South Africa No Bid for RWC 2023

The South African rugby union could be prevented from bidding for the 2023 World Cup by its own government after the sports minister banned the country’s five top sports federations from bidding for or hosting major international tournaments for at least a year over their failures to create opportunities for black players.

Fikile Mbalula made the announcement after receiving a report on “transformation” in South Africa’s five biggest sports: rugby, cricket, football, athletics and netball.

The athletics and netball federations also were banned from bidding. Football was the only one to meet its target.

“I have therefore resolved to revoke the privilege of Athletics South Africa (ASA), Cricket South Africa (CSA), Netball South Africa (NSA) and South African rugby (SARU) to host and bid for major and mega international tournaments,” Mbalula said in a statement.

The ban comes into effect immediately, Mbalula said. He said he will review his decision when he has received the results of the federations’ transformation efforts for 2016-17. That could be at the end of next year, or maybe only in early 2018.

His move complicates South Africa’s intention to bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup. The South African Rugby Union has already announced its intention to bid. World Rugby will release tender documents to interested countries in May, and countries must formally confirm their intention to bid in June.

South Africa, the 1995 hosts, have been trying to hold the tournament again since 2011 but failed in three successive bids. Under the decision announced by Mbalula on Monday, SARU wouldn’t be allowed to bid for 2023.

Both the rugby and cricket federations said their officials would go into closed-door meetings with sports ministry officials after the announcement. Athletics South Africa said it would need to study the “pronouncement” made by Mbalula before commenting.

Rugby is the only one of the sports seeking to host a major event in the near future. Mbalula’s decision should not affect the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which has already been awarded to Durban. The Commonwealth bid was led by the South African Olympic committee.

The South African government has been pushing for years for the country’s main sports, especially rugby and cricket, to create more opportunities for black players. More than two decades after the end of apartheid, those two sports are still generally dominated by whites despite the fact that blacks make up over 80% of South Africa’s population.

All five federations agreed on various transformation targets with the government in 2015. Those agreements involved getting black players involved at school, age-group and club level, right up to provincial and national level.

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Toulouse 23 - Ulster 25

Ulster kept their hopes of Champions Cup quarter-final qualification alive by completing back-to-back victories over Toulouse with a 25-23 success.

A Ruan Pienaar try helped the visitors to a 10-3 half-time lead and Andrew Trimble and Luke Marshall added second-half touchdowns for the Irish province.

Gael Fickou crossed for Toulouse, with Louis Picamoles adding a late try.

Ulster lie second in Pool One, 10 points behind Saracens, with a game in hand, but Toulouse's hopes have ended.

With two matches against bottom side Oyannax still to come, Les Kiss' side retain realistic hope of making the last eight by finishing at least second in their pool.

Having triumphed 38-0 in Belfast a week ago, Ulster began the game at the Ernest-Wallon Stadium in confident fashion and Paddy Jackson landed a third-minute penalty to give his team an early lead.

Ulster continued to enjoy territorial dominance but Pienaar and Jackson were off-target with long-range penalty attempts.

Just after the half-hour mark, Pienaar picked up and dived over the ruck to score the opening try under the posts, following a rolling maul that set up the score.

Jackson converted but three minutes later was sent to the bin when his deliberate knock-on denied the hosts a likely try-scoring opportunity.

Just before the break, replacement Rory Scholes touched down for Ulster but his 'try' was chalked off for an earlier forward pass.

Sebastien Bezy's penalty after the interval reduced the deficit, but Trimble's 45th-minute try, his 24th in the competition, put his side in control again.

Centre Stuart McCloskey broke through the Toulouse defence and Pienaar and Franco van der Merwe played their part in a slick passing manoeuvre, before Trimble stretched to touch down in the corner.

Fickou's try completed a flowing Toulouse move in the 51st minute, Bezy's conversion reduced the home side's deficit to two points and the scrum-half then kicked a penalty to nudge Toulouse in front.

Jackson replied with his second penalty and then helped set up Marshall, who collected an inside pass from Alan O'Connor, before crossing for the ultimately decisive try.

The fly half converted to put nine points between the sides but the four-time champions responded with a late try by French international Picamoles to reduce the winning margin to two points and clinch a bonus point.

