A Job well done!

New Zealand lift the Rugby World Cup 2011

Ritchie McCaw and the New Zealand Rugby team

The nation waited 24 years to lift the Rugby World Cup again. During those 24 years New Zealand has produced some of the best rugby players the world has ever seen. The wait has also been very long for Captain Ritchie McCaw who made his debut for the All Blacks back in 2001. It was a tense final as usually are. The French side gave the All Blacks a tough time from confronting the haka before the game till the final whistle. All Blacks are known for their great attacking rugby and scoring great tries. But this time it was their discipline in defense that won them the match.

Mario Balotelli celebrates after scoring the 1st goal

Mario Balotelli and the Manchester City team

Mario just cannot seem to stay out of the newspapers. If he is not scoring goals he is being a menace. He is now known as the “crazy guy” because of his antics. Pre-season he tried to score a back heel goal and was substituted immediately. This past Saturday the fire brigade had to rescue him from his house after him and his friends were setting alight fireworks inside his bathroom and some towels caught fire. Roberto Mancini is having a hard time controlling the italian youngster.

Now for the good side of Mario. A few hours later he started the match against the bitter rivals Manchester United and scored a brace of goals. He opened the scoring with cool finish. Man united does not lose at Old Trafford often. For Manchester city to go there and not only win but humiliate the champions in front of their home fans is an amazing performance. People like Sergio Aguero and Dzeko are in great scoring form. Before the game a draw or a Manchester united win was the favoured result amongst the football analysts. Sir Alex Ferguson called it “Our worst day ever!” The win took City 5 points clear at the top of the log. It also improved their goal difference in a big way and damaged the goal difference for United. It is going to be very difficult to catch this high-flying Manchester City side now.

Graeme Smith salutes the crowd and teammates after getting his half-century

Graeme Smith and the Proteas team

Finally the rust has been removed from the South African cricket side. They finally put on a complete performance in one match. Batting, bowling and fielding all came good on a beautiful Sunday in St George’s Park. Graeme Smith has been under-pressure from the fans as he has struggled to score runs. For the 1st time in a long time he was moving his feet well and striking the ball convincingly through mid-off and extra cover. It looks like he is coming back to his normal self. He was involved in an important innings rebuilding partnership with Jacques Kallis after losing Amla in the 1st ball of the innings. It was disappointing though the way he threw away his wicket by attempting a reverse sweep. As Robin Jackman said it “the reverse sweep is just not his shot” It was also good to see the rest of the middle order come into the party with some runs. David Miller played a very solid knock and dominant knock. He showed why he had been brought back into the side after being left out for the world cup. People like JP Duminy will no doubt be helped to have a strong hitter like Miller in the line-up.


The batsmen got over 300 runs in 50 overs for the 1st time this season against Australia. This is good when we consider the schedule they will have from now on. Our bowling attack is looking better with each day and will trouble most teams in the world. Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Morne Morkel are hitting their lengths and lines with relative ease now. Dale Steyn has struggled so far but hopefully he will get better as he bowls more each day. They beat a good Australian side by 80 runs to level the series 1-1. Durban Kingsmead will host the series decider. Hopefully it does not rain.

Moment of the Week : The French rugby team deciding to confront the New zealand haka before the start of the final. They got fined for doing it but it was worth it.

French side advanced and joined hands to confront the Haka