Next year’s Rugby Championship will be condensed into three rounds next year to fit in with the World Cup in England, with holders New Zealand kicking off the first match against Argentina, the competition’s organizers said yesterday.
The All Blacks, who wrapped up their third straight southern hemisphere championship earlier this month, take on the Pumas in Christchurch on July 17 next year, SANZAR said. The Wallabies will host the Springboks in Brisbane the following night.
In the second round, the Springboks are to host New Zealand, and Argentina face the Wallabies, while the third round matches are to be between Australia and the All Blacks in Sydney and South Africa hosting Argentina.
Photo: AFP
There will be an additional round on Aug. 15, but not for competition points, to give the teams valuable lead-up to the World Cup, which kicks off in England the following month.
New Zealand are to play Australia at Eden Park in Auckland, while Argentina are to host South Africa.
“The Rugby Championship continues to be one of the game’s greatest tests, pitting the world’s elite rugby nations against one another,” SANZAR chief executive Greg Peters said. “The intense rivalry between New Zealand and South Africa has risen to lofty new heights in recent years and subsequently evolved into one of sport’s must watch events.”
“Argentina recently returned to the [International Rugby Board] IRB’s Top 10 and will seek to build on their inaugural victory in the championship, while the Wallabies and All Blacks renew another rivalry steeped in history and tradition with clashes in Sydney and Auckland,” he added.
Meanwhile, Australia coach Ewen McKenzie has recalled Christian Leali’ifano to fill in for the suspended Kurtley Beale in the midfield for Saturday’s Test against New Zealand.
Inside center Matt Toomua is injured, while Beale is under investigation by an Australian Rugby Union disciplinary tribunal after a heated argument with a team official that led to the resignation of the female staffer.
McKenzie also recalled flyhalf Quade Cooper, but found no room in the side for scrumhalf Will Genia.
Cooper returns for his first match in nearly a year after recovering from a serious shoulder injury, and McKenzie will hope the mercurial playmaker can provide some spark off the bench at Lang Park in Brisbane, Australia, after the Wallabies faded badly in their two previous defeats to Argentina and South Africa.
Former captain Genia had been expected to slot into the side after training with the Wallabies in recent weeks, but McKenzie has stuck with starting halfbacks Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps, and kept scrumhalf Nic White in reserve.
Lock James Horwill has been demoted to the bench in favor of Rob Simmons.
Additional reporting by AP and Reuters
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS