Just Plain Sport 🎙️

🎙️"The Home of Legends and Heroes" 🏆🏉🎾🥊🏏🏅🏀⛳️⚾️🏁

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🎂 HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIAAN STRAUSS | THE BOK WHO WON THE WORLD CUP IN GOLD, NOT GREEN 🏉

Picture the scene. It is 1995. South Africa is weeks away from hosting a Rugby World Cup — the one that will become the most celebrated moment in the country’s sporting history. Tiaan Strauss has captained the Springboks.

He has led them at Carisbrook in Dunedin, one of the toughest grounds in world rugby. He has given a decade of his life to Western Province, playing a record number of matches in green and red. And then the squad list comes out. His name is not on it.

Happy Birthday, Tiaan Strauss. Yours is one of the strangest and most compelling stories South African rugby has ever produced...

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/OeT7afDC4W

#JustPlainSport #TiaanStrauss #Rugby #happybirthday

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🇿🇦 SA RUGBY'S BILLION-RAND CONVEYOR BELT IS MAKING OTHER COUNTRIES GREAT 🇮🇪🏉

Josh Neill pulled on an Ireland jersey in Tbilisi on Saturday and started at blindside flanker for Ireland Under-20 against England at the World Rugby Junior World Championship.

He was good enough to be Player of the Tournament at the U18 Craven Week for Western Province. He represented South Africa at Under-18 level in 2024 and 2025. He is 19 years old, and he is gone.

Not gone to a rival South African province. Not gone to a URC franchise. Gone to Leinster. Gone to Ireland. And on Saturday, gone to Tbilisi wearing green — a different shade of it.

Neill is not an anomaly. He is a pattern.

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/Gu05y7mMcu

#JustPlainSport #JoshNeill #SArugby

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🇿🇦 JUNIOR SPRINGBOKS GOES SCORCHED EARTH ON URUGUAY 🔥🔥🔥

The defending champions have arrived. And they've arrived with a message that leaves nothing open to interpretation.

The Junior Springboks opened their 2026 World Rugby U20 Championship campaign in Tbilisi, Georgia on Saturday with a 104-7 demolition of Uruguay — 16 tries, a penalty try, and a half-time scoreline of 50-0 that told you everything you needed to know about the gap between these two sides before the second half had even begun.

This is what a title defence looks like when you mean it.

Coach Kevin Foote's squad came into the tournament carrying real absences. Regular captain Riley Norton and flyhalf Vusi Moyo were called up to the senior Springbok squad before the tournament began. First-choice flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed is suspended. Three significant players, gone before a ball was kicked in Georgia. Most teams at a World Championship would feel that. Most teams would show it.

The Junior Boks didn't flinch.

Markus Müller opened the account after just seven minutes, slicing through the Uruguayan defence to set the tone. Jordan Steenkamp followed four minutes later as the Junior Boks launched a counter-attack from deep, and the penalty try came shortly after when Uruguay collapsed a driving maul they had no answer for. Inside 16 minutes, it was 21-0, and the avalanche hadn't even gathered full momentum yet.

By the time the half-time whistle went, Risima Khosa, Ethan Adams, and Khuthadzo Rasivhaga had all added their names to the scoresheet — Rasivhaga grabbing a brace before the break — and South Africa were sitting at 50 unanswered points. Uruguay, newly promoted to this level of competition, were already in survival mode.

The second half was more of the same, except the replacements came on and kept the scoreboard moving without missing a beat. Khosa completed his hat-trick. Steenkamp completed his. Jayden Brits crossed twice off the bench. Cheswill Jooste, Siphosethu Mnebelele, and Gert Kemp all got on the board. Akahlulwa Boqwana slotted six conversions after coming on, giving the backups a conversion tally that would have satisfied most starting tens.

Uruguay's only reward for 80 minutes of endurance came right at the death, when replacement prop Sebastián Dalmao Rivero crossed the line and Juan Francisco Pereira added the conversion to make it 104-7. It was a consolation in the truest sense of the word.

JAY | JPS SAYS: "The scoreline will grab the headlines, and it should. But the real story here is what this performance says about the depth Kevin Foote has built. Norton, Moyo, Ahmed — three key players missing — and South Africa still put 104 on the board. That's not a squad with a few good players. That's a system."

