New South Wales (NSW) will travel to Christchurch to play the Canterbury Crusaders in the Super 14 rugby final after beating the Sharks 28-13 in Sydney on Saturday. The Waratahs scored four tries to one and were never in any real trouble against a disappointing Sharks outfit.
Forty-five children living in the Australian mining town of Mount Isa, where Xstrata produces 4% of the world’s lead, have unsafe blood lead levels above World Health Organisation standards. Xstrata and local and state governments are facing legal action from the parents of a six-year-old Mount Isa girl who has suffered injuries to her brain and nervous system.
Departing Auckland Blues coach David Nucifora will take up the position of the Australian rugby Union’s (ARU) high performance manager in June, ARU chief executive John O’Neill told reporters in Sydney on Wednesday. The former Wallabies hooker will replace Pat Howard, who returned to Australia last year after a successful stint with English club side Leicester Tigers.
Cricket Australia has played down reports that retired leg-spinner Shane Warne could return to international cricket for next year’s Ashes tour of England. The former leading Test wicket-taker, who quit the international arena after Australia’s 5-0 victory over England in early 2007, was quoted in local media as saying he would consider returning for the next Ashes series.
The expansion of the Super 14 rugby finals to a six-team play-off next year is all but a certainty after this season’s logjam saw two form teams miss the cut. Sanzar officials have been considering revamping the finals, with the most obvious first step being to increase the number of teams involved following repeated complaints that a four-team final is far too restrictive.
Protesting pensioners brought traffic to a standstill in Australia’s second-largest city on Friday when some stripped to demand more money from the government. The scantily clad seniors braved the autumn weather in a 150-strong protest against this week’s federal budget, which offered them little despite a Aus$21,7-billion surplus.
New South Wales secured a home Super 14 semifinal with an 18-11 win over Queensland in a derby match on Saturday that was short on attacking creativity or endeavour. The win, coupled with Wellington’s loss to Auckland on Friday, ensured the Waratahs will host a semifinal in Sydney next weekend.
The Western Force rose from the dead to beat the ACT Brumbies 29-22 in an entertaining Super 14 clash on Friday. The match had no bearing on the finals, but the Force’s seventh win ensured they finished as the second-best Australian side this season, behind the Waratahs.
The Auckland Blues kept their faint Super 14 semifinal hopes alive with a pulsating 19-17 win over the Wellington Hurricanes in Auckland on Friday. Trailing 16-17 at half-time, the Blues scored the only points of the second period when fullback Nick Evans kicked his fourth penalty to give his side what turned out to be a match-winning lead.
A Sydney suburb has been dubbed "cannabisville" after police found four apparently normal family homes were actually marijuana hothouses containing vast quantities of the illegal drug. Police have seized 1 000 plants worth $7,5-million from four houses in Blair Athol.
Former Wallaby Wendell Sailor on Monday signed with National Rugby League team St George Illawarra after completing a two-year ban for drug use. The 33-year-old was dealt the ban after after testing positive for cocaine while playing rugby union for the New South Wales Waratahs in 2006.
Dan Carter celebrated his return from injury with a try and two conversions to guide New Zealand’s Canterbury Crusaders to a 27-21 win over Australia’s Queensland Reds in the Super 14 at Brisbane on Saturday. The Crusaders scored 19 unanswered points in the last 13 minutes after trailing 21-8 to ensure they finish the regular season in first place.
Australian batsman Michael Clarke has scoffed at suggestions his team’s mantle as the world’s top cricketing nation is under threat after the retirement of players ranked among the all-time greats. Opponents have been hoping that the loss of players such as Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and Adam Gilchrist will spell the end of Australia’s long dominance.
An Australian politician who admitted to sniffing the chair of a female colleague has survived a challenge to his state leadership of his party, an official said on Monday. Troy Buswell was endorsed as the head of the West Australian Liberal Party after a motion to depose him at a party meeting failed, spokesperson Ray Halligan said.
Australia’s Catholic church has taken a swipe at foul-mouthed British chef Gordon Ramsay and demanded his reality television shows be either taken off air or shown at a later time. One episode broadcast recently featured Ramsay using a four-letter expletive more than 80 times, while he also shouts at a chef saying: ”You French pig.”
Wallaby flyhalf Matt Giteau kicked a penalty just before the whistle to give the Perth-based Western Force a thrilling 22-21 win over the Waikato Chiefs in their Super 14 rugby clash in Perth on Saturday. The Chiefs appeared to have clinched victory when centre Callum Bruce kicked a drop goal with only three minutes left but the Force threw everything at the visitors in the dying stages.
