SPORT lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll l l ntnews.com.au Ice-cool Beale’s late penalty seals Rebel victory in thriller

RUGBY UNION The teams occupy the bot- The teams combined for two five-pointers of their Kurtley Beale who nailed the game in hand. The Force slip tom two places in the Aust- seven tries until the 45- own in the first half, through last one of the game for the to just two wins from 12 KURTLEY Beale stood up to ralian conference but came minute mark, with Cadeyrn Napolioni Nalaga and Ben Rebels out wide — from games in what is turning into calmly slot a 77th minute into the game in varying Neville crossing twice for the McCalman. Then, when Alfie about 40 metres — in the 77th a horror campaign for the penalty and hand form, with the Rebels off the Rebels and captain Gareth Mafi came on after the break, minute to secure his team’s Perth-based franchise. Rebels a 32-31 Super Rugby high of beating the Cru- Delve and Cooper Vuna once he scored immediately to second consecutive win. Early yesterday, the Wara- win over Western Force in saders last week, while the as the visitors secured the bring the home team to with- It takes the Rebels to a 4-7 tahs’ finals hopes were ex- Perth, as ’s two Force returned home after four-try bonus point in the in six points. record this season, putting tinguished in Cape Town by battling franchises played South African losses to the first half. It was down to penalties them on the same number of a 19-13 loss to the pace-setting out a seven-try thriller. Cheetahs and Sharks. However, the Force scored the rest of the way and it was wins as the Waratahs, with a Stormers (49).

VAULTER FALTERS STEVE Hooker’s resur- gence has come crashing back to Earth after he failed to clear a height in his return to international Will uses anger to competition. The reigning Olympic pole vault champion couldn’t get over 5.30m in three attempts at Saturday night’s Diamond League meet in Shanghai. It’s a major disappoint- get winning feeling ment for Hooker, who just a week earlier had booked a spot at the London Ga-

PUB: mes by clearing 5.72m at a specially sanctioned event at his private indoor train- ing facility in Perth. TNEWS NT The no-height perform- ance again raises question marks about his confid- ence levels, which hit rock bottom at the start of the year when he took time away from the circuit to DATE: cure a bad case of the yips.

TOUR RUNNER-UP AUSTRALIAN Michael Frei- 21-MAY-2012 berg finished overall runner-up at the Olympia’s Tour in the Netherlands yesterday, 16 seconds be- hind Dutchman Dylan van Baarle. Fellow Australian Rohan Dennis (Jayco-AIS) won the fifth stage time trial of the tour, clocking PAGE: 16 minutes 26 seconds for the 11.8km course in Reuver to finish the tour fourth overall. 38 The stage win was wel- come but unfortunately

COLOR: for the Jayco-AIS team, the eighth place of Freiberg (17:09) wasn’t enough to defend his overnight lead.

TREBLE FOR THORN

C BRAD Thorn has always been a ‘‘big dreamer’’ but M even he was struggling to grasp the enormity of his Y basks in the glory of victory after winning at Phillip Island yesterday Picture: ROBERT CIANFLONE, Getty Images sporting career following K Leinster’s European Cup FORD driver Will Davison and Ford teammate Mark ‘‘I was angry . . . (but) fast-finishing driver triumph on the weekend. turned anger into energy to Winterbottom in a title chase you’ve got to try and control and Jason RACE 2 45 LAPS The big man added the power back into the lead of a that separates the top three your emotions — there’s al- Bright’s Team BOC Commo- 1. Will Davison (Ford) latest honour to his re- V8 Supercar championship by just 29 points. With 150 ways highs and lows in this dore to win the 45-lap race, 1hr19mins46.1086sec markable resume in Lein- 2. Craig Lowndes (Holden) destined to go to the wire. points on offer for a race win, sport,’’ Davison said. Whincup finished fifth. 1:19:46.6638 ster’s 42-14 thrashing of Davison put aside a terrify- that is nothing in the scheme ‘‘I just use it as energy Tyre degradation slowed 3. (Holden) 1:19:51.3097 Irish rivals Ulster in front ing crash that destroyed his of things and virtually en- when I have a bad day. When Whincup, with Winterbot- 4. (Ford) of almost 82,000 spec- car and robbed him of cham- sures sudden-death racing you have a bad day yester- tom finishing sixth and Dav- 1:19:52.1964 tators at Twickenham. 5. (Holden) pionship points on Saturday for the rest of the season. day, throw my toys out of the ison able to leapfrog both in 1:19:52.5299 The 37-year-old became to win yesterday’s race at Davison admitted he need- cot last night, and then push the championship standings. 6. (Ford) the first player to win a Phillip Island. ed to put his emotions aside reset. That’s all you can do.’’ He now holds a 10-point ad- 1:19:52.7973 World Cup, Super Rugby 7. (Ford) 1:19:53.5489 It was his sixth win in 11 after leaving the track late in Davison’s car was rebuilt vantage over Whincup. 8. David Reynolds (Ford) 1:19:57.2946 title and a European Cup. races this season, and lifted Saturday’s race, sliding on overnight as was Whincup’s. The next races in the 9. Lee Holdsworth (Ford) 1:19:59.2730 In the process he also be- him back ahead of defending wet grass and crashing into But while Davison drove championship are in Darwin 10. (Holden) came the oldest player to champion Jamie Whincup good friend Whincup. on to the podium, holding off from June 15 to 17. 1:19:59.4164 win the European Cup.

FOOTROT FLATS 1080127v4 Win Spurs on Aussie pair

THE San Antonio Spurs, featuring Australian guard Patrick Mills and Boomers head coach Brett Brown, fought back from a 24-point deficit to easily beat the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA play-offs. The 96-86 victory yesterday at Los Angeles’s Sta- ples Centre gives the Spurs a commanding 3-0 lead in the NBA’s western conference semi-finals. If the Spurs defeat the Clippers early today they will play the winner of the Los Angeles Lakers- Oklahoma City Thunder series in the western con- ference finals. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant hit the go-ahead three pointer with 13 seconds left to lift Oklahoma to a 103-100 win over Los Angeles to put the Lakers on the brink of elimination.

38 NT NEWS. Monday, May 21, 2012. www.ntnews.com.au