New Zealand kept their rugby league Tri-Nations title hopes alive in stunning form yesterday with an emphatic 34-4 drubbing of Great Britain.
The Kiwis made a definitive statement about their depth of commitment with the six-tries-to-one victory, bouncing back from the Nathan Fien ineligibility affair which cost them their points from beating the Lions in the first round.
Faced with a 28-point differential before the match, Kiwi coach Bluey McClennan put pressure on his side by demanding a 14-point winning margin.
They matched that and more in their first legitimate win of the series putting them in credit against the Lions.
A crucial factor in the New Zealand win was the performance of Stacey Jones, who was directly involved in setting up four tries and capped the touchdowns with five out of six goal attempts.
His opposite Sean Long had an outing to forget, just a week after he orchestrated Great Britain's upset win over Australia.
His kicking was astray and he spilled a pass five minutes from the break when a try seemed certain.
Great Britain must now regroup and beat Australia next week if they are to make the Tri-Nations finals, while New Zealand need the Kangaroos to beat the Lions if they are to defend their crown.
Great Britain were denied two tries by the video referees in the dramatic match, which saw rival centers Steve Matai and Keith Senior both sin-binned following an early punch up.
Just before halftime Gareth Raynor was deemed not to have control of the ball as he dived over the line, and in the second spell Paul Wellens ran interference when Leon Pryce carved his way to the line.
But the Lions never looked in control as the Kiwis dominated possession and territory, looking by far the hungrier of the two sides.
Nigel Vagana had them on the board first in the 10th minute when he forced his way over the line in a three-man tackle.
Vagana, the Kiwis' record try scorer, defied Terry Newton, Jamie Peacock and Paul Wellens to notch his 19th try to calm the Kiwis' nerves after an anxious beginning.
That ignited a short, sharp scoring burst where Brent Webb scored after Jones doubled around Sean Long. Webb then came into the line on a sharp angle to score again.
Between the two Webb tries, Manu Vatuvei gifted Great Britain their only points when he knocked-on a high kick and Gareth Ellis snapped up the loose ball and scored.
The Kiwis led 16-4 at halftime, and extended their lead 10 minutes into the second half when Nathan Cayless dived on a deft Jones kick over the line.
Minutes later Vatuvei made amends for his first-half error when he finished off an orthodox backline move to cross wide out. He then scampered towards the posts to make it easier for Jones to add the extra points.
With 10 minutes remaining, Kiwi skipper Ruben Wiki rounded off the scoring spree when he gathered up a Jones kick which bounced off the cross bar.
While statisticians had a field day leading up to the match working out the various permutations, Wiki attributed New Zealand's success to disregarding the pressure.
"We just went out and didn't worry about the points," he said. "We stuck to the plan and we really enjoyed it today."
Great Britain captain Jamie Peacock rated his side's performance as "very poor".
"We were ordinary to say the least with the ball and I'm very disappointed," he said. "It's not the way we trained or played last week so we are going to have to improve next week."
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah on Tuesday said that he would leave the English club at the end of the Premier League season, marking an earlier-than-planned departure for one of the club’s greatest-ever scorers and soccer’s biggest names. The 33-year-old Egypt forward, who has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances for Liverpool, “reached an agreement” to quit the team a year before his contract was due to expire, the Premier League champions said. Salah’s form has dipped in his ninth year at Anfield, to such an extent that he was dropped for a stretch of games late last year — leading to the
There were some big games to be played yesterday in the NBA, with the Atlanta Hawks to play the Detroit Pistons in a matchup pitting a Hawks team who are rolling against a Pistons team trying to lock up the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Oklahoma City Thunder were to play the Boston Celtics, a showdown featuring the two most recent champions, while the Houston Rockets faced the Minnesota Timberwolves, a game that could factor mightily into Western Conference seeding. Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards were to play the Utah Jazz, with the Wizards on a 16-game slide visiting against a team
RSS