Tightheads & Loose Balls
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After putting life and limb on the line against New Zealand at Newlands last week, it was good to see some of the Springboks letting their hair down for a sponsor’s event at Sun City this week.
Captain Eben Etzebeth, flyhalves Elton Jantjies and Handre Pollard, prop Steven Kitshoff and centre Damian de Allende all made their way to the Pilanesberg, where they were wonderful ambassadors for the sport. A few night owls were most pleased some of them made the Shebeen stay open longer. ●
Speaking of thirst, the Lions have thrown their weight behind the drive to get water to drought-stricken Cape Town. The public has been encouraged to drop bottles of water at Ellis Park.
The water will then be delivered by the dedicated volunteers of Water Shortage SA. Cape Town is likely to become the first city in the world to run out of water completely.
’It is not a crisis, it is a catastrophe and we welcome the Lions’ initiative,’ said Water Shortage SA’s Ray de Vries. ●
Tightheads drove north for a golf team event at Steyn City last weekend and got more than it bargained for. Also in attendance was a team from Comedy Central, anchored and captained by comedian Joey Rasdien, and naturally no one was safe.
After the day was curtailed by rain Tightheads encouraged Rasdien, who was recording interviews for the channel, to put Naas Botha on the spot with the question: ’At the end of the day, what was the winner, golf or the weather? ’Ja,’ replied Botha, ’no, definitely it was the weather but we did play a little golf,’ he quipped. The bit of golf Botha and his fellow ex-players played was enough to earn them victory, despite the efforts of Jannie Engelbrecht and Toks van der Linde. ●
A leading rugby website labelled the Southern Kings flops of the week in the Pro14 after they lost 31-3 to Treviso.
’It was their worst performance since joining the league and there is little expectation that they can get better. When November comes, the absence of internationals for other teams could make them competitive. Until then, there is little hope for the South Africans,’ the website suggested.