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.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
Taiwanese badminton superstar Lee Yang broke down in tears after publicly retiring from the sport on Sunday. The two-time Olympic gold medalist held a retirement ceremony at the Taipei Arena after the final matches of the Taipei Open. Accompanied by friends, family and former badminton partners, Lee burst into tears while watching a video celebrating key moments in his professional sporting career that also featured messages from international players such as Malaysia’s Teo Ee Yi, Hong Kong’s Tang Chun-man, and Indonesia’s Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan. “I hope that in the future when the world thinks about me, they will
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later
RSS