Defending champions the Waikato Chiefs moved back into top spot on the Super 15 ladder yesterday after holding on to beat the Wellington Hurricanes 17-12.
The Chiefs scored the only try and produced a mighty defensive effort to smother a Hurricanes fightback.
The Chiefs first win in Wellington since 2001 puts them three points clear of the ACT Brumbies, who can overtake them again with a victory in their match against the NSW Waratahs in Sydney today.
It also extends their lead in the New Zealand conference, putting pressure on the Auckland Blues and Canterbury Crusaders, who face off in Christchurch today.
The Hurricanes will now face an uphill struggle to make the play-off after posting six wins and six losses for the season.
Defense dominated a tight first half, with both sides opting to kick rather than run the ball. The Chiefs went into the break 12-9 up after Aaron Cruden booted four penalties to Beauden Barrett’s three.
The Chiefs’ Matt Vant Leven came closest to a try in the 26th minute when he charged down a kick and took off for the tryline, only for Jason Eaton to drag him into touch with a desperate tackle just before he grounded the ball.
The Chiefs finally broke through against the run of play in the 53rd minute when they charged down a ball and Tanerau Latimer went over the line after Tawera Kerr-Barlow found him with a deft offload as he was being tackled.
The try galvanized the Hurricanes, who had the better of the latter stages and gained a one-man advantage after Chiefs prop Ben Tameifuna was sin-binned.
They surprisingly opted to kick the resulting penalty instead of going for five points, narrowing the gap to 17-12 but still needing to cross the line for a win, with the Chiefs’ defense proving up to the challenge.
REBELS V STORMERS
AFP, MELBOURNE, Australia
Australia’s Melbourne Rebels celebrated their first victory over South African opposition with a rousing 30-21 home win over the Western Stormers yesterday.
The Rebels romped home from 21-20 down with six minutes left to down the Cape Town-based Stormers with a contentious penalty try ruling to finish victors.
Nick Phipps was ruled to have been held back by Martin Bezuidenhout chasing after a kick ahead and the TMO recommended a penalty try as Phipps dived for the ball with Bryan Habana.
Bezuidenhout was sent to the sin bin leaving the Stormers a man down for the final minutes.
Both teams scored three tries with Jason Woodward proving the difference with three conversions and three penalties.
Scott Higginbotham was outstanding for the Rebels and scored his sixth try of the season in the 13th minute, before converted tries from scrumhalf Louis Schreuder and Habana’s first touchdown of the season put them 14-10 ahead.
Phipps came off the bench for the second half and provided the spark for the Rebels, playing a key role in the 54th-minute try by lock Hugh Pyle and then as the central figure in the controversial penalty try ruling.
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,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set