MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2015 SPORTS All Blacks, Springboks set up semi showdown

LONDON: The southern hemisphere’s assault his own perfectly judged kick ahead and as he on the World Cup delivered the first two semi- was tackled passed to scrumhalf Gareth Davies finalists on Saturday when South Africa edged who touched down under the posts. 23-19 and New Zealand crushed Springboks flyhalf Handre Pollard kept his 62-13 to set up a titanic last-four clash between team’s score ticking over with penalties and a the rugby powerhouses. drop goal and Wales, 13-12 ahead at halftime, Australia and will be looking to went into the final six minutes clinging to a complete a Rugby Championship clean sweep slender 19-18 lead.Biggar was then taken off as by beating Scotland and respectively a precaution after receiving a knock to his head on Sunday. Winger scored his sec- and in his absence a Welsh lapse of concentra- ond hat-trick of the tournament as the All tion at a Springboks scrum close to the touch- Blacks steamrolled the French in after a line was exploited by Du Preez. The Springboks close game at Twickenham was settled by a forwards wheeled right and Duane Vermeulen moment of magic from Springboks scrumhalf dummied to go that way before turning and Fourie du Preez. brilliantly offloading the ball to Du Preez who New Zealand were far too strong for France, darted over in the corner. the side they overcame 8-7 in the 2011 final, Wales coach Warren Gatland had no com- sounding a clear warning that they do not plaints about the medical call on Biggar. “He’s intend to let go of their crown by winning the done a fantastic job for us in terms of his lead- title abroad for the first time. “We can’t wait for ership and control,” Gatland said. Unfortunately, the semi-finals, South Africa are a great team that leadership of the back line was missing at and we enjoy playing them,” All Blacks coach the crucial moment and Du Preez seized the said after masterminding the chance to apply a move the Springboks had biggest ever victory in a rehearsed all week. “We actually initially went knockout match. “New Zealand were two or for the penalty from the scrum, but during the three classes above (us),” said France captain week we noticed that their number nine was . Flyhalf kept his covering more behind the scrum and that backs moving at pace and converted seven of opened some space,” said Du Preez. the All Blacks’ tries, adding a penalty for a per- Argentina’s Pumas, semi-finalists in 2007, sonal tally of 17 points. face Ireland in Cardiff (1200 GMT) looking to Lock , winger Nehe Milner- prevent the Six Nations champions from reach- CARDIFF: New Zealand’s Kieran Read wins a line out during the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal match between New Zealand and France at the Skudder, , number eight ing the last four for the first time. . — AP Kieran Read and replacement Tawera Kerr- The Irish have been further depleted by Barlow (twice) also crossed the line. The French injury after flyhalf Johnny Sexton failed a fit- replied with a first-half try from number eight ness test on a groin injury on Saturday having Louis Picamoles, who was sin-binned in the been named in their starting line-up. Ireland, Djokovic dispatches second half. The Twickenham quarter-final was who have replaced Sexton with Ian Madigan, defined by two Dan Biggar moments. had lost captain Paul O’Connell and blindside The Wales flyhalf, who kicked 14 points, laid flanker Peter O’Mahony to injury. Openside on a fine try in the first half when he gathered Sean O’Brien is suspended. —Reuters Tsonga in Shanghai

