Star -julkaisun 2023-09-15 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

SOUTH Africa needed a “war room” to boost its oil and gas developments and to better co-ordinate government departments on these projects, Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Pinky Kekana said yesterday. She said in an address to the Southern Africa Oil & Gas Conference 2023 that “Mozambique is up and running, Namibia is up and running, South Africa wake up!” She said that the Petroleum Agency for South Africa (Pasa) estimated South Africa potentially held 27 billion barrels of oil and 60 trillion cubic metres gas offshore, let alone the onshore resources, but development in the sector remains weak due to a number of factors, including weak infrastructure, insufficient investment and technological issues. She said the “war room” should comprise all the relevant…

ANCHOR Capital is set to unveil its international expansion in coming weeks, Peter Armitage, the founder and CEO of Anchor Capital, revealed yesterday. As generational wealth exits South Africa, which is a risk to the investment firm’s growth trajectory, Anchor Capital is securing its future. This as it has clients both locally and internationally. Armitage, along with his investment team, yesterday in a round-table discussion with the media shared insights into the current investment landscape, in a wide-ranging conversation from commodities, South African woes such as logistics and the power crisis, to exciting AI and cybercrime tech stocks and the depressing fact of the drying up of listings on the JSE, among other trends. Anchor Capital, while bringing home the bacon for its investment clients, shared that SA Inc is…

METAIR, the international manufacturer, distributor and retailer of energy storage solutions and automotive components, said headline earnings a share (Heps) slipped 9% to 41 cents, despite a 124% increase in operating profit, after a subsidiary incurred losses as it geared up for the Ford Ranger model ramp-up. Heps included post tax equity losses of R427 million incurred by the Hesto Harnesses subsidiary. Higher interest rates across operating geographies and higher average debt to support customer expansion and elevated working capital investments, saw finance charges increase 125% to R280m, bringing headline earnings per share down 9% to 41c. CEO Sjoerd Douwenga said the results were robust in spite of challenging market conditions and it was also the largest single project launch Metair had ever undertaken, which had required significant…

DISCUSSIONS of food security often revolve around the availability of food supply. This is a critical component of the discussion, but not the only one. The fact is that South Africa must take a holistic view on the economic dynamics of the country if we are going to meaningfully tackle poverty and hunger. Failure to do impedes our ability to end hunger and limits our understanding of the interventions needed to enable the agricultural sector to play a greater role in food security. Food security, as a global concern, began to seriously infiltrate public discourse after the World Food Conference in 1974. In the resulting “Universal Declaration on the Eradication of Hunger and Malnutrition”, food security was defined as “availability at all times of adequate world food supplies of basic…

Conrad Koch’s latest satirical show, Baggage, offers a refreshing and entertaining perspective on some of the pressing issues in South Africa. Koch gets the audience to find humour in the difficulties South Africans are facing such as mental health, anxiety, climate change, dating and load shedding Baggage is on at Pieter Toerien’s Montecasino Theatre from tonight until Sunday. It features Koch’s best friend, superstar puppet Chester Missing, Hilton the booty-shaking ostrich and Mr Dixon, a retired high school teacher. In the show, Koch notes he’s departing from his previous hard-hitting political content and focusing on a more light-hearted, joyful and self-reflective journey. “​​This show is a very fun, joyful, silly, quirky version of what I do. And it’s what I’m leaning into almost entirely now. I’ve done some very hard-hitting…

Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Mondli Gungubele, has rubbished claims of alleged interference with the board of Postbank. Gungubele, who has since removed the entire board of the embattled entity after the resignation of board chairperson Thabile Wonci and other non-executive members, said a KPMG probe into illegal contracts worth millions was the reason the members staged a mass resignation ahead of his formal decision to fire them. Yesterday, a leaked letter purported to be from dissatisfied non-executive board members led by Wonci alleged that the source of their resentment was due to alleged interference by the minister. In a letter dated September 12, the members cited the severity and recurring nature of the negative treatment and hostility they have suffered at the hands of Gungubele. However, the minister…

A group of women, most of them mothers to children as young as a year-old, claim to have been chased away from one of the shelters earmarked for victims of the fire that engulfed Usindiso Building two weeks ago. This comes after a group of former residents of the building, that saw more than 70 people die in the fire, staged a protest and barricaded roads around the area with stones and fire demanding their belongings on Wednesday. It has been previously reported that some of the residents fled the shelters to be close to the building to secure the little that was left of their belongings. When The Star arrived, more than 100 people, most of them women, were scattered on the street demanding to be let inside the…

Happy now? Busi has been sent packing, after having been fingered as being hopeless at her job. It was sad to observe how the majority of MPs voted against her, forgetting that many of them are equally hopeless at what they have been assigned to do. They cast stones against her, while living it up in their own glass houses, paid for by the struggling citizens of this country. Clearly, her appointment was a disaster from day one... unable to breath confidence into her portfolio... she fumbled and faltered. Biblically, all those who cast those stones need to take a long, hard look at themselves as they continue to fail the citizens of this country, with their ineptitude and incompetence. What an irony!!…

THE loss of Malcolm Marx is a massive blow to the Springboks’ ambition to win back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles, but what could be more of a blow is the team possibly not calling up a recognised hooker to replace him. Right now, the Bok coaching staff indicated they will not replace Marx immediately, even after he was ruled out of the tournament yesterday with a knee injury. Based on his current form, Marx is arguably one of the best hookers in the world, and his contribution to the side will be missed immensely. Not only is he a proper scrummaging hooker, but his bullet-like lineout throws create plenty of rolling maul opportunities. And then there is the not-so-small matter of him being the Boks’ best weapon at a defensive…

SAFA need to address the matter of small crowds at Bafana Bafana games as a matter of urgency. Usually, teams are popular drawcards because they win matches, but this has not been the case with the national side. Under the guidance of Belgian coach Hugo Broos, the team are on a nine-match unbeaten run. Broos was rudely surprised on Tuesday when the visiting Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) team had more supporters than Bafana at the Orlando Stadium. After the match, Broos said he and his players felt it was like an away game. He added that the DRC drew great inspiration from their vocal supporters. South Africa’s match-winner Lyle Foster said that Bafana needed the support of the “12th man” to help the team through difficult patches. He appealed…

Ireland captain Johnny Sexton has been named in their team to face Tonga, giving the flyhalf an opportunity to become his nation’s record points scorer in their World Cup Pool B clash at the Stade de le Beaujoire in Nantes tomorrow (kick-off 9pm). Coach Andy Farrell has made changes to the side that smashed Romania 82-8 in their opening game, with World Player of the Year Josh van der Flier and wing Mack Hansen restored to the starting line-up. Conor Murray comes in for James Gibson-Park at scrumhalf, with Ronan Kelleher picked at hooker in place of Rob Herring, while the centre pairing of Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose is left unchanged. “(There’s a) bit of continuity from last week. It’s a different game isn’t it – a different challenge,…

The euphoria that greeted the start of Newcastle United’s season has been replaced by a sense of deflation after three successive Premier League losses has left them 14th in the table. Newcastle’s third league defeat last season did not arrive until March and Eddie Howe’s side ended up fourth to ensure a return to the Champions League for the first time since 2002. When they thrashed visiting Aston Villa 5-1 on the opening day of the season, it seemed the momentum had continued into the new campaign. But defeats by Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion have stopped them in their tracks. Three points from four games is not what was expected after a close season outlay of £140-million on new players, including AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali.…

NEW Zealand need to put in a performance worthy of the occasion in their World Cup clash against Namibia tonight, when Sam Whitelock will play his 148th Test to equal Richie McCaw’s appearance record for the All Blacks, coach Ian Foster said. Whitelock, a World Cup winner in 2011 and 2015, was named in the second row with long-time partner Brodie Retallick in a much-changed team tasked with getting the All Blacks back to winning ways after successive losses to the Springboks and France. “He has been a warrior for this team for a long time and to equal someone like Richie is a massive achievement,” Foster said of the 34-year-old lock who made his Test debut in 2010. “We all know how much it means for him to pull…

Market analyst says that Sibanye-Stillwater ‘has struggled to fix the productivity issues’ SIBANYE-Stillwater extended its gains on the JSE by 8% yesterday despite announcing a restructuring exercise that could catastrophically cull nearly 3 000 jobs under its South African gold operations that have been hit by operational, safety and viability challenges at the Kloof 4 shaft. The diversified precious metals miner extended its run as one of the top performing shares on the JSE yesterday, with its stock closing 7.92% higher at R29.71. Market analyst Martin Rogers said yesterday that Sibanye-Stillwater “has struggled to fix the productivity issues, which was compounded by the August incident which caused significant damage” to the shaft infrastructure. The latest restructuring exercise announced by Sibanye yesterday could affect as many as 2 389…

