Section · Nº 09 of 10
Sport.
Rugby, cricket, football and the emerging South African athletes, codes and stories that don't make the daily back pages.
4 stories in this section
The Factory
Inside South Africa's school rugby machine
The Springboks' three-peat was built in the schools of Pretoria, Paarl, and Port Elizabeth. An investigation into the academies, the bursaries, and the brutal selection process that produces the world's best rugby players — at considerable cost.
Speed Game
The Blitzboks are the most exciting team in world sport
At a moment when rugby union is being accused of becoming slow and formulaic, the South African sevens team plays a version of the game that is pure, anarchic joy. Their coach's philosophy, their training methods, and why they keep winning.
New Racket
The teenager who could end South African tennis's 40-year drought
Lloyd Harris was South Africa's last top-50 player. Now a seventeen-year-old from Soweto, ranked 312th and rising fast, is attracting comparisons to a young Roger Federer — and the investment of two ATP tour veterans.