South Africa: All of South Africa Rooting for Blitzboks in Cape Town

8 December 2023
Scrolla (Johannesburg)

PICK OF THE SPORT: After their win in Dubai, the Blitzboks have given South Africans a great reason to watch them in Cape Town this weekend, writes Dylan Bettencourt.

➤ Can the Blitzboks repeat their near-perfect Dubai performance in the HSBC Cape Town this weekend?

While the home of the Blitzboks, the Sevens Academy in Stellenbosch, is down the road from the Cape Town Stadium, this particular tournament hasn't always been a happy hunting ground for them.

Last year was a particularly bad tournament for the Blitzboks, managing a poor seventh place in the tournament which was the last event for coach Neil Powell before he retired.

But 2024 is shaping up to be the year of the Blitzboks. Cape Town will answer many questions.

As fast as the Women's Sevens tournament is concerned, wouldn't it be great if they could repeat their near-miraculous performance of last week in Dubai? The stadium will be full of South African fans cheering them on.

Perfect Sevens weather, both on and off the field, are forecast for the weekend but the wind is going to howl on Sunday.

Pool matches take place on Saturday, and finals on Sunday. DStv channels are yet to be announced.

The Blitzboks play Great Britain (10.50 am), USA (2.18 pm) and Ireland (7.40 pm) on Saturday.

The Women play France (9.44 am), Canada (12.06 pm) and USA (4.44 pm) on Saturday.

➤ This weekend we find out how good the Cheetahs really are after their commanding win in this year's Currie Cup. They play Zebre in Parma, Italy in the opening round of the European Rugby Champions Cup.

Also on display are the Sharks, who must surely be hoping to put on a better show than against the Bulls last weekend. Clearly, there are serious problems in the Shark Tank that will take more than one week to fix, but we hope for an improvement when they take on Pau in Durban.

The Lions, clearly on the up as a team, can be counted on to give their best when they play the passionate Perpignan team from the south of France. Win or lose, we can expect the Lions to bring their best game to the pitch on Sunday afternoon.

All matches will be on DStv channel 211.

Zebre vs Cheetahs on Saturday at 3 pm.

Sharks vs Pau on Saturday at 5.15 pm.

Perpignan vs Lions on Sunday at 3 pm.

➤ Liverpool kick the weekend off in the Premier League with a home game against Crystal Palace at 2.30 pm on Saturday.

Manchester United will then look to build on their win against Chelsea in their game against Bournemouth at 5 pm.

Arsenal have the tricky task of facing Aston Villa in the hopes of extending their lead at the top of the table. Villa, however, will be full of confidence after beating Manchester City on Wednesday night.

Manchester City will look to amend that defeat in their trip to Luton Town at 4 pm on Sunday.

Everton then host Chelsea before Tottenham host Newcastle at 6.30 pm to round off the weekend's action.

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