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1News
18 hours ago
- 1News
Wallabies have last laugh to prevent Lions' series shutout
The Wallabies prevented a British and Irish Lions clean sweep of its Australian tour with a rousing 22-12 win in the third rugby Test on a night of wild weather at Sydney's Olympic Stadium. Tries to wingers Dylan Pietsch, Max Jorgensen and scrumhalf Tate McDermott last night highlighted one of the finest performances by the Wallabies in recent years and came amid a wild storm that led to a near-hour pause in the game due to nearby lightning. Having secured the three-match Test series with victory in the first Tests at Brisbane and a contentious, last-gasp 29-26 win last week in Melbourne, the tourists were seeking to be the first Lions squad to record an unbeaten tour since 1974. But despite strong support among the near capacity 90,000 crowd, the Lions were never really in this one as the Wallabies won the early physical exchanges and moved the ball better throughout despite consistent rain squalls that swept across the ground regularly on a bitter cold and windy night. 'I suppose there's obviously going to be frustration there because like we've said all along that we wanted to win win every game and rightly so,' Lions coach Andy Farrell said. "But the best team won on the night. ADVERTISEMENT 'Just said to the lads that on reflection, it might take one, it might take two beers, but they'll be unbelievably proud of what they've achieved throughout this tour.' Jac Morgan scored a try with 20 minutes to go to briefly give the Lions a glimpse of another stirring comeback like it did in Melbourne, but McDermott's sniping try with just 10 minutes left sealed the hosts win. A try on the siren by Will Stuart narrowed the final margin. Despite the cold and wet conditions, emotions boiled over on several occasions in a feisty match as the Wallabies delivered a strong response after a week of reckoning that included questions from some of Australia's place in the rotation for quadrennial Lions tours that also includes World Cup champion South Africa and New Zealand. The aggression featured firebrand Australia scrumhalf Nic White, playing his last match for the Wallabies, who on several occasions was nose-to-nose with Lions forwards. The tactic appeared to help the Wallabies and certainly engaged the raucous capacity crowd as the hosts enjoyed the greater share of possession and territory throughout. Wallabies' fast start ADVERTISEMENT From a five metre scrum the Wallabies took a series of one-out runs near the posts before spinning the ball wide and Pietsch found just enough room to dive over in the corner to give Australia a fast start. Tensions bubbled over as Wallabies scrumhalf White and Lions hooker Dan Sheehan engaged in some push and shove, before Will Skelton forcefully joined the fray and the Wallabies were penalised. Tom Lynagh extended the lead in the 34th minute taking a penalty as another rain squall pelted Olympic stadium. Wallabies halfback Nic White, left, gets involved in one of several scuffles during his team's win over the British and Irish Lions. (Source: Photosport) It was Lynagh's last involvement as he was replaced by Ben Donaldson for a head injury assessment — which the 22-year-old flyhalf failed — after a high ruck clear-out by Sheehan that was missed by the match officials. The Lions, starved of territory for most of the half, came more into the game as halftime neared and looked threatening. But a huge turnover by Tom Hooper as the Lions laid siege to the Wallabies try line allowed the hosts to escape to half time with its lead intact. Lightning delay ADVERTISEMENT Shortly after halftime an already wild night reached a new level. While play had been stopped for a serious head injury to Lions lock James Ryan, a match official entered the playing arena and advised referee Nika Amashukeli to escort the players from the field. The big screen at the stadium displayed a message for spectators in rows 1 to 19 to immediately vacate their seats and seek cover on the lower concourses. After a brief warm-up, play resumed about 45 minutes later and the Wallabies almost scored immediately but Taniela Tupou dropped the ball as he hit the ground close to the Lions line. 'We had been warned that there might be lightning, so we had a little bit of a plan,' Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said. "And with that plan, we wanted to make sure that players kept moving. 'And the rest of the time, it was really just trying to get us organised for the restart of the game.' Schmidt's Lions counterpart said he had never experienced anything like it in his long rugby career. "No, I hope I'm not (to experience that) again actually," Farrell said. "Yeah, rigor mortis was setting in at one stage there for the lads, in the support anyway." ADVERTISEMENT The second try did come soon after when Jorgensen pounced on a fumble by Lions centre Bundee Aki and sprinted 50 metres to score next to the posts. Donaldson completed the simple conversion for a 15-0 lead. Morgan's try came after a period of intense pressure by the Lions pack which eventually paid dividends and narrowed the margin to 15-7. The Wallabies responded and when Lions replacement hooker Ronan Kelleher was yellow carded for offside the winning try looked inevitable and was duly delivered by McDermott. The Lions scored again as the full-time siren sounded but it was the Wallabies celebrating a morale-boosting victory. 'I couldn't be a lot prouder of the way that the players rebounded after last week after the feeling of, kind of disappointment that they had,' Schmidt said.
