Sports FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2014 43

Brumbies ready to face Chiefs on own terms

MELBOURNE: After two years dictating the against a potent Brumbies backline. The pair have been in top form, with the Lambie was initially ruled out for the sea- terms of the Super Rugby playoffs from their Having shipped an avalanche of tries versatile Toomua, who played inside centre in son when he sustained a bicep tear in March, Hamilton home, the Waikato Chiefs face the throughout the season, the Chiefs have sud- Australia’s series win over France, scoring a but is now fully recovered and White saw no ultimate test of character in Canberra tomor- denly become miserly. Though hardly able to hat-trick of tries against Western Force last problem drafting him back into the side row against a Brumbies team desperate for get their hands on the ball in Auckland last week. despite his lack of game-time. “The one thing payback. Chiefs coach Dave Rennie noted the weekend, their heroic efforts on the last lines The winner will face either the high-flying about Lambie is that he seems to have that importance of being postseason hosts in his to deny the Blues a match-winning score New South Wales Waratahs or the Canterbury knack of coming back in important games team’s run to back-to-back championships, secured their ticket to the playoffs and gal- for a place in the final, depending and putting in a big performance,” White told and will experience it first hand at Canberra vanised the entire the team. “Definitely, if we on the result of Saturday’s later playoff reporters this week. Stadium where the Brumbies have not lost in defend well then things start to fall into place between the and the Otago The Highlanders have been bolstered by seven matches. for us and that’s definitely been the case over Highlanders in . the return of co-captain and All Blacks full- Neither team has reached the heights of the last two weeks,” co-captain Aaron Cruden The sole South African team in the play- back Ben Smith, who missed last week with a 2013, when they faced off in a final of test told New Zealand media before boarding a offs, ’s Sharks were beaten at leg infection, but must tighten up after mak- match intensity, with the Chiefs reeling in a plane to Canberra. home by the Highlanders in the regular sea- ing a hash of their set piece against the 10-point deficit in the last 15 minutes to leave The Chiefs were subject to a stinging 41- son, but the New Zealanders appear to have Crusaders last week. “You have to be at your their opponents heartbroken. No title is at 23 loss in their last journey to Canberra but All run out of petrol and head into the match absolute best when you play against the best stake in Saturday’s clash and the winner is Blacks flyhalf Cruden sat out the match with a after consecutive thrashings by the Waratahs teams in this competition and I’m not sure unlikely to be much more than cannon fod- broken hand. The head-to-head between and Crusaders. we’ve done that in the past two weeks,” der in the semi-finals against the form teams Cruden and his Brumbies counterpart Matt The Sharks may also be boosted by the Highlanders coach Jamie Joseph told New of the competition the following week. Toomua may prove decisive, and both the All availability of Springboks flyhalf Pat Lambie, Zealand media. “Any time we had a chance to That aside, the match is likely to be fierce, Blacks and Wallabies staff will watch the duel scrumhalf Cobus Reinach and prop Tendai build pressure we lost a lineout or had a bad pitting the Chiefs’ rapidly improved defence with interest. Mtawarira who have all shrugged off injuries. scrum.” —Reuters Griner blossoms in WNBA

PHOENIX: After a tough first season in the WNBA, Brittney Griner is blossoming into the player everyone thought she would be, all the while embracing her status as a role model for gay youth. “ We need more people in the LGBT commu- nity to step up and be role models,” she said. “I definitely take that on.” Last season, after a record-setting career at Baylor, Griner came out and wrote a candid memoir, “In My Skin,” that was critical of her college coach, Kim Mulkey. And she wasn’t dominating games the way people had projected. “The book wasn’t a distraction, really,” Griner said. “Just all the media from last year, being a rookie, was crazy.” After playing in China during the WNBA offseason, Griner returned to the Phoenix Mercury stronger and more confident. As teammate Diana Taurasi said, “She’s a totally different player.” “She’s gained her confidence back, her aggression,” Taurasi said, “her confidence on what she wants to do on the court, and obvi- ously defensively she’s a huge force.” Griner, marvelously fluid at 6-foot-8, had her second dunk of the season in a victory Tuesday, when Phoenix won its 11th in a row and improved to a league-leading 17-3 record. “She went to China and she really put the work in,” Mercury first-year coach Sandy Brondello said, “and she’s put the work in here every day we’ve been here. So it’s about getting physically strong and just understanding, ‘OK, these are the things I need to work on to be a force in this league.’” With Taurasi, Griner will represent the PHOENIX: In this June 3, 2014, file photo, Phoenix Mercury’s Brittney Griner (42) shouts in celebration after scoring Mercury in the WNBA All-Star game Saturday in Phoenix. She is averaging 15.2 points, up from against the Seattle Storm. —AP 12.6 as a rookie. She’s pulling down 8.2 rebounds. She also had 18 rebounds against lot of Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal), just that giving opens it up for everybody else.” Embracing her rebounds per game, up from 6.3. And, of San Antonio on June 7. back to everybody.” Brondello said Griner, at 23, role as a prominent gay athlete also has made a course, she excels in blocked shots. Her 77 “Just a year under my belt,” Griner said when is just developing as a player. “She’s young,” the difference, those around her say. blocks - in 21 games - this season are more than asked to explain her better play this season. “I coach said. “She’s playing against the best play- “I think it’s great because she’s comfortable six WNBA teams. was able to work on my game in the offseason. ers in the world. She’s got all these expecta- in her own skin,” Brondello said, “and she can The dunks get the most attention. She has That’s a big difference.” She took her skills tions, but she’s embracing it. She’s very coach- be a role model for so many people. The public four in 45 games. The rest of the WNBA has six coach, Dean Demopoulos, when she went to able. She’s a great young lady. She wants to be loves her. She gets so much attention but she’s in 3,990 games. Her first this season came July play for Zhejiang Golden Bulls. After experienc- the best, so she’s going to get better and bet- very giving of her time. That’s what I like. She’s a 29 in Los Angeles, a one-hander when she rose ing life and basketball far from home, Griner ter.” star but she doesn’t have the ego that goes far above the hoop from the baseline and returned stronger and more confident. It has helped greatly that she is surrounded with that.” slammed it down. Ann Myers Drysdale, one of the great players by the veteran talent of Taurasi, Penny Taylor, Griner likes what she sees as more and more At Tulsa on June 29, she blocked a WNBA- in women’s basketball history and currently DeWanna Bonner and Candice Dupree. states allow gay marriage. But she knows it’s far record 11 shots. She scored a career-high 28 Mercury vice president, said “there’s a sense of “It just helps with your game and takes a lot from a universal attitude. points June 20, also against Tulsa. The previous maturity” in Griner now. of pressure off too,” Myers Drysdale said. And “I love the way the country’s changing,” she game, June 16 against Minnesota, she scored “I think last year she tried to please every- Griner has helped the others. “If you’ve got a said. “But it’s still a big issue. A lot of states are 27 points and matched her career high of 18 body,” Myers Drysdale said. “She reminds me a big post player down low,” Brondello said, “it changing rules, but it’s still tough.” —AP