Cheetahs face Portuguese challenge

The Cheetahs take on a Lusitanos side featuring several Test players and a Grey College old boy in Friday’s opening round of the expanded Toyota Challenge.

Lusitanos are one of three overseas teams competing in this year’s tournament along with Romania A and Black Lion of Georgia, with the Cheetahs, Griquas and Pumas flying the South African flag. sweetbonan.org

Netwerk24 reports that Lusitanos are, in effect, a Portugal A side and feature six players who were part of Portugal’s squad for the historic Test against the Springboks in Bloemfontein in July 2024.

Among them are lock Nicolas Fernandes and No 8 Vasco Baptista, both of whom started that Test.

Pedro Vicente, Abel da Cunha, André Cunha and Pedro Lucas were also members of the Portugal squad and will be eager to make an impression ahead of next year’s World Cup in Australia, for which Portugal have already qualified.

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Adding further local interest is centre Armand Patricio. The 21-year-old attended Grey College in Bloemfontein and featured for CUT before becoming involved in Portugal’s national setup.

Former Cheetahs and Shimlas forward Nicolaas Immelman is among the players set to represent Romania A.

MORE: Griquas, Pumas join Cheetahs’ Challenge

The opening round will also see back-to-back SA Cup champions the Pumas taking on Black Lion, and Currie Cup holders Griquas up against Romania A.

The Toyota Challenge will feature three rounds in Bloemfontein this month, before a second leg in Georgia in October.

Toyota Challenge fixtures
Friday, 5 June
1:30pm: Pumas vs Black Lion
2:30pm: Griquas vs Romania A
6pm: Cheetahs vs Portugal
Wednesday, 10 June
1:30pm: Griquas vs Black Lion
2:30pm: Pumas vs Portugal
6pm: Cheetahs vs Romania A
Sunday, 14 June
12pm: Griquas vs Portugal
2pm: Pumas vs Romania A
4:30pm: Cheetahs vs Black Lion

Photo: Charle Lombard/Gallo Images

The post Cheetahs face Portuguese challenge appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.

Après la Jordanie, hier, c’est au tour de l’Autriche, un autre adversaire des Verts en Coupe du Monde était de sortie ce soir en amical face à la Tunisie. Réduits à dix en première mi-temps et bousculés par les Aigles de Carthage, les Autrichiens l’emportèrent (1 – 0) sur un but du capitaine Marcel Sabitzer.

C’est dans son antre de l’Ernst Happel Stadion de Vienne que l’Autriche, troisième adversaire des Verts en Coupe du Monde 2026, a pris le meilleur en amical sur la Tunisie (1 – 0), dans un match plein d’enseignements pour les deux sélections. Pressés d’entrée, les tunisiens ont su faire le dos rond avant d’imposer progressivement leur style, se permettant même trois frappes sur les montants du gardien Xaver Schlager en première mi-temps. Les hommes de Sabri Lamouchi ne profiteront pas néanmoins de l’expulsion du défenseur du Bayern Munich Konrad Laimer pour une main, malgré un contenu très intéressant mais manquant de mordant devant les buts.

En seconde période, le sélectionneur autrichien Ralf Rangnick a opéré quelques ajustements et remplacements, avec notamment l’entrée de Grenddy Perozo à la place de David Alaba en défense, ce qui a donné davantage de consistance au jeu de son équipe et surtout un but signé le capitaine Marcel Sabitzer sur une passe de Stefan Posch (63e). Les autrichiens vont gérer tranquillement leur avantage face à une sélection tunisienne qui a fait tourner, mais qui a manqué de réalisme sur le plan offensif. Un problème récurrent que devra résoudre le coach Sabri Lamouchi. Quant Ralf Rangnick, dont les plans ont été contrariés par la sortie de Laimer, a su tirer son épingle du jeu avec une équipe bien équilibrée et cohérente.

L’Algérie est avertie par cette Autriche solide qui montera certainement en puissance d’ici le Mondial et son troisième match face aux Verts.

MALIK MOHAMED

L’article TUN : Bousculée et réduite à dix, l’Autriche c’est du solide ! est apparu en premier sur Foot Afrique.

