The first match of the season between New Zealand and Australian teams in Super Rugby Pacific yesterday was a convincing win for the Kiwis.
The Chiefs beat the New South Wales Waratahs 51-27 in Melbourne in the first match of the so-called Super Round, when all five matches are to be played in the Victorian state capital.
Previously this season the Australian and New Zealand conference sides, including the Fijian Drua and a Moana Pasifika team made up of players mostly from Tonga and Samoa, had played separate schedules due to COVID-19 protocols on either side of the Tasman Sea.
Photo: AFP
Johan Lowe scored four tries for the Hamilton-based Chiefs. The Waratahs stayed in the match after red and yellow cards in the first half, and after losing both of their hookers, David Porecki and Tom Horton, to injury.
Waratahs prop Angus Bell was sent off for a dangerous tackle two minutes into the match and they were down to 13 men when center Jamie Roberts received a yellow card for a deliberate knockdown.
Despite those setbacks, the Waratahs fought back to trail by only three points in the 51st minute when halfback Jake Gordon intercepted a Bryn Gatland pass and dashed more than 70m.
The Chiefs then scored an intercept try of their own — Lowe picking off a pass from Welsh veteran Jamie Roberts — and Lowe added two late tries to put the match out of reach for the Sydney-based Waratahs.
A match scheduled later yesterday between Moana Pasifika and the Western Force was postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak among Force players.
The Blues and Brumbies are level in first place with 31 points each, with the Reds a point behind. All three have seven wins from their opening eight matches.
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
Former world No. 2 Paula Badosa has withdrawn from this week’s Wuhan Open, organizers said on Tuesday, amid a racism row over an online photograph. Tournament organizers said the Spaniard had pulled out of the WTA 1000 tournament, citing a gastrointestinal illness, hours before her first-round match against Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. News outlets including Britain’s the Telegraph earlier reported that Badosa had posted a photo on Instagram in which she appeared to imitate a Chinese face by placing chopsticks on the corners of her eyes. The photo was taken last week in a restaurant in Beijing, where she reached the semi-finals of the
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