Sports

Juggernaut derailed and the Blues scrape home

Published

5 years ago

2021/04/5

by Rajitha Ratwatte

It was expected to be a one-sided easy win for the Canterbury Crusaders. They were playing the lowly Otago Highlanders, top of the table against the near bottom. Furthermore, the Otago coach Tony Brown had dropped six of the stars or starting players, due to a breach of team discipline and ethics. Otago had Mitch Hunt was playing at no10 against the mercurial Ritchie Mo’uanga, both former teammates at Canterbury. A team of Wannabees from Otago against a team of superstars from Canterbury.

It was a frenetic start and the normally reliable George Bridge on the wing for Canterbury dropped a perfectly placed cross-kick and with it a chance for the Crusaders to get ahead early. 10 minutes into the game the Highlanders got a penalty far left of field and about 40 meters out. Mitch Hunt stepped up and converted, 3 – 0 to the underdogs. Seven minutes later Codie Taylor the Canterbury hooker was pinged for offside, 30 meters out and mid-right. Again, the Otago no10 converted 6 -0. Otago had learned from the Auckland Blues’ mistakes of not taking three points whenever Crusaders gave a penalty, as happened last week. The Highlanders continued their dominance with no seven Billy Harmon going over for a try within easy converting distance in the 23rd minute. 13 – 0 and a few punters who had taken the long odds, were beginning to smile. The Punters even began to buy drinks for their mates when another penalty was converted in the 31st minute and the ‘Landers went ahead by 16 – 0.

Crusaders were making many mistakes, dropped balls, wild passes, and even mistakes in the line out resulting in turnovers, and loss of territory was very “uncrusaderlike”. Otago continued to play well with Jonah Nareki one of my favorite up-and-coming young wingers in the tournament, pulling off an amazing turn-over off a defensive ruck and turning another Crusader attacking move to naught.

On the halftime hooter, the Crusaders forwards powered their way over the line from a rather scrappy line out. Codie Taylor the red and black hooker scored, and the conversion was simple for Ritchie Mo’uanga; 16 -7 at halftime.

Ten minutes into the second half Scott Barret the captain of the Crusaders was caught offside mid-right and inside their 22. Another three points for the ‘Landers and the score; 19 – 7. A good old-fashioned fly hack off a crusader’s dropped pass saw useful territory gained and 10 phases later Michael Collins of the Highlanders went over the line for another try which was converted. 26 – 7, where was the famed Crusader second-half spurt, even if it did come, was the margin too much? These were the burning questions around the long bar of the Ellerslie pub! The 68th minute saw David Haveli of the Crusaders score but Ritchie Mo’uanga missed a relatively easy conversion 26 -12 and into the last 10 minutes. It was all over in the 73rd minute when the Highlanders bench no12, Garden-Bachop picked up another dropped pass and scored a seven pointer 33 -12 and a half-strength (in theory) Highlanders team had achieved the impossible! Crusaders were beaten by what was possibly a record margin and against all odds. Committed, keen disciplined players are worth more than “superstars” to a coach – Is a theorem that has been proved time and time again; Kudos to Tony Brown, this is the stuff that great coaches are made of.

The Auckland Blues at home to the Wellington Hurricanes. Eden park the bastion of the Blues not as full as usual due to the Easter long weekend and the more affluent denizens of Auckland away at their holiday “batches” and on their boats. However, the Blues fan base are mostly pacific Islanders from the hard-working lower-income bracket of society, and they were probably also celebrating an increase of the minimum wage, brought about by the ruling Labour Government with effect from the beginning of April! The Auckland coach, Leon McDonald had made vital changes to the no 9 and no 12 positions in his team and the Blues skipper Patrick Tuapoletu was out of the game due to a shoulder injury. The ginger-haired Tom Robinson who had thus far been mainly a bench player started as the stand-in captain. A big job ahead of him, particularly as the usually wrong Sir John Kirwan of the expert panel backed the Blues to win!

