New Zealand pounced on numerous errors by South Africa to take the George leg of the IRB World Sevens series, downing the hosts 24-17 in the final on Saturday.
It was a reversal of last weekend's final -- when South Africa got the better of the All Blacks in Dubai -- and represented sweet revenge for Gordon Tietjens' side.
Once again South Africa failed to win their home competition after cruising through to the final by winning all their other games. They qualified by downing England 10-7, while New Zealand beat Fiji 29-12 in the semi-finals.
It was far from a classic final encounter between the two best teams in the competition, with handling errors and poor tackling scuppering the chances of the hosts.
None of the home team's strike runners -- such as Kabamba Floors, Stefan Basson, Philip Burger or Danwel Demas -- were allowed space or time to put any pressure on their opponents, while New Zealand enjoyed a majority of possession and won the battle at the breakdowns.
Although a second half try by Schalk van der Merwe narrowed the gap and gave the big home crowd a glimmer of hope of back-to-back wins, New Zealand held on for the victory and their first title of the new season.
Portugal were the surprise winners of the Plate competition when they defeated Zimbabwe 14-12 in a close final, while Australia got the better of Kenya 41-7 in the Bowl final.
Wales, who held England to a 14-all draw on day one of the competition, took the Plate competition after defeating the surprise package of the tournament, Tunisia, 26-5 in the final.
There were again a number of upsets on the final day, with Kenya's 19-17 win over Argentina the most significant.
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
RSS