The Bounce
Doing it for the fans

What happened in the world of sport in June.

WRITTEN BY THE EDITOR ON JULY 02, 2017. POSTED IN SPORTS

June was going to be the month where the Proteas were going to do their fans proud and win an ICC tournament. 1998 was the one and only time they had done it before, so it's fair to say they were due.

So let's start with cricket then shall we...

CRICKET

ICC Champions Trophy

The Proteas went this tournament with a good squad, some good form, and as good a chance as any when you considered there were no real other outright favourites in the tournament.

A solid 96 run win against Sri Lanka saw them get off to a decent start. Then a familiar collapse against Pakistan, coupled with some rain resulted in a D/L defeat.

So it was then onto the India clash, the final one in the pool stages, which was now a must win. Must win - must choke.

sjj

What a disaster. 140/2 became 191 all out. Absolutely disgraceful.

Anyways, India went through and beat Bangladesh in the semis, securing a spot against Pakistan who sort of surprisingly beat England.

Even more surprisingly was that Pakistan then beat India in the final! 

But enough with cricket, it was depressing, and the only other things worth reporting back on were the Aussies player pay dispute, and the South T20 league thingy was officially launched.

 

RUGBY

SuperRugby

The tournament went on it's annual break, but there was a round at the start of the month involving the Australasians. And yet another round where the Crusaders won. So that's 14 from 14 for this unstoppable team this year. 

British and Irish Lions Tour

The rugby highlight was of course the Lions tour of New Zealand, and one that has been rather tough for the visitors. Here's how the results went.

Provincial Barbarians 7-13 B&I Lions

Blues 22-16 B&I Lions

Crusaders 3-12 B&I Lions 

Highlanders 23-22 B&I Lions

Maori All Blacks 10-32 B&I Lions

Chiefs 6-34 B&I Lions

New Zealand 30-15 B&I Lions

Hurricanes 31-31 B&I Lions

Of course the Lions tour with two teams essentially, so perhaps there is no point drawing too much into the mid week games.

It's all about the Tests, and the All Blacks were just so much more superior in that first one.

SA vs France

The Boks had so much to prove in this Test series versus France, and thankfully they came out looking like a decent side again. From the first Test to the last, there was only one team in this, and with that the Boks take great momentum into the Rugby Championships.

1st Test - SA 35-12 France

2nd Test - SA 37-15 France

3rd Test - SA 37-14 France

The highlight of the series was the display by the Boks in Durban for the 2nd Test.

Sadly new Bok skipper Warren Whiteley agrevated a groin injury and is now out for July and most of August. So Eben Etzebeth looks set to have an extended run as Bok captain.

Internationals

Here is a wrap of the other notable results from the international rugby matches that took place in June.

Results via supersport.com

jbn

 

FOOTBALL

Champions League Final

It was the final that was meant to be. Real Madrid, the best club in the tournament, and Juventus the toughest nut to crack with their veteran goal keeper who was looking to end his career on a distinctive high.

It sadly turned out to be very one sided.

ff

Worse still, Sergio Ramos just reminded the world that footballers are mostly just a bunch of cheating manipulative pricks. 

Nedbank Cup Final

SuperSport United 4-1 Orlando Pirates

Pirates had one last chance to try and salvage something from a dreadful season. They met SuperSport United in the final of the Nedbank Cup, but the team that finished just above the relegation zone in the league were no match for the defending champs.

Big ups to SuperSport for the 360 cam, something they will no doubt continue to evolve for their live offerings.

 

GOLF

It was all about the US Open in June, and a very different one it was. Erin Hills was hosting the event for the first time, and though there was talk about the rough being unplayable, the fairways were more than fair by US Open standards.

Rickie Fowler started well with a magnificent 65. As good as it was though, other players were also taking advantage of the generous conditions, with Justin Thomas shooting a 63 in the third round.

Things were looking pretty good going into the Sunday, but early on in round 4, it was very clear that Brooks Koepka was the only winner here.

It will be remembered as the US Open that was perhaps a little 'too easy'. But there were some major names that failed to make the cut: Johnson, Day, McIlroy, Rahm...

 

FORMULA 1

The more the season progresses, the more it is appearing to be an actual contest this time round. Mercedes and Ferrari are battling it out in each race, and in some stages, even coming to blows.

Vettel has had the better of the start of the season, so Hamilton is no doubt doing what he can to catch up. So naturally there was much speculation around this incident in Azerbaijan.

In the actual racing, well neither driver made the podium. 

Ricciardo got the win, but it didn't change much in the overall standings that look like this going into the Austrian Grand Prix.

Standings from supersport.com

hv

Earlier in the month Lewis Hamilton was the winner of the Canadian Grand Prix, getting him back into the title race behind Vettel.

 

OTHER

Athletics

Wayde van Niekerk is on a simply incredible career trajectory. As he quietly becomes the 200m favourite for the World Champs in August, he also managed to beat another Michael Johnson world record in June.

It was the Cavs vs Warriors again in the NBA finals, but unlike last year, this was really one sided with the Warriors taking it.

Rafael Nadal made it an incredible 10 French Open titles by completely blowing away Stan Wawrinka in the final.

The women's event at Roland Garros was more open than ever, and without Serena Williams in the draw, it was Jalena Ostapenko that claimed the title.

That's pretty much it for June action wise, now onto the best from Twitter.

 

From Twitter in June.

Hashim Amla doing Hashim Amla stuff.

Blues beat the Lions

RedTube getting into the game in low level football.

JP Duminy's ODI pedigree comes into the spotlight

The Boks get a new sponsor which ties up a golden cell network rugby tweet.

New Bok sponsor logo wasn't exactly well received though.

Charl Schwartzel doing Charl Schwartzel things.

Huge win for Bafana Bafana as they finally beat Nigeria.

The strangest trophy in rugby.

The Proteas are so bad that even the ICC trolled them during that India loss.

That Proteas choke in more detail.

'That' run out.

It really wasn't Faf's finest match for the Proteas.

Mr Gary Player uses the US Open to continue his feud with Robert Trent Jones Jnr.

The Lions lost another game on tour.

Aussie make a rough start against Brazil.

Baby Boks choked it against England, but one player made a big impact.

McIlroy went into the US Open firing. Then missed the cut.

Waqar Younis having none of the excuses for England losing to Pakistan in #CT17 final.

Rickie Fowler makes history, again fails to win a Major.

Elkington tried to take on Rory, got 3rd degree twitter burns.

Justin Thomas did this in the 3rd round of the US Open.

Perhaps tweet of the month from Peter Crouch.

This would be a close second.

Wayde van Niekerk gets better again, this time in the 100m.

Phil Mickelson parts ways with long time caddy.

This is just awkward.

But not as awkward as this.

Good on Justine though, she totally claimed it.

Jordan Spieth holes a bunker shot and the internet goes wild.

The catch of the year in cricket.

Wayde van Niekerk the fastest over 300m, improving his insane stats.

Want to catch up on what has happened during the previous months of this year, click below.

May

April

March

February

January



Tags: june sports recap, june sports, sports review, proteas choke, real madrid, brooks keopka

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