The Blues kicked off and four minutes into the game the first scrum showed a bit of dominance by the home side. Two penalties 50 – 60 meters out but kickable for the giant Jordie Barret were not attempted and the Blues also disregarded a possible three pointer and chose the touch option. Jordie Barret can’t be kept out of the game and a huge 50-meter clearance kick from a defensive position may have woken his captain up to the fact that here was a kicking machine. In the 15th minute a penalty right in front of the posts, conceded by the Blues was a mere formality for Jordie Barret and the score read 0 – 3 to the ‘Canes. The Blues were pinged again, but the TV ref intervened, and the penalty was reversed, and a yellow card issued to Duplessis Kurefi of the Hurricanes for a high tackle. The 18th minute saw a great ruck by Aardie Savea the captain and no 8 of the ‘Canes, earning a penalty around 52 meters out and slightly left of the posts. Since the Hurricanes were a player down due to the yellow card and this was well within the kicking range of Jordie Barret, trying for the 3 pointer was a no-brainer. Barret missed but it was not due to lack of distance!

The Blues were not looking good. Basic mistakes, ball handling errors, forward passes, and bad line out throws plagued them to an extent that the fans started to wonder if it back to the bad old days. They were unable to take advantage of being one man up in the 10 minutes that ensued. In the 30th minute, a Blues rolling maul heading for the opposition line was apparently collapsed by Aardie Savea and a penalty try was awarded to the Blues and Savea yellow carded. Score 7 – 3. The general consensus was that Savea was hard done by, he will have to be careful however because if he wants to captain the All Blacks in the possible absence of Sam Cane the incumbent skipper, due to a shoulder injury, he has to reduce the number of times he is being sent to the sin bin. Savea is undoubtedly the best no 8 playing Super rugby Aotearoa at present, sometimes his over-enthusiasm results in too much attention from the referees!

The deficit was reduced four minutes later in the 34th minute when the Blues conceded another penalty in front of the posts and around 22 meters out. 7 – 6 with Barret junior doing the needful. However, the 37th minute saw the ‘Canes pinged in front of their posts and on the 22-meter line. Another “gimme” three pointer took the score to 10 – 6 in favor of the Blues. On the half-time hooter the ‘Canes got penalty 30 meters out from the Blues posts, in front of the posts and amid Jeff Wilson (Goldie) of the commentary panel waffling on about the Hurricanes needing to try and score a try, Jordie Barret took the three points. The score read 10 – 9 to the Blues at halftime.

Two minutes into the second half saw the Blues loose head prop Tu’ungafasi go off the field with a knee injury and another of my favorite players Alex Hodgeman come on. Hodgeman is very good in the loose and was soon showing his handling skills with a couple of great offloads. However, he was given a hard time by the ‘Canes tight head Alex Fidow and conceded a couple of “knee down” scrum penalties. He will no doubt learn not to get sucked in by these tactics as time goes on. Two minutes later in the 44th minute the Blues conceded one of those scrum penalties, it was around 55 meters out with the angle and mid-right. Jordie Barret stepped up and over it went, right down the middle. 10 -12 ‘Canes back in the lead and the youngest Barret brother making an emphatic statement as to why he should be a permanent member of the All Blacks. The ability to score three points from anywhere inside 60 meters of the opposition’s goalposts, surely assures a player of his place? Even in the All Blacks!

Around the 50th minute, the changes in the Blues three-quarter line began to pay dividends with a series of nice running breaks and great passes resulting in the new no 12 T.J. Faiane scoring mid-left. Duly converted and score reading 17 -12 for the Blues. The 64th minute saw Mark Telea score on the right-wing off a Ricco Ioane pass. A difficult kick was slotted by Otere Black, and Blue’s lead was extended to 24 -12. The Blues continued to show a lack of initiative on the field and probably missed the leadership of their injured skipper. A needless penalty was conceded in the 75th minute and Reed Princep went over for a try that Jordie Barret was unable to convert. 24 -17 was the scoreline until almost on full-time hooter when the Hurricanes scrum conceded another penalty 40 meters out and mid-right. Oteri Black who had a relatively quiet game but seemed to have regained his kicking form, put this one over too, to secure a 27 -17 victory for the Blues at home. This kick saw the Hurricanes lose their “losing bonus point” due to the increase in the winning margin.

