The New South Wales Waratahs edged archrivals the Queensland Reds 15-13 in a dour Super Rugby clash in Brisbane, Australia, yesterday.
The Waratahs scored two tries to one, but trailed the Reds until 12 minutes to go when Wallabies flyhalf Bernard Foley kicked a penalty to put his side in front.
The win means the Waratahs stay in touch with runaway Australian conference leaders the ACT Brumbies, but they had to use all their experience to see off a brave Queensland side yet to win this season.
Photo: Reuters
The Reds have improved each week since they sacked coach Richard Graham and, on the back of a superior scrum and lineout, they almost pulled off an upset.
“It was a really tough grind,” Waratahs captain Michael Hooper said. “We did some really good things, but we were falling back on some poor things we’ve done previously. We’re rolling on, but hopefully we can get a snowball effect and go from there.”
Hooper said the Waratahs had adapted to the conditions better than their opponents.
“We changed our game plan which worked really well for us — kicking to the corners and playing for position,” he said.
Queensland captain Rob Simmons said conceding a try right on halftime had been a huge blow.
“I’m sick of saying it, but we have to learn from these situations,” Simmons said. “There’s a better feeling going in at halftime when you’re in front.”
Simmons said the Reds needed to do more than just scrummage well.
“It’s something that we’re proud of and something we put a lot of work into, but there’s more to rugby than the scrum.”
On the Saturday, the Canterbury Crusaders, the last team to go through a Super Rugby season undefeated 14 years ago, and they ensured it would be another year at least before that record is matched.
Captain Kieran Read’s late try in Durban inflicted the first defeat of the year on the Coastal Sharks and means every side has now lost at least once in the first five rounds.
With the thrilling 19-14 victory, the Crusaders, with a game in hand, have won three out of four and lie fourth in a New Zealand conference headed by the Waikato Chiefs.
The 2002 Crusaders are the only team to have won every game in a Super Rugby season.
The Sharks and the Western Stormers, who survived a scoreless second half to beat the Jaguares 13-8 in Buenos Aires, head the two African conferences.
New All Blacks captain Read rounded off a 15-phase attack with his try eight minutes from time to steal victory for the Crusaders over the Sharks.
Despite being starved of possession, constantly trapped in their half and struggling at the scrums and lineouts, the Sharks were ahead 14-7 early in the second half. They stayed in front for nearly half an hour until Read scored the match-winning try.
Crusaders coach Todd Blackadder felt the close result was a problem for his side, who “dominated the whole game, but we probably pushed too many passes and made a lot of errors.”
“If we had lost it would have been because of the errors we made,” he said.
The Brumbies bounced back from the previous weekend’s loss to the Stormers with a 25-18 win over the Cheetahs in an error-strewn game in Bloemfontein.
The Australian outfit led 25-8 before the Cheetahs mounted a late rally to secure a bonus point.
Inter on Sunday were given a letoff when they snatched a late 1-1 derby draw with AC Milan, while league leaders SSC Napoli were held by a late goal at AS Roma. Reigning champions Inter remain three points behind Napoli, who looked to be heading five clear as they led in Rome until Angelino volleyed in a stunning leveler in the first minute of stoppage-time. Angelino’s strike gave even more significance to Stefan de Vrij’s last-gasp equalizer at the San Siro. The defender forced home Nicola Zalewski’s knockdown just as it looked like Tijjani Reijnders’ opener would be enough for Milan. “I can
Santiago Castro on Tuesday had an immediate impact off the bench as he scored the goal to send Bologna into the Coppa Italia semi-finals for the first time in 26 years. Bologna won 1-0 against last year’s runners-up, Atalanta BC, and are to play either holders Juventus or Empoli in the final four. Juventus are to host Empoli in their quarter-final on Feb. 26. The last time Bologna reached the semi-finals was in 1999, when they lost 4-2 to ACF Fiorentina. There were chances for both sides in a high-tempo match in Bergamo, but it was Bologna who broke the deadlock 10 minutes from
After nearly six years away from the NBA, New Taipei Kings player Jeremy Lin (林書豪) is set to participate in the 2025 NBA All-Star Weekend’s Rising Stars mini-tournament as the coach of Team G League. The NBA announced Monday (U.S. time) that the Taiwanese-American player will join a trio of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famers – Tim Hardaway Sr., Chris Mullin, and Mitch Richmond – as honorary coaches for four teams featuring 28 rising talents. "See you soon in the Bay," Lin wrote in an Instagram story sharing the news. As the All-Star Weekend will take place at
The former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani on Thursday was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for bank and tax fraud after he stole nearly US$17 million from the Los Angeles Dodgers player’s bank account. Ippei Mizuhara, who was supposed to bridge the gap between the Japanese athlete and his English-speaking teammates and fans, was sentenced in federal court in Santa Ana to four years and nine months after pleading guilty last year. He was ordered to pay US$18 million in restitution, with nearly US$17 million going to Ohtani and the remainder to the US Internal Revenue Service. He was