Ireland's hopes of putting their World Cup nightmare finally behind them suffered a setback on Saturday when they stumbled to a 16-11 victory over Italy in their Six Nations opener.
Both sides scored a try apiece -- Girvan Dempsey for the Irish and Italian captain Sergio Parisse -- but it was thanks to Ronan O'Gara's 11 points that the hosts eked out a barely deserved win with virtually the same team that destroyed the same opponents 51-24 in last season's Six Nations.
The first half of the game, which was preceded by a minute's silence in honor of the father of Italian prop Carlos Nieto who died during the week, was a flat affair.
However, O'Gara eventually put the hosts on the board as he slotted over a penalty in the 11th minute, much to the relief of the Croke Park crowd.
Ireland could well have grabbed the opening try in the 15th minute had Geordan Murphy not spoilt his excellent catch out on the left wing by then passing the ball behind Dempsey, who had a clear run to the line.
Nevertheless Dempsey did cross the tryline three minutes later after a superbly worked try.
O'Gara chipped over the Italian defense, Andrew Trimble caught it and unselfishly passed inside to the Leinster full-back, who touched down.
By the end of the half, and despite having been reduced to 14 men after lock Santiago Dellape was sin-binned, a penalty by David Bortolussi saw Italy go in only 10-3 down.
After man of the match Eoin Reddan's pass had been deliberately knocked forward by an Italian defender, O'Gara added a penalty to make it 13-3.
The Italians, though, were not cowed and with an hour gone pulled to within five points as Parisse was credited with a try after much deliberation.
The lead was reduced to five points with 10 minutes left as Bortolussi converted an easy penalty.
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
India’s chess star Gukesh Dommaraju returned to a hero’s welcome in his home city yesterday after becoming the youngest world champion aged only 18. Hundreds of fans crowded the arrivals area of Chennai International Airport, cheering alongside banks of television cameras as Gukesh made his way out of the airport after victory in taking the World Chess Championship title. “It means a lot to bring back the trophy to India,” Gukesh told reporters, with garlands of flowers draped around his neck, brandishing the glittering trophy in his hand. “I can see the support and what it means to India, I
Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju became the youngest chess world champion on Thursday after beating the defending champion Ding Liren of China in the final match of their series in Singapore. Dommaraju, 18, secured 7.5 points against 6.5 of his Chinese rival in the contest, surpassing the achievement of Russia’s Garry Kasparov, who won the title at the age of 22. The Indian teen prodigy has long been considered a rising star in the chess world after he became a chess grandmaster at 12. He had entered the match as the youngest-ever challenger to the world crown after winning the Candidates tournament earlier
China yesterday jailed former English Premier League star and China men’s national coach Li Tie for 20 years for bribery, snaring one of the country’s greatest soccer figures in a sweeping government crackdown on corruption in sport. Chinese President Xi Jinping has waged an unrelenting campaign against deep-seated official corruption since coming to power more than a decade ago. Anti-graft authorities took aim at the sport industry in 2022 and have announced a string of convictions for former soccer administrators this week. In the highest-profile case to date, a court in Hubei Province yesterday said that Li had been sentenced to “fixed-term imprisonment
RSS