A singularly unimpressive victory with shades of the “bad old days” of mindless, unthinking rugby that we had witnessed from the Auckland team in the past, raising its ugly head once again.

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Sports

‘Disappointing’ – Sangakkara on Sam Curran turning out for Surrey with IPL still on

Published

6 hours ago

2026/05/31

Priyan

Sam Curran has returned to competitive cricket at the men's Vitality Blast [Cricinfo]

Sam Curran missed IPL 2026 for Rajasthan Royals (RR) with a groin injury, and Kumar Sangakkara found it “disappointing” when the allrounder turned out for Surrey in the men’s Vitality Blast on May 22 to mark his return to action.

As far as Sangakkara was concerned, England-contracted Curran had a “season-ending injury”, even though the player himself had said at the time of his withdrawal from the IPL – the news became public on March 19 – that he would return “whenever it feels right”.

“We were told that Sam Curran had a season-ending injury, but I think I saw him playing for Surrey for two games or three games now. So that was disappointing,” Sangakkara, RR’s head coach, said at a press conference after RR exited the IPL in Qualifier 2 on Friday. “We would have loved to have had him here playing for us.”

Since Curran, who had been acquired by RR as part of a trade with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) with Ravindra Jadeja in exchange for Sanju Samson, had communicated his inability to play to RR in advance, Dasun Shanaka was brought in as a replacement on March 23, which led to its own set of problems, as Shanaka had to withdraw from his deal with Lahore Qalandars in PSL 2026 to join RR and was banned from the tournament for a year as a result.

Curran, playing as a batter only and scheduled to not bowl in Surrey’s first six Blast fixtures, has played three games so far and is their top run-scorer at this stage with 141 runs from three innings. When he opted out of the IPL, he had said that he had managed the groin problem throughout the T20 World Cup earlier this year. “It’s an injury that I’ve kind of been battling with a little bit,” Curran was quoted as saying in British media. “It has gradually got fractionally worse. I went for a couple of scans and it showed reasonable damage, so I had to make the tough decision. It was hindering me quite a bit.”

The question has come up from time to time when overseas players have chosen not to honour their IPL commitments, and in September 2024, the BCCI announced a two year ban on players who pulled out after being picked at IPL auctions.

“Yeah, I think a proper tight policy around that is always a requirement. The BCCI has a strict policy on that,” Sangakkara said. “Injuries, every person goes through injuries, and if it’s a serious injury, a season ending injury, of course we understand.”

Sangakkara, however, seemed to indicate that injured or not, he would have liked Curran to be around the RR set-up in what would have been his first season with the team.

“We’ve also had players like Adam Milne, Shimron Hetmyer, quite a few who came here and not had much of a game; Lhuan-dre Pretorius is another one, Kwena Maphaka is another one. They’ve been here, they’ve done the hard yards, they’ve practiced, they’ve carried water for the team, and they’ve really worked as hard as anyone else to support the team in this journey,” Sangakkara said.

“It’s really up to that individual player to decide whether they want to come or not, but I think the BCCI policy around it is very strict now, and that’s the way it should continue. It should be very strict to make sure that contractual obligations are met properly and genuinely, and I think every side in the IPL will benefit from that.”

[Cricinfo]

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PSG beat Arsenal to win back-to-back Champions League titles after shootout

Published

6 hours ago

2026/05/31

Priyan

Marquinhos of Paris Saint-Germain lifts the UEFA Champions League trophy after victory in the final [Aljazeera]

Paris Saint-Germain held their nerve in a cagey Champions League ⁠final to retain the title by beating Arsenal 4-3 on penalties as Saturday’s nail-biting showdown ended 1-1 after extra time, cementing the French side’s status among Europe’s modern greats.

