Archive for the ‘Rugby’ Category

Dean Greyling: Bulls tryscorer

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The Bulls climbed to fourth in the Super Rugby table with a dramatic 32-30 victory over the Crusaders in Pretoria.

The Crusaders had the better of the first half – skipper Kieran Read galloping over to add to Dan Carter’s drop-goal and bag a 13-9 lead at the break.

Loosehead prop Dean Greyling eased home fans’ fears when he collected a pass from flanker CJ Stander to force his way over in some style for the Bulls early in the second period.

The boot of Morne Steyn then came to the fore as he kept the scoreboard ticking and the hosts took a seemingly unassailable 32-16 lead when an error from New Zealand full-back Israel Dagg saw Wynand Olivier touch down.

But converted tries from Zac Guildford and replacement Tom Marshall suddenly made a game of it, and it took brave Bulls defence to hang on to victory at the death.

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Willie Le Roux: his break set up the second try

Robert Ebersohn: Two tries for the Cheetahs

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Two tries from Robert Ebersohn helped the Cheetahs to a comfortable 26-5 success over the Lions in Bloemfontein.

The hosts were never in trouble and led 23-0 at the break, with Cobus Grobelaar’s try for the Lions very much a consolation.

Johan Goosen got the scoreboard going with a 20th-minute penalty, just after he had narrowly failed to land a monster 66-metre effort.

With the Cheetahs dominating the lineout, the Lions’ share of possession soon dried up, although rookie flanker Paul Willemse did his best to disrupt things.

The Cheetahs attacked well through Ebersohn, though, and it was no surprise when he opened the scoring. He danced his way through the line after WP Nel collected a poor kick from Jaco Taute.

The discipline of the Lions slumped after that and the Ebersohn grabbed his second five-pointer after Willie Le Roux broke through.

Sensing a need to make something happen, the Lions were unable to make the most of a spell of pressure close to their opponents’ line and, when Goosen punted another penalty before the break, it was essentially game over at 23-0.

The same thing happened in the second half, with the Lions camping out in Cheetah territory for a good five minutes, only to come away empty handed.

They would cross the stripe eventually, though, with flanker Grobbelaar cashing in on a fine break from Michael Bondesio.

But there would be no comeback, with Sias Ebersohn kicking a victory-sealing penalty after replacing Goosen.

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Dimitri Yachvili: won the game for Biarritz

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Wasps boss Dai Young praised his young team after their second-half fightback was sunk by France scrum-half Dimitri Yachvili’s late penalty, which secured a 26-23 Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final win for Biarritz.

Injury-hit Wasps started with six – and finished with eight – players aged 21 and under and Young believes they are the future of the club, currently battling against relegation from the Aviva Premiership.

Wasps, looking down and out when they trailed 23-9 after 60 minutes, hit back to level the scores at 23-23 before Yachvili settled the issue with his sixth successful kick from as many attempts.

Director of rugby Young said: “At one stage we looked dead and buried but the players showed a lot of determination and a lot of guts to pull themselves back into that game. With eight minutes to go it could have gone either way.

“I don’t think we were the better team and I don’t think we deserved to win – but we could have won.

“They had that little more firepower than us and they were a bit more clinical when they had the chances.

“We were lucky to still be in the game at some stages but I was really proud of the youngsters who gave everything. They showed a lot of character.

“The performances of Joe Launchbury and Sam Jones were huge again, it looks like something will happen every time Elliot Daly has the ball and Jack Wallace came on and did a great job.

“All our players are talking about the youngsters coming through so the future looks good.”

Return

Young is also pleased to have 20-year-old wing prospect Christian Wade, who marked his return from three months on the injured list with the try which sparked the Wasps revival, back for the run-in as his side, second from bottom of the Premiership, battle to stay above basement club Newcastle.

“He certainly gives us that bit of zip. He’s a threat to any opposition defence,” said the Wasps chief, who was pleased his side emerged without any more serious injuries.

Winger Richard Haughton was replaced at half-time because of an Achilles injury, former Scotland full-back Hugo Southwell followed two minutes later with an arm injury and centre Ryan Davis, scorer of the second try, took a bang on the knee.

But Young expects all three to be fit for next Saturday’s visit to Premiership leaders Harlequins, along with scrum-half Nic Berry, who missed the Biarritz match as he recovers from concussion.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s put themselves out for next week, which is important for us,” he said.

Desperate to avoid a last-day relegation crunch match when Newcastle visit Adams Park, Young added: “We are not out of jail in the Premiership – we need at least another win and we don’t want to leave it to the last game.

