Center George Carmont’s try — the only score of the second half — helped Samoa to a 20-12 win over Tonga yesterday in a Pacific Islands grudge match at the Rugby League World Cup.
Tonga, who beat Ireland 22-20 in their opening match on Monday, had the bulk of the early possession, but trailed 10-0 at Penrith in western suburban Sydney. It was Samoa’s first match of the tournament.
Captain Nigel Vagana scored a 90m intercept try and Bulldogs National Rugby League star Matt Utai added a second as Samoa led 14-12 at halftime after winger Francis Meli had given Samoa a 4-0 lead after three minutes.
Tonga hooker Tevita Leo-Latu scored his team’s first try and center Michael Jennings the other after taking a flick pass from Tony Williams, who provided Tonga’s other points with two goals.
The match featured several big hits and crunching tackles. Samoan prop Kylie Leulau’i was placed on report by referee Shayne Hayne for a high tackle on Tonga full-back Fetuli Talanoa in the first half.
The prelude to the match between the traditional rivals was fiery. The singers of the national anthems walked off arm in arm with their national flags in a show of unity, but there was nothing friendly about the threatening war dances each team performed minutes later.
Samoa did their Maori haka-style dance first, proceeding from their 35m line up to the 50m line.
They then stood at the halfway line while Tonga did a similar dance, but despite much screaming, mock slitting of throats and swordplay, order prevailed as neither team crossed the midfield line.
At halftime, several players exchanged heated words as they trotted to the sidelines.
The last 10 minutes featured good scoring chances by each team, before costly turnovers ended the threats.
At the end of the match, fans invaded the pitch, forcing a television interview with Michael Jennings of Tonga to be cut short when spectators began jostling with the interviewer and Jennings.
In other weekend matches, Fiji will play their first match of the tournament today against France, who beat Scotland 36-18 in their opener.
Also today, New Zealand meet Papua New Guinea in a match pitting together two teams who lost their opening matches.
Tomorrow, unbeaten Australia and England meet in Sydney. Australia defeated New Zealand and England downed Papua New Guinea last weekend.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS