The Canterbury Crusaders and New South Wales Waratahs won their way to rugby’s Super 14 final, creating an emotional showdown for retiring coaches Robbie Deans and Ewen McKenzie. Deans guided the Crusaders to a 33-22 win on Saturday over the Wellington Hurricanes, their 10th final in 13 years of Super tournament rugby — and Deans can now bow out with his fifth and their seventh championship title.
Canterbury Crusaders coach Robbie Deans has urged his weary players to stay on track for a seventh Super 14 rugby title when they play their semifinal on Saturday against the Wellington Hurricanes. The Crusaders have begun to look worn in recent weeks, but Deans hopes the onset of the play-offs will stimulate their fighting spirit in the match at Christchurch.
Injuries, coaching concerns and travel fatigue loom as significant factors in the Super 14 rugby semifinals when the Crusaders, Waratahs, Sharks and Hurricanes front up on Saturday. Competition leaders the Crusaders are at home to the Hurricanes in the first knock-out match, followed by the second-placed Waratahs hosting the Sharks in Sydney.
A New Zealand man had a novel idea when he found himself in a queue at a service station counter with no money, could he pay with marijuana instead? Unfortunately he didn’t get a chance to discover whether the attendant would accept his offer, as the person behind him in the queue was a police officer.
The Wellington Hurricanes and Auckland Blues kick off a climactic final Super 14 round on Friday in which six teams have a chance of joining the Canterbury Crusaders in the final four. The make-up of the semifinalists is unlikely to be decided until the final match of the weekend when the Sharks play the Chiefs.
The Canterbury Crusaders wrapped up top spot going into the Super 14 play-offs but the battle for the remaining three berths stayed wide open after the penultimate round over the weekend. With one game to play, six teams hold a mathematical chance of joining the Crusaders in the semifinals.
All Black coach Graham Henry is planning to stick with experienced players for next month’s Tests against Ireland and England despite the defection of some high profile candidates overseas. Henry also backed the New Zealand Rugby Union’s policy of picking only domestically-based players for the All Blacks.
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.
All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore scored his fifth try of the season and the Wellington Hurricanes boosted their semifinal chances in the Super 14 with a 21-10 win on Friday over the Western Force. Wellington entered the penultimate regular-season round in third place on the championship table, behind the Canterbury Crusaders and New South Wales Waratahs.
The New South Wales Waratahs face the toughest task of the nine teams remaining in semifinal contention when the penultimate round of rugby’s Super 14 begins on Friday. The second-placed Waratahs face the fourth-placed Stormers in Cape Town in a match that bears heavily on their semifinal chances.
Star All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter was Saturday staying quiet about a reported deal with French giants Toulouse that would make him the world’s highest-paid rugby player. Britain’s Daily Mail reported on Thursday that Carter would sign a £750 000 deal for one season with Toulouse, although the club has denied they are about to sign the 26-year-old.
Lack of game time, weak opposition and poor refereeing were all to blame for the All Blacks’ failure to win the Rugby World Cup last year, according to an independent review released on Thursday. The 47-page review detailed a catalogue of reasons why the team failed to live up to their billing as the world’s best.
The Sharks believe their efforts to remain unbeaten in the Super 14 became more difficult when their 10th-round opponents, the ACT Brumbies, announced midweek that coach Laurie Fisher would not be re-hired for 2009. Super 14 tradition suggests that teams whose coaches are dismissed in the course of any season respond with an immediate form improvement.
Six teenagers and their teacher who were killed in a river gorge in New Zealand when flood waters suddenly surged down on them had little chance of escape, their principal said on Wednesday. New Zealanders were deeply shocked by Tuesday’s tragedy, which devastated a high-school expedition that was supposed to build team spirit.
The Sharks’ reserve forward, Epi Taione, has been suspended for six weeks for headbutting a Wellington Hurricanes player in their Super 14 rugby clash on the weekend. Taione was sent off by referee Paul Marks for headbutting Hurricanes forward Jeremy Thrush in a maul during the Wellington match, which ended in a 13-13 draw.
Hurling a hedgehog at a teenager has landed a New Zealand man a date in court, a report said. William Singalargh picked up the animal and threw it about 5m at a 15-year-old in the eastern North Island town of Whakatane in February, the <i>Herald on Sunday</i> reported.
The Hurricanes and the Sharks battled to a 13-all draw in a controversial Super 14 rugby match played in atrocious conditions in Wellington on Saturday. Australian referee Paul Marks handed out a red card, a yellow card and awarded a penalty try, before ending the game without reacting to Hurricanes centre Conrad Smith being taken out of play in a potentially try-scoring move.
