England yesterday showed that they could take a beating at the Rugby World Cup as they thumped their old enemies Australia 40-16 to become the first team to reach the semi-finals.
Wing Jonny May scored the first two of England’s four tries in just three minutes of the first half as they set up a clash in the semi-finals against defending champions New Zealand, who played later.
Kyle Sinckler and Anthony Watson crossed in the second half and 20 points flowed from Owen Farrell’s perfect kicking as Eddie Jones’ men throttled the Wallabies’ attempts to claw their way back into it.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We did what’s needed. We had the lead and obviously Australia were throwing everything at us,” Farrell said. “We wanted to play the game at our pace not theirs, and we did that in the second half.”
With his contract up after the World Cup, the defeat appears to have ended Michael Cheika’s five-year stint as Wallabies coach, whose highlight was reaching the World Cup final in 2015.
“The better team won. That’s the way it is. You’ve got to suck that up sometimes,” said Cheika, a former teammate of Jones at Sydney’s Randwick club. “I was supposed to get this done for the people here and the Australians. It’s so disappointing.”
Australia looked dangerous early on, but England seized the advantage with May’s quickfire try double.
England stretched the Australian defense as they attacked right and then left, before Tom Curry, who was selected man of the match, drew the final defender to give the left wing an easy score in the corner.
Henry Slade then intercepted the ball on halfway and raced toward the try-line before chipping into space with a kick that was deftly gathered by the England wing.
Three Christian Lealiifano penalties kept Australia in touch at 17-9 at halftime and they came storming back after the restart when Marika Koroibete skinned Elliot Daly to cross for the Wallabies.
However, England hit back almost immediately when Farrell picked out Sinckler with a bullet pass and the prop burst through a gap for his first international try.
Watson’s late intercept try completed the job for England, who equaled their record margin of victory against Australia — and beat them for a third time in the World Cup quarter-finals.
Today, Wales face France in Oita and hosts Japan, the tournament’s surprise package, play the first World Cup quarter-final in their history against South Africa in Tokyo.
Also yesterday, it was:
‧ New Zealand 46, Ireland 14
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Forget Real Madrid, Manchester City or Paris Saint-Germain, the world’s best soccer team — statistically speaking — might be a little-known outfit from the closed central Asian nation of Turkmenistan. Founded last year, Arkadag, named in honor of former Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, have been unstoppable, notching up 36 consecutive domestic victories in a run still ongoing. The side have not lost a single competitive match and swept to a league and cup double in their inaugural season — success unthinkable almost anywhere else. However, in Turkmenistan, it could hardly have gone any other way. The energy-rich country is one of the most closed
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
Taiwan’s Lee Jhe-huei and Yang Po-hsuan on Saturday won the men’s doubles bronze medal at the Badminton Asia Championships in Ningbo, China, after they were bested by the hosts in their semi-final. The Taiwanese shuttlers lost to China’s Liang Wei Keng and Wang Chang, who advanced to yesterday’s final against Malaysia’s Goh Sze Fei and Nur Izzudin. The Chinese pair outplayed Lee and Yang in straight games. Although the Taiwanese got off to a slow start in the first game, they eventually tied it 14-14, before Liang and Wang went on to blow past them to win 21-17. In the second game, Lee and