Ryan Crotty scored a brace of tries as the Canterbury Crusaders fended off a feisty Sunwolves team 33-11 in Christchurch on Saturday to top the New Zealand conference of Super Rugby.
However, the home win came with a heavy injury toll for the champions, with hooker Ben Funnell limping off early in the first half before number eight teammate Tom Sanders came off in the arms of trainers with a leg injury at the half-hour.
Having leaped out to a 14-0 lead with two tries in the first 10 minutes, the injuries robbed the Crusaders of cohesion and the dogged Sunwolves pulled within three points early in the second half after a hail storm lashed the ground.
Photo: AP
A second try by All Blacks center Crotty rallied the home side and tries to winger Manasa Mataele and replacement halfback Jack Stratton, who crossed to score in in the last minute, ensured a bonus point in the Crusaders’ sixth win of the season.
The struggling Sunwolves slumped to their eighth loss of a winless season, but will not leave Christchurch bereft of confidence after matching the powerful New Zealanders for much of the contest.
Back at their home ground after a bye and a successful tour of South Africa and Argentina, the Crusaders came out firing against their Japanese opponents.
Four seconds before the first minute was up, Crotty finished off a brilliant move by flyhalf Mike Delany, who ghosted through two defenders and sidestepped a third before floating a pass wide to the charging inside center.
Seven minutes later, the Crusaders had their second try, a line-out drive at the left corner storming over the line and giving flanker-captain Matt Todd the points.
A rout threatened, but the Sunwolves hit back through inside center Michael Little, who ran on to a deft, little pass from Timothy Lafaele before bolting over.
A fierce storm then turned the match into a scoreless arm-wrestle as the hosts were restricted to 14-5 to half-time.
Poor discipline allowed the Sunwolves to claw back within three points by the 50-minute mark, with flyhalf Hayden Parker slotting two penalties.
The Crusaders then knuckled down, and after a patient buildup, Crotty sliced through a buckling defensive with a burst of pure pace to push the margin out to a more comfortable 21-11 buffer with his second try in the 57th minute.
Winger Mataele made it a 15-point gap five minutes later, latching onto an off-load from center Tim Bateman near the left corner before cantering over for an easy try.
Rookie Stratton blew out the score-line with his first try for the Crusaders, whose title defense is building nicely heading into the business end of the season.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
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
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but