Without Lambie’s vision and safety at the back this may be the key to a Stormers win.

The Stormers may be in luck with Duane Vermeulen 75% fit and a possible starter for them. This will bolster their pack, especially against the physical pack of the Sharks. The Stormers will also have Eben Etzebeth back from injury. Their team will be significantly better than the last time they faced the Sharks at the end of May. All players seem to fit and ready to go. Will their tag as ‘chokers’ hold strong or will their mix of youth and experience put up their hands and beat the voodoo. The Stormers lost last year’s Currie Cup final to the Sharks where Lambie was the difference between the 2 teams.

This time however they will be without Lambie. The Sharks main advantage would be Fredrik Michilak, the Frenchman who has been the difference in games between the 2 teams in the past. The Stormers however will have Joe Pieterson, Sia Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth and hopefully Duane Vermeulen back, who were absent when the teams met at the end of May. Many said that the loss of Pieterson was the reason for the team losing. Peter Grant has been in fine form despite not being chosen for the Springbok team, a great battle between him and Michilak might be the difference between winning and losing. In my opinion it will be the team that pitches up on the day and wants it more that will take the win

history to be made

The tour de France comes to an end today when the riders come into Paris. Bradley Wiggins who has held the yellow jersey for most of tour is now the theoretical winner. There has been a lot of talk in the media about Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggin’s right hand man who has been stronger through the mountains. Questions have been asked if team Sky should be riding for him instead of Wiggins. Those critics were silenced yesterday when Wiggins dominated the time trial and stamped his authority on the race and is a deserved winner. He will make history when he crosses the finish line being the first British rider to win the tour.

Team Sky however will probably be riding for World Champion Mark Cavendish today as he tries to win for a fourth time on the Champs-Élysées. Cavendish who is a favourite for the Olympic road race has had to take a back seat to Wiggins who holds the yellow jersey. Cavendish however showed what he can do when he sprinted to victory on stage 18 in emphatic style. The World champion will face tough opposition in green jersey holder Peter Sagan, former team mate Matthew Goss and German Andre Greipel. It should be an interesting day to see if the “missile” Mark Cavendish can hold off the rest to claim victory.

Sports Galore

I've been away recently and unable to blog but although I've been absent the sporting world has been busy as ever and I'm back to inform you about things you may have missed.

First of all Spain won the UEFA Euro 2012 in a convincing 4-0 win over Italy making it a 3 in a row competition win for La Roja. Winning the 2008 Euro against Germany, the 2010 World cup against Holland and now this.

In tennis Roger Federer won a record equalling 7th Wimbledon beating Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. Showing his former brilliance that we were so used to seeing and claiming the number 1 ranking in the world again.

It has been a topsy tervy few weeks in the Moto GP calender with Jorge Lorenzo crashing out at the TT at Assen and Casey Stoner Crashing out the following weekend at the Sachsenring. Jorge Lorenzo now leads the championship over fellow Spaniard Dani Pedrosa by 19 points and Stoner in third.

It has been a fantastic past weekend for the South African teams in the Super Rugby competition as 3 of our teams have qualified for the playoffs with the Stormers topping the overall log loosing only 2 games this season. This earns them a home Semi-final as the Bulls and Sharks face the Crusaders and Reds respectively.

The 2012 Tour De France has had its ups and downs with lots of excitement. There have been lots of crashes notably those of Canadian rider Ryder Hesjedal and Gold medallist Samuel Sanchez. British Sky rider Bradley Wiggins leads the Tour 02'05" over fellow team mate Chistopher Froome. Main rivals Vincenzo Nibali and defending champion Cadel Evans sit a further 02'23" and 03'19" back respectively. There was a lot of controversy in yesterdays stage when fans threw tacks onto the road and many riders had punctures. Cadel Evans having to stop 3 times. In huge show of sportsmanship, leader of the tour Bradley Wiggins told the pelaton to slow down and wait for the Australian. Wiggins saying he didn't want to win the tour in that fashion but rather on the bikes fair and square. After the rest day tomorrow they head into the Pyrenees for the high mountain stages where the riders will have to attack the yellow Jersey before the time trial. Wiggins being the strongest in the time trial and they will have to try build up a lead in the mountains if they have any chance of winning.