Just Plain Sport 🎙️

🇿🇦 PAUL DE VILLIERS BACKS UP THE HYPE WITH A STATEMENT PERFORMANCE AGAINST SCOTLAND 🏉 Eight ball carries. Two defenders beaten. Sixty-three metres made. Sixteen tackles. One turnover won. That’s Paul de Villiers‘ return from Saturday’s 42-28 win over Scotland at Loftus Versfeld. Only his second Test. Nobody scripted this. Paul de Villiers wasn’t named in the original matchday squad for the Boks’ opener against England. He found out he was starting after Siya Kolisi failed a late fitness test on a strained hamstring, with Eben Etzebeth also unavailable. Pieter-Steph du Toit shifted into the second row to make room. Paul de Villiers had hours, not weeks, to get ready. He didn’t just survive it. He won an early breakdown penalty and got stuck into the physical exchanges, finishing a 45-21 win at Ellis Park looking like he belonged there all along. 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/rugby/paul-de-… #PaulDeVilliers #Springboks #NationsChampionship #BokRugby #JustPlainSport

🇿🇦 THE JUNIOR BOKS SINKS ENGLAND TO REACH WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL 🏆🏉 The Junior Springboks are through to another Junior World Championship final after outlasting England 53-37 in a brutal semi-final slugfest at Avchala Stadium in Tbilisi on Monday. England came out of the blocks fastest, tighthead Ollie Streeter crashing over inside three minutes and flyhalf Hugh Shields adding the extras. The defending champions hit back through Yaqeen Ahmed, but two Shields penalties and a well-worked try kept England ahead deep into the contest... 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/rugby/junior-s… #JuniorBoks #Springboks #u20rugby #JuniorWorldChampionship

🇿🇦 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALCOLM MARX - THE BEST HOOKER IN THE WORLD, FULL STOP 🎂 There are hookers who do a job, and there are hookers who redefine what the job even means. Malcolm Marx belongs firmly in the second category. Born on this very day, 13 July 1994, in Germiston, he turns 32 today. And in a position built on unglamorous graft, he has somehow become the most talked-about forward in world rugby. Happy Birthday, Malcolm. From a schoolboy flanker in Germiston to World Rugby’s official Player of the Year, this is a story about getting back up, again and again, until nobody could ignore him anymore. 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/rugby/malcolm-… #JustPlainSport #MalcolmMarx #Springboks #RugbyLegend

🇿🇦 THE SPRINGBOK TEAM TO FACE WALES IN DURBAN 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 15 Aphelele Fassi (Toshiba) – 16 caps, 35 pts (7t) 14 Jaco Williams (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – uncapped 13 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 89 caps, 110 pts (22t) 12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 98 caps, 55 pts (11t) 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Mitsubishi Dynaboars) – 31 caps, 120 pts (24t) 10 Vusi Moyo (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – uncapped 9 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers) – 51 caps, 95 pts (19t) 8 Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 45 caps, 15 pts (3t) 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (captain, Toyota Verblitz) – 97 caps, 70 pts (14t) 6 Paul de Villiers (DHL Stormers) – 2 cap, 0 pts 5 Ruben van Heerden (Montpellier) – uncapped 4 Cobus Wiese (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 0 pts 3 Carlu Sadie (Bordeaux Begles) – uncapped 2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 88 caps, 135 pts (27t) 1 Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 17 caps, 10 pts (2t) Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter (DHL Stormers) – 1 cap, 5 pts (1 t) 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels (Vodacom Bulls) – 11 caps, 10 pts (2t) 18 Wilco Louw (DHL Stormers) – 30 caps, 10 pts (2t) 19 Ben-Jason Dixon (DHL Stormers) – 9 caps, 10 pts (2t) 20 Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 34 caps, 15 pts (3t) 21 Herschel Jantjies (Bayonne) – 24 caps, 25 pts (5t) 22 Manie Libbok (Kintetsu Liners) – 29 caps, 145 pts (2t, 48c, 13p) 23 Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 51 caps, 76 pts (8t, 9c, 4p, 2dg) The match kicks off at 17h40 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster – CLICK HERE. #RSAvWAL #NationsChampionship #Springboks #SouthAfrica #JustPlainSport 🎙️

