Schoeman hauls himself off sick bed to strike gold

July 31, 2005, 06:30

Roland Schoeman hauled himself off his sick bed to win the men's 50m freestyle final at the world swimming championships yesterday and claim the title of the fastest man in water.

The South African had given up hope of winning the race after falling ill on the eve of the final, but was able to summon the strength for one flying lap.

Despite his reservations, Schoeman powered his way down the Montreal pool in a cool 21.69 seconds, the second-fastest time in history and just 0.05 seconds outside Alexander Popov's world record.

"I think being sick took some of the pressure off me," Schoeman said. "Last night I felt like I was dead, so I said some prayers before going to bed, asking God to take care of me and make me feel better."

Duje Draganja of Croatia finished second in 21.89, while Bartosz Kizierowski of Poland was third in 21.94, but neither could keep up with Schoeman in the most frantic race on the programme. "My race was pretty good," Draganja said. "I made some mistakes, but Schoeman was just too good and it was an honour to be behind him."

Great week
Schoeman's victory put the icing on the cake on another great week for the Alabama-based student. He broke the world record in the semi-finals of the 50m butterfly on the opening night of competition, then lowered it even further 24 hours later to win the final and become the first South African to capture a world swimming title.

He added a silver medal in the 100m freestyle final and then finished off with his second gold yesterday to surpass his gold, silver and bronze from the Athens Olympics. "I am blessed, I really didn't expect this," he said. "I like to surprise myself and surprise everybody else. I think I'll maintain this approach and hopefully continue on that way."

Schoeman, who took up swimming as a child because he wanted to impress a girl, came into prominence in Athens last year when he laid the foundation for one of the greatest upsets in Olympic swimming by helping the South Africans win the men's 4x100m freestyle relay with a stunning world record.

He then won silver in the individual 100m behind the flying Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband before completing his medal collection with bronze in the 50m. - Reuters

England have announced an unchanged 12-man squad for Thursday's second Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
Ashley Giles, Geraint Jones and Ian Bell were widely criticised after England's 239-run loss at Lord's.

However, the selectors decided to keep faith with the same players despite calls for batting all-rounder Paul Collingwood to be included.

England go into the match 1-0 down in the series following their heavy defeat in the first Test.

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Chairman of selectors David Graveney told BBC Sport: "We met on the Monday after the first Test and the performance of the side was very vivid in our minds.

"We have managed to become the second-ranked team in the world by being as consistent as possible with selection.

"There has been a lot of debate about those under pressure in the team and the outstanding form of Paul Collingwood but we decided that we wanted to stick with the same 12 and didn't want to shake up that squad."

Someone who thoroughly wants you to win backs you to the hilt, even after a first-Test defeat

Ashley Giles
Collingwood, a one-day regular, had been tipped for a call-up after hitting centuries in his last three County Championship innings.

But Graveney insisted change was not needed for Edgbaston despite admitting England had to drastically improve their fielding.

He added: "If they hadn't dropped as many catches, the margin may have been very different."

His sentiments were echoed by England spinner Ashley Giles, who was largely anonymous at Lord's.

Mark Butcher's England player profiles
Giles revealed it was "nice to hear your name in the squad".

And he added: "We've suffered defeats in the past but it is important the team guilty of that steps up and takes responsibility. It's good the selectors have given us the chance to make amends.

"We did let ourselves down as we had windows of opportunity. Now we have to be sharper in certain areas."

Despite admitting England's shortfalls, he hit out at the critics of the national side, in particular former cricketers who slated the team after the Lord's defeat.

Squad selector: Pick your England team for the second Test
"Sometimes you have to wonder about some of them because of the level of support you get," said Giles. "Someone who thoroughly wants you to win backs you to the hilt, even after a first-Test defeat.

"Overall I thought the criticism was quite excessive - it's typical of the hero-to-zero mentality we seem to have in this country."

