Category Sports News

Gallagher Premiership

Exeter 24 (10)

Tries: Yeandle, Brown-Bampoe 2 Cons: Slade 3 Pens: Slade

Bath 26 (26)

Bath showed their defensive mettle with a close-fought 26-24 victory over Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park.

Despite holding an early lead through Jack Yeandle’s effort, Bath’s power game proved too much for the home side, with a penalty try and efforts from Niall Annett, Josh Bayliss and Will Muir contributing to the Premiership leaders’ healthy half-time lead.

A determined Chiefs’ renaissance saw Paul Brown-Bampoe power over for two tries early in the second half, but Bath clung on for their 12th victory of the season.

In slippery conditions it was the home team who struck first, Henry Slade firing between the posts following an early Bath infringement.

But that lead did not last long.

Shortly afterwards, Ben Spencer pirouetted his way over the line despite the attention of Dafydd Jenkins, following successive Bath phases in the Exeter 22.

With the ball held up, referee Anthony Woodthorpe ruled that the Welsh international was offside when making the tackle and awarded the visitors’ a penalty try. Jenkins also received a yellow card for his troubles.

But following a scrappy passage of play the Chiefs were back in the lead.

Jack Yeandle powered his way over from close range following a Chiefs’ free-kick in the opposing twenty-two, as Bath were slow to adjust their defensive line.

Niall Annett then restored the lead for the visitors, one they were never to relinquish; the hooker driving over from the maul following a line-out deep in the Chiefs’ half.

Having gained superiority in the trenches, Bath’s flowing attacking game came to the fore for their third and fourth tries.

The talismanic Russell was in the thick of the action and having broken the Chiefs’ defensive line following neat interplay with Tom de Glanville and Miles Reid, Bayliss was able to stride over the line untouched.

The game swung in Exeter’s favour early in the second half, with Josh Hodge’s magnificent break in the midfield freeing the deserving Brown-Bampoe for their second try.

Bath had lost focus following injuries to Muir and Max Ojomoh and Exeter seized on the malaise with Brown-Bampoe scoring his second to put Chiefs within two points.

Rob Baxter’s men were then presented with a golden opportunity to take the lead.

With Bath aimlessly kicking the ball away, Hodge broke down the wing, before being forced to kick ahead. Ruaridh McConnochie looked to have the ball covered, but knocked on in the in-goal area, gifting Exeter a five-metre scrum.

Bath Head Coach Johann van Graan told BBC Radio Bristol:

“A really good game of rugby, two sides going at each other – they went up 3-0, we replied, they replied, then we hit a purple patch, but fair play to Exeter, they fought back after half-time.

“I’m really proud of the group, we’re tough to beat. That scrum on our tryline, we turned that over and closed down the game – so five points, they all count the same, big win for us in our season.

“We’ve been dominant, with big scores, in the last few weeks. This was a tight one, but we came through this one also – you’ve got to win in many different ways, we won a tough one today. “

Exeter head coach Rob Hunter told BBC Radio Devon:

“It was one of those games that I don’t know how to feel about, I think it’s a good sign that I’m so gutted we didn’t win that – we’ve gave ourselves every opportunity to.

“We grew into the game and everyone’s working really hard to get better, a totally different attitude out there, its fantastic – we’ve got much to learn, but Bath are a great team to learn from.

Exeter: Hodge, Hammersley, Slade, Hawkins, Brown-Bampoe; Skinner, Cairns; Sio, Yeandle, Street, Tuima, Jenkins, Moloney, Capstick, Fisilau.

Replacements: Norey, Blose, Roots, Vermuelen, Vintcent, Armstrong, Haydon-Wood, Rigg.

Yellow card: Jenkins.

Bath: De Glanville, McConnochie, Ojomoh, Redpath, Muir; Russell, Spencer; Van Wyk, Annett, Du Toit, Richards, Ewels, Bayliss, Reid, Green.

Replacements: Dunn, Obano, Stuart, Molony, Hill, Schreuder, Bailey, Barbeary.

Stormers (26) 34

Tries: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3, Roos, Hartzenberg Cons: Feinberg-Mngomezulu 3 Pen: Feinberg-Mngomezulu

Connacht (24) 29

Santiago Cordero had a last-gasp try ruled out as Connacht fell to a 34-29 defeat by the Stormers in Cape Town in the United Rugby Championship.

After Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who had earlier scored a hat-trick of tries, sent the Stormers five points clear with a late penalty, Cordero thought he had levelled the game with the clock in the red.

However, a TMO intervention ruled that hooker Dave Heffernan had impeded a tackle earlier in the play and the Stromers held on to win a pulsating fixture.

The win moves the Stormers into the top eight, which would secure a play-off, while Connacht jump into 11th with their try-scoring and losing bonus points.

A week after their 43-40 Challenge Cup defeat by Racing 92, which led to head coach Pete Wilkins leaving his role, Connacht were involved in another high-scoring thriller in Cape Town.