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Call-up surreal even for veteran
Kelly Brazier looked down at her phone and saw the name she did not want flashing up at her. It was Black Ferns coach Allan Bunting ringing to let his players know if they had made the Rugby World Cup squad. Brazier had been told if she got the call from a position-specific coach, she was heading to England — but if she heard from Bunting, it was not good news. "His name actually came up on my phone so initially I was like, 'oh no'. Then next minute it was 'congratulations'," Brazier told the Otago Daily Times . "Just excited, happy and ready to get into work with the rest of the girls. "It's still pretty surreal." Brazier is the veteran of the squad at 35 and will join an elite club running out for her fourth World Cup later this month. The first five, who was named at second five in the World Rugby women's team of the 2010-19 decade, has nearly done it all in her career. She is a dual World Cup winner with the Black Ferns in 2010 and 2017, and won Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals, and World Cups, as a long-serving member of the Black Ferns Sevens. But the last couple of years left the 43-test stalwart — who had not played for the Black Ferns since 2021 until last month — hungry for more. The sting of being left out of the World Cup-winning squad in 2022 remained and injuries sidelined her for the Paris Olympics sevens campaign. "It's definitely up there," she said, when asked where the 2025 World Cup selection ranked. "The disappointment of not making that World Cup squad in New Zealand — I was absolutely gutted. "The last year and a-half, I guess battling a few sort of Achilles problems ... to finally be selected again, and be injury free, and get that phone call, I was over the moon and kind of felt like the first one all over again." Brazier, who grew up in Dunedin, made her comeback in Super Rugby Aupiki with Chiefs Manawa this year, and even after 15 years as an elite athlete, it was a shock to the system. "Even with Manawa the first week I was like, 'oh my God, what am I doing?' It was so hard. "Everyone used to complain about sevens was hard, but man, going back to 15s ... I was sort of questioning myself." Brazier, who was the top scorer (48 points) at her debut World Cup in 2010, was room-mates with Portia Woodman-Wickliffe — named for her third World Cup — at the first Black Ferns camp this year. They spent many late nights wading through information and game-plan changes and soon realised they had a lot to learn compared with their early days. "We'd be up until 10, 11 o'clock at night testing each other or writing in our books," Brazier said. "There was definitely a lot to learn, and different from when we were last in here, but I guess it's the challenge we want and excited from it." That spoke to the growth of the women's game, which Brazier said had been massive during her tenure. It was not lost on her how "surreal" it was to be heading back to England, where she played her first World Cup game 15 years ago. Back then, the final was played at Twickenham Stoop with a capacity of 14,800, whereas the 2025 final will be played at Twickenham Stadium with a capacity of 82,000. "Women's rugby has made massive leaps and bounds. "I think it's only going to continue that way as well, which is exciting." When she started, the Black Ferns seldom had tests before a World Cup — "now you've got 10 in a year." Tests were crucial for building towards pinnacle events and growing the game. "What you don't know, you don't know until you're put in those situations. "To have these opportunities now, and not even just the rugby, the chance to travel the world, experience different food, different culture ... "Probably why I've stayed in the game for so long is ... the experiences you get from it as well." But there is no place like home. Brazier left Dunedin in 2013 but has fond memories of the city and returned home for Christmas with her family last year. "I love going back home. It's my roots. "Obviously born and bred and proud to be from down there, which I think a lot of people don't realise because I've been gone for so long. "I'm definitely a Dunedin girl through and through — something I'm really proud of."
NZ Herald
4 days ago
- NZ Herald
Central Hawke's Bay schools gather for 58th Ongaonga Sevens tournament
Competitors and onlookers of the 58th Ongaonga Sevens tournament were welcomed with an Olympic-style ceremony and the release of pigeons, before kicking off another year of healthy Central Hawke's Bay competition. Undeterred by the rain and mud on Wednesday, 17 primary schools took part, battling it out on the sports
