South African flyhalf Morne Steyn endured a miserable first start of the season for Stade Francais on Friday when he was red-carded in the Top 14 leaders’ 12-9 defeat at Lyon.
Steyn, the 30-year-old top scorer at the 2011 World Cup, had confidently kicked Stade into a 6-0 lead courtesy of a 40m penalty and a quick-thinking drop goal.
However, after Mosese Ratuvou had cut the deficit with the night’s opening try, Steyn saw red in the 31st minute for kicking the Fijian winger as the two tussled on the ground.
Photo: AFP
It left Stade to play 50 minutes with 14 men and Lyon took full advantage when Ratuvou added a second try early in the second period, muscling his way over after a sharp pass from Ricky Januarie.
Jerome Porical kicked the extras for a 12-6 lead.
Stade’s replacement flyhalf Jules Plisson, who kicked a perfect six from six in their 30-6 victory over champions Toulon on Sunday last week, kept his side in the hunt with a well-struck, long-distance penalty on the hour mark.
Plisson had a chance to level the match with 10 minutes left, but pulled his penalty wide of the posts as Lyon, who have lost just one of their last 25 home games, claimed a second successive Top 14 win to add to their 16-13 victory over third-placed Clermont last weekend.
“We were a player down for most of the match. Morne wanted this so much, he’s very sad in the dressing room,” Stade coach Gonzalo Quessada said. “He wasted a great opportunity. There’s not much more to say.”
Stephen Myler passed 2,000 career points for Northampton as the Premiership leaders clinched a thrilling 39-31 victory over Newcastle at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday.
Only Paul Grayson has scored more points for Northampton than Myler, and it was Grayson, as director of rugby, who signed the flyhalf from rugby league’s Salford City Reds in 2006.
Myler opened the scoring with an easy penalty on 10 minutes, but it was anything but a straightforward win as Newcastle continued to show just how much they are improving under Dean Richards.
Newcastle came away with a bonus point thanks to four tries from Chris Harris, George McGuigan, Alex Tait and Richard Mayhew.
They could even have stolen a shock victory, but tries from Myler, who also kicked 12 points, George Pisi, Calum Clark, Luther Burrell and a penalty try helped Northampton move six points clear at the top.
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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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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