South African sports fans are in for a royal treat this weekend, with the Proteas Men’s cricket team, Bafana Bafana and the Springboks all set to do battle.
Bafana Bafana qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on Thursday after South Sudan beat Congo Brazzaville 3-2 at home.
The shock result meant that Bafana Bafana progressed to next year’s showpiece in Morocco, even before meeting Group K leaders Uganda at Mandela National Stadium in Kampala (3pm SA time start) in their penultimate fixture on Friday.
Hugo Broos’ team will then wrap up their qualifying campaign against South Sudan at Cape Town Stadium next Tuesday (6pm).
The Belgian tactician Broos also became the first Bafana coach to reach a Nations Cup tournament back-to-back.
The last time Bafana achieved this feat was in 2013, when Gordan Igesund led the team in a home Afcon before Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba guided the side in the 2015 event.
Bafana’s chances against Uganda on Friday and South Sudan on Tuesday have been boosted by the return of Mothobi Mvala, Siyabonga Ngezana and Thalente Mbatha.
The Proteas’ Men’s team will be hoping to put similar smiles on the faces of South Africans when they face India in a final T20 International at the Wanderers in Johannesburg this evening (5pm start).
Aiden Markram’s side have been well-supported in the three preceding matches at Kingsmead in Durban, St George’s Park in Gqeberha and SuperSport Park in Centurion, and another capacity crowd is expected at the ‘Bullring’ tonight.
India currently lead the series 2-1, and the South Africans will be hoping to level up matters with a victory and share the spoils at least, having lost the T20 World Cup final to the visitors at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados in late June.
The toast of South African sport, the four-time world-champion Springboks, will round off the weekend’s action by taking on England in a mouth-watering clash at Twickenham Stadium in London on Saturday night (7.40pm SA time kick-off).
Coach Rassie Erasmus made 12 changes to the team on Thursday from the one that defeated Scotland 32-15 in last week’s Test at Murrayfield.
Only lock Eben Etzebeth, loosehead prop Ox Nche and hooker Bongi Mbonambi retain their starting jerseys.
Erasmus, who has been criticised in the English media for the usage of his ‘Bomb Squad’ in the build-up to the Twickenham Test, opted for an entirely new backline that will be spearheaded by the attacking talents of flyhalf Manie Libbok and scrumhalf Grant Williams.
Captain Siya Kolisi is also back at the helm to lead the Boks in their penultimate Test of an extraordinary year, after coming off the bench last week against the Scots.
England may view Saturday’s Test as a grudge match as it is a repeat of last year’s World Cup semi-final in Paris – where South Africa triumphed 16-15 in a dramatic encounter.
Twickenham is certainly expected to create a passionate atmosphere, with plenty of South Africans expatriates set to make their voices heard alongside their English hosts.
Cape Times