Yas Marina from the air - Photo fatboyke CCANC
Fourie du Preez is 27 years old. He’s a scrum-half for the Blue Bulls and the Springboks, and on Saturday he became the current holder of every meaningful title he could win in rugby. At club level, the Bulls have won this year’s Super 14 with a thumping 61-17 victory of the Chiefs, and this weekend they followed that with a 36-24 triumph over the Cheetahs in the Currie Cup. In international rugby, du Preez was part of the South Africa team to dominate the Tri-Nations tournament and the home series against the Lions. Add that to the fact that he was on the winning World Cup side, and he has the full compliment of trophies.
He is also a favourite to be the IRB International Player of the Year, which would surely be the cherry on top - and it would be well deserved too - in Saturday’s final the three tries the Bulls scored were all the fruit of a moment of inspiration from du Preez in the build-up. The test from here will be to see how a 27 year old who has achieved everything there is to achieve in the game can retain his motivation to scale such heights.
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Formula One is done, for this year
It’s been quite a year for Formula One, and despite the title race being determined before the final Grand Prix of the year there was plenty to enjoy about the final race in Abu Dhabi. For one, the setting and track is fabulous, and to get to grips with the Yas Marina circuit was an event in itself. For another, it gave us a taste of the year ahead. Lewis Hamilton may have had to retire early, but come 2010 one suspects that McLaren will not repeat the errors of 2009, and that their car will be on the pace immediately. Ferrari’s lack of contention in the final races did not go unnoticed, but they are already working on their 2010 car, and will be back stronger, and that will see the return of Fernando Alonso to contention at the front. Depending on the results of the great seat race in Formula One, we may well see four world champions in four different cars, with a hungry Sebastian Vettel in the race for good measure.
The sport has had its fair share of scandal this year, and it would be foolish not to anticipate any more in the future, but the one thing that 2009 gave us was a season we could never have predicted when it began in March, with a host of different winners and spells where every team had moments of great strength and whimpering weakness. 2010 should be quite a season for the sport.
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Got it all to do
England have flown out for the start of their winter tour of South Africa, and it promises to be a very interesting series indeed. The word since England’s scrappy victory against Australia has been consistently stressing the need to build on the summer’s success, to see that as the start rather the end of the team’s triumph. The sentiment is earnest, though it has scarcely been reinforced by the 6 consecutive ODI defeats against Australia immediately thereafter.
The challenge England face now is tougher still - South Africa are a serious proposition at home, and have a settled, balance and talented side. Flower and Strauss both possess the level-headed, pragmatic approach that England will need to use to make a success of the tour and the rest of the series, but they’ll need to instill it in the rest of the team, and how well the team responds will really be a measure of the direction the national side will head between now and the next time the Ashes come to England in 2013.
