Western Province rugby officials are outraged by a proposal suggesting they merge with Boland and play in the Currie Cup as the Stormers - a decision that would effectively kill off the
132-year history and tradition of WP rugby.

The proposal, by the Leopards, the Falcons and the Pumas for the 14 rugby provinces in South Africa to combine to form seven franchises and play in a strength-versus-strength Currie Cup from next year has been tabled for discussion at Tuesday's meeting of the SA Rugby Presidents Council in Johannesburg.

A second option is for the Currie Cup to revert to a strength-versus-strength format of seven Premier Division sides and seven First Division sides with a promotion-relegation component.
After agreeing to this structure at the last Council meeting, the cash-strapped smaller unions are now lobbying against it and appear to be demanding the status quo (a qualifying round in the Currie Cup and then a Top Eight/Bottom Six split) be retained. The alternative is a franchise system on the same basis as SA cricket.

WP chief executive Theuns Roodman confirmed his union had written a letter to the SA Rugby Union expressing their strongest possible opposition to a franchise system.

"We have told South African rugby that they would have to be out of their minds to even consider any such proposal.

"It is unthinkable that a rugby province as old as WP, with the heritage and traditions this union has in the Currie Cup, could be wiped off the map at the whims of a few small provinces north of the Orange River who do not have anything close to our history."

Newlands rugby bosses are mortified that a plan that would effectively kill of the famous blue-and-white striped jersey and the Disa (the WP Rugby logo) is even up for discussion.

In their letter of protest they have pointed out that WP have produced 243 of the 770 Springboks (one third of all capped Boks), as well as the most black Springboks (10 out of 32 since 1980) in South African rugby.

"Our support base is traditional and we could never support a franchise like this. It is crazy, not even remotely feasible and would kill rugby in the Cape," said Roodman.

Roodman said any attempt to force WP into extinction would meet fierce resistance.

"We are happy to play with Boland as the Stormers in the Super 14, but when it comes to the Currie Cup we can only ever be Western Province. You cannot just wipe out 132 years of rugby history," said Roodman.

In the last financial year, WP made more money (R12 million profit) than SA Rugby, who showed a R12m loss.

The union has also won the Currie Cup a record 32 times, boasting a significantly superior record in the tournament to the next best Bulls, who have won it 21 times.


Former Springbok and WP flank Rob Louw said any decision that threatened the extinction of WP would provoke a revolt among Cape rugby followers along the lines of Manchester United fans - who are resisting the takeover of their club by American billionaire Malcolm Glazer.

"You could never do it," said Louw. "It would never get the support of the public. Cape fans would boycott rugby and stay away in disgust. WP rugby is ingrained in us, it is like the Springboks and All Blacks."

If the reaction to the ill-fated name change of Newlands to Fedsure Park Newlands a few years ago is any indication, Cape rugby would face a rebellion if they persisted with any move to erase WP from the rugby landscape.

WP Rugby bosses were booed by a capacity crowd at Newlands after they had agreed to the stadium name change.

In recent years, however, the stadium has reverted to its original name after marketing initiatives to identify it as Investec Newlands were ignored by local fans and thus proved futile.

A Currie Cup franchise system would not effect the Bulls, the Sharks or the Cats, who have the same identity in the Super 14 and the Currie Cup as opposed to the Stormers, who play in black in the Super 12 with most of their players switching to the traditional blue and white of WP later in the season for the Currie Cup.

While Newlands rugby bosses are appalled that SA Rugby could even consider erasing WP from SA rugby history, a majority vote for the franchise system at the President's Council meeting on Tuesday would be binding.

James Stofberg, president of the Leopards, explained why his union, along with the Pumas and the Falcons had tabled the motion.

"At this stage I am not quite sure what is going to happen. Various unions have sent in different proposals (for the Currie Cup). The problem the small unions face is that we are losing our players to the bigger unions and this forces us to start all over again.

"We need an extra R3-4 million to survive and compete, and one way of keeping ourselves alive was to consider grouping together and form franchises We do not know how we are going to survive over the next five or six years.

"Over the past two years we have lost 21 of the players in our starting line-up to bigger unions and at the end of the year we are expecting to lose more. So even though we qualified for the Top Eight, there is no guarantee that we will stay there after next season.

