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ASHBURTON GUARDIAN, Friday, May 17, 2013
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Enterprise needed for Celtic assault By Jonathan Leask Celtic needs to do what no other team has been able to do to stay on track for a top four finish in the Combined Country Cup rugby competition tomorrow. Celtic host the unbeaten section two leaders Ashley in the penultimate round, needing to end the northerners’ winning streak to enhance their own playoff chances. Celtic claimed their fifth win last weekend grinding out a 12-5 win over Glenmark after their attack stalled. The celts hammered away at the Glenmark defence for what coach Dave McCrea described as “a good 25 minutes” without being able to get across but two tries from lineout drives were enough for the win. However, McCrea admitted his side would need “to show a bit more enterprise” if they were to challenge Ashley who have strung together seven straight wins to lead the section, scoring 34 points against the Glenmark defence in round six but also conceding 29 in their closest result to date. Ashley sits on top on 33 points with Lincoln on 30 after their first loss to
Waihora who are third on 23. By virtue of a worse points differential, Celtic are fourth on 23 and have Glenmark on their tails on 20. Hampstead’s loss to Ashley last weekend ended their chances of the top four but they can play the spoiler hosting Waihora. Southern snapped a six-game losing streak in thrashing Prebbleton 43-7 and will be confident of making it back-to-back wins when they head to Ohoka, who are without a win, are yet to score double figures in a match and have only scored two tries. Over in section one, Rakaia is assured of a playoff berth after they ended Oxford’s unbeaten season but they are now looking to lock in home field advantage, heading to take on the struggling Kaiapoi. Defending champions Southbridge top section one on 28 with Rakaia on 25, and Oxford third on 23, with Rakaia able to move into the lead with a win as Southbridge have the bye this weekend. Methven made it back-to-back wins but will have a big test if they are to make it three heading to Rangiora to take on Saracens, who have been a surprise package and sit in fourth, 10 points clear of fifth placed Burnham.
The Ashburton Barbarians look to defend an unbeaten home record against the Shirley Hawks in Canterbury division one rugby league at Collegiate South tomorrow. The Barbarians were battered 16-46 by the Sydenham Swans last weekend but haven’t been beaten at home with back-to-back wins, there only two wins, over the Marist Saints 44-20 and the Timaru Warriors 38-24 prior to the loss to the Swans.
• Footballers back
Photo Kirsty Clay 040513-KC-101
Top guns Players stake claim for Rotterdam meet up in first round The premier grand final re-match kickstarts the new Mid Canterbury Senior A netball season tomorrow. Defending premiers Methven A meet Celtic A in a 2013 final rematch in the opening round. The pair start their campaign, as they did last year, toward this year’s showpiece with a round one showdown as they begin the seven-week quest to qualify for the top-six premier grade. Celtic A and Methven A have been the top two in the past two seasons and traded wins during the regular season and have a premier final win apiece. Celtic A come in on the back of an impressive grading that saw them come out of the three rounds as the only unbeaten team, and will be keen to start the season with a win over the side that took the premier title off them last year. Methven A had a mixed grading. No matter their grading form, all eight teams start the season afresh in round one. The round starts with Hampstead A taking on surprise package College B before the heavyweight clash. The two sides met in the third and final round of grading last weekend where Hampstead A powered to a 21-10 win in the 20 minutes game. The third match has Hampstead B look to prove their top flight promotion against College A, a side that handled them in grading 16-9. Closing out the round is Rakaia A making their return to the top flight after a year’s absence against United A.
New Zealand will approach their weekend double header against Korea in a good frame of mind after a much improved performance in the second test against Korea at Rangitoto College yesterday. The scoreline was identical to the opening contest in the six-game series on Tuesday, but there the similarities ended. There were periods of slick interpassing, several chances were created and, unlike the first game, when the Koreans would have felt a bit stiff not to get the win, world No 6 New
Zealand shaded this match against their eighth-ranked opponents. Put at least part of that lift down to getting familiar again with each other’s play, not having been together for several weeks. “We learnt quite a bit from the first game,” New Zealand coach Colin Batch said. “I thought that was a below par performance for where we want to get to. We have made a big step.” New Zealand took the lead after 13 minutes from a penalty corner, through Andy Hayward’s strong shot low past the goalkeeper’s right hand.