The Hurricanes continued their strong finish to the Super 14 season when they thrashed the Johannesburg-based Lions 38-12 in Wellington on Saturday. Leading 26-7 at halftime, the Hurricanes scored five tries to their opponents two to overwhelm the disappointing Lions.
A bonus-point try in the final minute has kept the Auckland Blues’ Super 14 semifinal hopes flickering with a free-wheeling 35-22 win over the Queensland Reds on Friday. Scrumhalf Taniela Moa reached out to plant the ball on the tryline for the Blues’ fourth try to come away with a maximum five points and move to 31 points.
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa will look at introducing experimental law variations (ELVs) for this year’s Tri-Nations tournament. The International Rugby Board said on Thursday that 13 of the 23 ELVs, many of which are being trialled in this year’s Super 14 competition, would be adopted for a 12-month global trial from August 1.
South Africa’s Coastal Sharks face a moment of truth against the toughest team in rugby’s Super 14 when they put their chances of a home play-off on the line against the Canterbury Crusaders in Christchurch on Friday. The Sharks are feeling the effects of five demanding weeks on the road in Australia and New Zealand.
France flyhalf Frederic Michalak could be out of action for six months after tearing a ligament in his left knee during a Super 14 match in Sydney on Saturday. Michalak, who has played 50 tests for France, hyper-extended his knee nine minutes into the Sharks’ 25-10 loss to the New South Wales Waratahs.
Flyhalf Christian Lealiifano scored in the dying seconds to give the ACT Brumbies a 28-21 win over the Johannesburg-based Lions in their Super 14 match in Canberra on Friday. With the scores locked at 21-21, Lealiifano burst through the attempted tackle of centre Jannie Boschoff to touch down under the posts.
In the biggest pro-Beijing rally of the protest-marred Olympic torch relay, more than 10 000 Chinese Australians rallied in Canberra on Thursday, bringing a sea of red Chinese flags and drowning out Tibetan demonstrators. Protests and tight security have followed the Olympic torch around the world over the past month.
Police began an unprecedented security crackdown in Australia’s national capital, Canberra, on Wednesday to protect the Olympic flame from protests during the latest leg of the torch’s troubled journey around the world. China had hoped the torch’s progress would be a symbol of unity in the run-up to the Beijing Games.
An invasion of venomous spiders has forced an Australian hospital to evacuate patients and temporarily close its doors, reports said on Wednesday. Authorities decided the infestation of redback spiders at Baralaba Hospital in Queensland state’s Banana Shire Hospital was too dangerous for patients, Australian Associated Press reported.
The Sharks lost their discipline and unbeaten Super 14 rugby record as the tenacious ACT Brumbies stormed home for a dramatic 27-21 victory on Saturday. Last year’s beaten finalists looked set to stay unconquered after nine matches with a composed opening half to lead 18-7 at half-time, but the Brumbies steamed home in the second term.
The New South Wales Waratahs cemented their place in the top four of the Super 14 with a scrappy 26-3 win over the Lions in Sydney on Saturday. The Waratahs overwhelmed their South African opponents in the second period after both sides had played out a mistake-ridden scoreless first half in wet and windy conditions.
The Queensland Reds torpedoed the Western Force’s play-off hopes with a 29-12 upset victory in an all-Australian Super 14 rugby match on Friday. The Reds bounced back from a troubled season for their third victory of the campaign, scoring three tries against the bumbling try-less Force.
Australian police were left red-faced by a handcuffed man who escaped in a patrol car on Tuesday while two officers were inspecting evidence outside. The man, wanted over a series of break-ins, escaped custody in Brisbane, in the northern state of Queensland, just minutes after he was handcuffed and placed in the back of the unmarked police car.
The New South Wales Waratahs climbed into the top four with a hard-fought 17-12 win over plucky Western Force in a thrilling Super 14 clash in Perth on Saturday. In a bruising encounter that claimed key players from both sides, the Waratahs scored the only two tries, one in each half.
The ACT Brumbies kept their Super 14 semifinal hopes alive with a tense 16-11 away win over an ill-disciplined Auckland Blues at Eden Park on Saturday. Needing a win to stay in touch with the teams above them, the Brumbies withstood some early Auckland pressure before slowly asserting their dominance.
The Canterbury Crusaders will field a largely second-string line-up against bottom team the Lions as they look to extend their six-point lead at the top of rugby’s Super 14 series this weekend. The six-time champions and the team to beat for this year’s southern hemisphere provincial crown are coming off a bye last weekend.