Replacement Blade Thomson scored a brilliant 62nd-minute try that gave the Wellington Hurricanes a four-try bonus point and clinched their 29-23 win over the Canterbury Crusaders yesterday, keeping them atop the Super Rugby table.
Thomson, who scored two tries in the corresponding match last season, came off the bench to touch down at the end of a flowing counterattack, lifting the Hurricanes to their ninth win in 10 matches this season.
The seven-time champion Crusaders, who are now 5-6 for the season, started the match in ninth place and took a consolation bonus point in defeat, but slipped further away from playoff contention.
World-record point scorer Dan Carter, who started again at inside center for the Crusaders — conceding the No. 10 jersey to Colin Slade — scored the opening try of the match in only the second minute from an outstanding break and pass from Slade.
Beauden Barrett, the All Blacks’ No. 1 flyhalf in the absence of the injured Aaron Cruden, scored a superb try of his own to tie the scores after eight minutes.
Slade then made a brilliant solo run to score a try, which again brought the Crusaders into the match after the Hurricanes had led with a try to backrower Brad Shields. The teams went to halftime locked at 17-17.
The Crusaders edged ahead in the second half with penalties by Slade, before the Hurricanes clinched the match with tries to prop Reg Goodes and Thomson.
Blues flanker Akira Ioane illustrated his reputation as one of the game’s emerging stars by scoring a brilliant solo try in the Blues’ 41-24 win against Western Force.
The 19-year-old, whose father played for Samoa at the 1991 World Cup, mother was a New Zealand women’s rugby representative and whose younger brother plays on the All Blacks sevens team, is hailed as one of rugby’s young stars.
He showed why in the 48th minute, when he received the ball within his own half, fended off two tacklers and dashed 55m through vain defense to score the Blues’ fourth, bonus-point try.
Winger Melani Nanai scored a double, and Steven Luatua and Ihaia West also scored tries as the Blues posted only their second win of the season.
The Blues win moved them out of a lowly 14th place on the championships table, but came too late in the season to revive playoff ambitions.
The Perth-based Force scored four second-half tries against the tiring Blues’ defense to take a consolation bonus point, but are stuck in last place after a 10th loss in 11 matches.
“Tonight we wanted to be physical and make sure we could be really direct with them and we executed that really well,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Melbourne Rebels yesterday held off a second-half fightback to beat the Waikato Chiefs 16-15 and record their first-ever victory over the twice Super Rugby champions.
Scott Higginbotham and scrumhalf Nic Stirzaker scored tries to give the Rebels a 16-3 lead at the break and they held on despite center Charlie Ngatai and loose forward Michael Leitch crossing in the second half for the Chiefs.
The visitors were left ruing two yellow cards, the first to winger James Lowe in the first half causing a try to be called back and the second denying them captain Liam Messam for the last six minutes of the match.
“We never give in, but it’s a very disappointing result, we wanted to win,” Messam said in an interview at Melbourne’s Rectangular Stadium. “They were outstanding tonight and our discipline let us down.”
The Chiefs might not have needed to chase the match had replacement flyhalf Damian McKenzie managed to add the extras after Leitch’s 68th minute try, but his conversion attempt came back off the upright.
The Chiefs needed a win to keep pace at the top of the Super Rugby standings with the Wellington Hurricanes, who beat the Canterbury Crusaders earlier yesterday and now have a five-point lead at the top of the New Zealand conference.
With a fifth win of the season, Melbourne equaled their previous best tally in a season and they remain in the hunt for a maiden appearance in the playoffs.
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
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
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
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