| |
Waikato beats Wellington in Super 12
Posted: Friday April 16, 1999 12:29 PM
NEW PLYMOUTH, New Zealand (AP) -- Waikato ended the Wellington Hurricanes' faint Super 12 rugby union semifinal hopes with a 24-21 win Friday at Rugby Park. The Hurricanes led 15-0 after 15 minutes, but the Chiefs fought back to trail 18-11 at halftime before a second-half try to All Black winger Jonah Lomu put the Chiefs on their way. The Chiefs, who managed their first win of the competition last weekend against the ACT Brumbies, dominated the second half due to the ball-winning capacity of its forward pack. Tries to No. 8 Filo Tiatia and winger Glen Osborne gave the Hurricanes the early edge. Tiatia opened the scoring in the seventh mnute when he detached from a rolling maul near the tryline. Standoff Mal Arnold then landed an easy penalty goal before the Hurricanes made the Chiefs pay while lock Paul Tito cooled his heels in the sinbin for 10 minutes for overzealous play. Osborne finished a fine move initiated by Arnold on the blind side before he in-passed to wing Tana Umaga who handed on to Osborne. Arnold landed the conversion and, with the breeze behind them, the Hurricanes were ideally placed to settle the outcome before halftime. However, a heavy downpour helped neither team as a slippery ball led to numerous handling errors. Waikato flanker Dylan Mika trimmed the deficit in the 18th minute when he crashed over the tryline from a maul and Glen Jackson and Arnold traded penalties before the interval. The Chiefs hit the lead for the first time 13 minutes into the second half after Jackson landed his third penalty and then converted Lomu's try. Lomu dotted down under the crossbar after joining the backline outside Jackson, who juggled the ball before tapping it into Lomu's arms. Scorers: WAIKATO 24 (Dylan Mika, Jonah Lomu tries; Glen Jackson 4 penalty goals, conversion) def. WELLINGTON 21 (Filo Tiatia, Glen Osborne tries; Mal Arnold 3 penalty goals, conversion).
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 1999 CNN/SI. A Time Warner Company. Terms under which this service is provided to you.
| |||||||||||||||||||||
