The Canterbury Crusaders stayed in the hunt yesterday to make the Super 14 playoffs, earning a crucial bonus point in a 32-12 win over the Queensland Reds.
The defending champions ran in five tries, starting with three in the first half by Thomas Waldrom, Owen Franks and Tim Bateman, for a comfortable 20-0 lead at the turn.
The vital fourth try came seven minutes after the break when the Crusaders capitalized on a turnover with Andy Ellis sending Jason MacDonald over.
Replacement wing Sean Maitland finished off the scoring for the Crusaders, who took a maximum five points from the game to move into fourth place.
Crusaders and All Blacks fullback Leon MacDonald, playing probably his last home match, landed a penalty and two conversions before being subbed off with 20 minutes remaining and leaving the field to a standing ovation.
MacDonald is moving to Japan at the end of the Super 14 campaign — which for the Crusaders could be extended into the playoffs if they get another bonus-point victory against the Auckland Blues next week.
In a match played in greasy conditions, both sides were let down by handling errors, with the Crusaders in particular missing several scoring opportunities, but captain Richie McCaw declared himself satisfied with the result.
“Considering the conditions, I thought we played some good rugby. We played at the right end of the field and created a lot of opportunities,” he said. “It would have been nice to finish them all off, but we wanted five points out of the game and we got that. So we’re very happy.”
By the time Cameron Menzies finally left the arena on Monday, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand had trickled down his wrist, part of his forearm and — somehow — up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappeared down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of Professional Darts Corp (PDC). The physical scars from Menzies’ encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby at the Darts World Championship would be gone within a few weeks.
Manchester United on Monday blew the lead three times to miss out on moving up to fifth in the Premier League as AFC Bournemouth would not be beaten in a thrilling 4-4 draw at Old Trafford. United have lost just once in their past 10 games, but Ruben Amorim would be frustrated as more points at home were frittered away despite arguably the best attacking display of his reign in charge. Amad Diallo and Casemiro gave the hosts a halftime lead either side of Antoine Semenyo’s equalizer. Two Bournemouth goals from Evanilson and Marcus Tavernier in seven minutes at the start of the
LOW-GOAL SHOOT-OUT: Of the nine penalties in the shoot-out, only three went in, with Flamengo’s Samuel Lino, and Vitinha and Nuno Mendes of PSG netting Matvei Safonov on Wednesday made four straight penalty saves in a penalty shoot-out to help Paris Saint-Germain beat Flamengo in the Intercontinental Cup final and win a sixth trophy of the year. The Russian goalkeeper was thrown in the air by his teammates after his exploits in the shoot-out, which was won 2-1 by PSG after a 1-1 draw after extra-time. It completed a trophy-laden 12 months for the French team, who had already won the Trophee des Champions, Ligue 1, the Coupe de France, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup — also on penalties against Tottenham Hotspur in
LACKLUSTER FIGHT: At one stage, the referee lost patience with the two fighters, warning them in the fourth round that ‘the fans did not pay to see this crap’ Former world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday knocked out YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in their controversial Netflix-backed bout in Miami. The fight at the Kaseya Center, which saw both men reportedly splitting a mammoth purse of US$184 million, had triggered alarm across boxing due to the gulf in physical size and class between Britain’s two-time former world champion Joshua and Paul, an Internet personality who has forged a lucrative career through a handful of novelty boxing contests. However, in the event, Joshua made hard work of defeating his vastly less accomplished opponent, before his superior size and power eventually told
RSS