South Africa’s Northern Bulls have romped to the outright lead of rugby’s Super 14 series after two rounds with a seven-try home rout of the Auckland Blues.
The 2007 champ blasted the three-time winners of the southern hemisphere provincial championship 59-26 for maximum points for the second week running and lead Australian contenders ACT Brumbies and NSW Waratahs by a point.
The Brumbies needed a fulltime conversion by Wallaby skipper Stirling Mortlock to clinch an 18-16 win over depleted defending champions Canterbury Crusaders in Canberra on Saturday.
Three-time runners-up Coastal Sharks won their South African derby 25-10 over the Golden Lions in Durban on Saturday to hold down fourth place on the standings.
The battered Blues are fifth, on six points, after coming away from their Pretoria flogging with a scoring bonus point.
Weekend winners Wellington Hurricanes, Western Force and Western Stormers joined the Crusaders and Lions in joint sixth place on five points.
The Highlanders, Chiefs, Cheetahs and Reds have yet to win a match this season.
Injury-weakened Auckland were in trouble right from the kick-off at Loftus Versfeld, conceding their first try within four minutes as the Bulls secured their four-try bonus point with a 32-14 halftime advantage.
The Pretoria Bulls did not let up in the second half, ensuring the points tally kept rising and the Blues never got closer than 19 points.
The Sharks, among the title favorites this season, ran in three tries to one to ease past the Lions for the Durban-based side’s second straight win.
SIBLING RIVALRY: Marc Marquez was locked in a duel with his little brother, falling behind at one point before recovering for his first season-opening victory since 2014 Six-time world champion Marc Marquez yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening Thailand Grand Prix to complete a dominant debut weekend at his new Ducati Lenovo Team, having also romped to Saturday’s sprint. The Spanish great took the 26-lap grand prix by 1.732 seconds for his 63rd MotoGP victory from younger brother Alex Marquez, who is still seeking a first checkered flag, with Francesco Bagnaia third to complete an all-Ducati podium. It completed a perfect weekend for Marc Marquez, who took pole position, the sprint victory and the grand prix win for a maximum 37 points to open the 22-leg 2025 campaign. He led from
AC Milan’s slender hopes of reaching next season’s UEFA Champions League took another hit on Thursday with a 2-1 defeat at Bologna which left them eight points from Serie A’s top four. Sergio Conceicao’s team sit eighth, some way behind fourth-placed Juventus after losing an entertaining contest at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, a match which was rescheduled from October last year due to torrential rain and flooding. Swathes of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy, much of which is fertile agricultural land, had been left under water following a massive autumn downpour. Dan Ndoye prodded home the decisive goal in the 82nd minute
Former Australian motorcycle gang member-turned-golfer Ryan Peake, who served a lengthy jail term for assault, yesterday produced a “life-changing” maiden win to qualify for The Open Championship. Peake held his nerve for a one-stroke victory at the New Zealand Open, earning him a berth at the major in Portrush, Northern Ireland, in July, pending clearance to travel as a convicted criminal. The 31-year-old from Perth celebrated animatedly and was showered with champagne by friends on the 18th green of the Millbrook Resort course near Queenstown after a redemption story rarely seen in the refined sport of golf. Peake held back tears as he
MILWAUKEE PREVAIL: Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 28 points as the Bucks withstood Nikola Jokic’s 27th triple-double of the season to beat the Nuggets Golden State star Stephen Curry on Thursday drilled 12 three-pointers in a scintillating 56-point display that carried the Warriors to a 121-115 victory over the Orlando Magic. Curry’s explosive performance helped the Warriors dig themselves out of a 17-point hole, with the point guard signaling the start of the fightback with a three-pointer from beyond the half-court line to end the first half that pulled the Warriors within 66-52 at the break. In the third quarter, he single-handedly outscored the Magic with 22 points to Orlando’s 21. The four-time NBA champion finished two three-pointers shy of former teammate Klay Thompson’s record for most
RSS