Somerset collect Twenty20 prize
Twenty20 Cup final, The Oval: Somerset 118-3 beat Lancashire 114-8 by seven wickets
Scorecard

Glenn Chapple falls to Richard Johnson for a golden duck

Graeme Smith gave Somerset the perfect send-off as the departing captain starred with the bat to take the Cidermen to glory in the Twenty20 Cup.

Smith hit 64 not out as his team chased down a target of 115 in a match reduced to 16 overs per side, with seven wickets and 11 balls to spare.

Earlier, Andy Caddick and Richard Johnson shared four early wickets as Lancashire's big guns failed to fire.

They were 69-6 before Stuart Law (59) led a partial recovery.

Lancashire elected to bat first after the start time had been postponed by an hour.


The veteran Andy Caddick bowled brilliantly with the new ball

It meant that the conditions for batting, with the floodlights starting to take effect, were already awkward when Caddick took the new ball for Somerset.

Mal Loye twice mis-hit attempted slog-sweeps in the first over.

The first chance was dropped by Johnson while the second went to the same fielder on the deep square leg fence - this time he made amends.

In Caddick's second over, the prize wicket of Andrew Flintoff was captured as another shot across the line resulted in a catch.

And there was another massive success for Somerset when Andrew Symonds was run out following some brilliant work by Wes Durston at backward point.

Johnson's two wickets in two balls left Lancashire in terrible trouble and when Ian Blackwell bowled Mark Chilton it was 69-6.

Law and Andrew Crook rode their luck to take the score to 101 before the next wicket fell, but Johnson returned to claim his third wicket.

Somerset thoroughly deserved to win the Twenty20 Cup

From WGC
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Somerset, knowing they did not have to do anything outrageous with the bat, began in sensible fashion.

The wicket of Marcus Trescothick, caught behind off a pumped-up Flintoff for 10, did not faze Smith and Matthew Wood.

Wood responded by hitting Glenn Chapple for four fours off consecutive deliveries, with some superb cuts and drives.

He was bowled by Flintoff and Blackwell failed when driving Gary Keedy to long on.

But the acceleration provided by Wood allowed Smith and James Hildreth to coast through a few overs with just a run a ball required.

Finally, Smith turned on the style to launch two sixes before Hildreth's winning boundary brought the men from the West Country the glory.

In Brief - July 29, 2005


July 29, 2005


Fishing for bigger quota
All fishing for pilchards has come to a halt following a Cape High Court judgment yesterday which set aside the allocation by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism of pilchard fishing rights for this year.

This followed a court challenge by Foodcorp - owner of Marine Products, against allocations made by Horst Kleinschmidt, deputy director-general in the department, the Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism and 113 other respondents.

Foodcorp's pilchard allocation was cut from 5.6% to 4% in February 2002.



Charges rulings bite
The pension funds adjudicator's raft of high-profile rulings against unfair penalties or early termination charges on retirement annuities could cost the life assurance industry R4 billion, said Merrill Lynch in a research report.

Pension Fund Adjudicator Vuyani Ngalwana issued 12 rulings against funds and the insurers that administer them and helped settle five.

The most recent ruling, delivered yesterday, again rejected the argument that it is industry practice to levy charges so as to recover unrecouped expenses, ordinarily recovered over the term of the contract, at the time of an early termination of the policy.



Fallout limited
The shock decision yesterday by DaimlerChrysler's embattled chief executive Juergen Schrempp to step down prematurely at the end of the year would not necessarily mean that he would be replaced as a member of President Thabo Mbeki's international investment council, the presidency said.


Alan Hirsch, the head of Mbeki's economic policy co-ordination and advisory services sector, said membership of the council, which meets twice a year to advise Mbeki on how to attract foreign investment, was based on the particular experience and skills of the persons selected and not only their position in international business.



Jobs turnaround
For the first time in a recorded 12-month period 500 000 jobs were created in South Africa, statistician-general Pali Lehohla has said.

Speaking at the release of the 11th quarterly Labour Force Survey yesterday, Lehohla said: "The survey found that for the first time, between March 2004 and March 2005, 500 000 new jobs were created."

