The Wellington Hurricanes forced their way into the Super 14 top four when a 31-point spree in the second half cemented a bonus-point 44-21 win over the Queensland Reds in Wellington yesterday.
It was the second week in a row the Hurricanes have overturned a halftime deficit as they continued a remarkable end of season run and put a serious dent in the Reds’ hopes of making the play-offs.
Hosea Gear touched down three times as the Hurricanes scored six tries, all by the outside backs, to three for the Reds.
PHOTO: AFP
The Reds, the surprise package of the championship, started the penultimate round before the play-offs in fourth place and led 21-13 at halftime against the Hurricanes before a reckless tackle cost them dearly.
Flanker Andrew Shaw was sinbinned for hurling Piri Weepu into the turf, and the ‘Canes cashed in on the one-man advantage with two converted tries before the Reds were fully staffed again, and by then the impetus was firmly with the home side.
“That was huge. We played in the right areas when they had a man down and played their half for that whole time and got some good tries,” captain Andrew Hore said. “What the crowd and the Hurricanes have been waiting for all year is a performance like that in the second half.”
In a match marking veteran backrower Rodney So’oialo’s 100th Super appearance and the farewell home game for retiring coach Colin Cooper, who has been in charge for more than 100 games, the Hurricanes struck early.
Hosea Gear and Cory Jane combined down the left flank with Jane scoring in the corner and Weepu followed up with a penalty.
The Reds replied with Quade Cooper and Will Genia exploiting holes around the Hurricanes ruck and with clever use of the inside pass they were rewarded with three tries.
Scott Higgenbotham scored the first from a Genia break around the maul, and speedster Rod Davies ran 40m for the second when he came in from the blind side and latched on to an inside pass from Cooper.
Cooper engineered the third try when he made the initial break and chipped over the line with Will Chambers winning the race for the ball.
Gear and Jane closed the half with another break down the left side, which ended with Gear scoring the first of his triple.
Gear and right wing Tamati Ellison scored while Shaw was side-lined and as the Hurricanes stepped up the pressure, Gear and replacement wing David Smith scored further tries.
Weepu finished the game with a personal tally of 14 points from four conversions and two penalties.
Shaquille O’Neal is staying with TNT Sports on a new contract worth more than US$15 million per year, Front Office Sports reported on Friday. The news means the cast of Inside the NBA is staying together even as TNT is set to license out the show to ESPN starting next season. TNT was the odd network out in the NBA’s recent TV rights negotiations, as NBC and Amazon joined previous rightsholder ESPN in inking deals for basketball games. That left TNT without a need for pregame and postgame NBA shows. In a trade with ESPN, TNT is licensing Inside the NBA to the
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
Juventus on Sunday stopped Inter from replacing SSC Napoli at the top of Serie A by beating their fierce rivals 1-0 and moving into the UEFA Champions League positions. Francisco Conceicao made sure that Napoli would stay two points ahead of reigning champions Inter by classily tucking home the winning goal 16 minutes before the end of an entertaining contest in Turin. Portugal attacker Conceicao netted his fourth goal of the season in all competitions after brilliant work from Randal Kolo Muani to give Juve a third straight league win. Juve are in fourth place on 46 points, ahead on goal-difference from SS
Starting with three fights in the first nine seconds and ending with a celebration and a spot in the 4 Nations Face-Off final, the US on Saturday delivered exactly what Matthew Tkachuk hoped for by beating Canada. “We needed to send a message,” Tkachuk said. “The message we wanted to send is ‘It’s our time.’” Tkachuk fought Brandon Hagel off the opening faceoff, brother Brady tussled with Sam Bennett the next time the puck dropped, J.T. Miller dropped the gloves with Colton Parayko next and the Americans followed those fisticuffs with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival. “That was one of the