RETAIL lending had started to slow down as affordability and interest rate pressures started to pile into the pockets of South Africans, FirstRand CEO Alan Pullinger said yesterday, although he highlighted that resurgent corporate replacement activity and infrastructure development would cover up for this. FirstRand yesterday posted a 12% firming in normalised earnings, which amounted to R36.7 billion and yielded a similar rate of growth in annual dividends at 384 cents for the full year to the end of June 2023. However, shares in the company closed 3.18% weaker at R68.80 yesterday on the JSE – where the owner of RMB, WesBank, Aldermore and FNB has a market value of about R384bn. “Mortgages and housing and finance is already starting to slow because it is very interest rate…

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) recently published its Communication 21 of 2023 – Publication of names of employers with arrears contributions. The communication provided the names of 3 262 employers that contravened section 13A of the Pension Funds Act (PFA)which prescribes the way the payment of contributions and other benefits should be made to an employer’s retirement fund. The regulator found that a total of 5 430 employers were in contravention of the PFA as of April 30, 2023. Twenty-eight percent of the employers had contributions outstanding for one month, 24% for two to 12 months, 23% for 13 to 60 months and 25% for 5 or more years. The publication at this stage reflected only those employers who have outstanding contributions for a period of…

THERE is an exam question that parliamentarians all over the world must answer: What are you doing to ensure that local energy resources in the developing world enable the population to access energy for creating jobs and food security so that instability is avoided? The recent coup in Gabon is a symptom of the instability disease that affects resource-rich countries where the population lack access to energy, are unemployed and at risk of food insecurity. The need for additional electricity supplies to address poverty and malnutrition was also highlighted at the recent summit of the BRICS nations. In addition to a donation from China to South Africa of equipment to keep the lights on at hospitals and other public institutions, the countries also discussed collaboration to improve access to affordable…

Sean Penn is fuming over why Will Smith didn’t go to jail for his Oscar assault on Chris Rock – like he did for attacking a movie extra. The Oscar-winning actor and director, 63, raged over Smith, 54, assaulting Rock, 58, at the 2022 Academy Awards while referencing how he was imprisoned for a similar incident, when he punched and spat on an extra who starred with him in the 1988 cop film Colors. He vented in the new issue of Variety magazine: “I don’t know Will Smith. I met him once. He seemed very nice when I met him. He was so f****** good in King Richard. “So why the f*** did you just spit on yourself and everybody else with this stupid f****** thing? “Why did I go…

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed sadness over the loss of almost 8 000 lives collectively and the displacement of thousands more in eastern Libya and Morocco. According to the Presidency, more than 5 000 people have died due to floods associated with Storm Daniel in eastern Libya, while more than 2 000 people died in an earthquake last weekend in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco. Ramaphosa said South Africa shared the pain and loss felt by the people of eastern Libya and Morocco. “These disasters highlight once more the frailty of life when confronted with the forces of nature,” said Ramaphosa. UN secretary-general António Guterres expressed his sadness over the deadly quake that struck Morocco. Guterres stressed that the UN was ready to assist the government in…

Bidders Choice is hosting a sale in execution auction of an exquisite multilevel home in Waterkloof. The auction will take place on-site at 286 Lawley Street on September 27 at 11am. The ground floor of the double-storey home comprises: An entrance hall. A study. A guest toilet. Two formal lounges. A family room. A dining room. A kitchen. A pantry. A scullery. A laundry. Two bedrooms with a bathroom. A large patio. A wine cellar. The first floor comprises: Three bedrooms (main en-suite). A pyjama lounge. A his/hers dressing room. The property also features: A double carport. An attached staff quarters (three rooms). A swimming pool. An entertainment area. A borehole. A manicured garden. Viewing will be on September 20 from 10am to 2pm. For more information, call either 082…

FROM June to October the southern right whales give birth and nurse their calves in protected bays along South Africa’s southern Cape coast. The first aerial survey for the year, on August 28, revealed 556 mothers with calves (1 112 whales) between Hermanus and Witsand. Whale specialist Dr Els Vermeulen from the Mammal Research Institute Whale Unit in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at the University of Pretoria said: “It’s a good year for the southern right, but regrettably the numbers are misleading, and I can guarantee that next year won’t be good because the whales are calving every four to five years instead of every three,” she said. “The breeding females have dropped 23% in body weight since the late 1980s because of a reduction and fluctuation in…

The saga around celebrity doctor Dr Nandipha Magudumana and her notorious Facebook rapist partner Thabo Bester has captured the attention of South Africans and the world. In August, the handcuffed lovebirds, Magudumana and Bester, met in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court for the first time since their arrest four months ago. Media cameras captured the shackled Magudumana looking rather smitten as they smiled at each other and chatted in the court dock. The couple were seated next to each other and were in their own world as they exchanged smiles and lingering looks and were even seen holding hands. To an outsider looking in, the couple looked like reunited lovers, but body language expert and human behavioural analyst Tania Steyn begs to differ. Speaking on Newzroom Afrika, Steyn in her analyses…

Another python, a former Zimbali Estate “resident”, has been introduced to Babanango Game Reserve. On Tuesday, the game reserve said that instead of Camera Trap Tuesday, it was Release of the Month Tuesday. It announced last week that it had welcomed a new member to the family – an African rock python, which came from Zimbali Estate in Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal. “The python was a male, measuring just over three metres. It was initially caught dispersing from Zimbali Estate into an unsuitable area and needed to be relocated,” said the team from Zimbali Estate. “After capturing it and doing the relevant scans, it was found to be unchipped and not a part of Zimbali Estate’s current python research study. In consultation with the relevant experts and conservation authorities, it was decided…

The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has cleared a woman of any wrongdoing after she allegedly drove over a security guard’s foot with her Range Rover during an altercation, while she was looking for her ex-husband at his place of residence. The charges were cleared after the magistrate’s court convicted Marlene van der Westhuizen for assault and trespassing. She was given a suspended sentence, but she successfully appealed her conviction in the high court. On the day of the incident, Van der Westhuizen went to see her ex-husband at Centurion Golf Estate. She did not have an access code but was let in by a guard who let her come through the visitors’ entrance. She drove to her husband’s house, but she could not gain access as his premises were…

Modern humans have lost their ability to connect with their inner true selves. The Earth’s natural sound has been drowned out by man-made noise. The silence that appears now is so foreign that it’s hard to believe that it was present everywhere over 200 years ago. Living with a background of noise in our daily lives means there is always a trace of agitation inside us that is caused by the noise. Not only is the noise outside us problematic, but so is the noise inside us. The chatter in our brains always disturbs the natural silence of our minds, which we are unable to control. This creates problems and uncertainties. The fact that we are not living in the present moment implies that we are stuck thinking about past…

There will be plenty of respect between Molefi Ntseki and protégé John Maduka when they meet at FNB Stadium tomorrow, but the master wants to win the battle for his team. At Bloemfontein Celtic, Ntseki worked under various coaches as an assistant, while one of his ‘mentees’ was club legend Maduka, who was serving as the senior team manager. With the progression of time, Maduka ventured into coaching as he also assumed the club’s hot seat before moving to his current home, Royal AM. Ntseki and Maduka will cross paths for the first time since their days at Bloemfontein at FNB Stadium tomorrow night when Kaizer Chiefs host Royal AM in a key Premiership match. “We have mutual respect for each other because we worked together at Celtic. I was…

LITTLE wonder rugby props are built the way they are, when you hear from France that Ox Nche is munching his favourite chocolate gateaux and Vincent Koch is hooked on freshly-baked baguettes. It can’t be all work and no play for the Springboks in the tourist mecca that is the south of France – the Boks are based in Toulon – and Koch has been sampling the local fare with enthusiasm. “My favourite French food? The baguettes, of course,” Koch said. “For some reason, you don’t pick up too much weight if you have too many. And the crepes are always a good thing to keep the big boys happy.” Koch might be deluding himself about the calorie intake of baguettes, but his eye is on the ball for Sunday’s…

Former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Kabelo Mahlasela expects a flood of goals as his Royal AM side prepares for a difficult away clash against his old team at the FNB Stadium tomorrow (kick-off 5.30pm). For Mahlasela, it’s a return to his old stomping ground and he will relish the opportunity to lead his Royal AM outfit to yet another famous victory in Johannesburg. The two teams have had indifferent starts to the 2023/24 campaign and have more often than not been found wanting at the back while both have started well going forward. Royal AM have scored seven times in their opening five matches of the season, one more than Chiefs in the same period. The two teams will head into this encounter on a high, having secured six valuable points…

SOUTH African champions Mamelodi Sundowns are expected to steam-roll their way past the Burundi minnows Bumamuru FC at the Azam Complex Stadium in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this afternoon. The Bumamuru-Sundowns fixture kicks off the weekend’s CAF Champions League second preliminary round, first leg matches. Bumamuru’s home venue does not meet CAF requirements, and they have opted to move the match to east African neighbours Tanzania. Sundowns, the 2016 champions, arrived in Tanzania yesterday. They are massive favourites going into the match due to their excellent form, which has seen the team win seven of their past eight matches. Coach Rulani Mokwena is likely to field a team of second-stringers because these players are likely to cope better with the burden of travelling to a country around 4 000km away.…

