Beauden Barrett yesterday produced a master class performance, albeit with another yellow card, to get the Wellington Hurricanes home 28-24 against the Auckland Blues in their Super Rugby clash in Auckland, New Zealand.
Barrett was instrumental in three of the four Hurricanes tries in the fast, but scrappy encounter where missed tackles and turnovers were rife.
The Blues, who have not beaten a New Zealand side at home since they downed the Otago Highlanders in the first round last year, hit the front for the first time against the Hurricanes with 15 minutes remaining.
Photo: AFP
However, despite their desire to arrest their dismal home record, they could not stop Barrett engineering a late match-winning try.
The Blues were pressing the Hurricanes line looking to extend their lead when Barrett chipped ahead and regathered to spark a move that swept the length of the field.
It ended with the flyhalf angling a kick toward the corner where lock Mark Abbott, who scored the first try, was on hand to score the decider.
“It took a pretty special play from Beauden to get them down their end,” Blues captain James Parsons said.
“That was the big play that we were looking for to win, and they won it unfortunately,” he added.
Barrett called it a “spur of the moment play,” but Hurricanes captain T.J. Perenara said it typified their never-say-die attitude.
“We were under the pump for a big part of that second half and for us not to concede too much and to be able to get up and over the line, I’m proud of that,” Perenara said.
Both sides traded tries through the first quarter, with Abbott scoring in the third minute and Augustine Pulu replying for the Blues from the restart.
Barrett sent Ngani Laumape for the Hurricanes second try, with Melani Nanai equalizing for the Blues.
Sonny Bill Williams fumbled a short pass to gift Barrett a try in the 27th minute, which put the Hurricanes ahead 21-14.
However, as much as Barrett starred with his ability to read the game and shred the defense, he again found himself in hot water with his third yellow card in two weeks.
He received two last week for deliberate knockdowns against the New South Wales Waratahs, and he was sent off late in the first half against the Blues for knocking the ball out of the hands of scrumhalf Pulu.
The Blues gained nothing from their one-man advantage, but hit the front midway through the second half when Bryn Gatland, the son of Wales coach Warren Gatland, took the field.
The replacement flyhalf landed a penalty and converted a try by Scott Scrafton to have the Blues up 24-21 before Abbott sealed the outcome for the Hurricanes.
Defending champions the Hurricanes have six wins from seven games to sit four points behind the unbeaten Canterbury Crusaders in the New Zealand conference, while the Blues are at the bottom with just three wins from eight outings.
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