Arsenal defender Gabriel blasted his spot kick over Matvey Safonov’s crossbar at the Puskas Arena in Budapest, his miss confirming PSG as the first club to retain the trophy since Real Madrid completed their ⁠three-year reign from 2016 to 2018.

Long dismissed as glamorous underachievers despite vast resources, the Ligue 1 champions have now forged a dynasty under Luis Enrique, marrying attacking brilliance with resilience to establish themselves as the dominant force in European football.

“It’s stronger than last year because we knew before the match just how difficult it would be to play against Arsenal,” said Enrique, whose side had ⁠thrashed Inter Milan 5-0 a year ago to claim Europe’s elite trophy for the first time.

“As a club and a city, it’s incredible to win, and I think we deserved it over the course of the season. The final was a real battle,” added the Spanish coach.

The outcome left Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice devastated but proud as his side finished their European campaign without losing a match, aside from the shootout defeat in the final.

“It’s gutting. It’s devastating to lose a Champions League final on penalties,” he said. “But we try to take a lot of perspective from how far we’ve come as a group.

“An incredible season. ‌Given it absolutely everything up until this point. We took the game to penalties. It’s a lottery.”

Eleven days after celebrating their first Premier League title in 22 years, Arsenal looked set for a maiden triumph on Europe’s biggest stage after Kai Havertz’s sixth-minute opener and a first hour spent smothering PSG’s vaunted attack.

However, the final in the Hungarian capital became chaotic, once PSG’s Ousmane Dembele equalised with a penalty in the 65th minute, the pace turning frantic before exhaustion took the match to a shootout.

Under Enrique, PSG have won the six shootouts they have contested, with the 56-year-old winning 12 of the 13 one-off club finals as coach.

After brushing aside Premier League opposition on their way to the final by eliminating Chelsea and Liverpool, PSG were facing a much sterner test against an Arsenal team playing their second Champions League final after losing to Barcelona in 2006.

Mikel Arteta’s side took the ⁠lead when Marquinhos’ clearance bounced off Arsenal’s Leandro Trossard into the path of Havertz, who raced into the box and fired into the roof of ⁠the net.

He is the fourth player to score in two different European Cup or Champions League finals with two different clubs.

It was the nightmare scenario for PSG – trailing so early against the best defence in the competition.

Arsenal lived up to their reputation as the best team without the ball and looked perfectly content with the script, doubling up on Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and suffocating the usual danger posed by the Georgian magician on the left flank.

PSG’s Fabian Ruiz was ⁠unable to impose his usual rhythm in midfield and, despite monopolising possession for long spells, the French side struggled to carve out clear-cut chances.

By half-time, PSG had attacked 32 times, Arsenal three.

Arsenal, however, were flirting with the boundaries with their challenges and Cristhian Mosquera brought down Kvaratskhelia in ⁠the area, with Dembele converting the penalty to equalise with his eighth goal in the competition.

The momentum had shifted.

Jurrien ⁠Timber and Viktor Gyokeres replaced Mosquera and Martin Odegaard. Arsenal had a more attacking mindset but were exposed to PSG’s counter attacks and at the end of one of them, Kvaratskhelia sped into the box, only for his left-footed effort to crash onto the outside of David Raya’s post.

After controlling the tempo in the first half, Arsenal played into PSG’s hands as the pace increased significantly, giving too much space to Kvaratskhelia or Bradley Barcola, who replaced the Georgian winger with ‌seven minutes remaining.

In the 89th minute, PSG came close to giving the final an abrupt end as Vitinha’s shot grazed the top of the net. Barcola also shot over the bar after a counter attack, with what would have been the last kick of the game.

