Springbok hooker Bismarck du Plessis has been suspended for three weeks following an incident in Saturday’s Tri-Nations Test in Dunedin.
New Zealand named a revamped side on Tuesday for their opening rugby Test of the season against Ireland, selecting only six of the team who lost last year’s World Cup quarterfinal to France. Winger Anthony Tuitavake is the only new cap in the starting line-up, with three more new faces on the reserves bench.
All Black coach Graham Henry fired a parting shot at retiring flanker Jerry Collins, saying the tough loose forward was in poor form and would not have made the first New Zealand squad of the season. Henry named a 25-man squad on Tuesday to begin preparations for mid-season Tests, excluding players from the Crusaders.
The Otago Highlanders gave hope to prospective play-off opponents of the Canterbury Crusaders when they beat the league leaders 26-14 in Super 14 rugby on Saturday. The 12th-place Highlanders scored three tries to one in a late-season upset to finish a mediocre year on a high note.
The Auckland Blues beat their New Zealand rivals the Otago Highlanders 40-15 at Dunedin on Saturday to keep alive their hopes of making the Super 14 semifinals. The Blues scored five tries to collect a valuable bonus point and move into the top four with only one round to go before the play-offs.
The Otago Highlanders recovered from 14-11 behind at halftime to beat South Africa’s Cheetahs for only their second win this season. It was another close defeat in a frustrating season for captain Juan Smith and his Bloemfontein men who themselves have won just once this season and are second-bottom of the table.
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/ 29 February 2008
Wycliff Palu scored the winning try and was simultaneously sin-binned as the New South Wales Waratahs beat the Otago Highlanders 15-12 in Super 14 at Carisbrook on Saturday. Palu’s 58th-minute try was the only score in the second half and allowed the Waratahs to recover from a 12-10 halftime deficit to record their second win in three matches in the 2008 season.
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/ 15 February 2008
Last season’s wooden spooners, the Queensland Reds, weathered a second-half fightback to cling on to a 22-16 Super 14 victory over New Zealand’s Otago Highlanders on Friday. The Reds, who only won two games last year, opened their season under new coach Phil Mooney with a determined win after playing their best rugby in the first half to lead 12-3 at half-time.