"We can't generate any extra money and are slowly going backwards," he said

The benefits of hosting the 2010 World Cup are not as great as originally expected, Sport and Recreation Committee chairperson Butana Komphela said in parliament on Thursday.

"The spin-offs are not as great as we thought. We are very worried about this," Komphela said, noting that Fifa - the world football body - would arrange certain of its own business agreements that could be detrimental to South Africa's general commercial interests.

Highlighting possible agreements with Coca-Cola and Hyundai, Komphela said there were possibly other agreements which would necessitate South Africa having to import foreign wines for sale at World Cup events.

"Can you imagine the outcry if that was the case?" he said with concern.





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But local organising committee chief executive officer Danny Jordaan said that as yet Fifa had only signed agreements with Adidas, Sony and Hyundai.

"Fifa's commercial programme dedicates certain areas, deemed to be World Cup areas, where ambush marketing may not take place," he said.

He said he could not comment on the wine issue but said there was still a lot of work to be done.

Komphela further voiced concerns that Fifa held all television rights and shared the profits, but bore none of the losses if such were incurred.

Reporting back on a recent study tour to France where his committee analysed that country's successful World Cup in 1998, Komphela said France had urged South Africa to be "firm" with the governing body.

"He (Jacques Lambert, director-general of the French Football Federation) mentioned lots of changes imposed by Fifa after 1998... but it will differ with South Africa because Fifa has imposed even tougher conditions," Komphela said.

He said Lambert advised South Africa and the federations to remain "firm" with Fifa because the "requirements from Fifa were increasing".

Komphela said South Africa was advised to look to its own interests, especially when it came to finances.

l South Africa will have a bigger population from which to choose its World Cup squad when it annexes Zimbabwe.

This was said in parliament by ANC MP Tsietsi Louw after Komphela expressed concern that local interest in the event would crumble if South Africa was eliminated in the first round.

"We can't be the first host to be eliminated in the first round," said Komphela.

Louw responded jokingly: "We are soon going to annex Zimbabwe so don't despair, we will have quite a population to choose from."

By Erskine McCullough

Springfield - Phil Mickelson put himself in position to end his 2005 Major misery when he grabbed a share of the first-round lead in the PGA Championship here on Thursday.

The 35-year-old American fired a three-under-par 67 to put himself atop the leaderboard with American Ben Curtis, Australia's Stuart Appelby, Canada's Stephen Ames and South Africans Rory Sabbatini and Trevor Immelman.

Stacked up behind them only one shot back was a group that included German Bernhard Langer, American Davis Love, England's Greg Owen, South African Retief Goosen, England's Lee Westwood, Sweden's Jesper Parnevik and 1999 PGA champion Steve Elkington of Australia.

'It was a nice start'
Mickelson admitted before the start of the tournament that a good showing here would totally change his view on his year to date where he has failed to make any impression in the season's earlier Majors - the Masters, the US Open and the British Open.

"It was a nice start," says Mickelson. "There is still a lot of work left to do but I hit a lot of greens in regulations and sank a couple of nice putts. There are three more rounds and I want to keep it going.

"I feel a lot more confident in my game that I did heading into the other majors.

"As I said earlier in the week, I really want to put everything into I have into finishing off the year right here at the PGA."

Curtis's 67 came as welcome relief for the 28-year-old who has been struggling with his game since his surprise Open win two years ago.

'I've been playing pretty good'
In 16 outings this season, he has only made the cut three times.

"Golf is a funny game. It can come and go at any time," said Curtis.

"I'm just trying to stay patent, work hard and just trying to stay positive and not really worry about those problems.

"Every golfer goes through a rough time in their career and I went through it in the last year or so but I'm going to try to work out of it and try to stay positive."

Immelman puts down his good showing at Augusta and the British Open for his impressive first round.

"I think to finish fifth in the Masters was a huge boost for me, to play in the second-to-last group on Sunday and somewhat hang in there.

"And then at the Open I played really well for most of the week and finished 15th. Those two finishes have given me some confidence and this is my third PGA so I know what to expect coming over here," said the 25-year-old.

Immelman said three-under was a good score on a course that has no weaknesses.

"There are 18 really strong holes on this course and any one can bite you at any time," he said.

Langer said no one should write him off come Sunday.

