An early red card to France fullback Ben Fall ensured the All Blacks sealed a 26-13 victory in their second Test yesterday in Wellington and wrapped up the three-match series with a game to spare.
Fall, who arrived late due to the Top 14 final and missed the 52-11 first Test loss, was sent off by referee Angus Gardner in the 12th minute for taking out All Blacks flyhalf Beauden Barrett in the air.
Fullback Jordie Barrett scored two tries, while prop Joe Moody and winger Ben Smith also crossed for the All Blacks, who produced a bumbling performance, despite having the numbers advantage for almost 70 minutes.
Photo: AP
Scrumhalf Morgan Parra slotted two first half penalties for the visitors, who dominated for long periods of the game and earned the most plaudits when prop Cedate Gomes Sa scored after the fulltime hooter.
JAPAN VS ITALY
AFP, KOBE, Japan
Italy yesterday completed a nail-biting 25-22 away win over Japan to tie their two-Test series against next year’s World Cup hosts.
The Italians attacked with real purpose in Kobe after being humbled 34-17 by the Brave Blossoms last weekend, but needed two clutch penalties from fly-half Tommaso Allan to repel a furious late Japan fightback.
“It was our last game of the season, so we’re really happy to finish like that,” Italy captain Leonardo Ghiraldini said. “We know exactly where we want to go: Our target at the World Cup is to qualify for the quarter-finals, but we have the Six Nations before that and that’s our focus.”
“Both sides went at it furiously and showed a lot of heart, but obviously the result is a real disappointment,” said Japan captain Michael Leitch, whose side face Georgia in a one-off home Test next weekend. “It was difficult to match their energy. They pushed us back deeper and deeper, but there are a lot of things to learn from this defeat.”
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
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