With both teams having run out of steam, extra time was a cautious affair and when referee Daniel Siebert blew his ‌whistle, ‌Arsenal had only managed one shot on target.

Arsenal’s Eberechi Eze missed his penalty before Raya saved Nuno Mendes’ attempt. Gabriel had to score to keep the Gunners’ hopes alive but, facing PSG’s end, he fired over.

The French side were left to celebrate being European champions once again, with extra-time substitute Lucas Beraldo’s goal in the shootout proving to be the winner.

[Aljazeera]

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Home comfort vs championship pedigree as Gujarat Titans and Royal Challengers Bengaluru collide in IPL 2026 final

Published

7 hours ago

2026/05/31

Priyan

Gujarat Titans (GT) will be thrilled to play the IPL final at their home ground in Ahmedabad. Just that they will not be able to get there till deep into the night on Saturday. Thunderstorms in Chandigarh delayed the team from flying out, meaning they wouldn’t even have spent 24 hours in the place where they’ll have to find a way to win an IPL title.

Speaking of which, once upon a time – and for a very long time – IPL finals used to be held at the home venue of the previous year’s champions. So Royal Challengers (RCB) could have been the ones looking forward to a bit of home advantage. But something, somewhere went wrong. And now it is GT who go in with that ace up their sleeve.

And as much as the old rules do not apply to this RCB – not when their batting line-up dovetails so wonderfully, and their new-ball bowlers have been so devastating – there is some small precedent to consider. They lost to GT in Ahmedabad in the league stage, bowled out for 155. They’ve won only three of their seven away or neutral games in IPL 2026. All of that can be tossed into the wayside if any of their match-winners come off. Five of them did – the entire top five – in Dharamsala just a few days ago to put up the highest score ever seen in the playoffs. From going 18 years without a title, RCB could win two back-to-back. For the last eight straight IPLs, the team winning Qualifier 1 has gone on to become champion.

GT’s campaign has been built on the hard work of Kagiso Rabada and Mohammed Siraj; in particular the unstinting way they attack oppositions in the powerplay. Both quicks have been encouraged to go pace-on. Both quicks have been remarkable at assessing the vulnerabilities of specific batters. Both quicks have the potential to break the game early. GT have a strike rate of 16 this season, the best of all the teams (at an economy of 9.49) and it gets better when they play at home – 13.5 (economy of 8.72). They’ve converted a fourth playoff appearance in five years into a third final in five years. A second title in five years is well within reach.

Three of Tim David’s last five innings have ended in single-digit scores and a strike rate under 100. You wouldn’t qualify that as a slump though, given his innings against Punjab Kings during the same sequence. He was 2 off two at the start of the 17th over and finished 28 off 12. David just needs to connect one ball to send several out of the ground.

Jason Holder has been an impeccable addition to the GT line-up, his bowling enabling them to frontload their Test-quality fast bowlers and retain flexible use of Rashid Khan. On top of that, Holder himself has picked up 17 wickets at an economy rate of just 7.54. The extra bounce that he generates, even on Indian pitches, has been telling.

RCB will likely bring Phil Salt back in if he’s ready to go but even if not, Venkatesh Iyer has filled in very nicely.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (probable): Virat Kohli, Venkatesh Iyer/Phil Salt, Devdutt Padikkal, Rajat Patidar (capt), Krunal Pandya, Tim David, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Romario Shepherd, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Josh Hazlewood, Rasikh Salam, Jacob Duffy/Suyash Sharma

GT have had the middle-order question thrown at them over and over and it will be done one last time. In Qualifier 1, when Shubman Gill and B Sai Sudharsan failed, they lost. Badly.

Gujarat Titans (probable): Shubman Gill (capt), B Sai Sudharsan, Jos Buttler (wk), Washington Sundar, Nishant Sindhu, Jason Holder, Rahul Tewatia, Rashid Khan, R Sai Kishore, Kagiso Rabada, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj

[Cricinfo]