🚨🇿🇦 POLLARD PLAYS PIVOTAL ROLE IN BOK WIN OVER STRONG SCOTLAND 🏉 Every time the Springboks looked like they could take a breather, Scotland broke through again. Handré Pollard was the one constant that refused to let them get away with it. South Africa raced to 14-0 inside twenty minutes and looked comfortable. Scotland had other ideas, striking twice in quick succession to level it at 14-14 by half-time, and the pattern repeated itself all afternoon: the Boks would pull clear, Scotland would claw back within touching distance, and it was Handré Pollard, more than anyone else in green and gold, who kept steadying the ship. 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/rugby/handre-p… Image via Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix #JustPlainSport #Springboks #HandrePollard #SAvSCO

🇿🇦 HAPPY BIRTHDAY MORNÉ STEYN - ONE OF THE GREATEST NUMBER TENS WHO EVER PLAYED THE GAME 🎉 Some players get one big moment and spend the rest of their career being remembered for it. Morné Steyn got two, twelve years apart, against the same opponent, in the same position on the field, with the same result. Born on this day, 11 July 1984, in Cape Town, he turns 42 today. Between those two moments sits one of the most complete careers any fly-half has ever put together. Happy Birthday, Morné. The man they once left out of the team is now spoken about among the greatest number 10s the game has ever seen. 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/rugby/morne-st… #JustPlainSport #MornéSteyn #Rugby #Birthday

🇿🇦 BINDER EYES SACHSENRING RECOVERY AFTER FRUSTRATING SPRINT 🏍️ Brad Binder crossed the line in P12 at the Sachsenring Sprint on Saturday, a result that did little to lift a difficult weekend so far for the KTM man in Germany. The South African had started from the fifth row after a tough Saturday morning, and while he picked his way through traffic where he could, the 13-lap dash never gave him the room to make a real statement. Marc Marquez controlled the Sprint from lights to flag, resisting a late surge from brother Alex Marquez to claim his fourth Sprint win of the season and extend his run of Sachsenring dominance. Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the podium, closing the gap on championship leader Jorge Martin to just 13 points heading into the summer break. For Binder, the day was about damage limitation rather than statement-making. But speaking after the race, he made clear his focus has already shifted to Sunday. JAY | JPS SAYS: "Sprint Saturdays haven't been kind to Brad this year, but the Sachsenring has a habit of rewarding patience on a Sunday. Thirty laps is a different beast entirely." The point is a fair one. A 15-lap Sprint leaves little margin for recovery once track position is lost, but Sunday's German Grand Prix will run to 30 laps, giving Binder considerably more time to work tyre strategy and race craft in his favour, areas that have often played to his strengths across his KTM career. It comes at a significant moment for the number 33. With his long-standing factory Red Bull KTM seat set to end after this season, and a likely switch to Tech3 alongside Maverick Vinales on the cards for 2027, every strong Sunday performance between now and the summer break adds to his case heading into a new chapter. Sachsenring has produced mixed fortunes for Binder before, but the raw optimism in his message after Saturday's Sprint suggests a rider looking to convert opportunity into result when the laps count for more tomorrow. #RedBull #KTM #Sachsenring #MotoGP #SprintRace #BradBinder

🇿🇦 CONGRATULATIONS TO RASSIE ERASMUS ON BECOMING THE MOST CAPPED SPRINGBOK COACH 🏉 Coaches don’t usually last in South African rugby. The job chews through good men in three years or less, undone by one bad Rugby Championship, one refereeing controversy, one boardroom whisper campaign that turns into a headline. Rassie Erasmus has been in and around the Springbok setup for eight years now, and on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld, against Scotland, he takes charge of his 55th Test as head coach. Nobody has ever done that before him. 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/rugby/rassie-e… #JustPlainSport #RassieErasmus #Springboks

🇿🇦 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ULI SCHMIDT - THE BOELIE WHO BECAME A HEALER 🎉 There are rugby players you remember for the scoreboard. And then there are those you remember for the sound they made when they hit a ruck — the ones whose reputation walked onto the field a full ten metres before they did. Uli Schmidt belongs firmly in the second category. Born on this very day, 10 July 1961, in Pretoria, he turns 65 today. And what a strange, brilliant contradiction of a life it has been. Happy Birthday, Uli. The man they called “die Boelie” now spends his working days healing people instead of hurting them. 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/rugby/uli-schm… #JustPlainSport #UliSchmidt #Rugby #Birthday

@OosthuizenHein Let's go Jo-Ane!!! ❤️

Keep going

It's going to be a crazy fight for sure.

Good luck to the @SA_Hockey gents tonight!!!🇿🇦

@KelRo736 Steve Hansen is all about wishful thinking. Poor thing.

