Welcome to our wrap of the latest sports news, results and fixtures from across the globe and at home in South Africa.
Latest sports news – Saturday 12 December
Rugby
Izak van der Westhuizen will replace Corniel van Zyl as the Cheetahs‘ forwards coach after the latter accepted a gig with London Irish.
Nigel Owens, rugby’s most capped referee, has brought his 17-year international career to an end this week.
Western Province ground out a 28-14 win over the Pumas at Newlands on Friday to pick up their first win of the Currie Cup tournament.
Former High-Performance Manager of the Blue Bulls Xander van Rensburg has been found guilty of defrauding the rugby team and sentenced to three years in jail.
South Africa Rugby World Cup winner Cheslin Kolbe said he was stunned by his own ability after scoring twice as Toulouse started their European Champions Cup campaign with a 29-22 victory at Ulster on Friday.
Zambian national team coach Milutin Sredojevic has appeared in court charged with the sexual assault of a waitress.
The next coaching destination for former Bafana Bafana star Benni McCarthy has all but been confirmed as ambitious KZN club Amazulu tease an unveiling next week.
DStv Premiership side SuperSport United have announced a change within their technical team with the appointment of a former club legend to the coaching ranks. Matsatsantsa have handed former captain and defender Thabo September a coaching role alongside head coach Kaitano Tembo.
Kaizer Chiefs coach Gavin Hunt has given his views on Khama Billiat’s first goal of the season and the veteran striker’s overall performance to date.
“Any goal he scores is a great goal, so those ones count,” Hunt said during his virtual press conference after the match.
“But there’s a lot to work on, on his overall performance, but he scored, got us the equaliser, so we move on and try and eradicate the mistakes we’ve made.”
West Ham boss David Moyes labelled the use of VAR as “rubbish” after his side had to come from behind to beat Leeds 2-1 and move up to fifth in the Premier League on Friday.
Everton have announced club record losses of £139.9 million ($186 million) after the implications of the coronavirus pandemic significantly impacted revenues.
French prosecutors on Friday called for a 15-year prison sentence for one of two Russian men accused of beating an English supporter during Euro 2016, an attack that left the victim with brain injuries.
The president of the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) Augustin Senghor, a candidate for the same role at the Confederation of African Football (CAF), said on Friday he feared for sport in his country due to coronavirus restrictions.
Cricket
Cricket South Africa (CSA) has undertaken to remove former franchise cricketer Omphile Ramela from the organisation’s interim board.
Quinton de Kock will lead the Proteas’ Test squad for the 2020/21 season.
CSA interim board chairperson Zak Yacoob said on Thursday he did not want to blame England for the cancellation of their recent tour of the country, but made it clear he felt the decision was unjustified.
Kyle Jamieson bagged five wickets in a masterclass of swing bowling as New Zealand struck hard and fast to have the West Indies on the ropes on day two of the second Test in Wellington on Saturday.
Will Pucovski was Saturday ruled out of Australia‘s first Test against India after failing to sufficiently recover from a concussion, with Marcus Harris called up as his replacement.
Young allrounder Cameron Green has been ruled out of the rest of Australia A’s pink-ball warm-up against India with mild concussion, plunging their Test preparations into further disarray. Green, who was firming for a debut in next week’s opening day-night Test in Adelaide, took a fierce blow to the head on Friday from a powerful drive by Jasprit Bumrah.
Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer have been rested for England’s Test series in Sri Lanka next month as selectors implement a policy of rotation to keep players fit during a punishing schedule.
Motorsport
Four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel hopes to bid farewell to Ferrari with a smile on Sunday, but has admitted that his six-year stint in Italy is, ultimately, ending in tears of failure.
Red Bull’s Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen said on Friday that he has resigned himself to claiming “my seat again” as he was third behind the two Mercedes in practice Friday ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Boxing
IBO cruiserweight champion Kevin Lerena heads a five-fight bill at Emperors Palace on Saturday night.
MTB
The seventh edition of the uBhejane Xtreme MTB Challenge will set off from Hillcrest in the early hours of Saturday morning as a group of intrepid riders grind their way 350km to the new final destination of Bonamanzi on the KZN North Coast to raise awareness and funds for rhino conservation in the province.
Basketball
LeBron James, who won an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers and formed a coalition to battle voter suppression, was Thursday named Time magazine’s 2020 Athlete of the Year.
Golf
Japan’s Hinako Shibuno, the 2019 Women’s British Open champion, fired a four-under par 67 to seize a three-stroke lead after Friday’s second round of the US Women’s Open.
Former Masters champion Patrick Reed opened up a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the DP World Tour Championship on Friday as he attempts to become the first American to top The Race to Dubai Rankings.
