Bafana, Boks and Proteas in bid for sporting glory

SOUTH Africa’s sporting prowess will be put to the test today as the Big Three national teams do battle on three continents with more than just pride at stake.

On the home front, Bafana Bafana will be embroiled in a mouthwatering World Cup qualifier against Senegal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. It will be vital for the hosts to enhance their chances of making it to the 2018 football spectacle in Russia.

The South Africans may have won their last encounter against the Lions of Teranga 1-0 in last year’s Nelson Mandela Challenge, but it was a friendly match against a weakened Senegalese side.

This time around, Senegalese coach Aliou Cisse, who captained the side to a World Cup quarterfinal in 2002, has strengthened his side with the likes of English Premiership stars Sadio Mane of Liverpool and Mame Biram Diouf from Stoke City, while Diao Balde of Italian club Lazio will also form part of the formidable outfit.

The beleaguered Springboks will also be in action this afternoon trying to hold on to a decade-long winning streak against England at Twickenham, but questions linger over the ability of Allister Coetzee’s team to inflict the first defeat in Eddie Jones’s tenure as England coach.

Jones has guided England to nine consecutive wins.

The Springboks, on the other hand, have had trying times since Coetzee took over the reins from Heyneke Meyer this year. After conceding a maiden home defeat against Ireland, the Springboks went on to lose to Argentina for the first time in South America, and also suffered an embarrassing record-setting defeat to the All Blacks in Durban.

The Proteas stand on the edge of a historic third consecutive series win against Australia in Australia after winning the first Test in Perth last week and have already begun day one of the second Test in Hobart today.

If the Proteas win the second Test then they would have secured the series with a Test to spare and will only be the second team after the West Indies team of the 1980s and early 1990s to win three consecutive series in Australia.

However, the Proteas face a challenge with the hosts’ good record in Hobart of having lost only one Test out of 12 in the last 27 years.