He said the figure surpassed the 400 000 new entrants into the labour market in the preceding year.

The unemployment rate rose slightly to 26.5% in March this year from 26.2% last September, Stats SA said.

But it also said the labour market was largely absorbing new entrants - a crucial trend in the government's struggle to contain high unemployment.

No 'simpler, better, faster' for fake R100


July 28, 2005

By Maureen Marud

Five weeks of silence from Standard Bank after a teller paid him a fake R100 note makes the slogan "simpler, better, faster" look bogus, too, complains Johann Esterhuyzen of Cape Town.

"How can it possibly take so many weeks to investigate a dud note, or is the bank's total silence a sign that they are ignoring the matter?" asked an irate Esterhuyzen.

Standard Bank management has apologised and will refund his money.

Routine procedures the bank had to follow included reporting the matter to the police for investigation and giving the fraudulent note to the South African Reserve Bank, said Standard Bank media manager Erik Larsen this week.

"We would like to apologise for the poor customer service and for the fact that the branch failed to keep Mr Esterhuyzen informed."

Esterhuyzen said he had found the "very good fake" among the notes he had checked in his office after leaving Standard Bank's Thibault Square branch in the CBD last month.

"I started my working life as a bank teller, so have seen forged notes before."

"The one I got that day did not have a watermark, but was such a skillful imitation that I could easily have paid it over to someone else without them noticing anything wrong."

Instead, he had taken it back to the bank.

"I didn't want to give one of my clients a dud note, so I went straight back to the bank, where the teller supervisor took it from me."

His insistence on seeing a manager had produced someone from customer services, who had assured him that the bank would investigate.


"It is now five weeks later and nobody has contacted me yet.

"I have made one follow-up call, which was a waste of time as it produced no results or even information."

Esterhuyzen said he was becoming "more irate" with every week of silence from the bank.

"I am short R100 of the R1 700 cheque I cashed that day, but Standard Bank sees no reason to contact me with even a hint of when, or even if, I can expect to be refunded."

"If they had said they suspected me of trying to con them out of R100, it would have been better than saying nothing."

"Standard Bank claims to offer a service that is simpler, better and faster."

"The way they have dealt with this issue makes me shudder to imagine what in their book passes for murkier, worse and slower."

Larsen said the investigation by the authorities usually decided whether the Reserve Bank would refund the money.

"We accept that a five week delay is unacceptable and have therefore decided to refund Mr Esterhuyzen," said Larsen.

"The branch will be contacting him to apologise and explain the reasons for the delay."

"We would like to assure customers that the issue of fraudulent bank notes is extremely rare as the bank has sophisticated machines that detect these notes."

Esterhuyzen told Argus Action: "I must congratulate senior management of Standard Bank for taking this matter up with the branch and addressing the issue so speedily."

Take-away with an urban edge


July 27, 2005

By Terri-Liza Fortein

It's the early hours of the morning in Long Street, Cape Town, and clubbers, streetchildren, security guards and even club owners descend on a food stand at the heart of this vibrant entertainment strip.

Lebanese music blares from the speakers and brightly coloured table cloths, plastic fruit, flowers and a multitude of decorations adorn a silver cart that is commonly referred to as Mohammed's.

The owner is Lebanese-born Mohammed Alame who offers his customers "the flavours of the Middle East at reasonable prices and at a time of day when most other food places are closed".

The food stand situated opposite Kennedy's has been a regular feature of Long Street for three-and-a-half years, and the falafel, boerewors rolls and schwarmas Alame serves up all contain his secret blend of herbs and spices.

A resident in the city centre, his cuisine is also popular with tourists who come to his stand because they have heard about his delicious offerings from friends or read about him in tourist guide books.

Alame, 53, has been living in South Africa for almost 15 years and owned a restaurant in Johannesburg before moving to Cape Town in 2001.

He explains that he had some of his restaurant equipment brought to Cape Town and bought a few odds and ends here before he could start up his stand that operates from Tuesday to Saturday.

