My Sporting Weekend 8-10th April 2011:
Warm-Up's:
Super League (Rugby League):
Huddersfield Giants V Warrington Wolves, This was the battle between the top two teams and I turned on after 10 minutes with the score already 6 all and with Huddersfield having a sustained period of pressure against the Wolves. The Giants then put on 2 trys with Larne Patrick scoring after Danny Brough forced Brett Hodgson to concede a drop-out, and Luke Robinson got through 3 players to score from dummy half. The Wolves then ended the half with a well worked move from a penalty and Hodgson going over for his second try of the game to get the Wolves back into the game with a score of 18-10 to the Giants. Huddersfield had a good first half, having a lot of the possession, but the Wolves showed in flashes their ability and as the Giants tired during the last 5 minutes they then had their own sustained pressure on the Giants goal-line, before scoring.
The Giants took control of the scoring in the second half with Brough getting 2 penalty's and a drop-goal, before winger Jermaine McGillvary got the final try of the game scoring out wide on the right, and Brough converted to extend the Giants lead even further, and give them a 29-10 win.
Warrington had some better possession during the second half, but they didn't create anything that would lead to a try, they were missing play-maker Lee Briers, but all this affected was their kicking game with no one really taking control, and, as the other Wolves players kept making uncharacteristic mistakes Huddersfield took control of the situation and won the game.
Hull KR V Leeds Rhinos, Leeds made a good start with Lee Smith scoring on 4 minutes, after a quick play of the ball on the left hand side they moved the ball right and KR's sliding defence couldn't keep up. And they got another easy try 10 minutes later when Kallum Watkins got on the end of a Kevin Sinfield chip and touched down unchallenged. After a bad pass from Keith Senior that Watkins fumbled, Mick Vella picked up the loose ball and went over to get KR back in the game on 19 minutes, and 2 minutes later a dummy from Blake Green gave him a good break and after quick play of the ball and a nice cut out pass, Kris Whelam went over, and KR took the lead after scoring the conversion. KR then extended their lead even further with 2 more try's, first Matt Cook scored after forcing a Leeds goal line drop-out and then Scott Murrell went over after what looked like a forward pass from Cockayne, for KR to go in at half time with a 24-10 lead.
Leeds had a good start to the game and Hull looked pretty poor, but after the mistake from Keith Senior the tables turned and KR took control of the game and the Rhinos players made some simple errors and got caught out of position which gave KR the chance to put points on the board.
KR then got the first score of the second half with Liam Colbon going over after 2 minutes. Ryan Hall scored out on the left wing to give the Rhinos a glimmer of hope with 30 minutes remaining, but Sam Latus went over on in the left corner, after what looked like another forward pass, to restore a 16 point lead for KR, with 20 minutes to go. Leeds replied 5 minutes later with Paul McShane scoring, and Ben Galea got KR's last try of the game on 75 minutes, Watkins then got his 2nd score of the game with a brilliant solo try to get a consolation for Leeds, after breaking through 2 tacklers he chipped forward before re-gathering under the posts and touching down.
The game finished with a score of 38-28 and Hull KR truly deserved the win after fighting back during the first half, but they seemed to switch off a bit at times in the second half, giving Leeds a slight chance but they couldn't take advantage as they kept giving away silly penalty's or keep any sustained pressure on KR.
La Liga (Football):
Barcelona V CD Almeria, During the first half Barcelona seemed to be having a bit of a off night and were finding it hard to keep the ball for long spells, and Almeria pushed forward and created some pressure, forcing consecutive corners, but they only had 1 shot during the first half.
5 minutes into the second half Almeria got the opening goal, after a quick counter-attack left a two-on-one against defender Gabriel Milito, Pablo Piatti crossed and Miguel Corona slotted past reserve keeper Jose Pinto. Within 3 minutes Barcelona were back level after Messi ended his goal drought with a penalty, Milito had played a long ball forward into the box and as David Villa was about to control Almeria keeper Diego Alves brought him down. Barcelona then immediately changed tactics, bringing on striker Pedro for Milito, leaving Pique as the only real defender and as they pushed forward they created more chances and Almeria hardly had a touch outside of their own half. Barcelona eventually got their second goal on 66 minutes after Thiago Alcantara headed in from a Messi corner, and within 5 minutes Barcelona changed their tactics again with Thiago coming off and Seydou Keita coming on in defence. Barcelona continued to dominate the game and created a few more chances and in injury time Messi got his second goal after controlling a long ball, taking it round a player on the edge of the box and shooting past the Almeria keeper. Oddly enough Barcelona's three goals came from situations that they don't normally score from, a header off a corner, and 2 long balls forward, the first ending with a penalty and the second the final goal.
Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix (Formula 1):
The Red Bull's had a mixed day with both cars having issues with their KERS system going down, with Mark Webber being the most affected, and after a poor start he dropped down to 9th but fought back to eventually finish in 4th. But Sebastian Vettel had an easy victory, after starting on pole he had a good start and then led until the end, apart from pit-stops, and when it looked like Lewis Hamilton was catching him in the middle of the race he just kicked on again and increased the gap.