I'm sorry, but has Steve Hansen been watching the Boks at all? We don't want to win the ball back on a kick-chase? Damian Willemse would beg to differ. As would Fassi, Kolbe, Arendse, Edwill, Moodie and Hooker on the evidence of the last two seasons. In 2025, 31% of kicks were contested by the Boks. We retained 28% of our kicks. No team did better than this. And France? We played them, with a man down for most of the game. They could pass and run all they liked but they failed to score more than 3 points. Guess which team was gassed and out of ideas by the end of the game? Guess which team won by 15 points despite missing 8 off the tee? The latter was France. South Africa managed that red card as if it didn't happen. They were fit, fast and organised - prepared to go 80 minutes. France spent most of the second half trying and failing to score against 14 men. When SA could smell blood with LBB's card, they scored two tries. For good measure, we went for a lineout while 8 points ahead and a few minutes to go, sending SFM over for a try instead of winding down the clock with a predictable penalty kick, with France back to 15 and SA still a man down. France kicked the only penalty of that half. South Africa favoured the corner. So that was us pretending to play attacking rugby? France was a player up and allowed to pass and run - the only evidence Hansen has that they can beat us because we kick away possession is in his head. What counts is what we do with that possession and I'm sure both France after Paris and NZ after Wellington felt it rather acutely. We also hurt France with contestable kicks in the QF - we scored twice by regaining possession. We can play whatever style suits the conditions and the opponents on the day. Who "misleads" the world about the style they want to play? Rassie is not engaged in some kind of time-wasting exercise. We play whatever style best suits us on the day. It's called versatility, Steve.

@VodacomRugga @Springboks It's going to be a great battle between these 2 South Africans. Go @Springboks !!!

It’s SA steel 🦾 vs Scottish flair 🔥 Aphelele and Kyle know how to fire up the crowds.​ ​We’re here to enjoy the show 🍿

Let's Go @IndianaFever!!! @lexiehulll @CaitlinClark22 @Kelz_Hoop @MHA_Muse

🔥 THEY WENT FOR HER THROAT, BUT CAITLIN CLARK JUST KEPT BREAKING RECORDS 🏀 Caitlin Clark added another line to her résumé on Friday... The WNBA named her Eastern Conference Player of the Month for June, the second time in her career she's won the award, and only the second Indiana Fever player ever to do it. The first was Hall of Famer Tamika Catchings, who won it three times. The numbers behind it are absurd. Over 10 games in June, Caitlin Clark averaged 21.9 points, 8.2 assists and 4.0 rebounds, shooting 45.6 percent from the field and 35.1 percent from three. She ranked fourth in the league in scoring and second in assists. Indiana went 7-4 and ran the WNBA’s best offense over that stretch, averaging a league-leading 95.5 points a game. 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/wnba/caitlin-c… #JustPlainSport #CaitlinClark #WNBA #Basketball

🇿🇦 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TATJANA SMITH - THE GIRL NEXT DOOR WHO BECAME SA’S GREATEST OLYMPIAN 🎉 Tatjana Smith, born on this day, 9 July 1997, in Johannesburg, turns 29 today, and the touch in Paris is where most people’s memory of her career ends. It is not where the story starts. 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/swimming/tatja… Happy Birthday, Tatjana. From all of us at Just Plain Sport, thank you for a world record still standing, four Olympic medals, and a retirement written entirely on your own terms. 🎂🏊‍♀️ #JustPlainSport #TatjanaSmit #happybirthday

SA’S JAVELIN QUEEN JO-ANÉ DU PLESSIS RETURNS TO MONACO AFTER CAREER-SAVING SURGERY Two days before the South African Championships, Jo-Ané du Plessis woke up and her left calf would not work. There was no pain. No warning. Just a leg that had stopped answering. She had spent months building toward that weekend in the best shape of her life, and by the time she understood what was happening, the meet was already gone. An emergency MRI delivered the verdict. A tear in her L5/S1 disc had allowed fluid to leak out and compress the nerve root running down her leg. There was no rehab pathway, no conservative option, no waiting it out. She needed an urgent microdiscectomy, and she needed it immediately.. 🎙️ FULL STORY: justplainsport.com/athletics/jo-a… #JustPlainSport #javelin #JoAnéduPlessis #MonacoDiamondLeague

📊 RESULTS | CRAVENWEEK U/18 2026 - FIRST 3 DAYS 🏉