The Otago Highlanders continued their late charge up the Super Rugby ladder with a 44-28 victory over the NSW Waratahs in Dunedin yesterday.
It was the Highlanders’ ninth consecutive win, with the six tries to four downing of the Sydneysiders propelling them to second in the New Zealand conference.
They were trailing 13-14 at halftime, giving the Waratahs hope they could become the first Australian-based side to win a trans-Tasman clash after 18 attempts this year.
Photo: AFP
However, when Waratahs lock Dean Mumm was sin-binned early in the second half, the Highlanders pounced with two tries while they had a one-man advantage and they never looked back.
It moved the Highlanders to 10 wins from 13 matches and left the Waratahs with only four wins from 12 games.
Highlanders captain Ben Smith said the dismissal of Mumm for a tip tackle was the turning point for his side.
Photo: EPA
“We got momentum then and we managed to score from that line-out and things changed from there,” Smith said. “We knew they were going to bring that intensity early on and we just knew that if we could stick at it there might be chances later on.”
The Waratahs arrived in Dunedin buoyed by their 50-23 win over the Melbourne Rebels last week and skipper Michael Hooper said they had only themselves to blame for the form reversal.
“Discipline killed us. Against a team like the Highlanders they took their opportunities well and their second half was fantastic. Discipline is the main work on,” he said.
In Australia, the Canterbury Crusaders remained on course for a perfect season after four tries in a dominant first half set up a comfortable 41-19 win over the Rebels in Melbourne, their 13th victory in a row from the start of the year.
Flanker Jed Brown came on for the injured Pete Samu in the 13th minute and had scored his first two Super Rugby tries by halftime, with winger Manasa Mataele and center Seta Tamanivalu also crossing before the break.
Fullback David Havili added a fifth in the 45th minute and Mitch Drummond capped the scoring after a great run from No. 8 Jordan Taufua.
The Rebels, still looking for their second win of the year, had two fine tries from winger Marika Koroibete and another from prop Toby Smith.
On Friday, flanker Uzair Cassiem scored two tries as the South African-based Cheetahs thrashed the Sunwolves 47-7 in Tokyo.
The result was only the third victory of the Cheetahs’ Super Rugby season.
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and her Latvian partner Jelena Ostapenko finished runners-up in the Wimbledon women's doubles final yesterday, losing 6-3, 2-6, 4-6. The three-set match against Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens of Belgium lasted two hours and 23 minutes. The loss denied 39-year-old Hsieh a chance to claim her 10th Grand Slam title. Although the Taiwanese-Latvian duo trailed 1-3 in the opening set, they rallied with two service breaks to take it 6-3. In the second set, Mertens and Kudermetova raced to a 5-1 lead and wrapped it up 6-2 to even the match. In the final set, Hsieh and
Taiwanese tennis veteran Hsieh Su-wei and her Latvian partner, Jelena Ostapenko, advanced to the Wimbledon women’s doubles final on Friday, defeating top seeds Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic and Taylor Townsend of the US in straight sets. The fourth-seeded duo bounced back quickly after losing their opening service game, capitalizing on frequent unforced errors by their opponents to take the first set 7-5. Maintaining their momentum in the second set, Hsieh and Ostapenko broke serve early and held their lead to close out the match 6-4. They are set to face the eighth-seeded pair of Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and Elise Mertens
Outside Anfield, the red sea of tributes to Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, has continued to grow this week, along with questions over whether Liverpool could play at Preston today, their first game since the brothers’ tragic loss. Inside Anfield, and specifically a grieving Liverpool dressing room, there was no major debate over the pre-season friendly. The English Premier League champions intend to honor their teammate in the best way they know how. It would be only 10 days since the deaths of Jota and Silva when Liverpool appear at Deepdale Stadium for what is certain to be a hugely
Switzerland’s Riola Xhemaili on Thursday scored a last-gasp goal to salvage a dramatic 1-1 draw with Finland that sent the joyous hosts through to the quarter-finals at Euro 2025, and heartbroken Finland home. Switzerland, who needed only a draw to advance based on goal-difference, finished second in Group A behind Norway to go through to the knockout round for the first time and are to face the winners of Group B, which would be world champions Spain as things stand. “I think we set ourselves a goal on the pitch, to write history, to go into the knockout stages, which we’ve never
RSS