Gaviria wins

Jacques van der Westhuyzen

TWO of the Lions’ most senior players – Ross Cronje and Courtnall Skosan – have pledged their future with the Joburg franchise, and at the same time stated Super Rugby is still the best competition in the world.

This after several Lions players announced recently they will leave the team to further their careers in Europe, while there have also been calls from several quarters for the South African franchises to leave Sanzaar and join a European competition, like the Cheetahs and Kings in the Pro14 competition.

The Lions, runners-up in 2016 and 2017 and South Africa’s best hope of again winning the competition this year, are set to lose Jaco Kriel, Ruan Dreyer, Jacques van Rooyen, Franco Mostert, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Andries Coetzee in the off-season, while Elton Jantjies and Lionel Mapoe are also believed to be on the shopping lists of several European teams. Faf de Klerk, Ruan Ackermann and Jaco van der Walt left last season.

But on the eve of the Lions’ last league match of the campaign – against the Bulls at Ellis Park at 3pm on Saturday – Cronje and Skosan said they would continue to play for the Lions in an attempt to win the Super Rugby title, and in an effort to win back their places in the Springbok team.

Both lost out on Bok selection earlier this year, but both men were also among those on the injured list.

“There’s a motivation to get back there,” said scrumhalf Cronje about his Bok ambitions. “I want to play at the top level, against the best ... that’s always the motivation, but I can only control what I can.”

And that means getting regular game time for the Lions – and not moving abroad. “I love it here ... there’s the bush, the beaches are an hour’s flight away, the sun is out all day every day.

“But I understand why some guys are going. Your career is only so long and you have to make the most of it. You have to think about your family one day, your future ... going overseas sets you up for life after rugby, but if you’re smart you can do the same here.

“But, if you have a dream of playing at the World Cup, playing at the highest level, then you want to be here.”

Skosan, who lost his place in the Bok team to Lions teammate Aphiwe Dyantyi this season, also said he was still very happy in Joburg. “I’m enjoying myself here ... and will be in the Lions jersey next season.

“I love Super Rugby. Every weekend you’re challenged by one of the best teams in the world. It’s an amazing competition. I’ve enjoyed everything about it, so in my experience it’s been amazing.”

Top form

Both Cronje and Skosan, who’ve watched a fair deal from the sidelines this season, feel the Lions are ready to hit top form at this end of the competition. A win against the Bulls will guarantee the team a place at home in the quarter-finals.

“We’ve definitely not put an 80-minute performance together yet, like I know we can,” said Skosan. “But we’re hitting our stride now, and hopefully we get into that next gear and move forward.”

Cronje added: “I think we’re going to be peaking at the right time (going into this stage of the competition). I still don’t think we’ve clicked 100% this year, but I’m hoping it will happen now leading in to the playoffs.” Minenhle Mkhize Stuart Hess SARZEAU, France: Tour de France debutant Fernando Gaviria claimed his second stage win yesterday when he outsprinted his rivals in the fourth stage, a 195km stretch from La Baule to Sarzeau. The Quick-Step Floors rider launched his sprint far from the line, and made sure of the win with a second burst of speed to beat world champion Peter Sagan and German Andre Greipel into second and third place, respectively. “We wanted to wait to the last moment to launch but it was too hard. I’m really happy anyway,” said Gaviria, a Colombian.

Belgian Greg van Avermaet retained the overall leader’s yellow jersey. Sagan’s second place meant the Slovakian retained the green jersey for the points classification ahead of Gaviria. “He’s faster than me but it’s okay,” Sagan said candidly.

The Tour’s top guns enjoyed a quiet day, with the exception of Russian Ilnur Zakarin, who was caught at the wrong end of a late pileup and lost 59 seconds. Today’s fifth stage is a 204.5km hilly ride from Lorient to Quimper that should favour the one-day Belgian classic specialists such as Van Avermaet. – Reuters

THERE WERE lots of goals on the second day of the Spar Women’s National Netball Championships at the Lotto Young Park Netball Courts in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Districts like Tshwane, Dr KK Kaunda and Mangaung Metro Districts showed their strength in the Senior Section A, by incorporating players who were in the Brutal Fruit Netball Premier League (BFNPL) and USSA championships which was played last week.

In their first game of the day Dr Elsje Jordaan’s Dr KK Kaunda District beat their neighbors Bojanala 103-23.

“We didn’t expect to win with such a margin. We expected a tougher game... But we started really well, that was the aim. Since the BFNPL we’ve been trying to build the lead and finish the game off. It’s coming through for us.

“Consistently we were there, building the game. Converting our turnovers is also getting better. It’s the numbers game at the end and we are getting better with that,” said the former Proteas captain Jordaan.

Jordaan said all she wanted was to see her team succeed.

“We want to do well in this tournament. We are going to go quietly about our business. But getting such a great win under their belt is great for the girls.,” she said.

Jordaan was happy to have Vanes-Mari du Toit back to her original role of goalkeeping.

“She’s been great for us in the BFNPL. She is good with bounces but is not as accurate as a specialist shooter. She carried us in the BFNPL but with Sigi (Burger) back, who is a specialist shooter, it doesn’t make sense to waste both good players. So it’s great to have them both sides of the centre,” said Jordaan.

Burger, who played for Surrey Storm in England, was out with a knee injury for six months. She returned in the second half of the Varsity Cup.

In their second match they beat Burta de Kock’s Mangaung Metro 59-37. The game was balanced in the first half with players giving their all but the Potchefstroom team came out victorious.

That defeat for Mangaung Metro came after a great start of winning their first match of the day against Ehlanzeni from Ermelo, Mpumalanga 75-15.

Mangaung Metro are building a new team and were missing Karla Pretorius (formerly Mostert) and their former captain Maryka Holtzhausen.

Tshwane continued with their domination by winning their games 82-20 against Gert Sibande and then 68-25 against Nelson Mandela Bay.