New Zealand moved within a win of its third straight Women's Rugby World Cup after thrashing France 40-10 in the semi-finals on Tuesday.
The Black Ferns will contest Sunday's final against England, which survived a late rally to edge host Canada 20-14. New Zealand downed England 19-9 to win the 2002 World Cup final at Barcelona.
Fullback Amiria Marsh scored behind the posts in the first minute to open the scoring for New Zealand, en route to the defending champion's 14th straight win in World Cup play.
PHOTO: AP
French No. 8 Delphine Plantet scored the first try against New Zealand this tournament in the eighth minute after the Black Ferns pack was shunted off a five-meter scrum feed.
Center Huriana Manuel restored New Zealand's lead two minutes later and openside flanker Rochelle Martin scored twice more to leave the score at 20-5 at the break.
Emma Jensen extended the lead just over a minute into the second half, but French lock Corinne Devroute crossed the line shortly after to keep the game alive.
England opened its match confidently with a seventh-minute try to Charlotte Barras and a penalty from Karen Andrew to take an 8-0 lead into the break.
Kim Shaylor crossed for another unconverted try in the 43rd minute for a 13-0 lead.
Canada drew within six points after Julie Foster replied with a try in the 49th minute, which captain Kelly McCallum converted.
Barras scored her second try of the match in the 73rd minute and England held out a late Canadian rally in the final three minutes when Heather Moyse scored a converted try.
Canada will now face France in the bronze medal match on Sunday.
TO THE TOP: After securing the international title on Saturday, Team Taiwan were to face Las Vegas to potentially win their 18th Little League World Series championship A team from Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School won the Little League Baseball World Series’ international title on Saturday by defeating Aruba 1-0 in the annual baseball tournament held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Taiwan team, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, were after press time last night to face a team from Las Vegas, Nevada, which beat a team from Fairfield, Connecticut, in the US championship 8-2. Taiwan are seeking to win their first Little League Baseball World Series title since 1996. “Really haven’t taken a moment to data dump right now on Taiwan,” Nevada manager T.J. Fescher said. “They’re a
‘CATASTROPHE’: Despite losing several key forwards in the summer transfer window, Bayern were up 3-0 in the first half before Harry Kane scored a hat-trick in the second Harry Kane hit a hat-trick, Michael Olise a double and newcomer Luis Diaz also scored as Bayern Munich made a “statement” against RB Leipzig 6-0 at home in the Bundesliga season opener on Friday. Bayern’s big-money arrivals, all brought in from the Premier League across the past three seasons, were dominant as the Bavarians begun their title defense in style. Olise scored twice in the first half, either side of a Diaz strike. Not to be outdone, Kane scored three goals in the second half — with two assists coming from Diaz, to bring Bayern’s total to 6-0. Kane told the Bundesliga
Kevin de Bruyne is to lead SSC Napoli’s Serie A title defense today when he makes his full debut at promoted US Sassuolo, but the champions head into the new season rocked by a long-term injury to star striker Romelu Lukaku. De Bruyne was, alongside aging icon Luka Modric, the big new name to arrive in Italy this summer and fans were hoping his linkup with Belgium teammate Lukaku would push Napoli to success both at home and in their return to the UEFA Champions League. The 34-year-old has suffered from hamstring injuries which caused him to miss significant chunks of the
Marc Marquez continued his winning streak as he cruised to victory in the Hungarian GP sprint by two seconds on Saturday night to pad his championship lead. It was a seventh straight Sprint victory for the Spaniard, who has also won the last six longer Sunday grand prix races on his factory Ducati. Fabio Di Giannantonio, an Italian with the VR46 Ducati satellite team was a distant second at Balaton Park, followed by his team-mate and compatriot Franco Morbidelli third. Marquez, a six-time world champion, started the race from pole position. “I felt someone really close on the first corner, from there I