Queensland Reds torpedoed Western Force’s playoff hopes with a 29-12 upset victory in an all-Australian Super 14 rugby match yesterday.
The Reds bounced back from a troubled season for their third victory of the campaign, scoring three tries against the bumbling, try-less Force.
While the Reds have little chance of reaching the semi-finals, the Perth-based Force were up until recently considered Australia’s best provincial team, yet three successive defeats have them dropping out of contention.
Force skipper Nathan Sharpe lambasted his team’s attitude.
“[They] didn’t turn up mentally and paid the price,” he said, describing the limp performance as their worst of the season.
Queensland, with little to play for but pride, dominated territory and possession in the second half and ground out a determined victory, keeping the Force scoreless in the second half after leading 13-12 at halftime.
The Reds scored after just two minutes through No. 8 Leroy Houston off a driving lineout win and made the game safe with second-half tries to center Morgan Turinui and replacement back Andrew Walker.
Rugby league convert Clinton Schifcofske chipped in with 11 points from a conversion and three penalties, while Wallaby Berrick Barnes landed a penalty.
The Force, who did not score a try for the second straight week, scored all their points through four penalties from fullback Cameron Shepherd. They have now slipped to a 5-5 record.
Queensland were well served by inside halves Barnes and Quade Cooper, who swapped the first receiver role during the game, while veterans John Roe and David Croft were effective in the forwards.
The Force began the season well with two wins in South Africa and a creditable 24-29 loss at home to the six-time champions the Canterbury Crusaders. But they now have just three matches left to press for a semi-final spot after a bye next weekend.
They play at home to the in-form Waikato Chiefs, an away match to the Wellington Hurricanes and a final home game against the ACT Brumbies.
The Reds have a testing match in New Zealand next weekend against the Chiefs.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For