AAFRIFORUM and Solidarity have vowed to continue challenging the race-based laws in relation to the government’s measures in the relief fund set up to ease the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism industry. This comes after the Cabinet approved the Department of Tourism’s request to reduce the requirements for black ownership from 51% to 30% in the qualification criteria for the R1.2 billion Tourism Equity Fund (TEF) yesterday. The department launched the TEF in January 2021 to provide a new financial support mechanism to stimulate investment and transformation in the tourism sector. The two groups, who challenged the implementation of the TEF in court, suggested that it deviated materially from the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, read with the Tourism Code. However, the fund was placed on hold after…

THE CABINET has confirmed that Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana will soon be publishing the guidelines for the proposed budget cuts as the National Treasury looks to austerity measures on the back of rising constraints on the fiscus ahead of the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) on November 1. This comes after leaked reports of Treasury’s circular to all government departments and provinces instructing them to slash budgets by up to 15%, freeze all vacancies and infrastructure roll-out programmes as part of policy of fiscal consolidation. Treasury’s Public Finance Management Office, headed by Dr Mampho Modise, has been consulting extensively about the Cabinet directive compelling government departments to cut down on spending in the face of an economic downturn precipitated by load shedding. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni yesterday…

INCOME arising in a South African trust that is distributed to a beneficiary within the same tax year is treated as the income of the beneficiary, irrespective of their tax residence. Effectively, the trust is disregarded. The current proposal seeks to forgo the regime in the event that the income is awarded to a foreign beneficiary, the rationale being to strike a balance between South African tax resident and non-resident beneficiaries of South African trusts. Current Legal Position As a general principle, any amount of an income nature (that is, dividends, interest, rentals, trading income and so on) that is received by a South African trust and onward distributed to the beneficiaries, regardless of the beneficiaries’ country of residence, in the same tax year will be taxed in the beneficiaries’…

MINING output in South Africa will struggle to recover for the remainder of the year after unexpectedly slipping in July, falling to its lowest level in four months on the back of intensified power cuts and slow global demand. Data from Statistics SA (StatsSA) yesterday showed that mining production plunged by 3.6% from a year ago following an upwardly revised 1.3% rise in June, and defying market expectations of a 0.5% increase. This was the steepest contraction in mining activity since February, with platinum group metals (PGMs), coal and diamonds being the biggest drags on growth. StatsSA’s principal survey statisti- cian, Juan-Pierre Terblanche, said PGMs contracted by 10.4% following robust growth of 11.1% year-on-year in the previous month. Terblanche said coal also fell by 7%, reflecting a deterioration from the…

South African author and social activist Jackie Phamotse’s best-selling controversial Bare series is being adapted for TV. The series tackles important and controversial themes such as sex crimes, slay queens, sugar daddies, money and human trafficking, shedding light on the consequences of pursuing materialism and a lavish lifestyle. Phamotse expressed her excitement on social media about the project. “My dreams are coming true! Seven years of pursuing one thing and tomorrow we announce our biggest project. Literally sitting in my home office in tears,” she tweeted. “In pure disbelief and gratitude. This one is for the BARE nation, you deserve everything you have given me. 8am we announce.” On Wednesday, Phamotse took to her pages to announce the partnership with international film-maker Samad Davis to develop her book series into…

THE City of Tshwane has withdrawn A Re Yeng, and Tshwane Bus Service operations in the wake of what it believes to be a “well co-ordinated criminal attack” on municipal infrastructure. This comes amid calls for SAPS to act swiftly against criminals targeting municipal properties, attested by Wednesday incidents when four municipal vehicles were torched in the Pretoria CBD by striking workers. Workers linked to the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) have been on strike for more than a month, demanding salary increases. On Tuesday, bus operations resumed, although many drivers didn’t pitch for work, resulting in the municipality vowing to take to task those defying a Labour Court ruling declaring the strike unlawful and unprotected. To date, the City has dismissed at least 123 employees for participating in…

The University of Pretoria (UP) has programmes and initiatives in place to ensure that the capabilities of students are not limited if they live with a disability. This is according to visually impaired student Thabang Manamela, 29,, who recently graduated from UP with an LLM in Law and Political Justice. “I am so proud to have received a Master’s degree,” he said, standing outside the Aula with his friends and family during the spring graduation ceremony. “Obtaining this degree was demanding, more so because I registered at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the various phases of lockdown. That made it challenging in terms of accessing the campus and resources, but it was an enriching journey. I worked on the Master’s project, but it also worked on me –…

