Two surprise results in South Africa scrambled the playoff race in rugby’s Super 14, leaving two New Zealand, one South African and one Australian team in the top four going into next weekend’s final round.
The sleeping Lions, in last place through most of the season and winless since the competition’s opening round on Feb. 15, beat the Waikato Chiefs 33-27 at Johannesburg on Saturday, severely damaging the Chiefs’ playoff chances.
Later in Cape Town, the second-place New South Wales Waratahs and the fourth-place Stormers drew 13-13, blurring the playoff picture.
PHOTO: AP
That surprise result allowed the Wellington Hurricanes and Sharks — both 13th-round winners — to climb into the top four, removing the Stormers and Chiefs.
With one regular-season round remaining the Canterbury Crusaders have a 12-point lead at the top of the table and will host one semi-final on May 23. Six other teams will vie in the last round for three playoff vacancies as only seven points separate second and seventh place.
Wellington, in second place, have 40 points, a three-point break from third-placed New South Wales with a match remaining against the Auckland Blues, who beat the Otago Highlanders 40-15 on Saturday.
The Waratahs, third with 37 points after the draw, face their bitter traditional rivals, the Queensland Reds, in the last round.
The Reds are 11th, well out of playoffs contention, but they led until the late stages of their match against the Crusaders on Saturday before losing 27-21, showing that they have the potential to cause upsets.
In a bitter blow, however, Reds fullback Chris Latham suffered a serious shoulder injury which will rule him out of next week’s match — which would have been his last for Queensland before his departure for England — leaving him stranded on 99 Super tournament games.
The Sharks, who were unbeaten through the first nine rounds of the competition, dropped out of the top four with three straight losses but returned to fourth place on Saturday with a 33-14 win over the Cheetahs. Their clash with the Chiefs next week is the toughest and most significant of the last-round matchups.
Auckland improved from eighth to fifth place, on 36 points, with a bonus-point win over the Highlanders, the Stormers fell back to sixth place on 36 points and the Chiefs dropped to seventh on 33, left with only a slim hope of qualification.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
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