French club Clermont Auvergne showed their European Cup promise with a comprehensive 48-21 home victory over Wales' Llanelli Scarlets in their tournament-opener.
It was not all gloom and doom for Wales, however, with perennial underachievers Cardiff Blues securing a 34-18 win over Bristol, while English side Saracens sneaked a 33-31 victory over Glasgow in Sunday's two other games.
Clermont winger Aurelien Rougerie, who failed to secure a starting place in France's World Cup starting XV, scored a hat trick, while Julien Bonnaire, Julien Malzieu, Thomas Domingo and impressive Australian outside-half Brock James also got on the scoresheet.
James also kicked four conversions and a penalty in a match which saw South Africa's World Cup-winning skipper John Smit make his debut, along with Alex King, who won the European Cup last season with Wasps -- both of them coning on as replacements.
The Scarlets replied with tries from Dafydd James, Dwayne Peel and ex-All Black center Regan King, with former Clermont outside-half Stephen Jones hitting three conversions, but the French club's formidable defensive blanket succeeded in outmuscling the Welsh side which struggled in the set-piece.
Bristol's hopes of a priceless Cup away win were dashed by an outstanding Cardiff fightback as the Blues prevailed at the Arms Park.
Cardiff wiped out a 13-3 deficit, racing 34-13 ahead through tries by center Jamie Robinson, flanker Maama Molitika and his back-row colleague Martyn Williams -- who touched down twice.
Fullback Ben Blair chipped in with 14 points from the boot and Bristol could only reflect on why everything unravelled so spectacularly, despite having the last word with wing Tom Arscott's consolation score.
They occupied the driving seat throughout the first half -- using their forwards to impressive effect and establishing a healthy lead courtesy of full-back David Hill's try, plus two Jason Strange penalties and a conversion.
In the day's other game, Saracens led 25-11 at halftime thanks to tries from Hugh Vyvyan, Rodd Penney and Ben Skirving, to one from Glasgow's Moray Low.
Kameli Ratuvou added a fourth try but two Dan Parks penalties and a converted Hefin O'Hare score cut the lead to six.
Glen Jackson's third penalty edged the hosts nine points clear and Alastair Kellock's last-minute converted try was too little, too late for Glasgow.
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
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
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
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
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