After Feinberg-Mngomezulu scored a superb opening try inside 60 seconds after darting through a gap, Connacht responded as Shane Jennings crossed out wide after good hands from the Irish backline.

The Stormers hit the front when Evan Roos crashed over off the back of a scrum, but Connacht drew level when Conor Oliver bundled over after more pressure in the 16th minute.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu had a stunning opening 40 minutes and grabbed his second try when he made a break and found back row Paul de Villiers, who returned the pass back inside which allowed the sprinting fly-half to score unchallenged.

The best try of the half came moments later when Feinberg-Mngomezulu again found himself in space. He chipped the ball over Piers O’Conor, collected his own kick and scored to complete his hat-trick and secure the bonus point for the Stormers.

However, Connacht refused to go away and Dylan Tierney-Martin rounded off a maul to pull a score back, and Jennings grabbed his second try of the game with the final play of the half, but Carty could only push his conversion wide as the Stormers held a two-point lead at the break.

The scintillating rugby by the Stormers continued after the restart when the South Africans powered into the 22 after a big break by Seablo Senatla, moved it quickly through the hands and Feinberg-Mngomezulu produced a ridiculous no-look pass out the back for Suleiman Hartzenberg to touch down in the corner.

The Stomers pressed for a sixth score but repeated infringements by Connacht near their own line saw centre Cathal Forde sent to the sin-bin.

However, Connacht held firm and it was soon 14 against 14 as Warrick Gelant was shown a yellow card as his attempted intercept went forward.

Connacht’s resilience was rewarded when Josh Murphy powered over but Carty could only strike the post with his conversion, and the Stormers led by two points with 13 minutes to play.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu landed a long-distance penalty to move the Stormers five clear, but there was late drama as Connacht came up just short of the line through Sean Jansen and Jack Auinger dropped the ball with the tryline gaping.

That was followed by the final play of the game when replacement Cordero danced over to level the game with a conversion to come, but the TMO ruled that Heffernan had stopped Roos from tackling Carty earlier in the play and the score was chalked off, much to the frustration of the visitors.

Stormers: W Gelant; S Hartzenberg; D Du Plessis, D Willemse; S Senalta, S Feinberg-Mngomzullu; S Ungerer; A Vermaak, AH Venter, S Sandi; S Moerat, R van Heerden; P de Villiers, M Theunissen, E Roos.

Replacements: JJ Kotze, V Matongo, B Harris, JD Schikerling, L Nel, D Fourie, P de Wet, B Loader.

Connacht: P O’Conor; C Mullins; D Hawkshaw, C Forde; S Jennings; J Carty; B Murphy; P Dooley; D Tierney-Martin; F Bealham; O Dowling, D Murray; C Prendergast, C Oliver, P Boyle.

Betfred Super League

Leigh (6) 18

Tries: Ipape, O’Neill, Halton Goals: O’Brien (3)

Warrington (2) 14

Leigh Leopards held off a strong fightback to beat Warrington Wolves and claim third place in Super League.

Brilliant playmaker Lachlan Lam masterminded a dominant first hour from the Leopards as tries from Edwin Ipape, Ethan O’Neill and Frankie Halton looked to have put the home side out of sight.

The Wolves rallied as Toby King and Matty Ashton went over for tries to cut the lead to just four points, but Adrian Lam’s team, whose defence has been key to their good form this season, held out.

The match was a dress rehearsal for the Challenge Cup semi-final on May 11, but Wolves also knew that a victory would move them above their local rivals following a run of four wins from their previous five games.

Hooker Danny Walker filled in for the absent George Williams, who had surgery on an ankle injury on Thursday, but the loss of the playmaker hit the Wolves badly.

In stark contrast the mercurial Lam was at the heart of everything for the home side at Leigh Sports Village.

He created chance after chance in the first half, but Halton spilled the ball after being set up by the Papua New Guinea international, who also teed up David Armstrong to touch down, and then dribbled the ball over for what looked like another score, only for both to be disallowed for infringements by team-mates following video reviews.

Zane Musgrove was held up over the line at the other end, and it seemed that Sneyd’s early penalty was going to provide the only points of a tight first half.

Lam summoned one last piece of magic to change that, as he stepped through a gap and then flipped a pass up for Ipape to go over the line and give Leigh the half-time lead.

Lam then came up with a neat delayed pass to send O’Neill racing over the line, and as the Warrington defence kept a careful eye on their tormentor, it left room for his half-back partner Gareth O’Brien to send Halton over and make it 18-2 as O’Brien converted all three tries.

Warrington dug deep and when Sneyd unexpectedly kicked the ball through on the fifth tackle, Toby King dashed in to register their first try.

Warrington coach Sam Burgess told BBC Radio Merseyside:

“Parts of our game I was happy with. They’re a physical side and tough to beat here, and we probably started the second half a little bit slowly and gave up two soft tries. It was a tough task after that.