The result also carries historical weight beyond the occasion itself. This was the Junior Boks' seventh consecutive win at the tournament, equalling their best-ever winning run — a streak that spans back to the 2012 and 2013 editions. The 2025 title was claimed on Italian soil. The 2026 defence has now started with the kind of statement that travels through group stage WhatsApp threads and coaching staff video sessions alike.

Georgia await on 2 July, with Wales to follow on 7 July to close out pool action. The knockout rounds are scheduled for 12 and 13 July, with the final on 18 July.

Every team in Georgia now knows what's coming.

The Junior Springboks aren't here to participate. They're here to retain!

#JUSTPLAINSPORT #SARUGBY #SouthAfrica #RSAvURU #RUGBY

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🇿🇦 HAPPY BIRTHDAY DALE STEYN | THE FASTEST GUN PHALABORWA EVER PRODUCED 🎂

Dale Steyn turns 43 today, born on this same date in 1983 in Phalaborwa, a small mining town on the edge of the Kruger National Park in Limpopo. And the full arc of his story — from that dusty northern outpost to the top of the world for an unmatched 263 consecutive weeks — deserves to be told properly.

Happy Birthday, Dale Steyn. From all of us at Just Plain Sport — the Steyn Gun may have been put away, but no one who watched you bowl will ever forget the sound it made. 🎂🏏

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/jYHKLztGcN

#JustPlainSport #DaleSteyn #cricket #happybirthday

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

The @WNBA would all have been losers still and flying COACH!! if it wasn’t for @CailtinClark2!
Go @IndianaFever

[Brett L. Tolman @tolmanbrett]

Worth the read.

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

The refereeing was pretty atrocious! It’s so obvious they are all against Caitlin Clarke! They should all be fired!

[Matt Couch @RealMattCouch]

This is insane… the WNBA left the biggest name in their sport, Caitlin Clark off the 30 year anniversary poster.. yet put Angel Reese and others on it..

They have to rent out bigger arenas at away game cities because of Caitlin.. it’s like they want to destroy themselves..

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🇿🇦 THE MOST IMPORTANT THING PAT LAMBIE EVER WORE 🏉

“The most important thing you will ever wear is your attitude.”

It is the kind of line that can slide past you if you encounter it without context. Motivational. Neat. Easy to repost, easy to scroll past. But set it against the actual arc of Patrick Jonathan Lambie’s life in rugby, and it stops being a poster quote entirely.

✍️ JAY | JPS SAYS: “What strikes me about Pat Lambie is that the attitude was never performance. It wasn’t manufactured for cameras or press conferences. It was just who he was...”

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/WIL2Yco7JA

#JustPlainSport #PatLambie #Springboks #Rugby

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🇿🇦 THE SOUTH AFRICAN SWIMMING SQUAD FOR THE 2026 COMMONWEALTH GAMES 🏊

Congratulations to all our swimmers representing South Africa at the Commonwealth Games.

Twenty-five swimmers will represent South Africa in Swimming and Para Swimming at Glasgow 2026, and this is a South African Swimming Squad built on depth as much as it is on star power.

This is what South African swimming looks like right now: proven performers who’ve been here before, mixed with swimmers hungry enough to make their own mark. It’s a combination that works.

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/kKgFE4TyBf

#JustPlainSport #SASwimming #CommonwealthGames

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

CURWIN BOSCH TURNS 29 🇿🇦 THE TALENTED FLY-HALF WHO NEVER QUITE GOT HIS CHANCE 🎂

Happy 29th Birthday, Curwin. You came closest to greatness when there was still time to reach it — and that, perhaps, is the truest measure of what you have given the game...

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/7TJGjr99PY

#JustPlainSport #CurwinBosch #HappyBirthday

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🏉 FAF DE KLERK TO CAPTAIN THE BARBARIANS AGAINST WALES 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

A week after coming off the Springbok bench in Port Elizabeth, Faf de Klerk has been handed the captain’s armband for the Barbarians.

The scrum-half will lead one of rugby’s most storied invitational sides when they face Wales this Saturday at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham—a role that carries genuine weight in the sport’s calendar, even outside Test rugby.

