Sports News 12:30

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 10 December 12:30 pm

Good day, let’s look at the latest sports news and scores:

# First up, we have rugby: New Zealand will host the world champion South Africa at Eden Park on the sixth of September next year. This will be the first time the All Blacks will play the Springboks at the Auckland venue since 2013. South Africa has beaten New Zealand in all four of their last Tests and will look to break the Kiwis’ unbeaten streak of 50 Tests at Eden Park. Scott Robertson’s side will open their 2025 home season with three Tests against France in July.

Meanwhile, the Springboks Manie Libbok and Ben-Jason Dixon will miss the Stormers’ next match while recovering from concussion sustained in the past weekend’s Champions Cup loss to Toulon in Gqeberha. Keke Morabe will be out long-term after sustaining a leg fracture, and underwent surgery yesterday. The union says Boks Salmaan Moerat, Frans Malherbe, Deon Fourie and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, as well as Sti Sithole, will hopefully all return before the end of the month, but fellow Boks Steven Kitshoff, Evan Roos and Damian Willemse will be absent for longer.

 # Cricket: South Africa and Pakistan will face off in the first of three T20s in Durban this evening. Heinrich Klaasen will captain the Proteas in the absence of Aiden Markram, who are getting rested together with Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada and Tristan Stubbs, who played in the just concluded Test series against Sri Lanka. The second match will be played in Centurion on Friday and the final one in Johannesburg the next day. This will be followed by three one-day matches and two Tests.

More cricket news: The experienced Australian quick bowler Josh Hazlewood could return for the third Test against India, starting in Brisbane on Saturday. He missed the second Test in Adelaide with a side strain, with the Baggy Green winning by ten wickets within three days to square the five-match series. Hazlewood was replaced by Scott Boland, who took five wickets in the two innings. Australia and India, together with log-leader South Africa, are the only teams still in the running for the final of the World Test Championship.

# Finally, we have soccer news: Referees’ body the Professional Game Match Officials Limited has fired Premier League official David Coote. He was suspended last month after a video showing him making derogatory comments about Liverpool and former manager Jurgen Klopp circulated on social media. A second video showed Coote snorting a white powder, purportedly during the European Championship earlier this year. The body says a thorough investigation concluded Coote was in serious breach of the provisions of his employment contract, with his position deemed untenable.

Stay tuned for more news………….