"I've been playing pretty good. My last two tournaments I finished fifth in both of them, the Open and the Deutsche Bank in Europe, so I've got some confidence.

"I don't see any reason why I shouldn't be in there by Sunday," said the 47-year-old.

Vijay Singh kept himself in touch when he birdied the last two holes to get himself back to level par.

But Tiger Woods, who was expected to be in a two-way battle for the title with Singh, slumped to a five-over 75 and has his work cut out to ensure his place at the weekend.

Woods, looking to win his third Major of the year, insisted he was still firmly in the tournament despite going into the second round eight shots off the lead.

"I'm still in the tournament, no doubt about that. There's a long way to go and the golf course is only going to get tougher.

"There won't be too many guys under par by the end of the week and hopefully I can get myself there over the next three days," said the 29-year-old.

"Today was a grinding day. It took a lot of mental energy out of me to try and stay that patient, that calm and that focused with the way I started out.

"I could easily have lost it and packed it in and gone home, but I stayed focused. I did what I had to do," he added.

England's Ian Poulter salvaged his round when he birdied the last three holes to put himself one-under for the championship.

There was no such joy for Colin Montgomerie. The Scot got himself to one-under but suddenly lost his game as he crashed to end the day seven-over par.

Jose Maria Olazabal was another who looked to be heading up the leaderboard when he reached the turn one-under par.

But coming home the Spaniard carded three bogeys and two doubles to slump to a six-over 76.

The comeback of the first round went to American Kenny Perry.

The 45-year-old had fallen to four-over par after seven and looked set for a short week.

"I started going for broke a little bit. I started saying we've got to make some birdies," explained Perry.

And birdie he did, picking up shots at 10, 12, 13, 14 and eagling 17 to put himself one-under for the day.

Helsinki - Bahrain's newly crowned 1 500m world champion Rashid Ramzi began his quest for a golden double with an easy win in his 800m first round heat at the World Athletics Championships on Thursday.

The 26-year-old Moroccan-born champion was joined in the next round, among others, by defending champion Djabir Said Guerni of Algeria and Russia's Olympic champion Yury Borzakiovskiy.

Ramzi coolly won his heat with Olympic silver medallist Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa looking rusty as the 24-year-old, who set the fastest time this year at the same track last month, struggled to get the third automatic qualifying spot.

However Ramzi, who moved to Bahrain in 2002 but still holds a Moroccan passport, admitted he had been feeling the effects of his triumph in Wednesday's 1 500m final.

'I was quite tired after the 1500m final'
"I was quite tired after the 1500m final. The weather didn't help, but I'm trying my best," he said.

Mulaudzi, the Commonwealth Games champion, admitted he hadn't run the cleverest race.

"It was quite a slow race and I had a lot to do in the final 200m," said the 2003 bronze medallist.

"Tomorrow is another day and I just have to stay composed and not get boxed in."

Borzakovskiy and El Guerni had no such worries as, along with Kenya's William Yiampoy, toyed with the rest of the field to secure the three spots.

El Guerni said he had run a perfect tactical race.

"It was not a tough race for me," said the 28-year-old.

"I wanted to be ruthless and I managed it. The event is very open."

Yiampoy, who was controversially not selected for the 2003 team despite being the then world number one at the time, said he would be looking for an easier ride in the second round.

"It was tough and very tactical," said the 31-year-old.

"The climate's not the best. I prefer faster races, but I don't always like to be the front-runner."

Ramzi was joined in the next round by his two team-mates, former Kenyans Youssef Saad Kamel, who used to be known as Gregory Koncellah, the son of two-time 800m world champion Billy, and Bilal Mansour Ali (John Yego) both of whom won their heats.

However, 2001 world champion Andre Bucher fared less well as the 28-year-old injury-plagued Swiss failed to progress. - Sapa-AFP

Former Sharks coach Kevin Putt has issued an unconditional apology to Victor Matfield, the Springboks and South African rugby for unwittingly causing the "steel arm-guard rumpus" by comments he made on New Zealand television.

Speaking exclusively to The Mercury from his new home in Hamilton, New Zealand, Putt said he was horrified at the drama he had "accidentally caused".

"Quite rightly, I am the villain of the piece. I was on this rugby show in New Zealand giving my opinion on the Springbok victory last week," he said.

