The Waikato Chiefs showed a huge amount of character to come from 10 points down in the final 15 minutes and beat the ACT Brumbies 27-22 to claim the Super Rugby title for the second year in a row in Hamilton yesterday.
Flanker Liam Messam and replacement back Robbie Robinson scored tries four minutes apart deep in the second half and flyhalf Aaron Cruden added 17 points with his boot to rescue the home side from a potential upset.
The Brumbies, trying to become the first team to win the title having played their semi-final on another continent, had led 22-12 in the 65th minute courtesy of a converted try and five penalties from center Christian Leali’ifano.
Photo: AFP
The Chiefs are the fourth team to win back-to-back titles and join the Auckland Blues, the Canterbury Crusaders, the Northern Bulls and the Brumbies as multiple winners of the southern hemisphere’s annual provincial competition.
“I think it was a real tough final,” said Chiefs co-captain Craig Clarke, one of a string of senior players moving on at the end of the season.
“We have to pay credit to an awesome Brumbies team for a hell of a performance, especially after all the traveling they’ve done. It’s been an awesome couple of seasons and a great group to be part of. Big ups for what we have done,” he added.
Photo: AFP
For much of the evening, though, it looked like the Canberra-based Brumbies might just become the first foreign team to win the title on New Zealand soil.
Kicking for territory and targeting the breakdown, the visitors raced out to a 9-0 lead in the first 20 minutes on the back of three Leali’ifano penalties.
The hosts got over their slow start and started to ramp up their attack, with Cruden punishing the Brumbies for their increasingly regular infractions in the tackle area.
Cruden missed his first attempt at goal, but nailed the next three to draw the teams level at 9-9 after 32 minutes and it looked like the Chiefs would take the momentum into the break.
However, three minutes later, home scrumhalf Tawera Kerr-Barlow, under pressure from George Smith, threw a pass over the head of hooker Hika Elliot and Lealiifano pounced, racing 40m to touch down in the corner with Cruden trailing in his wake.
The Wallabies center converted his own try to give the Australians a 16-9 halftime lead and, when lock Scott Fardy won a penalty in front of the posts five minutes after the restart, extended it to a 10-point cushion.
Cruden chipped three points off the lead after 48 minutes, but he hit the post with his next penalty attempt and the Brumbies stormed back.
Leali’ifano put through a grubber kick which winger Clyde Rathbone somehow latched onto to take the ball to the Chiefs’ line, with lock Sam Carter just failing to convince the TV review official that he had forced the ball down over the line.
A fifth Leali’ifano penalty just before the hour mark gave the visitors a 22-12 lead, but man of the match Messam signaled the late resurgence when he closed the gap with the Chiefs’ first try, coming off a 5m scrum to crash over the line.
The next score came four minutes later and was the best of the night, with the Chiefs taking the ball from deep in their own half to the 22m line before Robinson cut through the defense and raced to the line to touch down.
Cruden had missed his first conversion attempt, but nailed the second to put the home side in front at 24-22, a lead he extended with his fifth and final penalty seven minutes from time.
The Brumbies’ desperation trumped the fatigue of their 23,000km odyssey to South Africa and back for their semi-final victory over the Bulls, and they hammered away at the home side’s defense in the dying minutes.
It was to be in vain, though, and the cowbells of the locals rang around the Waikato Stadium in triumph for the second year in a row.
“We led from the start and for them to come from behind speaks loads for this Chiefs team,” Brumbies skipper Ben Mowen said. “They are an outstanding champion side and thoroughly deserve this title. Congratulations on what they have built here in the last two years. It’s what we aspire to.”
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
Memphis Grizzlies forward Brandon Clarke, 29, has died, the NBA team said in a statement on Tuesday, while the family of Jason Collins, the first openly gay man to play in a major US pro sports league, announced the former Grizzlies and Brooklyn Nets player had died after a battle with brain cancer. “We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of Brandon Clarke,” the Grizzlies said in a statement posted on social media. “Brandon was an outstanding teammate and an even better person whose impact on the organization and the greater Memphis community will not be forgotten.” The statement did not provide
RSS