Comment concilier développement économique et protection de l'océan dans un monde bouleversé par le réchauffement climatique ? C'est pour tenter de répondre à cette question que scientifiques, politiques, représentants des grandes institutions internationales, de la société civile et des milieux économiques se sont réunis du 27 au 29 mai à Monaco. Objectif : développer la finance bleue, notamment sur le continent africain.

Aryna Sabalenka overpowered fellow four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka in the French Open last 16 on Monday, after Matteo Berrettini reached his first major quarter-final in four years.

World number one Sabalenka was too strong for a battling Osaka, winning 7-5, 6-3 in the first women’s night-session match in three years on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The Belarusian will next face Diana Shnaider after the Russian left-hander beat former Australian Open winner Madison Keys 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.

Sabalenka is the only Grand Slam champion left in either the men’s or women’s singles draws at Roland Garros as she bids for a maiden title on the Parisian clay, and to banish the memories of her painful loss in last year’s final to Coco Gauff.

She has reached the quarter-finals at 14 consecutive major tournaments.

“I didn’t expect I would serve that great,” said Sabalenka. “I feel like I’m getting better and better with every match I play and overall I’m super happy with how I played today.”

Osaka, again sporting the sequined gold dress she likened to the Eiffel Tower at night, had to make do with her best ever run in Paris ending in the last 16.

It was the first time that WTA players had featured in the marquee slot since Sabalenka took on Sloane Stephens in the fourth round on June 4, 2023.

“I hope that this is the beginning, today’s match. It’s like we open up that door for woman night sessions,” said the top seed.

Dominant performance

Sabalenka took a tense first set that was largely dominated by serve after the players traded early breaks, courtesy of a crucial break in the 11th game.

She then powered through the second set, reeling off the last four games from 3-2 down to secure a third successive victory over Osaka this year.

Austrian 28th seed Anastasia Potapova could not back up her win over defending champion Gauff, twice failing to serve for the match in a 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (10/7) defeat by Anna Kalinskaya.

The Russian will next face Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska after she continued her remarkable run by cruising past the last remaining French player, Diane Parry, 6-3, 6-2.

“She’s one of the top players in the world. No one knows me, to be honest, so definitely a very challenging one, like every match here,” said Chwalinska of facing Kalinskaya.

There was something for the Paris crowd to cheer after Parry’s defeat, though, as Paris Saint-Germain players Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Warren Zaire-Emery and Bradley Barcola paraded their two Champions League trophies on court after securing a second straight title on Saturday.

Brilliant Berrettini marches on

Former Wimbledon runner-up Berrettini, who has been plagued by injuries in recent years, booked his first major quarter-final since the 2022 US Open with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (8/6) win over Jannik Sinner’s conqueror Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

The world number 105 is the lowest-ranked player to reach the Roland Garros men’s last eight since Igor Andreev in 2007.

“This (tennis) is the love of my life, I guess, otherwise I wouldn’t keep coming back after all the setbacks, the injuries,” said Berrettini, playing at Roland Garros for the first time since 2021 and one of three Italian men to get through on the day.

Berrettini is one of only two Grand Slam finalists left in a wide-open men’s draw, alongside Alexander Zverev, after surprise early exits for Sinner and Novak Djokovic.

The 30-year-old will next face fellow countryman Matteo Arnaldi, who staged a dramatic comeback to beat Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (5/7), 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 after 5 hours and 26 minutes.

World number 104 Arnaldi outlasted Tiafoe, despite having trailed by a double-break in the fourth set, in an epic match which finished at 1:08 am local time, to reach a maiden Slam quarter-final.

Other results

Italian 10th seed Flavio Cobolli overcame some late nerves to beat Zachary Svajda 6-2, 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/5) on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Cobolli wobbled badly from 4-0 and 5-1 up in the fourth set, before finally getting over the line in a tie-break to reach his second Grand Slam quarter-final after Wimbledon last year.

“The match is never done and today I almost shit in my pants,” said Cobolli. “I’m happy but I’m still nervous.”

The 24-year-old will battle fourth-seeded Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime for a semi-final berth.

World number six Auger-Aliassime is the highest-ranked player left in the top half of the men’s draw and he laid down a marker with a dominant 6-3, 7-5, 6-1 success against Chile’s Alejandro Tabilo.