"When asked about the Kelleher incident (he was knocked out in a tackle by Matfield) I suggested that the tackle was not late. When pressed I suggested that if they were to look for any fault the only question would be about the steel plate in his arm - this was a gaffe by me because I had meant to say 'fibreglass', not steel, which he wears as protection for an old injury.

'I suggested that the tackle was not late'
"The slip obviously has had a huge impact. Thankfully, it was immediately dismissed as laughable by both the Boks and Kiwis, and quite rightly. The only person with egg on their face is myself. Apologies again."

Putt's comments on the show showed that he is far from bitter towards South Africa. Viewers asked about the show said that he had been highly positive about the Bok performance.

"Yes, I was very impressed. I told viewers that Jake was getting it right with his loose forward and centre revamp, and that SA rugby is going to get better as more of the youth champions come through," he said.

"We have already seen this with Jean de Villiers, Enrico Januarie, Bryan Habana, Gary Botha, Clyde Rathbone and Ashwin Willemse."

As for the comments Putt made that he had been informed about the "steel plate" by John Smit a few years ago, Putt said: "When I first started with the Sharks I do remember John expressing concern about Matfield's arm cover and how solid it was. John did not mention the word steel.

"I may have joked about 'steel', but to suggest he wears it for hurting people and that he has gone about 30 Tests with it in and now suddenly it is a weapon, is madness.

"Ask John, though. I would still say the opposition would not be ecstatic about the protective brace he wears, but the rest is sensationalism by the media."

Putt has taken up a three-year coaching contract with National Provincial Championship team Counties Manakua.

"I am seriously stoked about the performances of the Sharks in the Currie Cup. Long may their success continue," he said.

The Boks arrived in Perth on yesterday morning and have taken up residence at the exclusive Burswood Casino complex.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's rand scaled a new 2-1/2 month peak against the dollar on Thursday, lifted by broad greenback weakness and the central bank's decision to keep rates unchanged -- creating scope for a test of 6.28/dollar.

The rand firmed by five cents to 6.34 per dollar shortly after the rate verdict -- its strongest level since May 19, according to Reuters data.

"It's a combination of the rate decision and a weaker dollar, which is pushing the euro and the gold price up, helping commodity currencies," said one trader.

South Africa's central bank kept its key repo rate steady at 7.0 percent, as expected, saying it would be "inappropriate" to change interest rates now despite the positive inflation outlook. It cited high global oil prices as the main threat.

Nineteen out of 20 economists polled last week predicted the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) would keep its key repo rate unchanged, but given that the central bank has previously surprised with interest rate cuts, some traders had anticipated a loosening of monetary policy.

An interest rate cut would have further narrowed the yield gap between South Africa and the United States, which has been gradually tightening monetary policy.

The SARB has reduced interest rates by 6.50 percentage points between June 2003 and April 2005 as inflation subsided, driving prime lending rates to 24-year lows.

The rand was trading at around 6.3430 the dollar by 1430 GMT compared to 6.38 at close in New York on Wednesday.

It has trimmed its losses against the dollar so far this year to about 11 percent and analysts saw scope for a test of 6.28/dollar in the short-term.

"We are seeing dollar weakness. We are seeing the gold price pushing up a bit. The currency does look like it is going a little bit stronger," said Jacques Potgieter, an analyst at Sanlam Securities.

"I think there is a chance that we could go down (firmer) to the 6.28/dollar on a technical level."

The greenback extended its losses after a softer than expected retail sales report, which left intact the market's expectations for more measured U.S. interest rate hikes.

The euro traded around $1.2437 according to Reuters data, up from around $1.2405 shortly before the U.S. data and up about 0.4 percent from levels late on Wednesday in New York.

South African government bond yields rose amid disappointment that the central bank had not trimmed rates.

"There was a bit a of expectation that they might cut rates, so there is a bit of disappointment there," said Nyiko Mageza, an analyst at banking group Absa.

The yield on the most-traded R194 bond due 2008 was up 8 basis points at 7.25 percent. The yield on the benchmark R153 bond due 2010 was up 4 basis points at 7.52 percent.

