Lwazi Mvovo scored a superb chip-and-chase try to secure a 25-12 victory for Coastal Sharks over the Golden Lions on Saturday and top place on the Super 15 table.
The Durban franchise were just three points ahead in a fiercely contested South African showdown at Ellis Park in Johannesburg when fullback Mvovo struck 13 minutes from time.
Center S’bura Sithole forced a turnover near the touchline and Mvovo darted down the flank, caught his chip and darted over to land a decisive blow against the Lions.
Francois Steyn, who started at inside center and moved to fly-half midway through the opening half when Fred Zeilinga pulled a hamstring, converted.
The 2007 Rugby World Cup winner added a penalty to complete the scoring and give the Sharks a two-point lead at the top.
The Sharks have 27 points, the ACT Brumbies 25 and the Waikato Chiefs 24 on the combined southern hemisphere provincial championship standings.
It was the sixth victory in seven outings for an experienced team coached by 2007 World Cup-winning coach Jake White, but five of the games have been at home.
The Lions remain ninth with 16 points as an eight-match sequence of winning two games and then losing two continued having failed against the Canterbury Crusaders the previous weekend.
“That was a really tough game and it took us a long time to score a try against a brilliant Lions defense,” Sharks hooker and skipper Bismarck du Plessis said. “We have made a good start to the season, but there is a long road ahead and the last five league games will be crucial.”
Lions No. 8 and skipper Warren Whiteley praised his teammates for battling bravely to try and avenge a 37-23 early-season loss in Durban.
“We matched the Sharks for 60 minutes, but were not clinical enough when the team got close to the try-line,” he said. “Let me give credit to the Sharks for capitalizing on our mistakes — some of those penalties from Francois Steyn were magnificent.”
Steyn slotted two monster early-second half penalties to earn the Sharks a six-point advantage after the first half finished 6-6 before a 30,000 crowd.
Zeilinga kicked two early penalties within a minute before being forced off, and leading Super 15 scorer Marnitz Boshoff also potted two shots at goal. Boshoff slotted two more penalties in the second half, raising his season total to 121 points, and Steyn landed his third penalty before Mvovo struck.
CRUSADERS, CHEETAHS
AFP, BLOEMFONTEIN
The Canterbury Crusaders scored four last-quarter tries to defeat the Central Cheetahs 52-31 in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
It was the first clean sweep by the New Zealand side in South Africa since 2008, after they beat the Golden Lions in Johannesburg last weekend.
And it was the first victory by the record seven-time Super Rugby champions over the Cheetahs since 2007 in the republic.
Victory lifted the Crusaders five places to seventh and into the hunt for a top-six finish and a play-off spot in the southern hemisphere provincial championship.
“That was a job well done and we must build on it,” said Crusaders skipper and No. 8 Kieran Read, back after missing the Johannesburg triumph through injury. “A combination of brilliance and tiredness contributed to eight second-half tries and we got ourselves out of trouble after trailing with 20 minutes left.”
Cheetahs hooker and skipper Adriaan Strauss blamed poor discipline as his side slumped to a sixth loss in eight games this season after reaching last year’s playoffs.
“A lack of discipline put us under pressure in our half and that is fatal against a team like the Crusaders,” he said.
The difference between the sides was at the breakdowns, where the technical superiority of the visitors won them many turnovers.
Fly-half Colin Slade top scored for the Crusaders with 25 points from a try, four conversions and four penalties.
Left-wing Nemani Nadolo snatched a hat-trick of tries.
Tries by full-back Israel Dagg and replacement back Tom Taylor and a conversion from replacement fly-half Tyler Bleyendaal completed the Crusaders’ biggest score this season.
The Cheetahs lost fly-half Johan Goosen before the end of the first quarter as he failed to recover from a concussion.
Replacement playmaker Elgar Watts converted tries by right-wing Cornal Hendricks, scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius, replacement lock Teboho Mohoje and fullback Willie le Roux and kicked a penalty.
Nadolo, a 125kg giant, scored his first try just 27 seconds into the second half and Slade converted for a 16-point advantage.
However, a 10-minute purple patch by the home side delivered three converted tries and a 31-26 lead before the Crusaders regained control.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
More than 180 years of horse racing came to an end in Singapore on Saturday, as the Singapore Turf Club hosted its final race day before its track is handed back to the Singaporean government to provide land for new homes. Under an overcast sky, the air-conditioned VIP boxes were full of enthusiasts, socialites and expats, while the grounds and betting halls below hosted mostly older-generation punters. The sun broke through for the last race, the last-ever Grand Singapore Gold Cup. The winner, South African jockey Muzi Yeni, echoed a feeling of loss shared by many on the day. “I’d
PREDICTION: Last week, when Yu’s father made a wrong turn to the former champions’ parking lot, he said that his son could park there after this year With back-to-back birdies on the 18th hole, Kevin Yu fulfilled his driving range-owning dad’s prediction that he would win the Sanderson Farms Championship and become Taiwan’s third golfer to claim a US PGA Tour title. The Taoyuan-born 26-year-old, who represented Taiwan in the Olympic golf at Paris, saw off Californian Beau Hossler in a playoff at the Country Club of Jackson, Mississippi, on Sunday. Having drained a 15-foot putt to claw his way into the playoff, Yu rolled in from five feet on the first extra hole, ensuring he joined Chen Tze-chung (LA Open in 1987) and Pan Cheng-tsung (RBC
LeBron James and eldest son Bronny James claimed a piece of NBA history on Sunday after making their long-awaited first appearance alongside each other for the Los Angeles Lakers. The duo appeared together at the start of the second quarter in the Lakers’ 118-114 preseason defeat to the Phoenix Suns in Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles. While LeBron James impressed with 19 points in just 16 minutes and 20 seconds on court before sitting out the second half, Bronny found the going harder with zero points in just over 13 minutes on court. The younger James attempted just one
RSS