WEEKLY SPORTS DIGEST: Black Ferns, Wallabies rule

WEEKLY SPORTS DIGEST: Black Ferns rule, Wallabies prevail

06/09/10 Executive sport summary – An overview of the major sporting events – Results, key moments and talking points – Everything you need to know to foot it at the water cooler this week.

By Jonathan McKeown

BLACK FERNS: New Zealand beat England 13-10 in the final to win the women's rugby World Cup for the fourth time. Possibly our most successful sports-team had to survive three yellow-cards and a strong England side boosted by 13,253 home fans in London.

The Black Ferns have just made picking the team category winner at the Halberg Awards that much more difficult. The All Whites, Tall Blacks and All Blacks among others should be concerned. In the play-off for third Australia beat France 22-8

TRI NATIONS: An ecstatic Wallabies side are returning home after beating South Africa 41-39 in a thrilling match at Bloemfontein. For the second week running Australia made a strong start scoring four tries to led 31-13 at half-time. But the Springboks threatened to steal the game for a second week when they came back to lead 39-38 with two minutes left. The Boks tried to close out the game, but when running down the clock ruck-by-ruck they were penalised.

Kurtley Beale then landed the long-range penalty to win in the last-minute.
This was Australia's first win on the high veldt in 47 years and in doing so clinched the Mandela Plate 2-1. With only one victory South Africa claimed the Tri-Nations wooden spoon. The Wallabies will have a short turnaround before facing a rested All Blacks side in Sydney.

PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIP: The sixth round of the ITM Cup produced some stunning results and great moments. One of the most anticipated moments was realised on Friday as Sonny-Bill Williams made his debut.

It was a toilsome game as Canterbury beat Bay of Plenty 28-9, and the SBW factor was defiantly the highlight. Besides being far too big for his red and black jersey being too small for his hulking frame it is easy to picture the pure athlete in an All Black strip come November.

RUGBY LEAGUE: The Warriors finished the regular NRL season in style with a convincing 26-12 win over the Parramatta Eels. A loss was not the way retiring Parramatta and Kiwis skipper Nathan Cayless wanted to end his career. But the highly respected forward did score the last try of the night.

The Warriors will face the Gold Coast Titans in week one of the finals. Although they have lost twice to the Titans this year, Ivan Cleary will have a confident team on the back of some strong performances in the past two weeks.

NETBALL: The Australian Diamonds have defeated the New Zealand Silver Ferns 46-40 in Auckland. In a tight match the scores were locked 22-all at half-time and the two netball giants traded goals in the third quarter. The Silver Ferns struggled to penetrate strong Australian defence in the final quarter as the Diamonds pulled away.

Australia won the series 2-1 and with it the new Constellation Cup which will be contested every two years. The next meeting between the trans-Tasman rivals is likely to be the Commonwealth Games final in Delhi.

MOTOGP: Dani Pedrosa has recorded successive for the first time by winning the San Marino MotoGP. The 24-year-old started led from pole to beat Jorge Lorenzo (2nd) and Valentino Rossi (3rd). Pedrosa's victory closes the gap on Lorenzo in the race for the title with six races left in the season.

TENNIS: It has been and action packed first week at the US Open from Flushing Meadows, New York. Extreme heat and winds have made play difficult, but there has been some wonderful tennis with most of the top-seeds performing.
Roger Federer mastered the strong winds to reach the fourth round with ease. Andy Murray beat the curious and unconventional style of Jamaican Dustin Brown. Rafael Nadal defeated Denis Istomin over three tough sets 6-2, 7-6, 7-5. And, Caroline Wozniacki will meet Maria Sharapova in a titillating fourth round clash.

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