Sports News 12:00

BULLETIN SPORTS NEWS 24 July 12:30 pm

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

# We start with rugby: Springbok centre André Esterhuizen has been banned for three matches after his red card in the Test against Portugal in Bloemfontein. His yellow for head contact in a tackle on José Lima was upgraded to red after a review. Esterhuizen has received a four-week ban, but it will be reduced to three weeks if he completes World Rugby’s intervention course. He will serve the ban in the Currie Cup, having been omitted from the Rugby Championship tour of Australia, but will be available against the All Blacks.

Meanwhile, Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says they have full faith in the players to make another big step up in the Rugby Championship, which kicks off against the Wallabies in Brisbane on the tenth of next month. The squad consists of 22 World Cup winners and five players who made their debuts this year. Erasmus says the squad, which includes a mixture of youth and experience, is the best group of players they could select for this tough assignment.

The men’s Olympic sevens competition gets going at the Stade de France in Paris today. South Africa plays its first Pool A game against Ireland at 5.30 this afternoon, and will face the All Blacks at 9.30 tonight. The group match against Japan will start at four o’clock tomorrow afternoon. The quarterfinals will take place tomorrow night, and the semifinals and final on Saturday. The women’s competition kicks off on Sunday, with the final on Tuesday.

# Golf: Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Erik van Rooyen, who will represent South Africa at the Olympics in Paris, have both committed to the Nedbank Golf Challenge, being played at the Gary Player Country Club at Sun City in North West in November. This will be both players’ third appearance in the tournament, dubbed Africa’s Major, which hasn’t produced a local champion since 2017 when Branden Grace won the event. The 66 players in this year’s challenge will share total prize money of 110-million-rand.

# And, the International Federation for Equestrian Sports has provisionally banned Britain’s joint-most decorated female Olympian, Charlotte Dujardin, for six months. This is over a video that emerged showing the dressage rider hitting a horse’s leg several times during a coaching session. The 39-year-old, who won six dressage Olympic medals in London, Rio, and Tokyo, has pulled out of the Paris Games. British Equestrian says the allegations made against Dujardin are serious and the consequences far-reaching, but upholding the integrity of the sport remains its priority.

Stay tuned for more news………….