Flyhalf Quade Cooper created four tries with his clever passing and scored one himself as a rusty Australia side beat Fiji 49-3 in a Test match at Canberra Stadium yesterday.
Cooper, who was a stand-out performer for the Queensland Reds in the Super 14, was provided plenty of ball by his forwards to attack Fiji’s defensive line and use his sleight of hand and deft passing to put his outside backs into space.
The Wallabies dominated possession and territory, but stubborn Fijian defense, moist ground conditions that made the ball slippery and a lack of combinations contributed to the rusty performance by the home side.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Australia coach Robbie Deans, however, faces some injury concerns after utility back Adam Ashley-Cooper went off with an ankle injury following a heavy tackle. Prop Ben Alexander was carried off when his leg got trapped underneath his body at a ruck and he suffered suspected knee ligament damage.
“I think we were able to turn it on after halftime and keep it on after that,” Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom said of their unanswered 35 points in the second half. “One thing you know about Fiji is that they’re extremely difficult to tackle if you give them space, so I think we worked well as a [defensive] line there and the scoreline shows that.”
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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