Picamoles, the back-row replacement, rumbled over for a try following a maul as Ulster's hitherto reliable defences were breached, with Jean-Marc Doussain adding the additional points.

For Ulster, this was only their third-ever success on French soil while Toulouse have suffered their worst start to a European campaign since 2003.

The Irish province now face important Pro12 assignments against Connacht and Munster, while Toulouse take on fellow Top 14 title challengers Toulon and Stade Francais in their next domestic encounters.

Toulouse: 

Alexis Palisson; Kunatani Kunabuli, Gael Fickou, Florian Fritz, Timoci Matanavou; Jean-Marc Doussain, Sébastien Bézy; Cyril Baille, Julien Marchand, Census Johnston, Gregory Lamboley, Yoann Maestri, Yacouba Camara, Thierry Dusautoir, Imanol Harinordoquy

Replacements: Christopher Tolofua, Gurthro Steenkamp, Gert Muller, Joe Tekori, Louis Picamoles, Gillian Galan, David Mele, Clément Poitrenaud

Ulster: 

Louis Ludik; Andrew Trimble, Luke Marshall, Stuart McCloskey, Craig Gilroy; Paddy Jackson, Ruan Pienaar; Kyle McCall, Rory Best, Wiehahn Herbst; Alan O'Connor, Franco van der Merwe; Robbie Diack, Sean Reidy, Roger Wilson.

Replacements: Rob Herring, Andrew Warwick, Ricky Lutton, Lewis Stevenson, Nick Williams, Paul Marshall, Ian Humphreys, Rory Scholes.

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Five Tries for Ulster Over Toulouse

Ulster scored a remarkable five-try 38-0 victory over Toulouse in the European Champions Cup at Ravenhill.

Nick Williams crossed in the 23rd minute and Andrew Trimble then scored a brilliant individual try to increase Ulster's lead to 17-0 at the break.

Man of the match Ruan Pienaar set up a Luke Marshall score after half-time with a brilliant cross field kick.

Stuart McCloskey and Chris Henry also crossed as Toulouse failed to score in a European game for the first time.

Ulster went into the game knowing that a second home defeat in Pool 1 could have effectively ended their hopes of making the knockout stages but this bonus-point win reignites their aspirations after this brilliant display.

After losing their opening Pool 1 fixture at home to Saracens, Ulster were a transformed with South African scrum-half Ruan Pienaar playing a crucial, match-winning role.

It was Ulster's fourth win in their last five home matches against Toulouse in Belfast and the defeat also means Toulouse have lost two of their opening three games in the tournament.

Ulster were boosted at the start by the return of hooker Rory Best to captain the side while Toulouse lost winger Maxime Medard in the warm-up and influential No 8 Louis Picamoles with a shoulder injury early in the first half.

The Irish side were on the scoreboard after 23 minutes when giant Kiwi No 8 Nick Williams barrelled over despite the presence of two defenders after Franco van der Merwe had created the opening.

Paddy Jackson added the extras just before Toulouse had their first player sin-binned, Sebastien Bezy getting the yellow-card for an infringement at the ruck. Jackson popped over the resulting penalty for 10-0.

At the other end, Toby Flood missed a second penalty of the half but at least had the consolation of seeing Ulster reduced to 14 men when Williams was shown a yellow card.

Two minutes from the interval, Ulster were 17-0 ahead when Pienaar recovered from a crude trip by Yacouba Camara to feed Andrew Trimble before the winger chipped ahead to catch his own kick for the score.

Jackson was deadly accurate with another conversion. Pienaar was the inspiration again when Ulster grabbed a third try.

His smart cross-field punt left a stretched Toulouse defence flat-footed, allowing centre Luke Marshall to score.

Despite being tight to the touchline, Jackson slotted over the conversion for 24-0.

Toulouse were shellshocked and Stuart McCloskey slalomed over for the bonus-point fourth try with a more comfortable conversion following for Jackson with still more than 20 minutes to play.

Van der Merwe added the fifth try from a driving maul with replacement kicker Ian Humphreys hitting the extras from a difficult angle for 38-0.

