Dynamo end Rubin curse with 3-0 win
MOSCOW, Dec 1, (AFP): Dynamo Moscow clinched their first win over bogey side Rubin Kazan in six years on Saturday with a 3-0 victory in a match played behind closed doors.
Dynamo, who were handed a one-match stadium ban following crowd trouble against Zenit, had suffered 11 defeats and recorded two draws in their domestic league meetings with Rubin since November 2006.
Dynamo, without international striker Alexander Kokorin, who suffered a minor injury in the match with city rivals Spartak last week, took the lead in the 20th minute.
Midfielder Artur Yusupov scored with a close-range header after being set-up by Ivan Soloviev from a Balasz Dzsudzsak cross.
Dzsudzsak made it 2-0 just 10 minutes later when he received Soloviev’s pass at the edge of the area and dribbled in to fire the ball home from 12 metres.
German striker Kevin Kuranyi rounded off the scoring with a powerful 18-metre shot under the crossbar.
“Rubin Kazan are the most organised team in the Premiership,” said Dynamo boss Dan Petrescu.
“We worked very hard and it paid off. I was worried ahead of this game but we started well and managed to score twice before the break.”
Meanwhile, Terek Grozny jumped into fourth place even though they were held to a 1-1 draw by minnows Volga Nizhny Novgorod.
Terek, on 32 points from 18 matches, are five points behind reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg.
Zenit share second spot with Anzhi Makhachkala who take on the leaders CSKA Moscow on Sunday. CSKA are top with 40 points.
Terek opened the scoring after just seven minutes when their midfilder Oleg Ivanov fired into the net from close range on Fedor Kudryashov’s precise pass.
But Volga forward Shamil Asildarov levelled with a low shot in the 53rd minute from Alexander Salugin’s feeding pass.
Lokomotiv Moscow clinched a 1-0 win over Alania Vladikavkaz.
Valery Gazzaev was taking charge of Alania after replacing his son Vladimir at the helm earlier this week.
Maxim Grigoriev scored the only goal with a header from Nigerian teammate Victor Obinna’s corner in the 12th minute.
Lokomotiv remained seventh in the table but manager Slaven Bilic said he was confident in Samoa’s rugby players celebrate after winning the IRB Sevens World Series rugby union final match against New Zealand in
Dubai on Dec 1. (AFP) Paul Perez scored two tries Saturday to help Samoa beat New Zealand 26-15 to claim its first Dubai Sevens title, the second leg of the International Rugby Board’s Sevens World Series.
The 2010 champions jumped out to 12-0 and 19-5 leads before New Zealand scored just before halftime to make it 19-10. New Zealand’s Kurt Baker made it 19-15 just after halftime, but Samoa scored the last try.
Kenya beat France 15-12 in the playoff for third place.
Samoa beat Wales 19-7 in the quarterfinals before edging out France 12-5 following a late try. New Zealand, which finished the group stage undefeated, routed Portugal 28-7 in the last eight and Kenya 27-7 in the semifinals.
In the first final of the inaugural women’s series, New Zealand thrashed South Africa 41-0. (AP) his squad’s prospects.
“Our aim and desire is to finish as high as possible at the end of the championship,” he said. “And we will do it.”
England deservedly led 12-0 at halftime via the boot of Owen Farrell and, though the All Blacks closed to within a point with quickfire tries to Julian Savea and Keiran Read, the hosts roared back with tries by Brad Barritt, an inspired Manu Tuilagai and Chris Ashton.
New Zealand, perhaps suffering the effects of an illness bug that hit the camp this week, got another late Savea try but England, with only 206 caps in their starting XV to the 789 of their feted rivals, dominated to the whistle to end coach Stuart Lancaster’s first year in charge on an unexpected high.
It was a result nobody saw coming after the contrasting fortunes of the two teams in their previous outings over the last three weeks. But from the moment the Haka was drowned out by a rousing rendition of “Sweet Chariot” New Zealand knew they were not going to have things all their own way and the England players certainly played their part in taking it to them.
Strong in the scrum, massively aggressive at the breakdown and tackle and determined in their running lines, they never allowed the All Blacks a moment to breathe.
The world champions barely threatened England’s line in the first half and even Dan Carter, who has known only unending personal and team success against the men in white in nine previous victories, was off key as he missed two penalties he would normally have gobbled up and screwed one clearance horribly.
This week’s listing of Farrell alongside Carter on the shortlist as world player of the year was greeted with incredulity in the rugby world but it was the youngster who cannot even command the flyhalf starting berth at his own club who looked the most accomplished number 10 on duty on Saturday.
Farrell slotted all three of his penalty attempts, including one just shy of halfway after 40 minutes, and clipped over a drop goal as England reached halftime in A relative dream world.
New Zealand had never been close to being tested in their three previous tour wins over Scotland, Italy and Wales and coach Steve Hansen would have earned his money in the changing rooms as his players came to terms with the unaccustomed situation having not reached halftime pointless since losing to South Africa in Wellington in 1998.
Another Farrell penalty straight after the restart made it 15-0 but the visitors hit back quickly and devastatingly with two tries in three minutes.
Powerful left wing Savea showed great strength to touch down his 11th try in nine matches before more highspeed passing opened a huge hole for number eight Read. Carter also redis- covered his touch by converting both from wide on the left.
England did not buckle, though, and scored the sort of try the Twickenham fans have been crying out for so long as Barritt burst clear and exchanged passes with fellow centre Tuilagi before squeezing in.
Two minutes later Tuilagi blasted through three tackles and brilliantly delayed his pass to Ashton who showed all the frustration of 11 games without a try to dive spectacularly over the line.
New Zealand did not know what had hit them, missed tackle after tack- le and when Tuilagai intercepted again to score another try England’s lead of 32-14 was their highest score ever against the All Blacks.
Lancaster could even afford the luxury of bringing on Freddie Burns for his debut at flyhalf, and he slotted two penalties to leave the shell-shocked All Blacks staring at potentially their worst defeat, surpassing the 28-7 loss to Australia 13 years ago.
Savea added his second try to limit the damage but it was little consolation as England who easily surpassed their record win in the fixture, a 13-0 success in 1936.
The All Blacks go into Monday’s draw for the 2015 World Cup still favourites to retain their title back at Twickenham in three years’ time but England, down amongst the second tier of seeds, will look ahead with a totally different mindset.
Meanwhile, Kurtley Beale scored a last-minute try to clinch a 14-12 win for Australia over Wales at Millennium Stadium on Saturday, condemning the Six Nations champions to a seventh straight defeat.
The Wallaby flyhalf grabbed the only try of a tense test with about 20 seconds remaining, ensuring the beleaguered Welsh will drop humiliatingly into the third band of seeded teams for Monday’s pool draw for the 2015 World Cup.
The hosts appeared to be on their way to a first win over a southern hemisphere power in 16 attempts when fullback Leigh Halfpenny kicked his fourth penalty of the game, in the 61st minute, to put Wales 12-9 up but they couldn’t keep Australia at bay.