"I needed a few thousand rands to buy supplies and a few other things, but I had most of my equipment from my previous business."

He originally set up his stand on Cape Town railway station but soon realised that there was no market for his kind of food there.

"I wasn't doing very well on the station, so I decided to move to the Foreshore, but I was only busy during lunch hour and nothing was happening for the rest of the day."

While he was out with friends in Long Street one evening, he realised that having a place where people could buy food at night close to most of Cape Town's clubs would be a much more

profitable option.

"I started off selling boerewors in Long Street, but I put my own stamp on it by adding unique Middle East flavours to the boerewors."

Since then his business has gone from strength to strength and on weekends he serves an average of more than 300 customers. He is open from 8pm to 5am.

"Sometimes I get to Long Street at about 7.45pm and there is already a queue of people waiting for me to open."

He said his unique operating hours have never been a problem for him and he has never felt unsafe because there are 24-hour security patrols operating very close to him.

"I have no problems at my stand besides a few drunkards, but they are harmless. Alame started off on his own but currently employs seven people."

In addition to his food stand, he also specialises in catering for weddings, conferences and parties with a Middle Eastern theme.

Alame attributes his business success to the fact that he has always offered his customers fresh, delicious food and tries his utmost to maintain good relationships with his clients.

"The people know and trust me because I am always at my stand and they see me actually preparing the food in front of them," he said.

Although trading on the pavement gives his business an urban edge, Alame, who hooks his stand to his car and takes it home with him every night, would like to have his own take-away premises in Long Street as it would be more convenient.

This experienced entrepreneur also advises those who are considering opening any restaurant or take-aways to "always try and offer people something different and never to compromise on quality". - Staff Reporter.

By Andrew Hollely

The Springboks had to dig deep before they recorded yet another Tri-Nations victory over the touring Wallabies, 22-16, at a packed Loftus Stadium in Pretoria on Saturday afternoon.

Australia led 13-6 at halftime.

The result was in the balance right until the last minute, when man-of-the-match Andre Pretorius slotted a drop goal to put the seal on a win that was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.

Pretorius marshalled his backline superbly
The Boks were dominant, but were dragged down by the dogged Australian defence. The signs were ominous at the break, as the Wallabies successfully sucked the Boks into their slow style of rugby, but John Smit and his men refused to lie down. A committed and gritty second stanza saw the Boks wear down the visitors and gain four valuable points in their bid to retain the Tri-Nations trophy.

Pretorius marshalled his backline superbly, but it was fullback Percy Montgomery who again provided the calmness at the back. His 14 points from three penalties, a drop-goal and a conversion took him past the 500-point mark for the Springboks in Tests.

The home team hit the visitors hard in the opening exchanges, with more ferocious tackling as they did the previous weekend at Ellis Park. Prominent were Victor Matfield and Jaque Fourie as the Boks dominated all facets in a blistering first 15 minutes. They could not, however, translate that authority into points.

The Australians too looked impressive on defence, but they had to, as Matfield and Bakkies Botha - who both had outstanding games - secured a plethora of possession at the lineouts, but the Boks could just not make that control count on the scoreboard.

The Boks had just a single Montgomery penalty, in the second minute, to show for their efforts.

Matt Giteau made them pay
With the forwards holding sway in the tight phases, Pretorius was able to use his boot intelligently to pin the Wallabies in their own half for much of the first quarter.

Australia did well to hang in there and also used some well placed tactical kicks to reverse the tide midway through the half.

Wings Lote Tuquiri and Wendell Sailor threatened each time they got the ball and forced the Bok defence into some errors, but it was the Boks who were guilty of kicking it down their throats.

And centre Matt Giteau made them pay, slotting two close-range three pointers within five minutes of each other for the lead after 26 minutes.

But just as the visitors seemed to be asserting their supremacy, the Boks strung a few phases together, allowing Montgomery to level matters with a snap drop goal two minutes later.

As the Boks poured forward in the latter stages of the first 40 minutes, it seemed inevitable they would get the game's first try before the interval.

