The Auckland Blues scored a pulsating 19-17 win over the Wellington Hurricanes yesterday to keep their Super 14 semi-final hopes alive and put a big dent in the Hurricanes' playoff ambitions.
The win, in which attacking flair was thwarted by desperate defense, put the Blues into third place in the table, one point behind the Hurricanes.
But both teams could potentially slip out of the top four depending on other results over the weekend.
Blues captain Troy Flavell said he was happy with the result, despite missing out on what could be a vital bonus point.
In a match of great intensity in front of a crowd of 37,000 at Eden Park, the Blues kept the Hurricanes scoreless in the second spell. A solitary 59th minute penalty from fullback Nick Evans gave them the lead they never relinquished.
Three desperate drop goal attempts by Hurricanes flyhalf Willie Ripia in the final three minutes all went astray, dashing their hopes of a home semi-final.
The Blues dominated early, partly through the superior tactical kicking of Evans, who opened the scoring with the first of his four penalties in the fifth minute.
Momentum swung back to the Hurricanes with winger Hosea Gear conjuring two quickfire tries virtually out of nothing in the 17th and 19th minutes.
The first saw Gear collect the ball 40m out, scuttle across field, before straightening and outpacing the cover defense to score a try, which was converted by halfback Piri Weepu.
Two minutes later a long raking kick from Weepu was picked up by Evans inside his own 22, but Gear charged down his attempted clearance and followed it up to make the try.
But Blues lock Anthony Boric hit back after 23 minutes, crashing through three Hurricanes tackles to make the score 14-10.
Blues No. 8 Nick Williams was sinbinned after 31 minutes for repeated offenses at the breakdown, but just before half time he was joined by Hurricanes fullback Tamati Ellison who was given 10 minutes for obstruction.
Two more penalties for the Blues and one for the Hurricanes left the score at 17-16 at half-time. The Blues twice came agonizingly close to scoring tries in the 46th and 47th minutes when winger David Smith was held up over the line and Jerome Kaino’s foot went into touch as he tried to force the touchdown. But it was Evans’ penalty that grabbed the win in the second half.
Force beat Brumbies
AFP, PERTH, Australia
The Western Force rose from the dead to beat the ACT Brumbies 29-22 in an entertaining Super 14 clash yesterday.
The match had no bearing on the finals, but the Force’s seventh win ensured they finished as the second-best performed Australian side this season, behind the Waratahs.
It was a disappointing end to Laurie Fisher’s coaching stint with the Brumbies, but his side had looked set to send him off on a high when they stormed out to a 22-0 lead early in the match against a shell-shocked Force.
However, the home side stemmed the onslaught and then scored the last four tries of the game against the tiring Brumbies in a remarkable turnaround.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to