“Our focus moves on to Harlequins now and we know how difficult that’s going to be.”

Victory secured Biarritz a home semi-final against the winners of Sunday’s meeting between Brive and the Scarlets.

Timoci Matanavou: Toulouse winger scored French side’s solitary try

Mike Blair: Edinburgh scrum-half crossed for a try inside two minutes

Greig Laidlaw: Edinburgh fly-half kicked 14 points

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Edinburgh became the first Scottish team to reach the semi-finals of the Heineken Cup with a 19-14 win over Toulouse.

Mike Blair’s early try and 14 points from the boot of Greig Laidlaw proved just enough for the hosts to prevail at Murrayfield.

Toulouse, four-time winners of European rugby’s premier club competition, overturned an early 7-0 deficit to go 14-10 in front by half-time, helped by spells in the sin-bin for Edinburgh duo Allan Jacobsen and Ross Rennie.

Timoci Matanavou scored the French side’s solitary try in the 31st minute and Lionel Beauxis kicked three penalties.

But Toulouse were held scoreless after the break and penalties from Laidlaw, in the 45th and 50th minutes, edged Edinburgh back into the lead.

And the home side held firm for the next half-hour before Laidlaw sealed the win in the final minute with his third penalty.

Edinburgh advance to a semi-final showdown at Dublin Aviva Stadium on Saturday April 28 against either Munster or Ulster, who meet at Thomond Park on Sunday.

Perfect start

Edinburgh made a perfect start and snatched the lead inside two minutes.

Laidlaw launched an up and under from the edge of the Toulouse 22, and when the Frenchmen failed to gather, scrum-half Blair pounced and rolled over to touch down. Laidlaw added the conversion.

Beauxis booted a long-range penalty which just crept over the bar in the fourth minute, and reduced the deficit further with a second 15 minutes later.

Edinburgh lost the services of Jacobsen for 10 minutes when the prop was despatched to the sin-bin for blocking Matanavou as the Toulouse winger attempted to take a quick penalty. However, Beauxis fired the resulting penalty wide.

Within a minute the visitors were ahead for the first time and Edinburgh lost another man to the sin-bin. This time Rennie was the offender and Beauxis made no mistake from close range.

And it got worse for the Scots when Matanavou gathered a speculative kick ahead inside his own 22 and turned on the afterburners to blast his way over for a spectacular solo try.

Jacobsen’s return to the fray sparked fresh impetus in the home ranks and when Nick De Luca carried the ball into contact, Laidlaw positioned himself perfectly to take the pass and send a sweetly struck drop goal between the sticks to leave Toulouse four points ahead at the interval.

Blair was forced off with a shoulder injury but Edinburgh made a rousing start to the second period.

Servat yellow

Toulouse hooker William Servat committed a blatant offside offence and became the third player to be yellow carded, presenting Laidlaw with a straightforward penalty.

He made no mistake and his next successful kick on 50 minutes fired the hosts into a 16-14 lead.

Toulouse had an opportunity to strike back instantly, but Beauxis suffered his third miss of the afternoon.

Edinburgh now had their tails up with Tim Visser offering a glimpse of his pace and further pressure yielding a penalty just inside the Toulouse half which proved to be beyond Laidlaw’s range.

Toulouse coach Guy Noves rang the changes as the game entered the final quarter, but Edinburgh continued to play the game in the opposition’s half.

Nevertheless, the tenuous nature of the two-point advantage meant it was an uncomfortable finale for Edinburgh coach Michael Bradley before Laidlaw slotted a last-minute penalty to spark delirious scenes on and off the pitch.

Dimitri Yachvilli: Held his nerve to boot Biarritz to victory

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Wasps saw their European dreams dashed after Dimitri Yachvilli’s late penalty handed Biarritz a 26-23 victory in Saturday’s Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final at Adams Park.

Wasps had showed great fight to battle back from 23-9 down to level the scores at 23-23, however France international Yachvili, who produced a 100 per cent kicking display, landed a 75th minute penalty to deny the Londoners.

Aiming to be the first Top 14 side to win at Adams Park after Bayonne and Bordeaux both failed earlier in the season, Biarritz took control thanks to four penalties from Yachvili and converted first-half tries from former England full-back Iain Balshaw and prop Eugene Van Standen.

Wasps replied through tries from winger Christian Wade and centre Ryan Davies, with fly-half Nick Robinson landing both conversions and three penalties, but the visitors had the final say to book a home semi-final against either Brive or Scarlets.