Estate planning and the drawing up of a will should be an essential part of any financial plan. Although many people may be focused on living in the moment, taking care of and starting their own financial plan, which includes drawing up a will, should be something they take care of as soon as possible. Forty-five percent of people who have not started drawing up a will believe they don’t own enough assets to warrant estate planning, said Moremadi Mabule, Head of Wills Operations at Sanlam Trust. However, every person has some assets, and having a will in place will allow you to ensure those assets can take care of your family and go to the intended beneficiary. Assets are not only the big ticket items such as a house…

PAKISTAN Women fought back from losing the opening two matches to South Africa with an eight-wicket victory yesterday to avoid a series whitewash in the third and final one-day international at the National Stadium in Karachi. Throughout the Proteas’ historic tour to Pakistan, the toss has had a major influence on results. In sub-continent conditions, it is often a no-brainer to bat first after winning the toss and then take full advantage of the batter-friendly conditions – only to expose the opposition to a deteriorated, hard-to-bat-on pitch in the second innings. SA followed the same strategy in the first ODI and won comfortably, but things did not turn out well for Pakistan in the second match after winning the toss and batting first. This time around, it was the Proteas’…

Given Msimango is a marketer’s dream. The newly-acquired Kaizer Chiefs defender is stylish on and off the pitch and is well-versed in public speaking. But there is also another side to the 26-year-old. Msimango – who was signed from TS Galaxy last year after a stellar season with The Rockets, where he personally employed a physical conditioning coach to maintain his fitness – wants to be more than just a footballer who is measured by his defensive work. There is a picture of Msimango on his social media where he is surrounded by smiling young children adoring their hero. The caption reads, “The goal is to inspire as many lives as possible”, which is exactly what he aims to do. “I try to contribute where I can. It is something…

SAMOA have selected 35-year-old Christian Leali’ifano, who scored the most points for Australia at the 2019 World Cup, as flyhalf in their opening Pool D clash against Chile in Bordeaux tomorrow. Samoa are taking advantage of a relaxation in World Rugby’s eligibility rules, which means players who stand down for three years from appearing for one country can then play for another for which they qualify. That means they can also field former All Black Steven Luatua, who starts at No 8, and the versatile Lima Sopoaga as a replacement back. Former Highlanders and Wasps player Sopoaga can play at flyhalf or fullback, and while New Zealand-born, qualifies for Samoa through his family background. Samoa will target Chile, the lowest-ranked team at the tournament, as their most winnable game in…

Jadon Sancho’s Manchester United future was plunged into further doubt yesterday as the club said the winger will train on his own due to a “squad discipline issue”. Sancho was dropped for United’s 3-1 defeat to Arsenal earlier this month for what manager Erik ten Hag deemed poor performances in training. The 23-year-old responded by posting on social media that he had been made “a scapegoat for a long time”. In a statement, United said: “Jadon Sancho will remain on a personal training programme away from the first-team group, pending resolution of a squad discipline issue.” Sancho, who cost United £73-million when he joined from Borussia Dortmund two years ago, has struggled to live up to that price tag at Old Trafford. He has scored 12 goals in 82 appearances…

THE Springboks are changing up for the clash against Romania after winning their first World Cup Pool B clash last weekend. Although the 18-3 victory over Scotland ended up being a comfortable one, South Africa will look to sharpen up in quite a few areas to go up a few gears ahead of the all-important clash against Ireland next weekend. We looked at aspects of their play the Boks will need to be more clinical in when they take on the Romanians in Bordeaux on Sunday (3pm kicoff) ... Completing the tackle puzzle Yes, the Boks are the only team that haven’t conceded any tries in the tournament. But they will look at the 23 missed tackles against the Scots and feel that they could have done better when it…

England’s misfiring attack will soon start scoring tries at the Rugby World Cup, Elliot Daly says. All the points in England’s 27-10 win against Argentina on Saturday came from the boot of flyhalf George Ford and even before that game, they had scored just five tries in their past five games. As England prepare to face Japan in their second Pool D game on Sunday, Daly said he was encouraged by the number of chances the team had created against the Pumas in Marseille, even though none had led to tries. “If we keep getting opportunities we’re definitely going to score some tries,” the centre told the Rugby Union Daily podcast. “I think we are actually creating a lot of opportunities. Especially in that first half, we’ve gone over a…