McLaren's Jenson Button had a pretty solid race finishing in 2nd after team mate Hamilton had trouble in the pits and Hamilton's day got worse when, with about 10 laps to go it looked like he was losing speed and then Fernando Alonso clipped his right rear tyre and he started to drop down the grid and eventually finished in 7th.
The Renaults had a good start with Nick Heidfeld getting up to 2nd, from 6th, and Vitaly Petrov 5th, from 8th, after the first corner and Heidfeld eventually finished 3rd, but Petrov 's day didn't end as well when, with 4 laps to go he went wide round a corner and came off the track, and as he tried to get back on the track he went over a storm drain, sending his car airborne, and breaking his steering column on landing, ending his race.
Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi had an eventful race challenging any driver who came near him to a duel, providing viewers with some exciting overtaking maneuvers, and he finished 8th.
Their was more overtaking this week, with the DRS system coming into play on the pit straight, and the KERS system also helped, but I think that there is too many restrictions on the DRS system and if it was more widely available I would think that their would be more overtaking.
After the race was completed both Alonso and Hamilton were given 20 second penalty's, with Hamilton receiving his for making more than one change of direction while defending his position against Alonso, and Alonso's was for causing a preventable collision.
Heineken Cup Quarter Final (Rugby Union):
Northampton Saints V Ulster Rugby, This match had to be played in Milton Keynes, at stadium:mk, due to Northampton's Franking Gardens not meeting capacity requirements set by the ERC. But the game was a sellout with both sets of fans travelling well and Ulster bring over around 3,000 supporters. Northampton had a fantastic start with Soane Tonga'uiha scoring on 2 minutes, after Ulster left a big gap in their defence Tonga'uiha charged through and Ulster couldn't stop him as he rolling over. Ulster responded 4 minutes later with Ian Humphreys scoring a penalty from 10 meters inside the Saints half and he got another one on 15 minutes. The game was then pretty even and Ulster got the next score on 33 minutes, after Stephen Myler missed a penalty for Northampton, with Andrew Trimble going over after receiving a short pass from Rory Best that opened up a gap in the Saints's defence. Just before half-time Ulster's Humphreys had a knock-on that forced team-mate Simon Danielli into making a try saving tackle on Myler who couldn't take advantage of the situation. But after gaining a penalty from the resulting scrum Northampton came away with 3 points to finish the half trailing 10-13. The first half passed pretty quick, with both teams playing some open, flowing, rugby that didn't get bogged down by long delays at scrum time or excessive kicking.
Myler drew Northampton level 8 minutes into the second half after slotting away a penalty, won after an Ulster player was caught going off his feet at the ruck. Northampton then look the lead again, after a quick throw in, and a brilliant move down the left wing, involving Ben Foden and Chris Ashton, led to Lee Dixon going over for the Saints's second try on 55 minutes. Soon after, after taking a quick penalty Ulster looked like they would score a sure try, after moving the ball out wide, but Adam D'arcy fumbled, giving possession back to the Saints. Myler then scored his 3rd penalty on 65 minutes to extend the Saints lead to 10 points and 3 minutes later he had a chance to score another, but missed. For the final 10 minutes Ulster had most of the possession, but nothing really came of it, and after winning a line-out with a minute to go Northampton drove forward to play out the game, and set themselves up a semi-final, back in Milton Keynes, against USA Perpignan. Ulster were pretty poor in the second half, not being able to have any extended periods of possession, or scoring a single point and Northampton truly deserve the win.
Barclays Premier League (Football):
Aston Villa V Newcastle United, Villa had the lead at half-time after James Collins headed in off an in-swinging free kick from Ashley Young, but possession was about equal with Villa making the better use of the ball and creating the most chances, with both Darren Bent and Richard Dunne missing with headers. Near the end of the half, after a through ball from Jean Makoun, Bent was adjudged to be offside after slotting the ball past Newcastle keeper Steve Harper, but it was pretty tight and he was probably onside.
During the 2nd half Villa created the most chances again, but never looked liked scoring, with Bent never getting in the game, and the service from the wings diminished. For the last 10 minutes of the game Villa looked a bit shaky as they allowed Newcastle to come on to them and have more possession but they only had 2 chances on target, with Peter Lovenkrands finding keeper Brad Friedel on both occasions.
Throughout the game Villa looked to get the ball out wide and work off Ashley Young and Stuart Downing's crosses and this worked in the 1st half but in the 2nd half they were less involved, and recent signing, center midfielder, Makoun didn't seem to work hard enough to get involved in the game and Villa's outlet then became Gabriel Agbonlahor who also didn't make much of an impact on the game. Newcastle were pretty poor, not being able to keep possession long enough to create chances in the 2nd half.
Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama (Indy Car):
The race started with most of the cars getting cleanly through the first 2 turns, but after banging wheels with J.R. Hildebrand, Raphael Matos spun off causing a full course caution on the first lap, but he got it going again and carried on. Tony Kanaan had a great start and picked up 10 places before the caution. On lap 36 Alex Tagliani got loose and spun out with no one around him, and got stuck in the sand trap, to cause the 2nd full course caution. The race restarted on lap 41 and as they went into turn 6 the field bunched up and got 3 wide with EJ Viso and Simona de Silvestro coming together ending Viso's race as well as rookie James Hinchcliffe who got caught up in the accident, causing the 3rd full course caution of the day. They restarted again on lap 46 but could not complete a full lap under green after Mike Conway got spun out by Danica Patrick and hit the fence ending his day. On lap 58 Ryan Hunter-Reay went up the inside of Ryan Briscoe and hit the curb which fired him back across the track, taking out Briscoe in the process, and causing another full course caution. Everybody pitted under the caution, with Patrick making up 3 spots after not taking tyres, but after they restarted, on lap 63, she lost 3 places before Justin Wilson and Matos got together, ending their days, causing another full course caution. Brit Wilson was racing with a damaged left wrist and on lap 45 he had to switch braces after breaking the first one and was probably glad to get home for some recovery time before next weeks race in Long Beach. The race restarted on lap 70 and ran under green flag until the end, Patrick dropped back further down the field, due to her old tyres, and eventually finished in 17th, 1 lap down. Will Power had a good day leading from start to finish and doing a good job on the double-file restarts to keep the lead for all of the race, this sent him to the top of the leader board with Dario Franchitti trailing him by 7 points. Simon Pagenaud had a good race on his IndyCar debut, filling in for Ana Beatriz who has a broken wrist, finishing in 8th place and keeping out of trouble. Brit James Jakes had to retire on lap 30 after an oil pressure issue caused a fire in his car. The race didn't feature too much overtaking but the double-file restarts led to some exciting racing.
Main Event:
DLF Indian Premier League (Twenty20 Cricket):
Deccan Chargers V Rajasthan Royals, A controversial winter has passed for the Royals, after initially being excluded by the BCCI due to ownership issues, they were reinstated, but faced a $2 million salary cap reduction when entering the player auction. But they did retain captain and main-man Shane Warne, as well as fellow Aussie Shane Watson and in the auction they captured Indian veteran Rahul Dravid, as well as current internationals Ross Taylor, Johan Botha, Shaun Tait and Paul Collingwood (who was subsequently replaced by Jacob Oram after getting injured during the World Cup).
The Chargers didn't retain any of their previous players, losing Aussie stars Adam Gilchrist and Andrew Symonds as well as Herschelle Gibbs, but in the auction they picked up internationals Dale Steyn, Cameron White, Kumar Sangakkara, Kevin Pietersen, Pragyan Ojha (who had previously played for the Chargers) and JP Duminy. But Pietersen will miss this years IPL through an hernia injury picked up during the World Cup, fellow Englishman Michael Lumb is also in the squad, but was not picked to play for this game.
This was the 2nd match of the tournament and the Chargers had a good start to the game scoring 40 off the first 5 overs, but they started to lose wickets, which slowed down their run-rate and were 71 for 4 after 11 overs. Daniel Christian and Ravi Teja then stabilised the innings and put on 37 off 27 balls between them before Christian was out. Teja then kept his scoring up until he was out for 28 in the last over, and after losing another wicket the Chargers finished with a score of 137 for 8. Medium-pacer Siddharth Trivedi had the best bowling figures only giving away 15 runs off his 4 overs, as well as taking 3 wickets.
The Royals would have thought that they could catch the Chargers modest score quite easily and they pretty much kept up with the Chargers 'worm' score, apart from 2 blips when they lost wickets. The Royals set themselves up needing 30 off the final 3 overs, and after scoring 15 in the 18th over they caught the Chargers total in the 19th over to win the match with 7 balls remaining. Botha had a good innings scoring 67 off 47 balls, but didn't take any wickets with his 4 overs, giving away 31 runs, Taylor also had a good game, scoring 21 off 14 balls, and forming fantastic partnership with Botha that won the game.
Cool-Down's:
This years Indian Premier League started on Friday with 2 new teams, Pune Warriors and Kochi Tuskers Kerala, an expanded un-balanced regular season and a new play-off format, that favours the 2 higher ranked teams. The teams look significantly different from previous seasons with each franchise only being able to hold on to up to 4 players, and the rest of the players going back into the auction, this was to help redistribute players between the new teams to make them competitive from the start. 7 English players were originally signed up for IPL4, but due to injuries only Eoin Morgan, Owais Shah and Michael Lumb have joined up with their teams, and after the opening games only Morgan has played, scoring 6 off 6 balls, before being stumped by MS Dhoni in his 1st game and not batting in his 2nd.
Recent Results:
Npower League 1 (Football): Brighton and Hove Albion 2 Sheffield Wednesday 0
Evo-Stik South (Football): Shepshed Dynamo 1 Sheffield FC 2
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