The two sides meet again in France next weekend.

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South Africa Secure Bronze

South Africa finished third at the World Cup as they beat Argentina 24-13.

A JP Pietersen try and Handre Pollard's boot gave South Africa a 16-0 half-time lead before Nicolas Sanchez finally got the Pumas on the scoreboard.

But Eben Etzebeth's try put the Boks out of sight and Juan Pablo Orlandi's late reply was little consolation.

The only disappointment for the Boks was that Bryan Habana was unable to claim the all-time World Cup try scoring record on his own.

Bryan Habana narrowly failed to become the World Cup's sole all-time top try scorer

The 32-year-old winger came within inches of scoring in the first half, only to be denied by the fingertips of Argentina full-back Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino as they both chased a kick.

But with the record on his mind - he entered the game tied on 15 World Cup tries with New Zealand legend Jonah Lomu - he had a mixed game, and several spilled passes suggested it was not to be his night before he was taken off to a rapturous farewell from a packed Olympic Stadium with 15 minutes remaining.

South Africa fielded a near first-choice XV and the power of their pack ultimately told in east London.

Argentina enjoyed the majority of the possession but they ran into an unbreachable wall, with giant lock Etzebeth adding a game-high 20 tackles to his try and fellow second row Victor Matfield - captaining the Boks in his last-ever Test - weighing in with 16 in his hour on the pitch.

With open-side flanker Francois Louw winning a remarkable five turnovers on his own, to add to a dozen tackles, Argentina were never able to reproduce their attacking fizz from earlier in the tournament.

Argentina had most of the possession, but gave away 15 penalties to South Africa's 10

The Pumas, seeking to match their third-place finish in 2007, made nine changes as a result of injury and exhaustion, and they were unable to match the sheer physicality of the Boks.

They enjoyed the better of both territory and possession but with their pack out-gunned up front, dangerous runners such as Santiago Cordero and Horacio Agulla were never given a sniff of the Springbok tryline.

They made an impressive 564 metres as a team with ball in hand but were forced to attack from deep and every time they approached the South Africa 22 a thumping tackle or classy steal saw them repelled.

South Africa captain Victor Matfield, who is retiring from international rugby: "We would loved to have played in the final tomorrow but unfortunately things didn't go our way.

"We have a lot of respect for Argentina. A bronze medal is better than fourth place.

"I'm just so relieved we won the game. We'll have a beer with Schalk Burger and the guys I've spent so much of my life with."

Nicolas Sanchez scored eight points in the game, taking his tally to 97 points for the tournament and making him the top scorer at the 2015 World Cup so far.

Schalk Burger played in his 20th World Cup game, only ex-England prop Jason Leonard (22) and New Zealand's Richie McCaw (21) have played more games in the tournament (former Australia scrum-half George Gregan also played 20).

JP Pietersen scored his ninth World Cup try, only Bryan Habana (15) has scored more in the World Cup for the Springboks (former centre Jaque Fourie also has nine).

Teams

South Africa: Le Roux; Pietersen, Kriel, De Allende, Habana; Pollard, Pienaar; Mtawarira, B du Plessis, Malherbe; Etzebeth, Matfield; Louw, Burger, Vermeulen.

Replacements: Lambie for Le Roux (64), Serfontein for Habana (67), Paige for Pienaar (77), Nyakane for Mtawarira (40), Strauss for B du Plessis (48), J du Plessis for Malherbe (60), de Jager for Matfield (62), Alberts for Burger (53).

Argentina: Gonzalez Amorosino; Cordero, Moroni, De la Fuente, Agulla; Sanchez, Cubelli; Figallo, Montoya, Herrera; Alemanno, Lavanini; Ortega Desio, Fernandez Lobbe, Leguizamon.

Replacements: Gonzalez Iglesias for de la Fuente (70), Socino for Agulla (58), Landajo for Cubelli (52), Noguera for Figallo (61), Garcia Botta for Montoya (77), Orlandi for Herrera (55), Petti Pagadizabal for Alemanno (47), Isa for Fernandez Lobbe (52).

Sin bin: Cubelli (5).

Att: 55,925

Ref: John Lacey (Ireland).

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