The ACT Brumbies held off a Waikato Chiefs fightback to bring an end to the New Zealanders’ quest for a third straight Super Rugby title with a 32-30 victory in a breathless playoff match in Canberra yesterday.
Tries from Nic White, Robbie Coleman, Jesse Mogg and Jarrad Butler gave the hosts a measure of revenge for their defeat in last year’s final and earned them a place in next week’s semi-finals, most likely against the New South Wales Waratahs.
The Chiefs were trailing 22-3 after half an hour, but they did not win back-to-back titles by giving up easily and stormed back with tries from Bundee Aki, Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Tim Nanai-Williams to level the scores at 25-25 with 25 minutes to go.
Flanker Butler scored from a rolling maul five minutes later, though, and Chiefs flyhalf Aaron Cruden’s failure to convert replacement back Gareth Anscombe’s 77th minute try ultimately proved decisive.
“We knew it was going to be a full 80 performance, you don’t knock a side like that over easily,” Brumbies skipper Ben Mowen said in a televised pitchside interview.
Yellow cards at the start of each half for infringements at the breakdown had a significant impact on the contest.
Chiefs center Tim Nanai-Williams was sent to the sin-bin in the fifth minute for cynically slowing down Brumbies ball and five minutes later the hosts were 14-3 up with two tries on the board.
Scrumhalf White scored the first, peeling off the back off a rolling maul when he spotted space down the blindside, and then plucked Dwayne Sweeney’s chip out of the air to start a flowing move that ended with Coleman’s second.
Mogg had showed his electric pace to set Coleman free for the line and the winger returned the favor 10 minutes later with a delicate pass that allowed his fullback to cross in the corner.
Christian Lealiifano added a penalty after 29 minutes, but the rest of the half belonged to the Chiefs, who got their reward for sustained pressure when center Aki wrestled his way over the line from close range after 35 minutes.
Cruden and Lealiifano traded penalties in the first three minutes of the second half, but then Brumbies winger Henry Speight was shown his yellow card.
While Speight was off the field, Kerr-Barlow reacted quickly to dot the ball down after a ruck close to the line and when Nanai-Williams raced over in the corner after 55 minutes, the scores were all square.
The Chiefs came from behind to beat the Brumbies in last year’s final and the hosts were clearly determined not to be overhauled again.
“It wasn’t the result we were after, we started slowly and gave a quality side like the Brumbies a bit of a head start,” Cruden said. “It’s pretty disappointing, but we just couldn’t quite get over the line.”
The Brumbies are to face the Waratahs if South Africa’s Coastal Sharks beat the Otago Highlanders in yesterday’s second playoff, but will go to Christchurch to play the Canterbury Crusaders next week if the New Zealanders triumph in Durban.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
RSS