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Ard Matthews Aug's Plonker?

Cape Town - After much debate and head scratching, the Sport24 team have announced their Performers, Plonkers and Pictures of the month for August 2011.

Click HERE to cast your vote - and WIN!

Every month the Sport24 editorial team will announce nominations for a sportsperson or team (people who stole the limelight with a specific performance that month), a plonker (a team or person who has not covered themselves in glory) and a sports photo of the month (the one that makes you go "Ahhh"). You then get a chance to vote for the person, team and picture that best deserves the award...

So without further ado, then, the August nominations are...

PERFORMANCE:

Narrowing down the nominations for the August star of the month proved tricky with several candidates returning performances worthy of recognition.

HEINRICH BRUSSOW
This was probably one of the most deserving man-of-the-match awards in all Springbok Test triumphs: the tenacious little Cheetahs open-sider emerged bloodied and battered from the 18-5 Tri-Nations victory over New Zealand in Port Elizabeth ... but also knowing that he’d played an indispensable, consistently livewire role in the overdue positive outcome for the Boks.

RYAN SANDES
The Cape Town-born endurance icon earned himself another fine landmark when he won the gruelling 2011 Leadville Trail 100 Mile Run in Colorado, United States. In doing so, the SACS product also recorded the third-fastest time in the race’s history. He later described the “insane feeling of euphoria” at triumphing for his country.

OSCAR PISTORIUS
Debate will rage until the cows come home about the legitimacy of the Blade Runner participating in full able-bodied competition, but the gutsy double amputee is only going to grab whatever opportunities he gets – and even his critics may have quietly doffed the caps to his achievement in qualifying for the 400m semi-finals at the IAAF World Championships in South Korea.

BENNI MCCARTHY
Some may still tease him as “Belly” McCarthy and the like, but the burly Orlando Pirates striker marked his debut for Bucs with a goal in the 2-0 triumph over Black Leopards at Peter Mokaba Stadium, which would have gone some way to confirming many critics’ belief that the veteran could yet be a regular poacher in the PSL.

CHARL SCWARTZEL
The exciting young South African golfer’s prowess this year was underlined when it was revealed, after the 2011 Majors-ending PGA Championship this month, that he ended as “aggregate champion” over the four events - meaning that among those golfers who made the cut in all four major championships - the Masters, US Open, British Open and PGA Championship - Schwartzel used the fewest strokes.

PLONKERS:

And in the not so serious plonker category... Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the biggest plonker of them all?

SARU
Multi-pronged plonkerdom this month to the rugby bosses: for things like the daftly small size of the caps given to some members of the RWC squad, those grey suits and brown shoes for the poor fellows, the ongoing delay over the Kings’ Super Rugby status, the decision only to allow access to the Boks to media wherever they are based ... etc!

ARD MATTHEWS
OK, so Ard’s no sportsman of any special repute but the musician was integral to the Boks’ televised squad announcement for the World Cup ... and earned spectacular notoriety for his national anthem brain fart. How could anyone botch the words so emphatically? Even a grovelingly humble apology from SuperSport couldn’t keep themselves and SARU from being called to explain themselves to parliament.

BISMARCK DU PLESSIS
We know a fire burns fiercely in the Bok hooker’s belly, but his angry, head-shaking response to being subbed for RWC captain John Smit in the second half of the Tri-Nations Test against the All Blacks in Port Elizabeth was potentially damaging to squad unity, wasn’t it?

JOHAN MEEUWESEN
The Springboks may have deserved their PE win, but they got off the hook a bit when television match official Meeuwesen, upon being asked if Jimmy Cowan’s “try” was legal, asked referee George Clancy - beyond his conventional jurisdiction - whether he wanted “more information” on the lead-up to the touchdown. Clancy then disallowed the try because of a forward pass. Still, at least a right ruling was ultimately made!

PETER DE VILLIERS
Some lessons just don’t seem to ever get learnt: the Springbok scrum suddenly lost all semblance of stability and pride when the coach decided to shift hooker and captain John Smit back to tighthead with disastrous results late in the Tri-Nations defeat to Australia in Durban. At least it won’t happen at the World Cup now ... or will it?

PHOTOS:

In a bid to deservedly salute the photographers doing the hard graft on the sidelines. Sport24 have put together a gallery of the "Best of the Best" pictures of the month of August. They're guaranteed to leave you speechless. Click HERE to view our selection of the: Best of the best pictures

Reader voting

Readers monthly votes will decide the 12 finalists in each category, and it is from those 12 finalists that Sport24 will decide their Star, Plonker and Picture of the Year in December.
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