A New Zealand school is to ban children sharing birthday cake as the government introduces new guidelines to restrict unhealthy food being sold to pupils, a report said on Friday. Oteha Valley School in Auckland has told parents not to allow their children to bring birthday cakes to school for friends to share.
A police officer in a small New Zealand town did not let the fact that he was naked hold him back from chasing a thief trying to steal his car. The off-duty constable was asleep at his home in Balclutha, in the lower South Island, when his wife woke him in the early hours, the New Zealand Press Association reported.
A New Zealand teenager was convicted on Tuesday for his central role in a global cyber-crime ring that infected at least 1,3-million computers worldwide. Owen Thor Walker (18) allegedly led a group of international hackers who used his programmes to access personal data and send viruses around the world, causing losses of $20-million, police say.
Auckland flyhalf Nick Evans landed a drop goal seven minutes from time to guide the Blues to a 23-21 win over defending Super 14 champions the Bulls on Saturday. Evans, returning to the New Zealand franchise after two weeks out with concussion, also kicked two penalties and two conversions to help the Blues pinch victory despite the Bulls outscoring them three tries to two.
The Crusaders overcame the loss of injured flyhalf Daniel Carter and the sin-binning of number eight Mose Tuiali’i to beat Wellington 20-13 in a Super 14 clash on Friday. The Crusaders chalked up their seventh straight win of the season to extend their lead at the top of the standings to 12 points at the halfway stage of the competition.
Auckland centre Ben Atiga kicked a last-minute penalty to steer the Blues to a 17-14 win over the Stormers in a Super 14 match at Eden Park on Saturday. Atiga regained his composure after missing three earlier attempts, including one that struck the upright, to land the long-range shot from near the sideline and snatch victory with the last play of the match.
Australia’s Western Force piled on 16 unanswered points in the last quarter to beat New Zealand’s Otago Highlanders 36-28 in a Super 14 match at Queenstown on Saturday. The Force trailed 28-20 with just 14 minutes to go but scored a late converted try and booted three penalties to cement their place in the top four.
New Zealand’s Canterbury Crusaders piled on 28 unanswered points in the last 27 minutes to crush Australia’s New South Wales Waratahs 34-7 in a Super 14 match at Christchurch on Friday. The Waratahs had overturned a 6-0 halftime deficit to snatch a 7-6 lead when number eight Wycliff Palu crashed over early in the second term.
New Zealand’s momentum, picked up from a convincing one-day series victory and first Test win in Hamilton, came to a screeching halt on Monday with a crushing 126-run defeat to England in the second Test. Chasing 438 to win the match, New Zealand flirted with pulling off the impossible when they reached 242 for five late on the fourth day.
South Africa’s Stormers beat New Zealand’s Waikato Chiefs 35-26 in Hamilton on Friday to record their second successive win in the Super 14. The Stormers outscored the Chiefs four tries to two to claim a bonus point for the second week in a row after losing their first three matches at home in South Africa.
Tim Ambrose and Paul Collingwood rescued England’s innings after New Zealand’s Jacob Oram had inspired a top-order collapse to ensure the second Test was evenly poised at the end of the first day’s play on Thursday. Ambrose and Collingwood came together with their side teetering at 136 for five during the middle session to combine for an unbeaten 155-run sixth wicket partnership.
After a flying start to the season, the powerful Canterbury Crusaders are giving key players a breather for their Super 14 match against tail enders the Cheetahs on Saturday. Despite making six changes, the match remains crucial for the Crusaders with pressure on the regular bench-warmers to maintain the team’s unbeaten record.
The case of two stranded whales saved by a dolphin off the coast of New Zealand could be the first such case in the world, a conservation worker said on Thursday. Moko the dolphin, a regular visitor to the coast of Mahia, became an instant hero after leading two pygmy whales into deep water on Monday.
New Zealand’s Waikato Chiefs staged a brilliant second-half comeback to beat South Africa’s Cheetahs 22-20 in a Super 14 match at Hamilton on Saturday. The Cheetahs looked to have the game sewn up when they raced to a 17-0 lead at half-time, but the Chiefs suddenly turned things around.
The Wellington Hurricanes withstood a ferocious late fightback from the Otago Highlanders to win their Super 14 clash 10-6 at Dunedin on Friday. The Hurricanes spent most of the second half camped in their own quarter but defended superbly against waves of attacks from the Highlanders.