Flyhalf Lima Sopoaga scored the first try of the season in an 11-point haul that helped the Highlanders to a surprise 14-9 win over the Hurricanes in the opening match of the expanded Super 15 rugby tournament.
Sopoaga managed only two penalties from six attempts, but his 20th-minute try — the only five-pointer of a substandard match — allowed underdogs the Highlanders an advantage, which endured throughout the match.
The Hurricanes were affected by a number of penalties and played the last 30 minutes with just 14 men after center Ma’a Nonu was sent off for a shoulder charge on his All Blacks teammate, Highlanders scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan.
Photo: Reuters
The Highlanders also ended the match with 14 men after replacement Braydon Mitchell was sin-binned in the 70th minute by Australian referee Stuart Dickinson, who handed out three yellow cards and a red card, along with 24 penalties.
Otago led 11-6 at halftime and a scrappy second spell saw only a penalty to each team as the Highlanders’ defense shut down Wellington’s backline, which included All Blacks Nonu, Conrad Smith, Aaron Cruden, Hosea Gear and Cory Jane.
“We should have closed it out after Ma’a was sent to the bin,” Highlanders captain Jamie McIntosh said. “We made hard work of it, but that’s character-building I suppose.”
Sopoaga, who turned 20 last week and was playing his first Super rugby match, landed a penalty after eight minutes.
Cruden replied four minutes later to level the match at 3-3, but Sopoaga’s try, set up by Cowan, gave the Highlanders a lead that survived the last three quarters of the match.
Cowan made a devastating break around the back of the lineout, picking out mismatches with the Hurricanes’ tight forwards, and Sopoaga was at his shoulder when he delivered the ball just short of the try-line.
Sopoaga missed a simple conversion, but added a penalty that completed the first-half scoring when Nonu received his first yellow card 10 minutes before the interval. Dickinson had already delivered a general warning over infringements at the breakdown and when Nonu grabbed the ball at a ruck, he was immediately sent to the sin-bin.
For his second yellow card, he was judged to have felled Cowan with a shoulder charge, although it appeared he was attempting to contest the ball in the air.
“We didn’t click too well. They lived off our mistakes and there were plenty of those,” Wellington captain Andrew Hore said.
REBELS 0, WARATAHS 43
AP, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
The New South Wales Waratahs gave a rough welcome to the Melbourne Rebels by ruining their Super 15 rugby debut yesterday.
It was the first time in 15 seasons that the Waratahs held an opposition scoreless.
The Rebels, led by former World Cup-winning Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen, had no answer to the relentless Waratahs’ attack in the seven-try win.
Kurtley Beale and Drew Mitchell scored two tries each, while Robert Horne, Tatafu Polota-Nau and Phil Waugh also dotted down.
Melbourne captain and former Wallaby skipper Stirling Mortlock, who had a solid game as he -continues his comeback from back surgery, said it was a painful lesson for the new team.
“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, New South Wales are a class side,” Mortlock said. “We were nowhere near where we needed to be tonight. In reality, we were outplayed everywhere. Our discipline let us down, our defense was slack as well.”
Melbourne kept the Waratahs scoreless for the first 24 minutes with plenty of possession, but suffered an early blow when playmaker James Hilgendorf injured his shoulder in a tackle by Polota-Nau and was replaced in the seventh minute by former England flyhalf Danny Cipriani.
The Waratahs, who have 14 former and current Test players in their 22, showed experience, class and patience. Wallabies fullback Beale and Test winger Mitchell scored in the first half for a 10-0 lead after 40 minutes.
Cipriani, who played seven Tests for England, had the opportunity to notch the Rebels’ first points in the 35th minute, but he sent a penalty kick wide.
As the Rebels ran on replacements, their combinations faltered and the Waratahs powered ahead, with Beale and Mitchell scoring their second tries, while center Horne and skipper Waugh also crossed.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two