1. sports
RUGBY
Bangladesh’s Siddikur Rahman put
himself in prime position for a third
Asian Tour victory, after signing for a
third-round three-under 69 to lead by
one shot at the AfrAsia Bank Mauritius
Open yesterday.
Starting the round four shots off
the pace, Siddikur fired four birdies
against a lone bogey to lead on seven-
under 209, while Korea’s Wang Jeung
Hun lurked in second place following
a 71 at the Four Seasons Golf Club
Mauritius at Anahita.
Overnight leader Andrew dodt
of Australia endured a disappointing
77 to slip to third place with Belgian
Nicolas Colsaerts (73) on 213 at the €1
million ($1.55m) event, tri-sanctioned
Siddikur
takes over
lead at
Mauritius
Open
by the Asian, European and Sunshine
Tours.
Eight-time Asian Tour winner
Scott Hend of Australia posted a 69
to move into fifth place on 215, while
South African Brandon Stone settled
a further shot back in sixth after
returning with the day’s best score of
68, reported asiantour.com.
LEADERBOARD
209: Siddikur Rahman
68-72-69 210: Wang
Jeung Hun 69-70-71 213:
Nicolas Colsaerts 75-65-73,
Andrew dodt 66-70-77
215: Scott Hend 72-74-69
Selected: 227: Mardan
Mamat 72-76-79.
SUNWOLVES 17
STORMERS 17
Report by AQIL HAZIQ MAHMUD
haziqm@sph.com.sg
They were widely expected
to be easy prey, but Super
Rugby rookie side Hito-Com
Sunwolves turned into the
hunters in their final “home”
game at the National Stadium
yesterday.
With less than a minute to go, the Jap-
anese outfit were leading conference
leaders the DHL Stormers 17-10.
But they were denied by an 80th-
minute try-and-conversion by Storm-
ers substitutes Vincent Koch and
Brandon Thomson respectively.
In the end, the Sunwolves had to
settle for a 17-17 stalemate with the
South African side, even though they
were in the driver’s seat to register
only their second win of the season.
This is not the first time that the
hosts have been pegged back — they
let an 18-point lead slip before losing
32-31 to the Cheetahs at the National
‘WE
WERE
THE
BETTER
TEAM’
NO WAY
THROUGH:
Stormers
lock Pieter-
Steph Du Toit
(with the ball)
trying to find a
breakthrough as
the Sunwolves
stand firm in
defence. TNP
PHOTO: PHyLLICIA
WANG
Stadium two months ago.
Sunwolves coach Mark Hammett
admitted that it was disappointing
not to close out the game.
“It’s certainly frustrating as we
were having the ball close to full-time
but, if we stopped the game at the
79th-minute mark, we would have
been hugely proud of the effort,” he
said.
“I’ve said before that defence takes
time to put into place, and we’re at
a stage now where we’ve been able
to add dynamics around the double
tackle and the urgency to get out.
“I thought we were the better team,
but take nothing away from their per-
formance — we know that this compe-
tition is bloody tough.”
The Stormers signalled their intent
early on through a third-minute Jean-
Luc Du Plessis penalty, but the Sun-
wolves levelled the score with a pen-
alty of their own two minutes later.
Hammett’s men then thrilled the
home crowd when they took the lead
with a try in the 11th minute.
A hopeful punt upfield was not
dealt with by the Stormers, allowing
Sunwolves winger Akihito Yamada to
pounce on the ball before releasing a
pass to an onrushing teammate.
The visitors managed to plug the
leak deep in their own half, but the
Sunwolves regained possession and
Yamada — the league’s leading try-
scorer — squeezed the ball over the
line to open up a five-point lead.
COMEBACk
Although teammate Tusi Pisi failed
to convert the try, the Samoan flyhalf
scored two penalties before the break
as the hosts took a 14-3 half-time lead.
Not long after the restart, Yamada
seemed to have piled on the misery
for the visitors by grabbing his ninth
try of the season.
But having awarded the try, refer-
ee Paul Williams overturned his deci-
sion after ruling that the Japanese had
played the ball on the ground, amid
loud boos from the home crowd.
Coach Hammett rues letting lead slip
as Sunwolves put on brave display
Boosted by the call, the Stormers
started their comeback in the 59th
minute when a Pieter-Steph Du Toit
try and Du Plessis’ conversion closed
the gap to 17-10.
There was further heartbreak for
the Sunwolves with less than a min-
ute to go, as Koch and Thomson lev-
elled the score to prevent an upset.
Stormers coach Robbie Fleck said:
“We certainly don’t deserve the two
points. Our execution was poor and
some tough words were said at half-
time, but we showed a lot of charac-
ter to come back.
“Credit to the Sunwolves. I thought
they played really well. They had a lot
of energy, put in a lot of attitude in
the tackle and put us on a lot of pres-
sure with their line speed.”
The Stormers still lead the South
African group with 31 points after 10
games, while the Sunwolves remain
seventh with nine points.
18 May 15 2016 THE NEW PAPER ON SUNDAY