England routed Australia 35-18 in a rare moment of cheer for northern hemisphere rugby while New Zealand and South Africa moved halfway to Grand Slams on their European tours on Saturday.
The All Blacks racked up their biggest win over Scotland at Murrayfield, 49-3, and the Springboks came from 17-9 down to break Welsh hearts 29-25 in Cardiff.
Argentina beat Italy on Italian turf for a fifth straight time 22-16, France stayed unbeaten against Fiji 34-12, and Ireland struggled to put away Samoa 20-10.
PHOTO: AFP
Also, Uruguay and Romania finished 21-21 in Montevideo in their bid for the 20th and last berth in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the US edged Portugal 22-17 in Lisbon, and Canada beat Spain 60-22 in their first meeting.
Chris Ashton touched down twice as England’s backs outgunned Australia’s vaunted line for a first victory over a Tri-Nations side at Twickenham in four years.
While Australia’s James O’Connor struggled with the boot, Toby Flood kicked 25 points in a performance in which he, man-of-the-match Ben Youngs and Ben Foden constantly looked to attack.
The highlight was Ashton’s second try, from a 47th-minute turnover on England’s tryline. Courtney Lawes fed Ashton to break from 90m out and accelerate past Australia winger Drew Mitchell near halfway to help make it 26-6.
England’s first home win over a southern hemisphere powerhouse since a 23-21 triumph over South Africa in November 2006 also matched 17-point wins over Australia in 1973 and 1976.
The Wallabies lost to England in successive matches for the first time since 2003.
The All Blacks were rampant in a seven-try rout of Scotland, especially in the first half when they ran in four tries at a point-a-minute pace. Inside center Sonny Bill Williams, winning his second cap, offloaded in tackles to set up two tries and featured in a third to extend New Zealand’s unbeaten record against the Scots to 105 years.
Wales led 17-9 and had high hopes of only a second win over the ‘Boks, but the visitors scored 17 straight points to start the second half and stayed ahead on penalties.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
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