Dowling's Frantic Finish Falls Short in Open Final
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62 SPORT SUNDAY MAY 13 2018 Crusaders snatch victory DARREN WALTON bring an end to their promising Champions produce miracle recovery to shatter Tahs start, before Taqele Naiyara- THE Crusaders have pro- voro intercepted Tim Bate- duced the biggest comeback in The Crusaders’ epic escape front — to leave Australia’s match. The Waratahs had ar- After being under the pump man’s probing long ball and Super Rugby history to con- also extended New Zealand conference leaders having to rived across the Tasman on early, Waratahs winger Cam raced 40 metres to give the vis- sign the NSW Waratahs to a teams’ winning streak over settle for a bonus point for Friday to a protester confront- Clark bagged the first try after itors a shock 15-0 lead. “The heartbreaking 31-29 loss to the Australian opposition to 39 their gallant effort. ing Israel Folau for his contro- a superb counter-attack Waratahs are here to play,” table-topping defending matches since the Waratahs Ultimately, the Waratahs versial online posts about sparked by Foley. noted Crusaders coach Scott champions. beat the Chiefs in Sydney in paid the price for their ill-disci- homosexuality. But it clearly Using an effective driving Robertson during mid-match The Waratahs led 29-0 after May of 2016. pline with yellow cards for didn’t rattle the superstar full- maul and bustling the Crusad- commentary. as many minutes at AMI Stadi- Waratahs five-eighth Ber- halfback Nick Phipps and back as he delivered a blinding ers into errors, the Waratahs The champions finally hit um, only to concede five un- nard Foley had the chance to winger Taqele Naiyaravoro ei- first-half display that silenced continued to pressure the the front in the 68th minute answered tries to fall painfully snatch victory late but missed a ther side of halftime leaving the shellshocked home crowd champions. with a penalty try following re- short in their bid to end a 14- second long-range penalty at- the visitors a man down for 20 until the Crusaders began to Foley’s failure to find touch peated NSW scrum infringe- year Christchurch drought. tempt from 40m out — but in minutes of the dramatic mount their incredible revival. from a penalty threatened to ments on their own line. Reds fall as first Tokyo victims THE pumped-up Sunwolves have won their first Super Rugby match of the season and delivered a huge blow to the Queensland Reds with a 63-28 hammering in Tokyo. Kiwi-born five-eighth Hay- den Parker did much of the damage for the Sunwolves, scoring 24 of their 29 first-half points at Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium, but the Reds did themselves no favours. Through lazy play, they handed sharp-shooter Parker five opportunities to kick pen- alty goals in the opening 40 minutes and he finished with a team record personal tally of 36 points including 12 goals from 12 attempts. Sunwolves winger Hosea Saumaki had a hat-trick of tries. After upsetting South Afri- can heavyweights the Lions in their last match, the Reds fan- cied their chances but became the first Australian team to lose to the Sunwolves. Sitting third in the Austra- lian conference, the loss meant Rhys Dowling in action during NT Open Men's Squash Final at the Darwin Squash Centre. Inset left, Dowling (runner-up, left) and Tsz Kwan Lau (winner, right) and, inset they blew a golden chance to right, Chritine Nunn (winner, left) and Rachael Grinham (runner-up, right) during presentations of the NT Open Finals Picture: FELICITY ELLIOTT make up ground on the NSW Waratahs and Melbourne Rebels. While Parker opened with a penalty in the first min- Dowling’s frantic finish falls short in Open final ute of the game, the Reds scored the first try with as- piring Wallaby hooker Bran- JACK HISLOP but Dowling won seven of the ible predicament in the third going and made him make the out, which was what I should don Paenga-Amosa planting next eight balls to take it to a game, he was disappointed not mistakes to take it into the fifth have done in the first two the ball at the back of their roll- RHYS Dowling fell just short of fourth. to then go on with it. game, but I tried to finish it too games,” Dowling said. ing maul. claiming the NT Open yester- The Territorian survived “I definitely thought I had early and he capitalised on it.” “It just happened a little bit Halfback Ben Lucas darted day, going down to third seed another four match balls in the momentum going into the On reflection, the world too late, but that’s how squash from the back of a maul to Tsz Kwan Lau 11-6, 11-7, 11-13, what turned into a marathon fourth game. I had him think- number 96 said he would have works.” plant the ball across the line in 17-15 despite doggedly saving final game, but the Hong Kong ing that maybe he’d messed it played the match differently if In the women’s final, Chris- the 21st minute and Reds were eight match balls in the final. national came out on top, after up,” the 23-year-old second he had his time over. tine Nunn was able to upset out to 14-9 lead. The contest seemed a for- saving two game balls himself. seed said. “I could definitely see the the first seed and former world But penalties kept the home gone conclusion when Lau Dowling said after having “I’m kicking myself about it. finishing line for him (in the No.1 Rachel Grinham 11-9, 11-8, side in touch before lock Grant went 10-6 up in the third game, come back from a near imposs- I should have just kept the rally third game) but I just grinded it 6-11, 11-4. Hattingh scored with an obvi- ous forward pass. Three minutes later, Parker crossed after a superb team try. Holden legend Lowndes reveals decision to end race career The Reds tried to rally in the second half with their re- JAMES PHELPS since Peter Brock and an un- when asked about the prospect achieve a number like that. But Debuting with the Holden serves lifting the tempo. disputed legend of the sport, of extending his race start re- hopefully I get this year and Racing Team as a full-time However, any small chance THE chequered flag will drop Lowndes, 43, declared he cord to 700. next year (as a full-time driver) driver in 1996 when he was 22, of a comeback was snuffed out on one of Australia’s greatest would become solely an endur- “I didn’t think I would have and then we might get to 700.’’ Lowndes will end his cham- in the 69th minute when the motor racing careers at the end ance round driver in 2020 in a had a career as long as this,’’ The three-time champion pionship career on 698 races. Sunwolves were awarded a of next year, with Craig Lown- move that will mark the end of said Lowndes, whose contract will next week become the first Set to continue as an endur- penalty try and Duncan des revealing he will retire as a a V8 era. with Triple Eight Race Engin- driver to reach 650 race starts ance only driver, Lowndes is Paia’aua yellow-carded for a full-time driver. The Holden immortal re- eering expires in 2019. when he races at the Winton likely to rack up his 700th race high tackle as he tried to bring The most popular driver vealed his retirement plan “And I didn’t ever think I’d SuperSprint in Victoria. start at Bathurst in 2020. down Jason Emery. NTNE01Z01MA - V1.