Sports shorts
Highlanders too good for French
A Highlanders side minus its biggest names proved too good for the French Barbarians last night, winning 29-10 in Invercargill. The French took the lead with an early penalty but didn’t score again until Hugo Bonneval dived over in the corner in the 82nd minute. In between, the hosts scored five tries, the first by James Lentjes for a 5-3 lead at the break after a forgettable first half. The Highlanders produced a more enterprising second half, clearing away with tries to Josh McKay, Lima Sopoaga, Greg Pleasants-Tate and Rob Thompson.
Schmidt looks to future
Joe Schmidt says he is likely to wait until the end of the year before deciding whether to stay as Ireland coach beyond the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan. He has raised the Six Nations champions to the No 2 world ranking, behind only New Zealand, heading into tonight’s third and deciding test against Australia in Sydney. “By the end of this year, I would say there will be some fair direction there because for the entire following year I’m still in situ, unless I get sacked,” Schmidt said yesterday. “You can be flavour of the month one week, and things can turn around very quickly, so I take nothing for granted.”
Saints streak snapped
The Wellington Saints’ 10 game winning streak is over in the National Basketball League. The Saints were dominated by the Southland Sharks, losing 98-86 in a rematch of last year’s final. The Sharks led by 23 at one stage and held off a brief Saints flurry to move to 8-3 for the season, while the Saints drop to 10-2.
England near ODI sweep
England are one win away from a 5-0 ODI series sweep of Australia after another comfortable cricket victory with 32 balls to spare. The top-ranked hosts beat Australia by six wickets in the fourth ODI at Riverside Ground to take a 4-0 lead. England reached
314-4 in 44.4 overs in reply to 310-8 for Australia, who batted first. Jason Roy (101 off 83 balls), Jonny Bairstow (79 off 66) and Jos Buttler (54 not out off
29) led the charge for England. Shaun Marsh (101) and Aaron Finch (100) topscored for Australia, who ended their innings badly. David Willey took 4-43 off seven overs. He took the last four wickets, including three in one over, as Australia stumbled from 296-4 at the start of the 48th over to 310 all out.
Spieth and Johnson lead
Jordan Spieth has no idea what it is like to play from behind at the Travelers Championship. The defending champion led after every round last year and shot a 7-under 63 yesterday to match Zach Johnson for the first-round lead. Spieth had six birdies and an eagle out the bunker on par-5 sixth hole. Johnson led for most of the day. He had eight birdies, including six straight on the back nine, one off the course record. Rory McIlroy missed a 13-foot putt for par on the final hole that would have given him a share of the lead and finished in a three-way tie for third.