France fly-half Frederic Michalak played a key role as KwaZulu-Natal Sharks edged the Blue Bulls 14-9 on Saturday to win the Currie Cup for the first time in 12 years.
He marked his final match after a season in South Africa by featuring in tries from scrum-half Ruan Pienaar and center Francois Steyn that swung a thriller in favor of the home team, who led 7-3 at halftime.
“It is amazing. I wish to thank all the Sharks supporters, you beauties. I think everyone in France is happy too,” Michalak told SuperSport television during the medal presentation.
Michalak, who turned 26 this month, was involved in a 25th-minute move that took the Sharks close to the Bulls line and when the ball emerged from the ruck, Pienaar evaded several tackles to dive over for a try he converted.
Bulls fly-half Morne Steyn replied with a penalty and drop goal either side of halftime on an evening when rival place kickers missed many shots at goal in the national inter-provincial championship final.
At 7-6 for the Sharks midway through the second half, the next score was going to be crucial and it was another try for the black-and-white local heroes before a capacity 50,000 crowd.
Michalak slipped two tackles before passing to veteran full-back Stefan Terblance, who sent Rugby World Cup winner Steyn over for a try the Frenchman converted with a superb angled kick.
Steyn kicked another penalty to cut the deficit to five points, but after three final losses since their last Currie Cup success, the Springbok-laden Sharks were in no mood for surrender.
The Durban-based team topped the 14-round mini-league and were widely considered the best team in a competition dominated by the Free State Cheetahs for three seasons before their semi-final loss to the Bulls this month.
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
RSS