Tonight I wanna give it all to you
In the darkness
ThereÂ’s so much I wanna do
And tonight I wanna lay it at your feet
Â’cause girl, I was made for you
And girl, you were made for me

I was made for lovinÂ’ you baby
You were made for lovinÂ’ me
And I canÂ’t get enough of you baby
Can you get enough of me

Tonight I wanna see it in your eyes
Feel the magic
ThereÂ’s something that drives me wild
And tonight weÂ’re gonna make it all come true
Â’cause girl, you were made for me
And girl I was made for you

I was made for lovinÂ’ you baby
You were made for lovinÂ’ me
And I canÂ’t get enough of you baby
Can you get enough of me

I was made for lovinÂ’ you baby
You were made for lovinÂ’ me
And I can give it all to you baby
Can you give it all to me

Oh, canÂ’t get enough, oh, oh
I canÂ’t get enough, oh, oh
I canÂ’t get enough
Yeah, ha

Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do
Do, do, do, do, do, do, do

I was made for lovinÂ’ you baby
You were made for lovinÂ’ me
And I canÂ’t get enough of you baby
Can you get enough of me

Oh, I was made, you were made
I canÂ’t get enough
No, I canÂ’t get enough

I was made for lovinÂ’ you baby
You were made for lovinÂ’ me
And I canÂ’t get enough of you baby
Can you get enough of me

I was made for lovinÂ’ you baby
You were made for lovinÂ’ me
And I can give it all to you baby

Compliments of KISS

Watching these athletes battle some horrendous conditions, you have to wonder why the authorities agree to have these competitions in places like this. There are so many other countries where you are at least guarenteed to have a majority of good weather.

It certainly hasn't done the ahletes or the competition any favours.

Well...we got our puppy and i must say i have been very stressed with taking him out every hour or so...wiping up the spills they make.... :innocent:

He is getting better at the potty training and thanks Penelope for some invaluable advice.....

I am not really a pet lover, but i must admit this little one has crept into my heart and he is so cute...he is two months old, a mixed jack russell with long hair....the rest of his litter were fine..... :innocent:

I am looking thru new eyes at the wonder he is experiencing around him, going outside and nibbling at the grass, lying on the early morning dew, chasing the birds thinking they might land, going up to my bedroom and chasing that other puppy in the mirror, tackling the stairs for the first time was so funny...but he is getting there....

Well...we shall see what today brings.... :innocent:

Keep doing what were doing, but do it better: Umaga

By Jim Kayes
Thursday, August 11, 2005 Print this article
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All Blacks skipper Tana Umaga has called on his team to be more clinical in attack after blowing a string of tryscoring opportunities in last weekend's 22-16 loss to South Africa.

Umaga said the All Blacks made 18 linebreaks at Newlands, compared to four by the South Africans, yet they scored only one try - to wing Rico Gear.

A Gear break did create the game's only other try, but that was scored by South African midfielder Jean de Villiers when he latched on to a pass by halfback Byron Kelleher.

That low try tally reflects the effectiveness of the Springboks' defence but might also point to a deeper problem in the lack of impact of the All Blacks' attack against South Africa and Australia.

They scored only four tries in last year's Tri Nations despite an encouraging buildup that saw them score three and five in the two tests against World Cup winners England a month earlier.


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History is on track to repeat itself this year if the All Blacks can't crack the Wallabies' defence at Sydney's Stadium Australia on Saturday night as the sole try against South Africa last weekend came after 12 were scored in the three-Test series win against the British and Irish Lions.

Umaga was confident there was nothing wrong with how the All Blacks were trying to play on attack.

While the Springboks are receiving praise for the effectiveness of their umbrella, or rushing, defence, Umaga revealed South Africa actually changed how they defended during the Test.

That's only natural, as good teams react to how the opposition is playing. Umaga expects the Wallabies to adapt to what the All Blacks are doing this weekend, too.

"We have to be able to combat that, but we've also got to be able to hang on to the ball and do the simple, basic skills well."

It was a lack of basic skills, not any over-riding gameplan, that caused problems in Cape Town, Umaga said, using the 18 linebreaks made by the All Blacks that afternoon to back his opinion.

"So obviously we're doing something right, but we have to capitalise on it. Our execution is what let us down at the weekend. We just have to execute better and take our chances. If you're making 18 breaks, what do you want to change?

"It's what you do after the breaks securing the ball, making sure we get it to the right people and making sure we have more composure."