Korea were level 12 minutes before halftime, when Nam Yong Lee - who also scored Korea’s goal on Tuesday - deftly flicked in a ball driven into the circle through a sea of defenders. New Zealand goalkeeper Hamish McGregor made several important blocks, as did his counterpart Myung Ho Lee. Attackers Hugo Inglis and Stephen Jenness were a handful for the Korean defence, while striker Isaac Staples did get the ball into the Korean net in the second half, but it was ruled out through the cross being too high.
Staples and James Coughlan couldn’t capitalise on chances from close range while Dae Yeol Lee slapped a great opening across the face of the New Zealand goal. The background to this series is the selection of the New Zealand team for their world league 3 tournament in Rotterdam next month. There are 23 players in the squad. Eighteen will make the trip. The incentive for players to impress is obvious. Korea’s under 21 women’s team beat New Zealand A 4-2 in the curtain raiser. - APNZ
Watson in heated IPL Mayweather is highest paid sportsman in US clash with Pollard Shane Watson lost his cool in the Indian Premier League yesterday as his Rajasthan Royals missed a chance to go top of the table. Set 167 to win by the Mumbai Indians at Wankhede Stadium, tempers flared when Watson came to the crease at No.5 with the score at 3-26. Before he had even faced a ball, Mumbai’s West Indian allrounder Kieron Pollard - no shrinking violet during last season’s Big Bash in Australia - started taunting Watson. The pair had a running battle over five overs that prompted Watson to complain to umpire Asad Rauf and opposition captain Rohit Sharma. The 31-year-old managed just 19 from 16 balls before he skied left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha’s delivery to Pollard, who gleefully gave Watson a big send-off.
Unbeaten boxer Floyd Sports Illustrated reckMayweather tops Sports oned Mayweather would Illustrated’s list of highearn $US90m in 2013. est-paid pro sportsmen Tiger Woods, who was No.1 on the Fortunate 50 for the second straight year, according to the list every year from 2004-11, released by the magazine. falls to his lowest ranking Mayweather stretched ever at number five with his perfect record to 44-0 estimated earnings this with a 12-round unaniyear of $US40.8m. mous decision over Robert LeBron James, the Guerrero on May 4, the Miami Heat superstar first fight in his new who was recently named megadeal with Showtime NBA Most Valuable Player Floyd Mayweather television that guarantees for the fourth time in his him at least $US32 million per fight career, is second on the list with projected earnings of $US56.5m. James over six bouts. The fight for Mayweather’s World becomes the first player in a team Boxing Council welterweight world sport to be in the top two since former title was the champion’s first since NBA star Shaquille O’Neal in 2004. James’s $US39 million in endorseserving a jail term for domestic vioments were more than any other US lence last year. - AAP In compiling its Fortunate 50 list, sports figure in 2013.
Pollard and Watson continued the banter near the boundary rope and eventually the Australian stormed off to the dressing rooms to cool off. Rajasthan, who have already qualified for next week’s semi-finals, fell 14 runs short despite Victorian veteran Brad Hodge’s late flourish of 39 from 27 balls. Tasmanian leftarm medium-pacer James Faulkner took 2-32 for the Royals and helped Watson (2-30) restrict Mumbai. Viewed as a key factor in Australia’s hopes of regaining the Ashes this year if fit to play as an allrounder, Watson has got through an albeit light bowling workload in the IPL. A calf strain forced him to play as a specialist batsman in the recent Test series in India, and he has managed just under 32 overs with 56 days before the first Test. - AAP
Double round tests turf champions By Jonathan Leask
Photo Tetsuro Mitomo 110513-tm-525
Wakanui Black’s James Tavendale traps the ball for teammate and former Black Stick Ryan Wilson who has been in goal scoring form, scoring a hattrick against Excelsior last weekend.