Latest sports results
Currie Cup Rugby
Western Province 28-14 Pumas
European Challenge Cup Rugby
Stade Francais (FRA) 20 Treviso (ITA) 44
Leicester Tigers (ENG) 39 Brive (FRA) 17
Newcastle Falcons (ENG) 20 Cardiff Blues (WAL) 33
European Champions Cup results on Friday
Pool A
Northampton Saints (ENG) 12 Bordeaux-Begles (FRA) 16
Pool B
Ulster (IRL) 22 Toulouse (FRA) 29
English Premier League
Leeds 1-2 West Ham
Spanish La Liga
Valladolid 3 (Weissman 7, 76, Orellana 56-pen) Osasuna 2 (Budimir 27, Torres 43).
Bundesliga
VfL Wolfsburg 2 (Weghorst 76-pen, 88) Eintracht Frankfurt 1 (Dost 63-pen)
Leading second-round scores on Friday from the 2020 US Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas (USA unless noted, a-denotes amateur):
135 – Hinako Shibuno (JPN) 68-67
138 – a-Linn Grant (SWE) 69-69
139 – a-Kaitlyn Papp 71-68, Megan Khang 70-69, Amy Olson 67-72
140 – Lindsey Weaver 70-70, Sarah Schmelzel 71-69, Ashleigh Buhai (RSA) 71-69, Cristie Kerr 71-69, Stacy Lewis 72-68, Ariya Jutanugarn (THA) 70-70, Moriya Jutanugarn (THA) 68-72, Yuka Saso (PHI) 69-71
141 – Azahara Munoz (ESP) 71-70, Yealimi Noh 72-69, Lizette Salas 72-69, Lydia Ko (NZL) 71-70, Kim Sei-young (KOR) 72-69, a-Ingrid Lindblad (SWE) 72-69
142 – Lee Min-young2 (KOR) 74-68, Jodi Ewart Shadoff (ENG) 70-72, a-Pauline Roussin-Bouchard (FRA) 70-72, a-Maja Stark (SWE) 70-72, Jenny Shin (KOR) 70-72, Charley Hull (ENG) 69-73, Lee6 Jeong-eun (KOR) 73-69, Jennifer Kupcho 70-72, Kim A-Lim (KOR) 68-74
Leading second round scores in the European Tour’s DP World Tour Championship at the Jumeirah Golf Estates, United Arab Emirates on Friday (GBR/IRL unless stated, par 72):
134 – Patrick Reed (USA) 70 64
136 – Matthew Fitzpatrick 68 68
137 – Laurie Canter 71 66, Tyrrell Hatton 69 68
138 – Tommy Fleetwood 69 69, Branden Grace (RSA) 72 66, Sami Valimaki (FIN) 69 69, Lee Westwood 70 68
139 – Adri Arnaus (ESP) 71 68, Martin Kaymer (GER) 69 70, Danny Willett 72 67
140 – Viktor Hovland (NOR) 71 69, Robert Macintyre 68 72
141 – Shaun Norris (RSA) 72 69, Victor Perez (FRA) 67 74, Callum Shinkwin 70 71, Erik Van Rooyen (RSA) 68 73, Adrian Otaegui (ESP) 75 66, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 70 71, Thomas Pieters (BEL) 71 70
Selected:
142 – Collin Morikawa (USA) 72 70, Ian Poulter 74 68
143 Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 70 73
Latest sports fixtures
Cricket
New Zealand vs West Indies at Wellington, 2nd Test (until 15 December)
Golf
EPGA at World Tour Championship, Dubai (until 13 December); USPGA at Naples, Florida and LPGA at Houston, Texas (until 13 December)
La Liga
Valencia vs Athletic Bilbao (15:00), Getafe vs Sevilla (17:15), Huesca vs Alaves (19:30), Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid (22:00).
English Premier League
Wolves vs Aston Villa (14:30), Newcastle vs West Brom (17:00), Manchester United vs Manchester City (19:30), Everton vs Chelsea (22:00)
Bundesliga
Borussia Dortmund vs VfB Stuttgart, RB Leipzig vs Werder Bremen, Borussia Moenchengladbach vs Hertha Berlin, Freiburg vs Arminia Bielefeld, Mainz 05 vs Cologne, Union Berlin vs Bayern Munich (19:30)
Currie Cup
Sharks vs Bulls 14:00
Cheetahs vs Lions 16:30
European Challenge Cup Rugby
Zebre (ITA) vs Bayonne (FRA) (15:00), Agen (FRA) vs London Irish (ENG) (16:00)
Pau (FRA) vs Worcester Warriors (ENG), Castres (FRA) vs Ospreys (WAL) (both 21:00)
Boxing – Joshua vs Pulev undercard
Lawrence Okolie vs Nikodem Jezewski – cruiserweight contest
Hughie Fury vs Mariusz Wach – heavyweight contest
Martin Bakole vs Sergey Kuzmin – WBC international heavyweight title
Qais Ashfaq vs Ashley Lane – super-bantamweight contest
Florian Marku vs Alex Fearon – welterweight contest
Macaulay McGowan vs Kieron Conway – super-welterweight contest
Anthony Joshua vs Kubrat Pulev – IBF, WBA and WBO Heavyweight title fight
