Pretorius powers Proteas into tri-series final

Lhuan-dre Pretorius top scored with 94 as South Africa beat Zimbabwe by 43 runs in Windhoek on Tuesday to reach the final of a Twenty20 tri-series which also includes Namibia.

South Africa won the toss and posted 185-7 at one of the venues for the 2027 ODI Cricket World Cup. Zimbabwe were all out for 142 in 17.2 overs. xsportfeed.quest

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Hosts Namibia meet Zimbabwe on Thursday in the next match, which will decide the other finalists with both teams currently having two points.

Left-hand opener Pretorius fell just short of a maiden T20I century. An attempted flick exposed his wicket and quick bowler Brad Evans uprooted the leg stump.

The 20-year-old South African struck three sixes and 12 fours off 51 deliveries as he bettered his previous T20I top score of 51.

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“I am just glad we won. Milestones can wait. At one stage I thought we would exceed 200 runs,” Pretorius told reporters after receiving the player-of-the-match award.

Captain Sikandar Raza top-scored with 45 for Zimbabwe, who added 76 after slumping to 66-8 with spinner Bjorn Fortuin and quick Duan Jansen sharing the South African bowling honours.

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Photo: Floris van Schouwenburg/Gallo Images

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Hanyani Shimange calls out an agenda to weaken the Springbok game, while Schalk Burger claims Lood de Jager’s high hit on Leroy Carter last week was just a penalty.

The former Boks were speaking on the Boks Unpacked X The Verdict podcast, picking up on Rassie Erasmus’ post-match dismissal of All Blacks accusations that his pack walks around at scrum time, and the card that reduced South Africa to 14 men during last Saturday’s 33-26 win at Cape Town Stadium.

“We generally go straight through the middle,” ex-hooker Shimange said. “It’s never been a Springbok strategy. I just think what they’re trying to do is depower the scrum.

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“There’s always been an issue to depower the South African maul, and it’s just one of those things … trying to get inside the ref[‘s head].

“I think we’ve had the most dominant scrum probably for the last, what, eight years since the World Cup, since 2019. You’re telling me we’ve been walking around?

“We’ve had Beast [Mtawarira], we’ve had Ox Nché … there’s no way we’re walking around. That’s just, for me [not true].”

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Legendary loose forward Burger turned to De Jager’s dismissal for his head clash with All Blacks winger Carter.

“There’s definitely mitigating circumstances,” Burger said. “Leroy Carter moves, he’s reasonably low, but then it’s a head on head; his shoulder hits him on the chest. The margins are so fine.

“Then you go back to Ardie’s [hit on Jasper Wiese two weeks ago]. That’s probably the one that sticks out in your mind foremost; he hits him on the shoulder, then there is a bit of head contact with his shoulder, not a head on head.

“Guys, my view is it’s a penalty. Penalty only. It’s always been my outlook on it. I’m old school … I’d be happy if this just stays penalties.

“That yellow card put us under pressure, but yeah, obviously for Lood, he’s had a couple now, but he’s unlucky. I don’t think it’s a technique thing; that was just unfortunate.”

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Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images

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Quelques mois seulement après son arrivée, Adil Aouchiche s’inscrit déjà dans la durée avec Schalke 04. Le club allemand a officialisé, ce mardi, la prolongation de contrat du milieu offensif international algérien jusqu’au 30 juin 2030. Un nouveau bail longue durée qui témoigne de la confiance accordée par les dirigeants du club de Gelsenkirchen à l’ancien joueur du Paris Saint-Germain.

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Springbok scrum guru Daan Human has responded to accusations surrounding his pack’s tactics against the All Blacks. CLINTON VAN DER BERG reports.

Human doesn’t do the spotlight often. On Tuesday, the Boks’ scrum expert had no choice, walking into a media session with the scrum wars between South Africa and New Zealand raging in the background, accusations flying from both camps about who’s bending which law. He handled it the way he coaches, straight through the middle.

“It looks like every second guy is becoming a scrum coach now,” Human said, only half joking. “It’s always open to the public, and it’s a good thing that they have an opinion. But it’s important for us to focus on what we do and how we do it.”

No sourness, just a shrug dressed up in a smile beneath his trademark bucket hat.

“It is what it is, let them have their opinions.”

The accusation that gets under his skin most is the suggestion the Boks “walk around” in the scrum, quietly shifting to kill the opposition’s angle. Human doesn’t dodge it, he leans into his team’s history.

“If you say we’re walking around, then we’ve been walking around for the past six years, ever since I’ve been part of Springbok rugby,” he said. “I’ve never coached that, because we want to go forward. Walking around is not an ideal for us. We don’t want to do it.”

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When the criticism turned personal this week, he admitted it landed.

“That’s when I took it to heart, to be honest, because that’s not what we do,” Human said. “We try to take it straight through the middle, according to the laws, and show the referee a dominant picture on both sides.”

But he was quick to shoulder it rather than pass it down the line.

“It’s frustrating for all of us, but it’s part of the pressure I need to handle. I can’t transfer that pressure onto the players, that should never happen.”

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On the sport’s newer engagement protocol, brought in to protect front rowers’ necks, Human is unconvinced it’s fully working.

“I still see shoulders on shoulders. Is it really helping? I’m not sure, but we need to deal with it.”

No theatre, no shots fired back across the waters. Just a farmer’s son explaining, patiently, why the noise doesn’t change how he coaches.

Photo: Daniel Hlongwane/Gallo Images

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