SA sports fans in for nail-biting weekend

THE nation’s sports lovers face a nail-biting weekend as Bafana Bafana‚ the Springboks and the Proteas all have potentially explosive matches that should banish the expected cold temperatures.

Bafana take on Nigeria in a tricky 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifier in Uyo today with coach Stuart Baxter and his men in search of a good start to their qualification campaign.

Baxter and his charges prepared in Johannesburg this week ahead of their trip to Nigeria and had a few more sessions in Uyo on Thursday and yesterday ahead of the showdown against the old enemy .

The Springboks are up against the dangerous France in the first of three Test matches at Loftus in Pretoria also today and coach Allister Coetzee‚ who has been under the cosh in the last few months‚ will be desperate for a morale-boosting win.

The Boks arrived in the capital last Sunday following a week-long training camp in Plettenberg Bay which the senior players hailed as a success.

Coetzee announced the team to face the French on Thursday and it included five new caps, four of those will start.

Tomorrow‚ the Proteas find themselves in the unenviable position of having to beat favourites India in their last group match of the Champions Trophy at the Oval in London to progress to the semifinals.

South Africa were beaten by 19 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method at Edgbaston in Birmingham on Wednesday night to leave their chances of progressing to the next round precariously close to the abyss. They are in a tough spot— — TMG Digital/ Sport