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.
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
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
‘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
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS