New South Wales Waratahs consolidated their place in the Super 14 top four with four second-half tries to claim a bonus point in their 26-3 win over South Africa’s Golden Lions yesterday.
The Waratahs rebounded from a dire scoreless first half in the rain to put the Johannesburg Lions away with live wire scrum-half Luke Burgess sparking the home team to their fourth straight win.
The Sydney team moved to joint second place and boosted their confidence for a crucial home game against the Coastal Sharks next Saturday.
But it was turgid going in an opening half stalemate, with both teams unable to post a point in gloomy conditions.
Skipper Phil Waugh finally got the Waratahs on the scoreboard in the 46th minute with a try in the corner after a snappy pass from fly-half Kurtley Beale off a goal-line maul.
Scrum-half Jano Vermaak kicked the Lions’ only points with a penalty goal seven minutes later, but Burgess swiftly changed the complexion of the match with two pieces of quick thinking.
Burgess, a potential Wallaby scrum-half following the retirement of George Gregan, took a quick tap penalty to catch the Lions’ defense off guard.
He passed to lock Dean Mumm who plunged over under the crossbar for a 12-3 lead after 57 minutes.
Burgess struck again a minute later, kicking down field and charging down replacement back Jannie Boshoff’s clearing kick for hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau to score the Waratahs’ third try, converted by Beale.
The Waratahs seized their scoring bonus point when replacement hooker Adam Freier scored off the back of a driving maul nine minutes from time.
The Waratahs have a tough finish to the season with next weekend’s final home match against the Sharks followed by matches in South Africa against the Northern Bulls and Western Stormers before returning home for a derby with the Reds.
The Lions, who remain stranded at the bottom of the standings, stay in Australia for their game against the ACT Brumbies on Friday.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS