24th October 1999
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S. Africa look to avenge Twickenham defeat
World Cup hots up
PARIS - Holders South Africa clash with England in the World Cup quarter-finals today (Sunday) looking to avenge a defeat which stopped them from earning a special place in the history of the game.
England's 13-7 victory over the Springboks at Twickenham last December stopped the Springboks from setting a world record of 18 consecutive Test victories.
It also began a disappointing run for the Springboks this year in which a defeat to Wales in Cardiff was followed by losses in the Tri-Nations tournament to Australia and New Zealand.
These were hardly the best omens for the World Cup, but the Springboks believe they are over the worst and regaining their best form fast.
"People were working us out, finding ways to beat us," winger Pieter Rossouw said.
"We had lots of injuries to key players and we had to bring in inexperienced players who were not ready for the top level yet."
Rossouw believes the French crowd will get behind the South Africans and the Stade de France atmosphere should help the Springboks concentrate after group games against Spain and Uruguay in front of sparse crowds.
South Africa have had only one tough match so far, their
group decider against Scotland which they won 46-29 on October 3. England, by contrast, had to play off against Fiji, winning 45-24 on Wednesday, but this could give them the competitive edge.
England coach Clive Woodward said he thought it was unfair that not all the quarter-finalists had had the same amount of time to rest from their previous games.
But, with a victory over the Springboks behind him, he said: "I'm not intimidated. The last time we played them we beat them and stopped them setting a new world record for a winning streak."
South African coach Nick Mallett had a selection problem this week with the 21-day suspension of centre Brendan Venter who was sent off for stamping against Uruguay.
Mallett looks set to name Pieter Muller in his place, having prepared the side with the Natal player in the inside centre position all week.
Jannie De Beer also looks like keeping the flyhalf role while Henry Honiball will probably return from injury to start on the bench.
"It's disruptive to the team to suddenly put a guy there who hasn't played for a while, however good he is," Mallett said.
"There might be an opportunity to get him on during the game." Mallett said he will let de Beer play his style of game."You can't make Jannie a flatball player. He's got to play a lot more like Andrew Mehrtens does for New Zealand. We've got to dominate among the forwards and he's got to try to turn the English pack around," Mallett said.
For England, Matt Dawson should come back at scrumhalf in place of Austin Healey, who played against the Fijians.
Dawson was scrumhalf in the side that beat the Springboks in December and also played a key role in the British Lions' series defeat of South Africa in 1997.
Another change in the backs should see Phil de Glanville come back in place of Mike Catt at inside centre.
Both England's first choice wings Healey, who has a sore back, and Dan Luger, with a groin strain, are doubtful. In the pack, Richard Hill is expected to return in place of Joe Worsley.
EDINBURGH - New Zealand coach John Hart is expecting Scotland to test the All Blacks up front in their World Cup quarter-final at Murrayfield today. (Sunday)
"Scotland have a pack that can play very well. Against Samoa I thought that the body positions of the Scots forwards was as good as I've seen in the competition," Hart said.
"I have a huge respect for (Scottish coaches) Jim Telfer and Ian McGeechan. They've made their mark on the world stage as great coaches.
"There is a lot of affinity between the Scots and the New Zealanders.We both play the game with passion and pride."
But on one matter Hart is at odds with Telfer. Namely in Telfer's assertion that taking part in the quarter-final playoffs could work out to be an advantage.
While New Zealand had a rest after the group matches, Scotland had to beat Samoa in the playoffs in midweek.
"Any team that has to play three Tests in eight or nine days is disadvantaged. I was concerned about the structure of the competition," he said.
"If Jim Telfer thinks that going through the playoffs is an advantage then he sees things differently from me. It's true that our test side hasn't played for two weeks but I consider training to be just as important as matches," added Hart.
The New Zealand coach is optimistic that the All Black pack, although not massive by past standards, will dominate. "Against England our forwards showed that they could step up a gear," he said. "Set piece attacks are very different in the modern game so you have to have a range of options. It is more about creating continuity of phases. England did not have the variety of attack. They only once looked like scoring." The same New Zealand side that ran out winners against England at Twickenham two weeks ago will be on duty today.