Instead, Australia turned the ball over and countered, eventually creeping into the Bok 22, and after good work from captain George Gregan, flank George Smith dived over in the last minute of the half.

Giteau added the extras for a seven-point cushion at the break.

The Boks continued to look flat and devoid of ideas after the restart as the game meandered along a sluggish malaise.

Changes were needed and coach Jake White brought on Schalk Burger in the 50th minute to add some much needed urgency, especially at the breakdown, where Smith and Phil Waugh were causing problems.

It almost immediately, if indirectly, had the desired effect as the Boks swept upfield with renewed vigour. A silky move involving Pretorius, Bryan Habana and then Montgomery, put Breyton Paulse away down the right and he crossed for a superb try. Montgomery added the extras and again the scores were level at 13-all.

As the hour mark ticked over, the two goal kickers traded further blows to head into the final stretch still inseparable at 16-16.

White made further changes, bringing on hooker Gary Botha, moving John Smit to prop, while also replacing a limping Matfield, with Albert van den Berg.

While the Wallabies started to suffer from fatigue, the Boks gained momentum.

Another penalty to the home team, with six minutes left, saw Montgomery regain the lead for the first time since the 21st minute.

It also signalled the veteran's 501st point in Test rugby - the first man in the history of the Springboks to achieve the feat.

At the end though it was fittingly that Pretorius put the seal on a hard-fought victory, but the Wallabies did emerge with a bonus point for finishing within seven points of the Boks.

Scorers:
Springboks:
Tries: Paulse
Conversions: Montgomery 1
Penalties: Montgomery (3)
Drop goals: Montgomery, Pretorius.

Wallabies:
Tries: Smith
Conversions: Giteau (1)
Penalties: Giteau (3)

Teams:
Springboks:
15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Andre Pretorius, 9 Fourie du Preez; 8 Jacques Cronje, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Joe van Niekerk, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.

Replacements: 16 Gary Botha, 17 Lawrence Sephaka, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Wayne Julies, 22 Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

Australia:
15 Chris Latham, 14 Wendell Sailor, 13 Morgan Turinui, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Stephen Larkham, 9 George Gregan (captain); 8 John Roe, 7 George Smith, 6 Phil Waugh, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Daniel Vickerman, 3 Matt Dunning, 2 Jeremy Paul, 1 Bill Young.

Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Mark Chisolm, 19 Rocky Elsom, 20 Chris Whitaker, 21 Stirling Mortlock, Drew Mitchell.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Britain's Barclays sealed its biggest investment outside the UK on Wednesday by paying around 28 billion rand for a 54 percent stake in the country's biggest retail bank, Absa.

Returning to South African retail banking after an 18-year absence, Barclays said acquiring a controlling stake in Absa would boost its African presence and give it access to the bank's vast consumer banking experience and the high-growth local market.

"Absa is a valuable addition to the Barclays Group, bringing significant scale and expertise in the South African market, which we look forward to combining with our existing African presence," Barclays' international retail and commercial banking CEO Dave Roberts said.

The transaction -- at 27.87 billion rand the biggest foreign direct investment yet in South Africa -- was done without disrupting the local currency market.

"The goal that we and the central bank had was to ensure that there was no dislocation to the currency market and the payments market. We are satisfied today that it has been achieved," Roberts said in an interview. He declined to give further details.

South Africa's rand currency shrugged off the news that payment had been made. Analysts believe the South African Reserve Bank had taken the foreign exchange directly from Barclays, giving it rand in return to pay for its purchase.

AFRICAN ASPIRATIONS

Absa has said it aimed to be the biggest bank in Africa within five years. Its South African rival Standard Bank is currently the biggest bank on the continent in terms of assets.

Absa Chief Executive Steve Booysen said the integration of Barclays' existing South African operations with his bank was expected to be completed before the end of 2005.

"We have to consolidate Barclays South Africa and our timeframe for that is before the end of the year (but) we are starting to operate today. We are no longer in a preparation phase," Booysen said in an interview.