Handful

Biarritz, fresh from four successive league victories, should have gone ahead in the fifth minute when fly-half Julien Peyrelongue and Balshaw split the Wasps defence but flanker Wenceslas Lauret fumbled the Englishman’s final pass.

Wasps struck the first blow when Robinson kicked a simple opening penalty after 12 minutes.

Balshaw was proving a real handful but, with speedster Takudzwa Ngwenya outside him, he cut inside and was halted by Hugo Southwell’s crunching tackle.

Robinson doubled the Wasps lead eight minutes later with his second penalty following an inexplicable error by Balshaw, who was under no pressure when he deliberately knocked the ball into touch following a kick to the corner from Wasps scrum-half Charlie Davies.

It took Balshaw only a minute to make amends with the first try of the game.

Robinson, under pressure from USA star Ngwenya, failed to take Yachvili’s restart and the Zimbabwe-born winger slipped the ball to Balshaw who had a clear run to the line.

Yachvili added the conversion to edge Biarritz 7-6 ahead and, five minutes later, increased the lead with a penalty.

Lauret limped off after another knock-on but his departure did Wasps no favours with the visitors introducing France back-row star Imanol Harinordoquy from the bench.

Unchallenged

Robinson’s third penalty cut the deficit to one point three minutes before the interval, but the French again responded quickly.

The dangerous combination of Balshaw and Ngwenya linked up once more in a move which ended with prop Van Staden squeezing in at the right-hand corner flag for a try awarded by television match official Iain Ramage.

Yachvili landed the difficult conversion from the touchline. The young Wasps, with six starters aged 21 or under, took the game to Biarritz in the second half before Yachvili’s second penalty, earned as his forward forced the Wasps scrum into retreat, stretched the lead to 20-9 after 52 minutes and he added a third on the hour mark.

Wasps’ efforts were rewarded with two tries in a three-minute spell.

After 62 minutes Robinson’s through kick, deflected off a Biarritz player, bounced into the arms of Wade who marked his return from a three-month injury absence by racing in unchallenged.

Balshaw produced a try-saving tackle on Wasps replacement Jack Wallace but they struck again with Davies forcing his way over between the posts. Robinson converted both, and the sides were level at 23-23 but suffered the heartbreak of Yachvili’s late winning kick.

Bryan Habana bursts through a gap against Highlanders

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An efficient Stormers side maintained their perfect record in the Super 15 competition after overcoming the Highlanders 21-6 in Dunedin.

The South African outfit scored two tries to none and were too slick and organised for the hosts as they claimed their sixth consecutive victory.

It was the Highlanders’ second loss in seven games, and their first at home, as they failed to fire and were kept tryless for the first time this season.

Full-back Joe Pietersen was outstanding for the Stormers and lock Andries Bekker ruled the lineouts. The Highlanders were disappointing, both in attack and defence, and seemed strangely out of sorts.

Both teams made just one change from the previous round in which the Stormers beat the Bulls 20-17 in Cape Town and the Highlanders thrashed the Melbourne Rebels 43-12 in Invercargill.

Struggling

The Stormers started well and Pietersen opened the scoring with a penalty after five minutes when Chris King was ruled offside.

The visitors then scored the first try after 12 minutes when a pass from Hosea Gear to Chris Noakes went astray, the ball was kicked ahead and wing Gio Aplon won the race to the loose ball to score and increase the lead to 8-0.

The Highlanders got on the board after 15 minutes with an angled penalty from Noakes but they were struggling against the size and swarming defence of the Stormers.

The home team suffered a major loss after 24 minutes when outstanding full-back Ben Smith was forced from the field with a head knock and was replaced by Buxton Popoali’i.

And their cause was not helped when Noakes missed two kickable penalties within a few minutes.

The Stormers increased their lead to 15-3 after 33 minutes with a brilliant counter-attacking try which swept 90 metres. Pietersen gathered in a chip-kick from Aaron Smith and set in motion an attack which ended with him gathering his own kick ahead and scoring midway out. Peter Grant converted.

Noakes kicked an angled penalty after 38 minutes but the Stormers went into half-time with a useful 15-6 lead.

The Highlanders had a decisive edge in territory and possession and won the breakdowns 61-27. But they were careless with the possession and kicked too often, and badly.

Vital

They began the second spell with more enthusiasm but the Stormers absorbed their attacks and, after 10 minutes, Grant kicked a penalty to make it 18-6.

