Breakfast Headlines

Rugby:

The Stormers are preparing to fly out on Thursday for the Australisian leg of their Super 14 and coach rassie Erasmus has got some injury concerns to look at before they leave. An impressive win over the Lions on saturday has left some casualties, winger Nick Koster and hooker Deon Fourie have both been ruled out of the tour to NZ and Australia. Tonderai Chavanga will also stay at home for another three weeks, as he looks to recover from a hamstring injury. The Stormers have a bye this weekend.

Meanwhile Sharks' and Springbok flyhalf Ruan Pienaar will return home after injuring his knee in Saturday's loss to the Reds in Brisbane.

Closer to home, UCT are playing for a home semi-final when they meet Pukke in Potchefstroom tonight. The Cape Town boys are second on the log on 24 points, three behind provincial rivals Maties. Both Cape sides have secured their places in the semis but the boys from Ste! llenbosch need a win over Tukkies to end top of the log.
Pukke, Tukkies, UJ and Shimlas will fight it out for the remaining semi-final spots. Maties coach, Chean Roux, says despite their strong log position, he won't be tempted into fielding a second string team.


Soccer:

Ajax Cape Town were 3-2 winners over Zimbabwean team Monomotapa at the Boland Stadium in Wellington on Saturday. The Urban Warriors face a tough challenge going to Zim for the next leg as their opponents have two away goals

In the PSL Santos continued with their inconsistent football when they lost 1-0 to Maritzbirg United. The loss means the team remain in eight place.

Everyone is talking obout Liverpool's sensational win at Old Trafford, where they silenced the Theatre of dreams, but Chelsea coach Guus Hiddink insists that the Premier League title race has still got some way to run after the! Blues narrowed the gap on leaders Manchester United to just f! our poin ts, with a 1-0 win over Manchester City.

Aston Villa's Champions League hopes suffered another setback when they were beaten 2-1 at home by Tottenham. Trips to Liverpool and Manchester United await Villa.

Cricket:

In the Superspoprt series, the match between the Nashua Cape Cobras and the Dolphins in Pietermaritzburg has ended in a draw, as did the game between the Titans and the Warriors.

The Cobras reached 300 for two in their second innings, giving them an overall lead of 215 runs over the Dolphins, before both captains agreed to call the match off with an hour's play still remaining.

Centuries from Alistair Gray and Stiaan van Zyl were the high points of the day's play as the pair combined to put on 200 runs, off 355 balls, for the second-wicket. Gray went for 131, Stiaan was unbeaten on 103,


In the West Indies, Ramnaresh Sarwan rattled off a quick 59 from ! 46 balls to help the West Indies to a six-wicket win over England in their Twenty20 International at Queen's Park Oval.

England were bowled out for just 121 in 19.1 overs after they were sent in to bat, and West Indies replied with 123 for four from 18 overs. Eng captain Andrew Strauss said afterwards that it just wasnt good enough..N011


Some good news for the Proteas, it appears as if Graeme Smith will be ready for the 1st ODI, a 2nd X-ray on his broken finger on Friday showed it mending well.

Athletics:

Mbulaeni Mulaudzi and Tsholofelo Thipe were outstanding in the afternoon session on the second day of the Yellow Pages SA Senior Championships in Stellenbosch yesterday. Four athletes reached the tough IAAF A qualifying standards for the World Championships in Berlin in August. Maulaudzi set one of the fastest times in the country for a long time of 1:44. Thipe did a 1:51:15 in the ! 400. Two of the other highlights on the second day were the ne! w SA rec ord of 8:16, 04 by Ruben Ramolefe (CGA) in the 3000m steeplechase and Simon Makgakwe's (ANWN) A qualifier of 10, 21 secs in the 100 metres.

Golf:

Phil Mickelson overcame a worrying health scare to edge a close final round with fellow American Nick Watney and win the WGC-CA Championship by one stroke yesterday. Mickleson was taken to hospital after the 3rd round suffering from dehydration and exhaustion.

Tiger Woods was never in the hunt but produced a tidy 68 to tie for ninth, eight strokes off the pace.

Motorsport:

The new Brawn F-1 team continues to top the testing times, the teams are in Jerez in Spain. Spaniard Fernando Alonso was 2nd in the Renault which he set in the afternoon, after he'd lost most of the morning session due to a huge accident that resulted in considerable damage to the front end of his car.