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/t834dynYHs

#JustPlainSport #FafDeKlerk #Rugby #barbariansrugby

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🥇 BEVIN REYNOLDS CLAIMS WORLD FREEDIVING TITLE IN BUDAPEST 🌊

Most people have never heard of freediving. Fewer still know that South Africa has just crowned a world champion in the sport.

But that’s exactly what happened in Budapest two weeks ago when Bevin Reynolds claimed the overall women’s title at the World Apnea 2026 Pool Championships, rewriting the continental record books in the process.

This wasn’t a coronation. It was a comeback. Reynolds entered the final day of competition trailing by 6.6 points. Then she swam 256 metres in a single breath—a new African record in Dynamic Apnea—and won by over twenty points.

The margin tells you everything about the calibre of her performance and the completeness of her breakthrough.

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/ip7RwnmNIj

#JustPlainSport #BevinReynolds #freediving

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

@CaitlinClark22 is on fire again this season! 🔥🔥

[Indiana Fever @IndianaFever]

Caitlin Clark over the last six games 😈

32 PTS, 10 AST & 7 REB
25 PTS, 5 AST & 3 REB
21 PTS, 14 AST & 5 REB
26 PTS, 7 AST & 2 REB
26 PTS, 7 AST & 3 REB
24 PTS, 9 AST & 3 REB

most consecutive 20+ point & 5+ assist games (and more 😏) in WNBA history.

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🇿🇦 SIX NEW NAMES IN RASSIE’S 2026 NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP SQUAD ANNOUNCED 🏉

Rassie Erasmus did not stumble upon six uncapped players on Saturday night. He built toward them, methodically, across months of alignment camps, warm-up fixtures, and careful observation.

When he named his 46-man Nations Championship squad following the Springboks' 80-31 demolition of the Barbarians in Gqeberha, the six new faces in that list were not surprises. They were the point.

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/bVyn816ccb

#JustPlainSport #Springboks #nationschampionship2026

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🇿🇦 CONGRATULATIONS PROTEAS WOMEN! 🏆

India set 158 to chase at Old Trafford, and this Proteas Women side answered with composure, depth, and belief from top to bottom of the order at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2026 🏏

161/4. Six wickets in hand. Job done, with overs to spare.

This is what a team built for the big moments looks like — every player buying into the same fight, the same belief, the same standard 🔥

#JustPlainSport #TheProteas #T20WorldCup 🇿🇦

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🥊CAN’T WAIT!! 💥
🇿🇦 Dricus Du Plessis vs Usman #IFC

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

The SPRINGBOKS take a demanding 80-31 WIN that sets the tone for an exciting season to come 🇿🇦🏉 WELL DONE BOKKE!

#GoBokke #ForeverGreenForeverGold #springboks #rugby #JustPlainSport

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

WOW!! Well deserved @SA_Hockey

[SA Hockey @SA_Hockey]

SOLD OUT!

Thank you South Africa. Your support for the FIH Hockey Nations Cup has been #MoreThanHockey. There are NO tickets at the gate, if you dont have one, please stay home and watch on https://t.co/p7Pq0pMJBh or on the SABC+ App

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

A rock solid performance by SA 'A' against Zimbabwe 🇿🇦🏉

#ForeverGreenForeverGold

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

🇿🇦 AIMEE CANNY SHATTERS TWO SOUTH AFRICAN RECORDS IN ONE NIGHT IN INDIANAPOLIS 🌊

Aimee Canny touched the wall in Indianapolis on Wednesday morning and looked up at a time she already knew by heart. 1:56.59. Her own African record in the 200m freestyle, broken for the third time, the second time in two months alone.

It barely registered as news anymore. What she did with it that evening did.

Hours later, with that brand new record still hers to defend in the final, Canny scratched the race. She walked away from an event she had just claimed the right to dominate, choosing instead to chase a different kind of history in the 200m individual medley...

🎙️ FULL STORY: https://t.co/7a58dxstA2

#JustPlainSport #AimeeCanny #Swimming

[Just Plain Sport 🎙️ @JustPlainX]

👕 SORRY BULLE 😢
#URCfinal #LEIvBUL