Barclays was the biggest bank in South Africa but sold its business for a loss after critics, including British students, aid group Oxfam and Oxford colleges boycotted the bank because of South Africa's white minority rule.

Absa is South Africa's biggest retail bank with 31,600 employees, 2,000 temporary employees, 670 outlets, 7 million customers and more than 5,100 automated teller machines. It has the country's biggest Internet banking base.

Four Barclays executives will join the Absa executive committee and Barclays' John Vitalo will head the South African bank's corporate and merchant bank division.

Vitalo is currently chief operating officer of Barclays' global rates business.

Barclays' Roberts said the appointment of Vitalo showed that the group wanted Absa corporate and merchant bank (ACMB) to be a strong competitor in the investment banking sector.

"The fact that he is coming here shows how serious we all are in making ACMB a fearsome competitor".

Absa shares, which have gained 22 percent so far this year, were 0.6 percent higher at 93.50 rand at 1311 GMT

Wellington, New Zealand - Complacency is the All Blacks' greatest concern as they leave New Zealand for South Africa and their opening match in the Tri-Nations tournament, captain Tana Umaga said on Friday.

Umaga's team re-assembled in Auckland this week, two weeks after completing a 3-0 Test series win over the British and Irish Lions which caused many experts to label them the best side in the world.

Coach Graham Henry has already said the Tri-Nations will likely provide a sterner test of the All Blacks than the Lions.

Umaga has warned his players not to overestimate themselves on the basis of recent success.

Umaga said the All Blacks had to remain "grounded" and to remember Australia and South Africa, its Tri-Nations opponents, played a different and more testing style of game than the Lions.

"We feel that (complacency) is our No 1 enemy at the moment," Umaga said. "We (have to) make sure we have the same intensities at training and we are as hard on ourselves as we were leading into the Lions series."

South Africans were formidable

Umaga said the Springboks' 33-20 win over Australia in the second Test of the Mandela Trophy series in Johannesburg last Saturday showed the South Africans were formidable.

"Playing at home will give them great confidence as well and they are a team on the rise," he said.

"We have seen clips of South Africa against us last year and they cut us off in (lineouts), the same thing in scrum time.

"They shut us down defensively in the backs. We have had timely reminders of what happened last year."

The All Blacks have had only minor injury concerns in training this week.

Flank Richie McCaw has been unable to train because of a minor illness, wing Sitiveni Sivivatu has nursed a slight shoulder injury and Umaga missed Thursday's session with a bruised toe.

Boks are dangerous

Flyhalf Daniel Carter, who scored two tries and 33 points in the second Test against the Lions, is also back to full fitness after missing the third Test with an injury.

Carter said the Springboks and Wallabies would demand changes in the game plan the All Blacks used against the Lions.

"Obviously they (the Springboks) showed what they are capable of last weekend in putting the Aussies away," he said.

"They are extremely dangerous. When they get a roll on they are hard to stop with their big forwards, and they have some exciting backs."

Carter is rated the world's best flyhalf after his form against the Lions, but he said he was not prepared to be judged on past achievements.

"I have put all that behind me and will just concentrate on what I have to do for the team to play well," he said.

Australia and South Africa meet in the first match of the Tri-Nations on Saturday while New Zealand takes on the Springboks on August 6 and the Wallabies on August 13 in Sydney.

Investec Western Province made short work of the visiting Wildeklawer Griquas at Newlands on Friday night with a convincing 42-16 victory in the ABSA Currie Cup qualifying match.

You can get results from the Currie Cup games by sending an SMS with the message RCC to 34911 (R for rugby, CC for Currie Cup). This is a SuperSMS service and costs just R2 per SMS.

WP flanker Luke Watson set the tone for a one-sided encounter with a pair of tries in the first 15 minutes that took the home side into a 14-0 lead.

The first was the result of a dominant pack which drove the former Sharks man over the line but the second was pure, individual skill.