Jimmy Cowan subbed Aaron Smith 15 minutes into the half and became the second Highlander (after Anton Oliver) to play 100 games for the franchise.

They lost their captain soon after, Jamie Mackintosh being replaced by Ma’afu Fia after suffering a hand injury.

Hooker Tiaan Liebenberg was sin-binned for a professional foul as the Highlanders attacked 14 minutes from the end but the Highlanders were unable to win the vital possessions.

The Stormers made the game safe nine minutes from the end when King was penalised for an early tackle and Grant goaled from 30 metres to extend the lead to 21-6.

Tamati Ellison had a late try ruled out by the television match official and that about summed up their night.

Mark McCall: Wants Saracens to become a major force in Europe

Saracens boss Mark McCall wants the reigning Premiership champions to establish themselves as a major force in European rugby.

Sarries have never reached the final of the Heineken Cup, in fact they have only made it beyond the Pool stage once when they reached the semi-final in 2008 before losing 18-16 to Munster in Coventry.

A win on Sunday over Clermont Auvergne would equal that achievement and set up a clash with Leinster or Cardiff Blues at Twickenham on April 29.

And McCall feels that his ambitious side need to be reaching the business end of the competition every season.

“Competing with the elite of Europe in the knockout stages of tournaments is where we want to be – both now and in the future,” the Saracens coach said.

Massive

“If you look at the likes of Toulouse, Leicester, Leinster and Munster, these are teams who have created a legacy in Europe. We want to do the same.

“But we know the size of the challenge in front of us.

“Looking through the Clermont squad, you will see a number of very familiar names from both the club and world stage. It’s a massive game and the kind of contest that we relish.”

Centre Brad Barritt feels that Saracens have improved since they lost home and away to Clermont in the pool stage of last year’s competition.

“We are a lot more experienced and we’ve improved a lot tactically,” Barritt said.

“We went to Clermont last year and went out to really impose our game on them.

“I think in terms of ball in play, it may have looked pretty, but it was probably a little bit tactically naive. I think we had 65 or 70% possession, but they got tries off the back of our naivety.

“I think we’ve come a long way in terms of how we impose the Saracens way on teams, and that is definitely something that will stand us in good stead going into this game.

Opportunity

“It’s a massive opportunity for us now at home to proceed to a Heineken Cup semi-final. It is a huge chance to take that next step in Europe.”

The match pitches Barritt against Clermont’s French midfield pairing of Aurelien Rougerie and Wesley Fofana just four weeks after England toppled Les Bleus 24-22 in Paris.

“Both Rougerie and Fofana are terrific players. They’ve formed a great combination for club and country,” Barritt added.

“We do our studies and analysis, but when it comes to a game like this you’ve got to focus on what you want to do as a team first.

“We obviously have our defensive principles, and that is one of our strengths. They are both great players, like I say, but it’s about us imposing our game on them as well.

“Clermont are a terrific side. They were the Top 14 champions two years ago and they are splattered with great talent.”

Double

Seasoned European campaigners Clermont are competing in their ninth Heineken Cup, but are yet reach the semi-finals of the tournament, but that is something they are determined to put right.

“Before I came to France a lot of people thought that the Top 14 was all the French clubs cared about, but it is most certainly is not like that now,” Clermont’s Wales international full-back Lee Byrne said.

“The aims of the club this season are to go for the double of the Heineken Cup and the Top 14 and we feel we have the strength in the squad to have a really good crack at both tournaments.”

Stephen Ferris will be fit to face Munster when Ulster travel to Thomond Park for their Heineken Cup quarter-final on Sunday.

The flanker’s recovery from an ankle injury that saw him undergo intensive treatment this week is a welcome boost for the White Knights as they look to cause an upset against the two-time European champions.

The availability of the Ireland international will delight Ulster coach Brian McLaughlin, who is expecting a tough encounter.

“It will an unbelievably physical battle,” said McLaughlin.

“They will be smarting from their defeat to Leinster last weekend and they will want to make up for that by beating us on Sunday.”

Centre Paddy Wallace echoed his coach’s thoughts, but feels Ulster can get a result in Limerick.

“No matter who you get in the knockout stages it will be tough, and there can’t be many bigger asks than Munster away from home,” said the Irish international.

“There is a massive mystique about Munster, but that isn’t as big a factor for us as it perhaps is for French or English clubs.

“We know them well, we mix with their players and there is that familiarity with them which other teams don’t have.”