Defending champions Wakanui Black have the chance to move to the top of the table with a double header at home in the Mid South Canterbury senior hockey competition this weekend. Black host Timaru Boys’ tomorrow and then play their deferred match against Tainui on Sunday. Two wins would jettison them to the top of the table. Northern Hearts top the standings after six wins and a loss to Black on 29 points, with Wakanui Blue in second with four wins, two draws and a loss on 25 with Black third on 25 with their five win, one draw record. Black opened their title defence with a rusty 2-1 win over Timaru Boys’ but over a month later, Black is hitting their stride coming off an emphatic 11-0 win over Excelsior. It wasn’t their best display but they showed their class in the closing stages hitting home five goals in the final 10 minutes after being frustrated with a lack of clinical finishing.
The vastly experienced side may not be able to keep pace with the fit-and-fast school boys but have the wily skills and nous to starve the visitors, a tactic they have employed with great success so far. After tackling Timaru Boys’, Black back-up on Sunday with another pesky challenger in Tainui who come in off back-to-back wins over the bottom two sides. Wakanui Blue are also at home on Saturday up against Cambridge where they will be out to do better than the 1-all draw in round one. Tinwald are in Timaru for a third straight game but hoping for a different result third time around. their last two trips have yielded 4-1 defeats but they are confident of claiming their first real win of the season against fellow strugglers Excelsior, who gave them their first win by default in round the first round. Hampstead also head south to Timaru to play Craighead in the women’s competition looking for an unprecedented third straight win after beating Timaru Girls’ 1-0 and Pleasant Point 4-1 in the last two weeks.
Pamment ND coach James Pamment has been appointed Northern Districts cricket coach, replacing Grant Bradburn who stepped down from the role last month. Pamment was Bradburn’s assistant coach last season and his promotion adds to an interesting CV. He was a batsman for Auckland for several years in the 1990s and has been a New Zealand Under-19 assistant coach, Northern Districts and Bay of Plenty high performance manager, coached Northern Districts A for five seasons and has also worked with the Black Caps, particularly in fielding. Pamment has also been heavily involved in football and was Waikato FC co-coach for the first two seasons of the NZFC. “I’m really looking forward to the responsibility that comes with this opportunity,” Pamment said. “I feel it’s a natural step for me. I bedded down some important experience in the four years that I spent working as a high performance coach here.” - APNZ
Email leak may be bad for Wallabies: Foley By Justin Chadwick Western Force coach Michael Foley fears the email leak that has rocked the Australian Rugby Union could be a distraction for players ahead of the series against the British and Irish Lions. The coaches of Australia’s Super Rugby sides were left fuming after an email they received from Wallabies mentor Robbie Deans containing their collective Test selections was leaked
to a media organisation. NSW coach Michael Cheika reportedly didn’t take part in the exercise, but the other four coaches all put forward their nominated 23-man Wallabies squads to Deans. The email Deans sent back containing their collective selections was the one that got leaked. It remains a mystery who leaked the email, but Foley said the biggest loser out of the ordeal could be the players who are fighting for Test selection. Star Reds flyhalf Quade Cooper and
The Ashburton Duathlon Series gets underway with race one at the Ashburton Racecourse on Sunday. The series holds both long and short courses for individuals or teams. The distances are first a run/walk on a mix of surfaces, grass, and sealed, on a lap of the 1.25km circuit; the bike ride is 11km in the short course with 25km in the long course of flat easy road biking with the last run/walk an easy one or two laps of circuit depending on the short or long course. The last race of the series, on September 8, will double as the Canterbury Duathlon Champs. Race one starts at 10am.
• Barbarians defend
RIGHT: Celtic’s Tukulua Tolu has had a nose for the try line this season which Celtic will be hoping continues in their crucial clash with Ashley.