The only finalising to be done will be in the replacements where the All Blacks have named as their substitute lock both Ian Jones and Royce Willis. "It will depend on the weather. Each offers different options depending on whether it is wet or dry," Hart said.
"Ian Jones is much better in dry conditions whereas we think that Royce Willis would be better in the wet. Hart also confirmed that worries over winger Jonah Lomu have evaporated following an upset stomach. (Reuters)
IBSF help for Chaminda
In the sports field of developing countries like Sri Lanka, many stars are born but rarely is their talent or potential noticed. And sadly, the number who make their mark is much less than the number who vanish into the dark.
The cause, the reason for this can be summarized in a few words: lack of recognition and funding for development of sports. Many athletes have to abandon their hopes of ever attaining even national recognition for their abilities because there is no one to support them to reach their potential.
Therefore, the precious assistance and consideration shown by IBSF Sri Lanka Office to offer a helping hand to a rising athlete who needed support becomes all the more noteworthy and deserving of appreciation.
Who is this athlete? He is Harsha Chaminda Baddewithana, a Wushu (Chinese Martial Arts) athelete who has been specializing in this new international sport for over 14 years of his life. Chaminda, who started his Wushu career under Sifu Prasanna Jayaweera in 1985, is now studying a Special Advanced Wushu Course at the Beijing University of Physical Education in China since 1994, under a scholarship granted by the People's Republic of China after seeing his special talent in Wushu.
Chaminda has represented Sri Lanka in a number of international Wushu competitions and has won many medals and prizes on behalf of the country. As a student, Chaminda faced grave difficulties in order to be able to collect money to take him to international competitions around the world. Unfortunately, he has been offered no help at all towards these outstanding achievements so far. The lack of funding has become an everpresent hindrance to this athlete.
It shows the dark reality of the lives of today's athletes in Sri Lanka. There has been not even a word of help from the government or an organization - to an athlete who has reached international standard by his own hard work - while a handful of sports like cricket end up being drowned in contributions and publicity.
IBSF Sri Lanka and its General Manager, Mr. Gerard Fernando managed to change the face of the whole situation when they stepped in to take the load off this athlete who has brought so much glory to Sri Lanka by his own strength.
They decided to support the sports sector of Sri Lanka, especially the sports which are not much given prominence and are neglected by most sponsors. They chose to sponsor Chaminda to participate in the Fifth World Wushu Championship to be held in Hong Kong, from the Sri Lanka team, after considering his tremendous talent, potential, and past achievements, in the World Wushu circuit.
What is IBSF? It is the International Building Systems Factory Co.Ltd. whose head office and factory is situated in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. IBSF was established in 1990 as a pre-engineered steel building manufacturer.
At present they command 43% of the pre-engineered building market, worldwide, and export their products to Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Southeast Asia. They are also an ISO9001 certified company and manufacture the buildings to American Standard.
Since IBSF moved into Sri Lanka in 1995, they have managed to sell over 3 million square feet within the last 4 years and command 55% market share in Sri Lanka.
They have completed successfully some of the advanced technology manufacturing plants in the garment industrial sector and the industrial sector, giving State of the Art Technology to the foreign investors, to carry out their production facilities.
IBSF Sri Lanka has made history with this offer to help young Chaminda. IBSF is the first company who has ever sponsored a Wushu athlete in Sri Lanka, a well-deserving tribute to an athlete who has brought a lot of 'first successes' to Sri Lanka: by being the first National Champion, the first Sri Lankan participant in World Wushu Championship (Rome, Italy, 1997) the first Sri Lankan prize-winner (Exhibition Excellence Prize, Shaolin, 1997) and the first international medallist (Silver Medal, Qingdao, 1998.
Lal-a stickler for fair play
By Ravi Nagahawatte
The recent death of Lal Kumarasinghe, the first president of the Sri Lanka Rugby Football Union's School Section, has left most of the people who knew him wondering why this 'man mountain' could not beat death, as his demise came so suddenly. As for the people who worked closely with him Lal was a man full of fight, honest to his finger tips and never backed out of any tough situation.
Death as in most cases however was too much to handle for Lal, as a severe heart attack suffered on October 15 shortened his life to a few hours. He died the next day at the age of 59.
