NSW Waratahs clung on to their Super 14 second spot behind the Canterbury Crusaders but only after prising a bonus point out of their 16-13 loss to the Northern Bulls in Pretoria on Saturday, with last year’s champions getting home on the back of two drop goals.
Both sides crossed the tryline just once, with the Bulls edging the Waratahs thanks to drop goals by Derick Hougaard and Morne Steyn.
The Sydney team, on 37 points, are just ahead of Wellington Hurricanes in third place on 36 points after the Hurricanes held off the Golden Lions 38-12 on Saturday.
PHOTO: AP
South Africa’s Western Stormers complete the top four after all but extinguishing the ACT Brumbies’ semi-final hopes with a 20-10 triumph in Cape Town on Saturday.
The Stormers buried their Brumbies hoodoo with 20 points in a 17-minute mid-first half scoring blitz and were never in serious danger of losing.
New Zealand’s Waikato Chiefs had a setback going down 22-21 to a last-minute penalty to the Western Force in Perth and eased to fifth place on 33 points.
A Jeff Bruce drop goal in the 76th minute had appeared to secure a crucial win for the Chiefs, only for Matt Giteau’s penalty to snatch a victory that had looked the Force’s for much of the night until a late surge by the visitors.
Chiefs captain Mils Muliaina said he was “bitterly disappointed” with the loss.
“There’s probably a few opportunities that we let slip, but the Force definitely put a lot of pressure on us and they deserved the win,” he said.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite