New Zealand and France yesterday warmed up for the Women’s Rugby World Cup with emphatic wins in Whangarei, New Zealand, while Australia and Wales did enough to also reach the knockout phase.
Hosts New Zealand unleashed another breathless display of attacking rugby to overwhelm Scotland 57-0 and ensure they would be top qualifiers at the end of pool play today.
France matched that defensive effort, keeping Fiji scoreless in a classy 44-0 win.
Photo: AFP
The Fijians joined Scotland as the first of the 12 teams to be eliminated from the tournament.
Earlier, Australia’s tense 13-7 win over Wales resulted in both teams booking quarter-final berths.
It was a second win for the Wallaroos, leaving them second behind Pool A winners New Zealand, while Wales’ bonus point means they are guaranteed to advance as one of the two best third-placed pool finishers.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The makeup of the quarter-finals would be determined after group play finishes in Auckland.
New Zealand fired another warning shot at pre-tournament favorites England and France, tallying 26 tries through their three games after notching another nine against the Scots.
Ball-handling and support play was again a feature for the Black Ferns, who led 45-0 at halftime before losing some momentum after the interval.
Fullback Renee Holmes opened the scoring and bagged two tries in a 22-point haul while winger Renee Wickliffe also crossed for a brace.
“Our goal was to start the game with a hiss and a roar, and I think we did that,” flyalf Hazel Tubic said.
Five of France’s seven tries were scored by outside backs, including a double to center Maelle Filopon, as they took the lead in Pool C.
Unbeaten England are to reclaim the top spot if they beat South Africa today.
French prop Coco Lindelauf said they had a point to prove following last week’s 13-7 loss to the English.
“It was very important for us to show what we can produce. Last week we didn’t have much of the ball,” Lindelauf said. “Now we need to work hard again for the quarter-finals.”
Australia and Wales have both reached the knockout stage for just the second time in nine editions of the global tournament.
The Rakuten Monkeys on Sunday downed the CTBC Brothers 2-1, handing the hosts their second consecutive loss in the best-of-seven CPBL Taiwan Series at the Taipei Dome. Monkeys’ ace starter Pedro Fernandez of the Dominican Republic dominated on the mound, cruising through six scoreless innings before giving up a run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning. He gave up only three hits and walked two batters in a 93-pitch outing, giving his Taoyuan-based team an edge. Offensively, the Monkeys’ leadoff batter Lin Li hit Brothers starter Brandon Leibrandt’s pitch over the center-field wall in the game’s first at-bat,
The tiny village club of Mjallby AIF on Monday won the top tier Swedish soccer league with a 2-0 away win at IFK Gothenburg, sealing the title with three rounds of matches remaining. Jacob Bergstrom and Tom Pettersson scored the goals in Mjallby’s 20th win in 27 league games. Mjallby has a population of fewer than 1,400 people and plays in an outdated 6,000-seat stadium with stands weathered by the winds of the Baltic Sea. “It’s a huge relief to experience this now, a relief with three games to go,” said Anders Torstensson, a former army officer and secondary-school teacher who coaches the
Jahmyr Gibbs was offered oxygen on the bench after a 78-yard run. He turned it down. Clearly, he was not out of breath. Gibbs on Monday scored on a long sprint in the second quarter, a five-yard spinning plunge in the third and accounted for a career-high 218 yards from the scrimmage to lead the Detroit Lions in a 24-9 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “You felt like this was coming,” Detroit coach Dan Campbell said. “This has been building.” The Lions (5-2) bounced back from a loss as they have done flawlessly for nearly three years, extending their NFL-long streak of 51 games
Rafael Leao on Sunday shot AC Milan to the top of Serie A with a brace in a 2-1 win over ACF Fiorentina who were enraged by the “scandalous” awarding of the penalty that decided the game. Portugal winger Leao pushed Milan one point ahead of local rivals Inter, SSC Napoli and AS Roma with a coolly taken spot-kick, given for what looked like a soft foul on Santiago Gimenez by Fabiano Parisi, with four minutes remaining. That goal capped a fine first league start of the season for Leao and came after he drew the hosts level with a brilliantly struck
RSS