Manuel Loffreda may have swapped Pumas for Tigers but he still came back to haunt former England coach Andy Robinson on Saturday as the Argentinian coach saw his Leicester Tigers wallop Edinburgh 39-0 in their European Cup clash.
Just over a year ago, Loffreda and Argentina's first ever victory at Twickenham over England heralded the end of Robinson's turbulent term as coach of the then World champions. While Robinson's current job is probably safe, this defeat in all likelihood ends Edinburgh's hopes of further progress in the competition.
With Irish giants Leinster and three-time champions Toulouse -- who were to tackle each other yesterday -- also in their pool, the Scottish side can expect little mercy.
Chief destroyer for the Tigers was former England flyhalf Andy Goode. Bearing a mutton chop moustache of Victorian proportions, Goode contributed 19 points -- including a try -- to become the Tigers' all-time leading scorer in all competitions.
The Scottish side hardly did themselves any favors as they had two players sinbinned within minutes of each other. Lock Craig Hamilton went off first, only to be followed by experienced prop Allan Jacobsen. It was hardly the way Jacobsen would have wanted to mark his club-record 43rd appearance in the competition.
There was a more positive landmark for inspirational Irish fullback Geordan Murphy, who cast aside his bizarre World Cup -- in which he was treated like a yo-yo by Eddie O'Sullivan, being considered not good enough to make the 22 for the France match but then thrown into the starting line-up for the final clash with Argentina.
Murphy was at his wizardlike best for the Tigers and scored one of their tries to equal Leon Lloyd's club-record 19 tries in the European Cup.
Elsewhere there were narrow wins for two French sides as Perpignan labored to a 29-17 win over Italian outfit Treviso in Italy and Biarritz squeaked past Saracens 22-21 in France.
Despite Perpignan's unimpresssive display they still secured what could be an invaluable bonus point as replacement hooker Mickael Ladhuie touched down in the third minute of time added on. But they will have to perform much better when they travel to take on London Irish -- who trounced Newport-Gwent 45-17 with veteran Mike Catt grabbing one of their six tries -- on Dec. 9.
Biarritz were outscored three tries to one but 17 points from the boot of Dmitri Yachvili, including the winning penalty two minutes into stoppage time, decided the match.
Saracens' fellow English side Harlequins looked to be cruising to victory over Cardiff with England flanker Nick Easter scoring a try late in the first half to give them a 10-3 lead at the break.
However, Cardiff came back superbly to force a 13-13 draw and even led briefly thanks to Jason Spice's try early in the second half.
It was a rare moment of joy for the Welsh, which ended when title-holders Wasps beat Llanelli 33-17 in Wales with Daniel Cipriani contributing 13 points, including a try.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS