Canterbury Crusaders of New Zealand beat the Golden Lions of South Africa 32-20 on Friday to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Super 14 semi-finals.
Coming off a shock defeat at the hands of the Central Cheetahs in Bloemfontein last weekend, the defending champions ran in four tries at Ellis Park to collect a maximum five points. Victory moves the Crusaders into fourth place with 32 points, while Lions’ eighth defeat kept them in 12th position.
The Crusaders were first to score after a good counterattack from deep in their own half resulted in lock Isaac Ross crossing and fullback Leon MacDonald converting the try. The Lions hit back soon after when scrumhalf Jano Vermaak dived over after good work by flyhalf Andre Pretorius, who hacked the ball ahead when Canterbury lost possession. Pretorius leveled the scores by converting and midway through the opening half the Lions edged ahead via a second try as debutant flanker Johann van Deventer powered past three defenders, displaying pace and nifty footwork to go over.
PHOTO: EPA
Although behind on the scoreboard, the Crusaders did most of the attacking and it was not long before they struck again.
Lions fullback Louis Ludik had a clearance kick charged down by Stephen Brett, who reclaimed the ball and darted over. MacDonald added the conversion and knocked over a penalty to give the visitors a 17-12 advantage before, on the stroke of halftime, Pretorius reduced the deficit to two points when he slotted a penalty.
The Crusaders threatened early in the second half and, while they squandered a few try-scoring opportunities, the pressure finally told when lock Brad Thorn crashed over on 62 minutes. MacDonald converted the try, but when it appeared the Crusaders were going to run away with the game, the Lions hit back to score against the run of play.
Lock Anton van Zyl excelled close to the left touchline to kick the ball into open space behind the New Zealand backs, collect the ball and score to close the gap to four points.
However, the hosts hopes of the match going down to the wire were dashed just two minutes later when a well-worked Crusaders line-out ploy saw replacement hooker Dan Perrin run in his team’s bonus-point try and give them a 29-20 lead with 13 minutes remaining.
MacDonald completed the scoring with a second penalty.
■CHEETAHS 10, WARATAHS 18
AFP, BLOEMFONTEIN
Australian side New South Wales Waratahs climbed four places to fourth in the Super 14 table after a 18-10 win over South Africa’s Central Cheetahs on Friday.
The bottom-of-the-table Cheetahs started and finished well while squandering try-scoring chances, but the rest of the match was dominated by the visitors.
The Waratahs dominance was particularly noticeable in the scrums where loose head Benn Robinson gave opponent Kobus Caldo a torrid time until the Cheetah was replaced late in the second half.
Wallaby Phil Waugh stood out in the loose exchanges on his record 108th appearance for the Sydney-based team, winning numerous turnovers before a sparse Absa Stadium crowd.
The Cheetahs reserved their best form this season for the best with the wins in the southern hemisphere championship coming against then leaders the Coastal Sharks and title holders Canterbury Crusaders. However, the blue shirts of title hopefuls Waratahs did not inspire the traditional Super 14 strugglers and their lone try from replacement back J.W. Jonker came just two minutes from time.
A blow for the Australians was the first-half loss of injured Wallaby wing Lote Tuqiri as they face tougher opposition in the Sharks and Golden Lions on the rest of a South African safari.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS