South Africa, New Zealand and Australia began their European tours with expected victories on Saturday, but without unleashing the full power of Tri-Nations rugby on their Six Nations opponents.
The Springboks beat Wales 20-15 but had to withstand a strong comeback at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium in a meeting between the World Cup holders and the Six Nation champions.
New Zealand won 32-6 against Scotland at Murrayfield, but Graham Henry’s All Blacks looked far below their best form and will have to play better if they are to go home with a Grand Slam of victories with Ireland, Wales and England still to come.
PHOTO: AFP
Australia hit the front with seven minutes to go before winning 30-20 at Italy.
With 2003 World Cup-winning captain Martin Johnson in charge as team manager, England beat the Pacific Islanders 39-13 at Twickenham and France beat Argentina 12-6 in a tryless game in Marseille to end a run of three losses. Ireland crushed Canada 55-0 in Limerick in Declan Kidney’s first game as coach.
South Africa led Wales 20-3 with tries to centers Adrian Jacobs and Jean de Villiers, and two penalties and two conversions by inexperienced flyhalf Juan Pienaar. But flyhalf James Hook kicked four penalties and winger Leigh Halfpenny added another to bring Wales within five points.
The All Blacks left stars Richie McCaw and Dan Carter on the bench until the second half, instead giving three players their debuts in making 12 changes from the team that beat Australia 19-14 in Hong Kong on Nov. 1.
Although scoring tries through Anthony Tuitavake, Piri Weepu, Richard Kahui and Anthony Boric, the All Blacks made numerous errors and failed to punish the erratic play of the Scots.
Meanwhile, Italy threatened its first win over the Wallabies with the score at 20-20 at Euganeo stadium in Padua.
But Luciano Orquera missed a penalty in the 67th and flyhalf Quade Cooper, born in New Zealand, burst through for the decisive try six minutes later.
Lachlan Turner scored a first-half try with Matt Giteau kicking five penalties and captain Stirling Mortlock adding another for Australia.
Mirco Bergamasco scored a try in the 30th for Italy, which had two penalties each from Orquera and Andrea Marcato, who also kicked a drop goal. The Italians were level at 14-14 but have now lost all 10 matches with Australia.
David Skrela kicked two penalties and a drop goal for France in a narrow victory over Argentina in Marseille with Benoit Baby adding the other three points with the boot. Felipe Contepomi’s two penalties were the Pumas’ only scores.
With four test rookies in the starting lineup and a fifth going on late in the game, England ran in five tries against a Pacific Islands team made up of players from Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.
Rob Kearney and Tommy Bowe scored two tries each and four more Irishmen crossed Canada’s line in Munster’s Thomond Park. Fullback Keith Earls scored on his first start, and Jamie Heaslip, David Wallace and Alan Quinlan also collected tries.
North Korea’s FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup-winning team on Saturday received a heroes’ welcome back in the capital, Pyongyang, with hundreds of people on the streets to celebrate their success. They had defeated Spain on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the U17 World Cup final in the Dominican Republic on Nov. 3. It was the second global title in two months for secretive North Korea — largely closed off to the outside world; they also lifted the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in September. Officials and players’ families gathered at Pyongyang International Airport to wave flowers and North Korea flags as the
Taiwan’s top table tennis player Lin Yun-ju made his debut in the US professional table tennis scene by taking on a new role as a team’s co-owner. On Wednesday, Major League Table Tennis (MLTT), founded in September last year, announced on its official Web site that Lin had become part of the ownership group of the Princeton Revolution, one of the league’s eight teams. MLTT chief executive officer Flint Lane described Lin’s investment as “another great milestone for table tennis in America,” saying that the league’s “commitment to growth and innovation is drawing attention from the best in the sport, and we’re
Coco Gauff of the US on Friday defeated top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 to set up a showdown with Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen in the final of the WTA Finals, while in the doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching was eliminated. Gauff generated six break points to Belarusian Sabalenka’s four and built on early momentum in the opening set’s tiebreak that she carried through to the second set. She is the youngest player at 20 to make the final at the WTA Finals since Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. Zheng earlier defeated Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5 to book
For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play soccer “was a dream.” “I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people,” he said in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America’s most prominent clubs. He and a small number of other Africans are tearing across pitches in a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of soccer stars in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For
RSS