Tall Blacks pip Lebanon
The Tall Blacks could hardly make a bucket all night, but in the end it mattered not as they scrambled to a seventh straight World Cup qualifying victory in Rotorua last night on the back of a standout defensive effort.
It was not pretty. In fact it was downright ugly. But all that mattered to coach Paul Henare was his side managed to grind out a 63-60 victory over previous group co-leaders Lebanon to take a further stride towards one of the top qualifying spots out of Asia for next year’s World Cup in China.
The New Zealand men, now 7-1, have taken a firm grip on top spot in Group E of the second stage of qualifying, with Lebanon slipping to 6-2.
On the back of a massive travel toll undertaken by both sides who played games in the Middle East last Friday, this was never going to be a free-flowing or high-quality affair. But in the end it was the Tall Blacks who made the clutch free-throws down the stretch and the visitors who came up short against some outstanding home defence with the game on the line.
The New Zealanders trailed for most of the final period, but got back to within a point (59-60) just inside the final minute on a Rob Loe layin, and then iced the contest when Shea Ili made two clutch free-throws with 20 seconds left, and Reuben Te Rangi did likewise with not much more than 5 seconds on the clock.
Ili led the Tall Blacks in scoring with 14 points, including those two clutch free-throws late that heaped all the pressure back on the visitors. He was a relatively red-hot 5 of 11 from the floor and added three boards and a pair of assists.
Tai Webster added 13 points on 4-of-17 shooting to go with seven rebounds and four assists, while brother Corey went 4 of 12 from the floor for his 11 points.
The other major contributions came from Isaac Fotu’s 10 points (3/8 FG) and seven rebounds and nine points and 11 rebounds from Rob Loe.
The Tall Blacks shot just 28 per cent from the floor for the game (21 of 76) but had 25 offensive boards (to 8) in a 56-43 overall rebounding advantage. That, and their lock-down defence, won them this close tussle. It started with a sledge. But how did it end up like this?
The news Wallabies backrower Lukhan Tui is ‘‘unlikely’’ to travel with the team to South Africa and Argentina in coming weeks is a sad post-script to an incident involving a fan that could have been avoided.
Just days after Tui’s passed away, the highly rated forward is weighing up the possibility of taking a break from the game until the end of the year – something no-one in Australian rugby wants to see.
Criticism and this Wallabies team are almost synonymous. However, one fan’s vitriol overstepped the mark.
It began with Australian reserve Jack Maddocks. A man, wearing a Wallabies jersey, started hurling abuse out of nowhere at the 21-year-old. Maddocks is an unflappable young lad and knew it would be wiser to ignore the abuse. However, for three to four minutes the man, described by someone nearby as ‘‘a complete knob’’, kept going.
‘‘You’re all f .... ing useless,’’ he yelled. ‘‘F .... ing disgraceful. Why don’t you play with some heart? You should all be f...ing ashamed.’’
For a fan to display this kind of anger goes to show how much recent Wallabies’ form hurts some of those who love the game. stepfather