Ritchie McCaw scored two tries and Daniel Carter kicked eight goals from as many attempts as the Canterbury Crusaders beat the leading ACT Brumbies 48-27 in a Super 12 rugby match yesterday.
The Crusaders scored six tries to take five points from the match and Carter made their win emphatic with four conversions and four penalties, or 20 individual points.
The Brumbies scored four tries and took a single bonus point from the match. The loss left the Brumbies with 25 points, six ahead of Canterbury and the Stormers, who have a weekend bye.
The Crusaders stunned the Brumbies with two tries within five minutes of the kickoff to lead 14-0 and to place the competition leaders under intense pressure.
After a Brumbies reply -- the first of two tries to winger Clyde Rathbone -- and a hectic first 10 minutes, the Crusaders built a commanding 23-7 lead by halftime.
The Brumbies closed within five points, to 26-21, by the middle of a more even second half but the Crusaders stung them again with two tries in three minutes to lead 40-21 and put the match beyond doubt.
"When you play quality sides like the Crusaders you can't afford to give them a 14-point head start after five minutes," said Brumbies captain Stirling Mortlock.
"I'm happy with the effort in the second half. We came back well and at least we got a bonus point."
The win extended the Crusaders' winning streak against the Brumbies in Christchurch to five matches and lifted them into the top half of the table ahead of a two-match spin through South Africa.
McCaw scored the first Crusaders try after four minutes, driving through George Gregan's blindside tackle after a lineout five meters from the Brumbies line. McIntyre, who stepped in at flyhalf for an ill Andrew Mehrtens, charged down Joe Roff's lazy clearing kick to score a second try one minute later.
Rathbone scored in the 10th minute, cutting the lead to 14-7.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
‘TOUGH TO BREATHE’: Tunisian three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur suffered an asthma attack in her 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday cruised into the second round of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Iga Swiatek romped into a third-round women’s singles showdown with Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz was just as emphatic in his pursuit of a maiden Grand Slam title. Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the third seeds, defeated Slovakia’s Tereza Mihalikova and Olivia Nicholls of Britain 7-5, 6-2 in 90 minutes in Melbourne. Ostapenko and Hsieh — who won the women’s doubles and mixed doubles at the Australian Open last year — hit 25 winners and converted five of nine break points to set
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
RSS