Scrumhalf TJ Perenara yesterday moved level as the most prolific try-scorer in Super Rugby history as his competition-leading Wellington Hurricanes beat the Waikato Chiefs 36-23.
The Hurricanes maintained their perfect seven-from-seven start to the season, out-scoring the visitors five tries to two in Wellington, including a brace to veteran All Black Perenara.
The 32-year-old crossed once in each half to take his Super Rugby career tally to 62 tries.
Photo: AFP
It is the same figure as his former Hurricanes teammate Julian Savea, who scored a try on Friday for the victorious Moana Pasifika against the Queensland Reds.
A bonus point win pushes the Hurricanes five points clear of the second-placed Auckland Blues and ACT Brumbies as they continued the high-speed style that has created 38 tries.
Wet conditions did not slow them, going 10-0 up in the first quarter after Perenara bagged his opening try.
Impressive loose forward Brayden Iose crossed to put his team 17-7 ahead, but the Chiefs dominated the middle section of the game, scoring 16 unanswered points.
With his team trailing by six, Perenara’s second try sparked a storming Hurricanes finish, including five-pointers to winger Kini Naholo and powerhouse hooker Asafo Aumua.
Hurricanes captain Brad Shields said his team’s depth swung the contest their way over the closing stages.
“It’s not often you can roll a bench on that changes a game like that,” he said. “Each week now, our impact players are taking our game to another level.”
Backs Cortez Ratima and Emoni Narawa crossed for the Chiefs, while flyhalf Damian McKenzie landed 13 points with the boot.
Last year’s beaten finalists suffered their third loss from eight games, and skipper Luke Jacobson said they gave the competition leaders too many opportunities.
“The Hurricanes played some really good footy and put a lot of pressure on us,” he said. “There were a few errors in our own half that they ended up scoring from. In the end, that really hurt us.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS