The ACT Brumbies shook off a sluggish start to defeat the Wellington Hurricanes 29-21 yesterday, showing glimpses of the form that took them to last year’s Super 15 final.
The Australians were behind 13-3 after 35 minutes, but unleashed a try-scoring blitz to claim 19 points either side of halftime to leave the shellshocked Hurricanes winless after three matches.
The Brumbies secured a bonus point after finishing the game four tries to two, showing no ill effects after this week losing Wallabies flanker David Pocock for the season, with Jarred Butler proving an able replacement.
Skipper Ben Mowen praised his team for bouncing back after going down to a T.J. Perenara try after a sustained period of early pressure from the Hurricanes.
“The boys worked really hard, as a group we couldn’t be prouder,” he said. “It wasn’t perfect by any means, but to come over here and get a win like that is really important, we know it’s a tough place to win.”
Fullback Jesse Mogg masterminded the Brumbies comeback, scoring the first try when he cut through defense off the back of a strong scrum without a Hurricanes player laying a hand on him.
A few minutes later, his sideline break led to Matt Toomua sending a looping, long-distance pass that set up winger Robbie Coleman for the second.
Tevita Kuridrani bustled over the line for a third just after the break as the Hurricanes squandered their early promise with a series of handling errors and defensive lapses.
Locky McCaffrey finished off the New Zealanders with a fourth in the final stages, although Hurricanes No. 8 Blade Thomson gave them some consolation when he scored with two minutes to go.
Skipper Conrad Smith said the Hurricanes were convinced their approach was right, but they were yet to click on the field in a season that has so far yielded three defeats.
“Sometimes you try too hard, we’re better than we showed out there,” he said.
“They were very good defensively and frustrated us, but we’ve got to get used to that because teams are going to be trying to do that to us all year,” Smith added.
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB