The Western Force and the Queensland Reds will meet in the fifth round of rugby union's Super 14 tomorrow, bringing into focus the grand experiment of endowing Australia with a fourth franchise.
Neither side has won in four rounds, and the Perth-based Force heavily recruited Queensland talent in establishing its inaugural squad. Remnants of ill-feeling remain between the new and established franchises, leaving both with plenty to play for.
Former Wallaby Ben Tune, who returns to the Reds lineup to ease a backline injury crisis, said the match had an emotional context but was unlikely to reach the pitch of Queensland's traditional clashes with New South Wales.
"I can understand people trying to build it up like a Waratahs' match, but the Waratahs' matches are 100 years in the making," Tune said.
"If anything it's a little bit disrespectful to the history behind that match to try to compare a Queensland-Western Australia match in the same light. It's an interstate match and we're 0-4 and their 0-4 so it's a pretty important match just in terms of both teams trying to get a win," he added.
The match will focus attention on the depth of talent in Australian rugby, used by critics as a principal argument against the expansion of the Super 12 to the Super 14. Both Queensland and the Perth-based Western Force have been stretched by injuries this season and tomorrow's match may show whether either or both teams can keep pace with their opponents.
South Africa's Cheetahs, who beat the competition-leading Wellington Hurricanes last week for their second win of the season, are seen to owe part of their success to the fact they have developed out of an established rugby region.
The Force's creation in Western Australia, an area lean on rugby history, has forced them to hunt talent elsewhere, affecting the strength of teams such as Queensland.
The Perth franchise has helped to stir new competition between the four Australian franchises for available proven talent, making it more difficult for each to keep players. That fact was brought home this week by news all four Australian teams are hunting the signature of Wallabies and ACT Brumbies utility back Matt Giteau.
The management of South Africa's five franchises stirred controversy this week as SARU officials wavered over plans to plans to relegate their worst-performed team at the end of the current season and to promote the Eastern Province-based Southern Spears.
The Spears insist their promotion is automatic, but newly elected SARU boss Oregan Hoskins showed signs this week of weakening his resolve on the promotion-relegation issue.
"There are two issues that need to be addressed, the first being the issue of relegation, and the second being the fact that the Southern Spears have become a reality that needs to be addressed. It would be a very sad day if one of the existing franchises has to be relegated at the end of this series," he said.
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
RSS