Leaders Canterbury Crusaders and Coastal Sharks will be under extra scrutiny this weekend about how they react to last week’s first defeats in rugby’s Super 14 series.
The moody Auckland Blues are bracing for a backlash from the chastened Crusaders, whose unbeaten eight-match record was unceremoniously ended by the Waikato Chiefs in Hamilton.
Across the Tasman, South Africa’s Sharks paid dearly for a breakdown in discipline, giving up a halftime lead to go down 27-21 to the ACT Brumbies in Canberra.
Week 11 of the southern hemisphere provincial tournament is all about redemption, with the Crusaders hosting fierce Kiwi rivals Auckland today and the Sharks facing a testing encounter with the third-placed New South Wales Waratahs in Sydney tomorrow.
Just four rounds remain before next month’s top-four play-offs and the Western Stormers, Chiefs, Wellington Hurricanes and Blues all face must-win games to keep in the semi-final race.
Six-time champions the Crusaders are six points clear of the Sharks and have had a week to mull over the shortcomings exposed by the Chiefs as they prepare to hit back against the seventh-placed Blues.
Coach Robbie Deans admitted the Crusaders’ performance was “sub-standard,” saying they were aware “we’re going to get a real test this weekend.”
Blues’ coach David Nucifora said the Chiefs’ performance, with its strong defensive effort, especially around the fringes of the ruck, had been useful for game-plan purposes.
“It wasn’t great for us for them [Chiefs] to get the points, but they exposed some things in the Crusaders as well, which I thought they did very well,” Nucifora said. “But obviously the Crusaders will have their eyes back on the ball this week.”
Auckland led the Super 14 after round three, but have come unstuck and are down to seventh place on the back of four defeats and just two victories.
The heat is also on the Durban-based Sharks, who looked terrific in the opening half against the Brumbies, only to concede 17 second-half penalties and two yellow cards to leave them with 14 men for 20 minutes.
The Sharks can go a long way to locking up a home play-off with a win over the Waratahs, who are chasing five straight wins and possible second place before they head off to South Africa.
The Sharks last won in Sydney in 2000 and a week of soul searching will have them prepared for an expected onslaught from the Waratahs.
“The Sharks are different to most Super 14 teams in that they kick a lot to give themselves go-forward rather than running into people, but when they do take it into contact, they are very physical,” Waratahs coach Ewen McKenzie said.
One appealing duel will be between the two fly-halves, the Sharks’ French international Frederic Michalak and the young New South Wales Waratahs’ No. 10 Kurtley Beale.
“Kurtley has had plenty of tests but this is a slightly different one because this bloke is more clever than most,” former Wallabies coach Bob Dwyer said.
The Cape Town-based Stormers are hitting form at the right time and can further boost their play-off chances against the 12th-placed Otago Highlanders at home tomorrow.
The Stormers lost their first three matches, but have won three of their four Australasian tour matches and two more at Newlands Stadium and are expected to continue their winning form against the Highlanders.
The fifth-placed Chiefs have their last home fixture against the Queensland Reds tomorrow before they fly out for matches against the Western Force, the Golden Lions and the Sharks.
The Chiefs will be on a high after four straight wins, but coach Ian Foster is wary of the 10th-placed Reds, who all but ended Western Force’s semi-final aspirations in Brisbane last weekend.
Elsewhere, the eighth-placed Brumbies must beat the last-placed Lions at home today to keep their hopes alive, as must the sixth-placed Hurricanes away to South Africa’s Central Cheetahs tomorrow.
The Western Force and Pretoria’s Northern Bulls have byes this weekend.
SS Lazio on Monday fired the far-right sympathizer who handles their eagle mascot after he posted online a series of videos and pictures of his erect penis. Falconer Juan Bernabe, who has been present at Lazio home matches with Olimpia the eagle since the 2010-2011 season, posted the footage on social media after having surgery on Saturday to implant a penile prosthesis to improve his sexual performance. Lazio said that they had “terminated, with immediate effect” their relationship with Bernabe “due to the seriousness of his conduct,” adding that they were “shocked” by the images. The Serie A club added that Bernabe’s dismissal
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Dubbed a “motorway for cyclists” where avid amateurs can chase Tadej Pogacar up mountains teeming with the highest concentration of professional cyclists per square kilometer in the world, Spain’s Costa Blanca has forged a new reputation for itself in the past few years. Long known as the ideal summer destination for those in search of sun, sea and sand, the stretch of coast between Valencia and Alicante now has a winter vocation too. During the season break in December and January, the region experiences an invasion of cyclists. Star names such as three-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, Remco Evenepoel and Julian Alaphilippe
RSS