Jonathan Sexton kicked seven penalties from seven attempts to give Racing-Metro a 21-16 win over Toulouse in the French Top 14 quarter-final playoffs on Friday.
Defeat meant Toulouse’s run of 20 successive semi-final appearances came to an end, while Sexton’s perfect display handed Racing a first-ever last-four date and a clash with European champions Toulon next weekend.
It was also revenge for a Racing side who lost 33-19 to the same opponents at the same venue in the quarter-finals 12 months ago.
Photo: AFP
“We felt a little cursed in the playoffs. These last four years we had made the playoffs, but had not won a game,” Racing center Henry Chavancy said. “We stood together tonight. We showed that Racing are a band of brothers.”
Racing led 12-3 at the interval thanks to four successful penalty kicks from Sexton.
Toulouse struggled to get a foothold in the game as coach Guy Noves’ plan of switching former All Black Luke McAlister to center from his usual flyhalf slot for the first time since August last year appeared to be backfiring.
Toulouse’s hopes were also dented when France center Florian Fritz suffered a serious head wound after a collision with the knee of Racing’s South African lock Francois van der Merwe.
With blood gushing from his head, Fritz stumbled to the ground as he left the pitch for treatment.
Toulouse soon got over the disruption when they grabbed the game’s only try in the opening moments of the second half.
McAlister played a clever kick over the Racing defensive line where the ball fell comfortably into the hands of Hosea Gear.
The winger touched down for his ninth score of the season, with Jean-Marc Doussain adding the extras for 10-12.
Toulouse nipped ahead at 13-12 when Doussain popped over a penalty awarded when Racing fullback Julien Brugnaut was penalized for a dangerous tackle on McAlister.
Sexton and Doussain exchanged penalties as Racing went into a 18-16 lead.
However, the Toulouse flyhalf, playing in that position for only the third time in the Top 14, went wide with another attempt which would have put his team back in front.
Sexton showed him how to do it with a successful penalty two minutes from time with a 41m kick.
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