Boks’ big bruisers take charge

Lock crisis? What lock crisis, asks CLINTON VAN DER BERG.

With a raft of South Africa’s tall timber sidelined by injury, there were genuine fears the Springboks were scraping the bottom of the barrel in their search for capable second rows.

Someone forgot to tell debutant Ruben van Heerden and Cobus Wiese. chickenroadslot.lat

In wildly different ways, both men were central to the Boks’ bruising triumph over Wales.

RECAP: Seven-try Boks blank Wales again

Van Heerden was simply untouchable, bossing the lineout with the poise of a seasoned campaigner, winning clean ball and needling opponents in the proud tradition of every self-respecting lock forward. As debuts go, it was nothing short of compelling.

Wiese offered less of a lineout threat but took his taste for violence into the loose exchanges instead. He rumbled hard, played his part in the buildup to brother Jasper’s try, and showed the kind of relentless work ethic that will have caught Rassie Erasmus’s eye. Big, hard, athletic, uncomplaining – what’s not to like? From heaving hay bales as a 12-year-old on a farm outside Upington to breaking his neck eight years ago, Wiese’s journey to this stage is quite some story.

PICK YOUR MVP: Boks vs Wales

The pair’s performance was emblematic of the entire scrum, which was thunderous against a Welsh pack that has always prided itself on its set-piece even as the wider Welsh game has faded in recent years.

Not tonight. Tonight the Boks turned the screws, and turned them hard. At times it was uncomfortable watching the Dragons go backwards, but that was the pattern all evening, as big men like Gerhard Steenekamp, Carlü Sadie and Wilco Louw imposed their power at every scrum and every collision.

Daan Human, the inscrutable scrum doctor, will have been pleased.

RATE THE REF: Andrew Brace

What makes it all the more remarkable is that this South African pack was a patchwork quilt, largely stitched together for the very first time. Yet if the tight five were the foundation, the evening belonged largely to eighthman Jasper Wiese, who made every one of his 53 minutes count.

Fearless and unyielding, he must be miserable to play against, carrying the ball as hard as he tackled, grinding forward like an old tractor engine that simply refuses to quit.

With one eye on the World Cup and the other on the looming series against the All Blacks, Erasmus finds himself with the happiest of problems: a surfeit of world-class talent to choose from.

Almost every selection he has made, and there have been plenty, continues to pay off handsomely.

Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images

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Championship leader Kimi Antonelli roared to pole position for Mercedes on Saturday when he beat Red Bull’s four-time champion Max Verstappen in the final seconds of Belgian Grand Prix qualifying.

The 19-year-old Italian clocked a superbly-executed best lap in one minute and 44.361 seconds to outpace the Dutchman by 0.317sec with defending champion Lando Norris third for McLaren.

Norris has a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after taking a new engine.

It was Antonelli’s sixth pole this year and extended Mercedes run to 10 consecutive poles this season. His success came with the biggest pole-winning margin of the season.

“Let’s go man,” cried Antonelli on team radio. “Let’s go!”

Reminded it was his father Marco’s birthday, he added: “Happy birthday, Dad.”

In his on-track interview, the Italian said he was happy with his display.

“The last lap was good. It was a nice lap. It was very clean, so very happy,” he said.

‘Important to get a good start’

“Tomorrow is another day, with Max starting next to me it will be important to get a good start and be ahead into Turn 5.”

George Russell was fourth for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, who had crashed earlier in the day, with Oscar Piastri seventh in the second McLaren.

Racing Bull’s’ rookie Arvid Lindblad was eighth ahead of Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar, in the second Red Bull, who also faces a penalty and will start from the back of the grid.

Verstappen admitted that his pace, to secure a front-row spot, was down to assistance he received from team-mate Hadjar offering a slip-steaming ‘tow’ on his laps.

“I wouldn’t be here without that,” the Dutchman said.

“It was a definite help for me. If not, I would be like P6. Today, knowing he is to start at the back of the grid, Isack did a really good job giving me a tow.”

Bottas was first out in Q1 for Cadillac in continued dry conditions as the rest filed out in pursuit, including Hamilton who had smacked the barriers in his Ferrari at the end of final free practice.

Verstappen was the first front-runner to go for a push lap in 1:45.930, an impressive start and beyond Antonelli’s immediate riposte as Lindblad and Hadjar went second before Norris took control in 1:45.865.

The fastest three sat out the second runs, when Hamilton rose to fourth in his Ferrari ‘rebuild’.

The two Aston Martins, both Cadillacs and Esteban Ocon of Haas and Williams’ Alex Albon were eliminated.

The second qualifying session began with Franco Colapinto leading out, but once the flying laps began, Antonelli again showed real pace.

The session ended with Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls, both Alpines, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg, who suffered an hydraulics leak, Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Oliver Bearman of Haas all eliminated.

Impressive rookie Lindblad went through to Q3 in sixth in his upgraded Racing Bulls car, ahead of Piastri and Russell.

À la veille de la finale de la Coupe du Monde 2026 face à l’Argentine, l’Espagne a vu sa dernière séance d’entraînement bouleversée par les conditions météorologiques. Un violent orage accompagné de foudre a contraint les joueurs de Luis de la Fuente à rester en salle, empêchant toute préparation sur le terrain.

Un violent orage perturbe les plans de l’Espagne

À quelques heures de la finale de la Coupe du Monde 2026 contre l’Argentine, prévue ce dimanche à 19h GMT, la sélection espagnole a dû modifier son programme. Alors que les champions d’Europe devaient effectuer leur ultime entraînement au centre d’entraînement de Red Bull, à New York, un important risque d’orage a obligé les autorités à interrompre la séance avant même son lancement.

À leur arrivée sur le site, les joueurs, le staff technique et les journalistes ont été invités à rejoindre les installations couvertes de l’académie afin de se mettre à l’abri. Après environ 45 minutes d’attente, la décision définitive est tombée. L’entraînement était annulé.

Les joueurs contraints de rester en salle

Le tonnerre, les éclairs et une pluie diluvienne ont rendu toute activité en extérieur impossible. Les hommes de Luis de la Fuente ont alors poursuivi leur préparation dans le gymnase, où ils ont effectué uniquement des exercices d’activation physique. Cette solution de repli a permis aux internationaux espagnols de conserver un minimum de rythme, sans prendre le moindre risque avant le rendez-vous le plus important de la compétition.

Un protocole strict avant la finale

Selon le protocole fédéral en vigueur, il est interdit de reprendre une activité en plein air avant un délai minimum de 30 minutes après le dernier éclair ou coup de tonnerre. Les prévisions météorologiques n’annonçant aucune amélioration dans les heures suivantes, les organisateurs ont préféré annuler définitivement la séance.

Du côté de l’Argentine, une confirmation officielle est encore attendue, mais plusieurs sources indiquent que l’Albiceleste, également présente dans le New Jersey, devrait voir son dernier entraînement connaître le même sort avant cette finale très attendue de la Coupe du Monde 2026.

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