Too little too late SHANGHAI: It proved all too easy once again for Novak Djokovic as the world number one con- tinued his frightening dominance of men’s ten- for fading France nis by blitzing past Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win another Shanghai Masters title CARDIFF: For once, France passed the ball powered by the defending champions. yesterday. around and played positive rugby, but they Saint Andre’s side showed good inten- The Serbian, 10-times a grand slam champi- got what they deserved in a 62-13 humilia- tion with fullback often on, brushed aside the challenge of a befuddled tion by New Zealand in the World Cup running with the ball instead of kicking it Tsonga 6-1 6-4 to claim his third Shanghai quarter-finals on Saturday. away and they were rewarded before the Masters and ninth title of a standout year that Les Bleus never looked like repeating break when the powerful Louis Picamoles has left him being spoken of among the sport’s the famous upsets of of the All Blacks in the pierced the defence to score the only all-time greats. Djokovic won three grand slams 2007 last-eight game in Cardiff, or the 1999 French try. But Picamoles was sin-binned this year, was runner-up at the French Open and semi-final. For all their positive intent, they for punching Richie McCaw in the 47th since suffering a surprise quarter-final loss to Ivo lacked the quality to challenge a team who minute and that was when France totally Karlovic in Qatar in January has made the final of cruised through the pool phase and they cracked, not scoring a point in the second all 13 events he has played. lost to New Zealand for a record ninth con- half and conceding 33 as New Zealand fell The 30-year-old Tsonga had shown his serv- secutive time. just short of their record winning margin ing prowess in taking out Rafa Nadal in three Under head coach Philippe Saint Andre, against their opponents after winning a tight sets in the semi-finals on Saturday but who will make way for the former Toulouse home test 61-10 in 2007. against the imperious returning skills of coach Guy Noves, France always played France had never before conceded 62 Djokovic he had no answers. The 28-year-old conservatively, but on Saturday they decid- points in a test match. “I assume a lot of Serb nullified Tsonga’s most potent weapon to ed to be bold. responsibility, there is no problem about break his three opening service games and take “I believe that rugby is a game,” Saint that, it’s part of the job,” said Saint-Andre, a first set which the Frenchman played predomi- Andre told a news conference, although he whose successor had been named before nantly way behind the baseline. Things spent most of his time insisting rugby was the World Cup. “I took a lot of punches dur- improved for Tsonga at the start of the second a physical affair above all. ing four years. We were hoping that three set where he worked hard to fight off break SHANGHAI: Winner’s Novak Djokovic of Serbia (left) and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France after the “We tried to put rhythm into the game months of preparations would help us points and stay on serve through the opening award ceremony for the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament. — AP but we had too many turnovers and they reach another dimension.” eight games as the Serb sauntered through his were more reactive, they were faster.” The result was more painful for Les own service. But the pressure proved too much, some break points early in the set. He came up end-of-season ATP Tour Finals in next France missed several tackles in the Bleus, who went through the pool phase Djokovic pummelling balls to all angles with with some aces, some big serves.” month. “The first set went quick,” Tsonga said. opening 20 minutes and just as in their 24- without showing many attacking skills. supreme court coverage at the expense of just It was a second straight tournament Djokovic “It’s not easy to stop him. He is really consistent 9 pool defeat by Ireland, they were domi- They realised only before the game against eight unforced errors and he broke at the third had won without dropping a set after he landed on his return. Today I didn’t serve well enough, nated at the breakdown, giving the ball New Zealand that attack is the DNA of attempt in the crucial ninth game and served his sixth China Open title in Beijing last week. especially in the first set. away on too many occasions. French rugby but it was way too late. out for victory. The Serb now boasts a 38-1 win loss record on “After that, in the second, I served a little bit The All Blacks ran riot with nine tries, the “Let’s face it, we’ve been between the the Chinese hardcourts. “Generally I felt always better, and it gave me the opportunity to have first coming after 11 minutes when Brodie fifth and eighth place in the world for three SERVICE RETURNS in control of the match. I felt like I’ve done every- a chance on his serve. But finally I was not Retallick touched down after a kick by years now,” Saint Andre said. “We’re in our “Today the key was to get as many serves thing right. I didn’t allow him to get into the able to do it.” The victory was Djokovic’s 57th Frederic Michalak, who got injured in the place,” he added. “New Zealand had more back into play to Jo because he has one of the rhythm, get into the match,” he said. ATP Tour title, moving him within two of process, was charged down. flair and more skill,” a painful admission biggest serves in the game,” Djokovic told the Tsonga will be comforted by his strong show- Nadal’s mark of 27 Masters Series crowns and Losing Michalak so early was big set- that flowing and inventive French rugby is ATP website (www.atpworldtour.com). ing in China, which helped move him up to took his prize money for the year past a record back for France, who were completely over- a thing of the past. — Reuters “He has shown that in the second set, with ninth in the race to qualify for the eight man $16 million. — Reuters Marquez denies Lorenzo with brilliant final lap

MELBOURNE: Outgoing MotoGP champion Marc Marquez snatched the lead from Jorge Lorenzo on a thrilling last lap to win a classic Australian Grand Prix yesterday, with championship leader Valentino Rossi finishing fourth. At the climax of a white-knuckle feast of dare- devil racing between the top four place-getters, Marquez coaxed his Honda past Lorenzo before the final turn and roared home to win his first race at Phillip Island and fifth of the season. Having grabbed and lost the lead time and again over the course of the race, Lorenzo initially cut a dejected figure when crossing for second place. He quickly cheered, however, having closed the gap on leader Rossi to 11 points ahead of the penultimate race in Malaysia next week. Double world champion Lorenzo had Andrea Iannone to thank for keeping a rampaging Rossi off the podium, with the unfancied Italian enjoying one of his finest days on a Ducati to take third on a glorious afternoon at the seaside circuit. Lorenzo said in a trackside interview that Marquez had made an “unbelievable last lap”. “I was lucky that Andrea got the podium,” he added. Iannone capitalised on a solid start from second on the grid to sweep past pole-sitter Marquez but held the lead for only moments before Lorenzo swooped at turn eight. The pair swapped the lead back and HONG KONG: Jelena Jankovic of Serbia smiles as she poses with the trophy after defeating forth, and feathers flew on the third lap when a Angelique Kerber of Germany during their final match at the WTA Hong Kong Open. — AP stray seagull ploughed straight into Iannone’s hel- met, ruffling the Italian who fell back to second. Marquez soon joined the fray to turn the race Jankovic bags into a three-way tussle before Rossi steered his Yamaha brilliantly from seventh on the grid to nip at Hong Kong title the leaders’ wheels. Rossi went for broke in the final laps, pushing to second behind Lorenzo with an aggressive thrust HONG KONG: Jelena Jankovic made it a Serbian eight woman end-of-season WTA Finals in past Marquez, but Iannone topped it with an auda- win double in Asia yesterday as she fought back Singapore next week and started brightly with cious double overtake of both riders. from a set down to beat Germany’s Angelique an opening break as she took the set 6-3. Lorenzo broke clear from the skirmish to open a Kerber to take the Hong Kong Open title. The second proved another tight affair with gap from Marquez, but the Honda rider burned The former world number one triumphed 3- three breaks of serve each before a tiebreak around the track on his final lap to seal a remark- 6 7-6(4) 6-1 to claim her 15th WTA Title and which Jankovic edged 7-4 after both players able victory. second of the year. The success came shortly excelled with returns. In the Moto2 category, rookie Alex Rins won his after compatriot Novak Djokovic beat Jo- Jankovic was buoyed by the success and second race of the season for Paginas Amarillas Wilfried Tsonga to win the Shanghai Masters found her serving rhythm in the decider as PHILLIP ISLAND: MotoGP rider Marc Marquez of Spain raises his trophy above his HP40 ahead of Speed Up Racing’s Sam Lowes and title in China. Kerber failed to force a break point and collapsed head as he celebrates winning the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. — AP Forward Racing’s Lorenzo Baldassarri. Kerber needed a win to secure a place in the as the Serb ran out a strong winner. — Reuters