“It was a great contest. We gave it a go and missed a couple of opportunities, or the game could have gone the other way.

Leigh Leopards: Armstrong; McIntosh, Hodgson, Brand, Charnley; O’Brien, Lam; Trout, Ipape, Mulhern, Halton, O’Neill, Liu.

Interchanges: Pene, Tuitavake, Davis, Hughes.

Warrington: Dufty. Thewlis, Tai, King, Ashton. Walker, Sneyd. Yates, Powell, Vaughan, Russell, Fitzgibbon, Currie.

Interchanges: Philbin, Crowther, Musgrove, Wood.

Indian Premier League, Ahmedabad

Delhi Capitals 203-8 (20 overs): Axar 39 (32), Ashutosh 37 (19); Krishna 4-41

Gujarat Titans 204-3 (19. 2 overs): Buttler 97* (54)

Gujarat Titans won by seven wickets

Jos Buttler’s 97 not out led Gujarat Titans to an impressive seven-wicket victory against Delhi Capitals and took them to the top of the Indian Premier League table.

Former England captain Buttler came in during the second over and expertly marshalled a chase of 204 in sapping heat in Ahmedabad.

He was on 97 at the start of the final over but, with 10 runs needed off Australia quick Mitchell Starc, Rahul Tewatia immediately hit a six and a four to secure victory with four balls to spare.

That denied Buttler, who hit 11 fours and four sixes, an eighth IPL century but he still embraced his batting partner with a beaming smile.

Buttler gave up the white-ball captaincy when England were knocked out of the Champions Trophy in February but has responded with a good run of form in the IPL, with this his third fifty in seven innings.

He put on 60 with opener Sai Sudharsan, who became the tournament’s highest run-scorer by scoring 36.

The Titans were 74-2 when Sudharsan holed out at deep mid-wicket but Buttler soon hit five consecutive fours in one Starc over to swing the match in his side’s favour.

He put on 119 with West Indies international Sherfane Rutherford, who was caught at long-off for 43 at the end of the penultimate over.

Wicketkeeper Buttler also took a superb, diving catch in Delhi’s 203-8 to dismiss Vipraj Nigam.

Delhi, who were leading the standings until the defeat, reached their total thanks to contributions of 39 from Axar Patel, 37 from Ashutosh Sharma, plus 31 from both Tristan Stubbs and Karun Nair 31, but Gujarat did well to limit the damage.

ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifier, Lahore

Thailand 166 (46. 1 overs): Chantam 66 (98); Fletcher 4-20

West Indies 168-4 (10. 5 overs): Matthews 70 (29)

West Indies won by six wickets

West Indies have failed to reach the Women’s World Cup for the first time in 25 years after finishing their qualifying games 0. 01 behind Bangladesh on net run-rate.

After restricting Thailand to 166, West Indies needed to chase their target down in 10 overs to overhaul second-placed Bangladesh’s net run-rate advantage.

They made a blistering effort but fell just short, reaching 156-3 after 10 overs – the highest powerplay total in women’s ODIs.

Hayley Matthews’ side completed victory on 168-4 just five balls later to finish level with Bangladesh on six points. However, West Indies ended with a net run-rate of 0. 63, meaning Bangladesh squeezed through on 0. 64.

West Indies began the final day of qualifying in third position in the table, with only the top two teams advancing to this autumn’s 50-over World Cup.

Matthews kickstarted the brave attempt with a 21-ball fifty – the second-fastest in women’s one-day internationals – before she was dismissed for 70 from 29 balls.

Elsewhere, Pakistan won all five of their matches to qualify comfortably, while Bangladesh will also compete at the eight-team tournament.

Scotland and Ireland failed to qualify.

The World Cup, which starts on 29 September and runs for around a month, is being hosted by India, with Australia defending the title.

West Indies memorably beat England in last year’s T20 World Cup to reach the semi-finals, but defeats by Scotland and Pakistan in their opening matches of these qualifiers meant they had to win all of their remaining games, and still rely on other results to swing net run-rate in their favour.

The match against Scotland proved decisive, a tense 11-run defeat where captain Matthews scored an unbeaten century and took four wickets but had little support from her team.

With the tournament taking place in India, Pakistan’s qualification means that the International Cricket Council (ICC) will adopt a hybrid hosting model.

As part of India men’s agreement to play in this year’s Champions Trophy, all of their matches were played in the United Arab Emirates rather than in Pakistan, where the tournament was originally due to be hosted in its entirety.

In turn, the Pakistan Cricket Board only accepted this hybrid model if they could guarantee that their sides – male and female – would not be required to play in India during the 2024-2027 ICC event cycle.

The likely location for Pakistan’s matches – a minimum of seven – will either be in the UAE again, or Sri Lanka.

Political tensions mean the two countries have not faced each other outside of men’s major tournaments since 2013, while India have not played in Pakistan since 2008.