By Jonathan Leask
• Duathlon series under way
rugby convert Israel Folau failed to make the coaches’ squad, but it didn’t take into account their form over the past few weeks. The actual Wallabies squad for the Lions series will be named on Sunday. “I feel more for the players that have to read that sort of thing in the media and then try and second guess things when all they should be thinking about right now is how they’re going to play,” Foley said. “I’ve been on the other side of the
fence as a player aspiring to try and make a Lions series, which is a once in a lifetime chance. “I think this sort of media speculation on the eve of the squad being announced could be a potential distraction. “I hope it’s not for the players, because the play across Australia this year has been significantly better than what it was last year.” Foley said the leak wouldn’t deter him from sharing his thoughts with the Australian Rugby Union in the future.
“I think the dialogue between the national head coach and the head coaches of the states should be open,” Foley said. “That dialogue is extremely important and wouldn’t make me reluctant in the future. Robbie sent us an email the other night apologising for the fact that he had been made aware that it was going to be publicised the next day. “We just move on. I don’t know if a witch hunt helps anybody, but I would like to know where it came from.” - AAP
After their weekend off, the Mid Canterbury seniors will be looking to keep their unbeaten home record intact against Hornby in Mainland Football division one tomorrow. After an opening round away loss mid Canterbury has been unbeaten with two wins at home and two away draws heading into the clash with the winless Hornby United. In division four Mid Canterbury Eastern host Universities B and Methven International are away to Hornby United in division five. The Mid Canterbury Youth XI are home to Amberley in the under 18 club division one. On Sunday the Mid Canterbury Masters host Waimak and the Mid Canterbury Women are also at home to FC Twenty11.
• College XV heads south The Ashburton College 1st XV head to Timaru to tackle Roncalli College in their first away game of the Crusader Secondary School rugby competition tomorrow. With a win and a loss from their opening two home games, beating Nayland 41-9 last weekend, College heads into a crucial clash in terms of their top four aspirations. Roncalli had a three-point win over Timaru boys’ before being well-beaten by Marlborough 41-20, who beat college 31-20 in week one.
• Honda returns to F1 Japanese automaker Honda has announced it will return to Formula One in 2015 as an engine supplier to British team McLaren in a bid to revive their championship-winning partnership. Honda president Takanobu Ito said “McLaren-Honda” will aim to become “number one” in the elite racing world. “Honda is a company that has grown by participating in and winning races,” he told a Tokyo media conference. McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh said at the joint press event their “legendary Formula One partnership” would restart. “McLaren and Honda are about to embark on a new and extremely exciting adventure together,” he said. - AAP
• ODI series condensed Australia’s five-match series of one-day internationals against England will be condensed into a 15-day period in January 2014, Cricket Australia (CA) announced yesterday. The ODI series against England begins in Melbourne on January 12 and the last game is on January 26 in Adelaide. Australia will also host three Twenty20 clashes with England on January 29, January 31 and February 2 in Hobart, Melbourne and Sydney (ANZ Stadium). Australia’s five-Test Ashes series, as previously announced last year, starts on November 21 in Brisbane and concludes with the Sydney Test on January 3-7. - AAP
• Lampard sticking to Chelsea? Frank Lampard suggested he might be close to agreeing on a new contract with Chelsea after the London club recorded a dramatic 2-1 win over Benfica in Amsterdam yestersday to win soccer’s Europa League. Lampard’s contract expires at the end of the campaign, but the 34-year-old has enjoyed a fine season and recently became Chelsea’s all-time scorer after registering his 202nd and 203rd goals for the club. Recent reports in the British media have suggested he is close to extending his contract and, after Branislav Ivanovic’s stoppage-time goal gave Chelsea victory at Amsterdam Arena, he expressed hope that that would be the case.“I really hope so and things are looking good. The club have been brilliant,” he said. - AAP
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