“At last, a win. In a match where neither side could get well out in front until the death, the Highlanders beat the Cheetahs 31-24 in Bloemfontein [Sunday] morning,” Steve Hepburn wrote in the Otago Daily Times. It was the Dunedin-based side’s first win of this Super 14 season. In monsoon-like conditions at Brisbane on Saturday night, the Blues recovered from conceding a shock opening-minute try to beat the Reds 27-18 (Wynne Gray, The New Zealand Herald). The Hurricanes laboured to beat the Johannesburg-based Lions 33-18 and earn a bonus point at Westpac Stadium, Wellington. Planetrugby.com said the home side barely broke out of second gear. The Chiefs stopped off at Perth from South Africa and beat the Western Force 37-19. It was the first time they had completed their overseas tour with a perfect record (Evan Pegden, Waikato Times). But the John Mitchell-coached Force were going backwards, having made their worst start to a Super 14 season since the 2006 debut year, Nick Taylor wrote in The West Australian. The Crusaders finally got going after 55 minutes and beat the Natal-based Sharks 35-6 at AMI Stadium in Christchurch. “ … when the Crusaders finally cranked up the heat they were smoking”, Richard Knowler wrote in The Press.
Brendon McCullum scored his first international T20 century in equal parts blistering and inventive fashion, and tearaway Tim Southee was equally influential with the ball as the Black Caps beat Australia at AMI Stadium, Christchurch this week (NZPA). McCullum blasted 116 from just 56 balls as he hauled New Zealand to a mammoth 214-6. The innings was studded with boundaries, many which were scored using scoop shot over the wicketkeeper’s head (The Dominion Post, Wellington). After an equally impressive run chase from Australia left the scores tied, Tim Southee ‘upstaged’ McCullum by bowling a barrage of yorkers and only 6 runs from the ‘super over’ (The Press, Christchurch). Australian speedster Shaun Tait cracked under the pressure and bowled two wides as New Zealand cantered home.
“Hunter Mahan has been one of the most successful golfers not to win a tournament the last two years,” said the Los Angeles Times this week. But all that changed as Mahan finished strongly to win the Phoenix Open at Scottsdale, Arizona. The 27 year-old Mahan made an eagle and two birdies in a late four-hole stretch to finish at 16-under 268. Mahan, whose first victory was at the 2007 Travelers Championship, closed with consecutive rounds of six-under 65 (The New York Times). Mahan had been chasing 21 year-old Rickie Fowler, who had led throughout the tournament. Fowler (at 21 years, two months and 15 days) had been trying to become the youngest winner on the PGA tour since Tiger Woods (The Arizona Republic).
It was the perfect finish to the 2010 Winter Olympics for every Canadian hockey fan. A tough, competitive arm-wrestle on ice, a nail-biting overtime finish, and of course, a gold medal. Canada’s 3-2 win over the United States set off a national celebration (The Associated Press). “From sea to shining sea, patriotic pandemonium was flowing through the collective veins of the country like a favourite brew ... as it celebrated Team Canada’s gold medal Olympic hockey victory over the USA,” said The Toronto Star. In a match dubbed ‘one of the greatest games in Olympic history’ (Reuters), Canada’s star-studded team held off a young, desperate U.S. team that had beaten it the previous week and almost beat them again (AP). With the scores locked at 2-2, it took a moment of genius from the 22-year-old wunderkind Sidney Crosby to seal the overtime win. “Because in that strange way true greatness knows it had to be him. It had to be the great Canadian Next One, the man to follow in Wayne Gretzky’s footsteps as the ultimate Canadian hockey icon” (The Vancouver Sun).
"TV has brought murder back into the home where it belongs."