Reading the play superbly, Watson was in position to charge down flyhalf Braam van Straaten's clearing kick from behind his own goal line and enjoyed a fortunate - but deservedly kind - bounce which allowed him to dive on an unguarded ball.

Right wing Egon Seconds joined the backline at centre during a set move that brought WP's third try in the 27th minute but a half-time lead of 21-6 should have been more with both Gus Theron and Zhahier Ryland knocking the ball on with the tryline at their mercy.

Van Straaten added a third penalty soon after the restart to reduce the deficit to 21-9 but any notion that Griquas were about to play themselves back into the game was quickly quashed when Seconds added his second try nine minutes in the half with a delightful chip-and-chase followed by some soccer style dribbling and a simple touchdown.

Replacement loose forward Pieter Louw, who enjoyed a storming second second half, added a fifth try from open play in the 54th minute and lock Rob Linde put the game beyond the remotest doubt with a sixth and final try from a lineout drive with 20 minutes remaining.

Griquas fullback Jose van Rensburg did produce a consolation try with a couple of minutes remaining but by then both sides had their attention turned elsewhere.

Scorers:

Investec Western Province:

Tries - Luke Watson (2), Egon Seconds (2), Pieter Louw, Rob Linde. Conversions - Earl Rose (6)

Wildeklawer Griquas:

Try - Jose van Rensburg. Penalties - Braam van Stratten (3). Conversion - Van Straaten.

It was no surprise that the Sharks thrashed the Mighty Elephants in their Absa Currie Cup match in Durban on Friday, but to do so 67-15 (halftime 38-10) was nevertheless impressive.

You can get results from the Currie Cup games by sending an SMS with the message RCC to 34911 (R for rugby, CC for Currie Cup). This is a SuperSMS service and costs just R2 per SMS.

The Sharks ran 10 tries past their ragged opposition, who replied with three of their own.

Left wing Henno Mentz was the chief beneficiary, and celebrated a hattrick of tries.

It took the Sharks less than four minutes to set the pattern of play, with Mentz crashing through what was left of the defence to score the first try after a sweeping surge through the Elephants' half.

Ten minutes after that number eight Jacques Botes smashed through the side of a scrum to touch down, and on 19 minutes flank Warren Britz did the same.

The Sharks earned their bonus point in the 21st minute when Mentz claimed his second after centre Rudi Keil put in the hard yards

That hiked the score at 31-0 just barely into the second quarter.

But, just when the key to the floodgates was in the lock, waiting to be turned, the Elephants struck back They won a lineout in their own half, and a canny chip by flyhalf Clinton van Rensburg found no-one home in the Sharks' defence.

The visitors stormed through, and right wing Baldwin McBean took the pass to score.

Back charged the Sharks with centre Adrian Jacobs prominent. He offloaded to Keil, and the scoreboard fast forwarded by another seven points.

At which point the Natalians pulled up the handbrake ever so slightly, allowing the visitors to apply a modicum of pressure.

It paid off for the men from Port Elizabeth when Van Rensburg intercepted close to the line and darted over to score.

Jacobs and Mentz sped in for tries in the first five minutes of the second half to make it 50-10, at which point the match lost shape. Perhaps understandably, what with the Sharks assured of victory.

Scrumhalf Dave von Hoesslin's try midway through the half restored some order, and with 13 minutes left livewire Elephants left wing Fabian Juries put in a searing burst down the touchline and sent fullback Justin Peach away to score the visitors' third.

Von Hoesslin's replacement, Bennie Nortje, was barely on the field when he bounced over the line for a try.

Centre Waylon Murray put the Sharks' try-count into double figures when he parried then caught a pass and dived over with four minutes left.

Scorers:

Sharks - Tries: Henno Mentz (3), Jacques Botes, Warren Britz, Rudi Keil, Adrian Jacobs, Dave von Hoesslin, Bennie Nortje, Waylon Murray. Conversions: Herkie Kruger (7). Penalty: Kruger.

Mighty Elephants - Tries: Baldwin McBean, Clinton van Rensburg, Justin Peach.