He worked with many people and was involved in both sports and studies. But if there is one man who knew Lal best it was his secretary, M.S.Zainudeen, the man who was considered to be his right hand. When Lal was first appointed as president along with Zainudeen as the secretary of the SLRFU's School Section in 1984, he probably knew he was in the company of a man in whom he could find a staunch ally for many years.
The pair worked in harmony for nine long years.
"He was an unassuming character. A man who knew his onions," was how Zainudeen, now the administrative secretary of the SLRFU, described Kumarasinghe in an interview with "The Sunday Times". The two possessed characters of contrasting styles. Zainu' , soft spoken, non-aggressive and Lal a no-nonsense man who would stop at nothing to see justice and fairplay prevail.
Lal had his education in three schools ,S.Thomas' Bandarawela , S.Thomas' Gurutalawa and finally ended up in S.Thomas' Mount Lavinia where he represented the school at first fifteen rugby. Later he joined the school's staff and was involved in the administration of the game. Though Lal was involved in rugby and cricket as the master in charge, it was his commitment in the sport of rugby which put him in the limelight as an effective administrator. He eventually became the key person when it came to running of tournaments . He was an expert in making the format of schools tournaments, arranging the draw and the updating of the points table. He was simply a master at it . Not surprising for a man who was the mathematics teacher of the school he taught at. But despite his honesty and the services he tirelessly rendered to the school's section there were people who doubted his integrity. There were even people who had an animosity towards him says Zainudeen.
"Some thought that there was favouritism when it came to the draw of most tournaments . But he never even dreamed of cheating . He was downright honest . That's what pulled him through tough situations," said Zainudeen. Lal always had a vision of the things he planned to do. He initiated a program to take rugby to the rural areas and did so by appointing B.K.Ramachandran and Kamal Jayawardana as coaches . He was happy as a lark when he saw schools from Wattala ,Negombo and Chilaw participating for the first time in the All Island Tournament .
He also knew that the players involved in the game came from all walks of life. This thought led Kumarasinghe to initiate a program to get the laws of rugby translated into Sinhalese.
Zainudeen remembers his former 'boss' coming to the ground as early as six in the morning . Punctuality had been a factor that had been built into him . "He was generally in charge of the recorders table . And he was always willing to meet demands even if it meant that he had to do a task which was the work of a labourer.
"Once he and I took up the job of marking the lines on the ground to create four equal grounds in an Under 13 tournament . All the matches were easily accommodated".
The smooth way he administered the schools' section of the SLRFU saw him unanimously being elected as president when it came to the Annual General Meeting . "There was never an election for the presidency . He was always the automatic choice".
Zainu and Lal were a strong combination . But there had been times when the two had different opinions on certain issues . However according to Zainudeen they were all healthy arguments . "We had a way of ironing out differences before the day ended".
Lal had the honour of introducing the Under 15 Eleven-aside Tournament into the school rugby calendar.
It was his brainchild and he insisted that all schoolboys played barefoot. The reason Lal gave for insisting on such a formality was that he did not want a player to outgrow his boots at this stage of his career. "This is an age where ones feet grow really fast. The money spent on boots would be wasted as the player would not be able to wear them after a year or two" was what Lal had told the people who had inquired why ruggerites taking part in the Under 15 tournament were not encouraged to wear boots, Zainudeen recalls. Another strong point in him had been his memory . "He had bundles of information stored in his head and had tapped his memory whenever he had to substantiate an argument . "He would beat me by leaps and bounds when it came to remembering things," says his former secretary.
There had hardly been a day when Lal was found being gloomy. He had generally been a humourous person with his jokes being enjoyed both by officials and spectators alike. But it is reported that he had been very sad when the education ministry took the schools' section away from the mother union in 1993.
Lal had probably had the same feeling that a child would have had if it was taken away from the mother. "His saddest day was when the schools' section of the SLRFU ceased to exist," recounts Zainudeen.
"The general saying is that no one is indispensable . But his meticulous ways of running tournaments will be felt now . There probably will be no one who will contribute to the sport so selflessly . His demise is an irreparable loss to the SLRFU," concluded Zainudeen .
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