Crusaders and Derry City win in Women's Premiership
Crusaders and Derry City picked up away wins in the Women's Premiership with victories over Lisburn Ladies and Larne.
Alison McMaster and Beth Chalmers scored as the Crues sealed a 2-0 win to move level on points with league leaders Glentoran.
After a goalless first half, substitute McMaster scored moments after coming on to break the deadlock on 57 minutes.
Jonny Tuffey's side doubled their lead through Chalmers nine minutes later to secure all three points.
Derry City had a more emphatic victory as they beat Larne 4-0 at Inver Park for their first win of the season.
Cache Crumlin-Hawes opened the scoring after just seven minutes before Rachel McIntyre added a second on 30 minutes.
Caoimhe Walsh and Tara O'Connor-Farren completed the win with second-half goals for the Candstripes.
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Associated Press
a day ago
- Associated Press
Crusaders beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 to clinch a home semifinal in Super Rugby
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — The Crusaders produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 Friday and claim home advantage in next week's Super Rugby semifinals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders' forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. 'Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet and dark and we love it,' Hotham said. The result means the Crusaders are now 30-0 in home playoff matches while Australian teams are 0-20 in playoff matches in New Zealand. 'Obviously we're really disappointed with the result but I'm really proud of this group and the season that we had,' Reds captain Tate McDermott said. 'They were all over us at the breakdown and collision area and we just couldn't get into our cycle.' The Reds fought hard and created early chances which often were undone by handling errors close to the goalline. They finally had success in the 70th minute when Josh Nasser scored from a lineout drive. Then, in the 76th minute, Fraser McReight scored from a kick by fellow backrower Harry Wilson. Replacement scrumhalf Kyle Preston finished with an intercept try for the Crusaders in the last minute. The Crusaders had scrum superiority which produced four penalties in the first half alone and dominated the collisions and the breakdown. The Reds suffered a major setback when they lost Wallabies flyhalf Tom Lynagh to a head injury midway through the first half. 'We had to grind it out near the end there but I think the way our forwards set it up was huge and our set piece was huge so we're really happy with that,' Crusaders captain David Havili said. In the 15th minute the Crusaders won a breakdown turnover and Havili put the ball out five meters from the Reds line. Josh Canham won the ball cleanly for the Reds but in transferring it to Fraser McReight, Barrett got a hand in the way. He regained the ball and drove over for the first try of the match. In the 20th minute, the Crusaders won a penalty close to the Reds 22 when McDermott was ruled to be not supporting his weight at a ruck. The Crusaders kicked to the corner, Barrett won the lineout and after several thrusts, Williams forced his way over. He limped from the field a few minutes later with a knee injury. Rivez Reihana landed one of two conversions and the Crusaders led 12-0 at halftime. Reihana left the field temporarily for a head injury assessment before halftime which allowed veteran flyhalf James O'Connor to make an earlier than expected appearance against his former Reds teammates. Hotham pursued his own kick to score a brilliant try in the 57th minute and Reihana scored after the Crusaders had sorely pressed the Reds' defense from lineouts. In other matches in the first playoff round, the Chiefs will play the Auckland-based Blues in Hamilton and the ACT Brumbies will play the Wellington-based Hurricanes on Saturday. ___ AP rugby:
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Crusaders beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 to clinch a home semifinal in Super Rugby
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — The Crusaders produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 Friday and claim home advantage in next week's Super Rugby semifinals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders' forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Advertisement Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. 'Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet and dark and we love it,' Hotham said. The result means the Crusaders are now 30-0 in home playoff matches while Australian teams are 0-20 in playoff matches in New Zealand. 'Obviously we're really disappointed with the result but I'm really proud of this group and the season that we had,' Reds captain Tate McDermott said. 'They were all over us at the breakdown and collision area and we just couldn't get into our cycle.' Advertisement The Reds fought hard and created early chances which often were undone by handling errors close to the goalline. They finally had success in the 70th minute when Josh Nasser scored from a lineout drive. Then, in the 76th minute, Fraser McReight scored from a kick by fellow backrower Harry Wilson. Replacement scrumhalf Kyle Preston finished with an intercept try for the Crusaders in the last minute. The Crusaders had scrum superiority which produced four penalties in the first half alone and dominated the collisions and the breakdown. The Reds suffered a major setback when they lost Wallabies flyhalf Tom Lynagh to a head injury midway through the first half. Advertisement 'We had to grind it out near the end there but I think the way our forwards set it up was huge and our set piece was huge so we're really happy with that,' Crusaders captain David Havili said. In the 15th minute the Crusaders won a breakdown turnover and Havili put the ball out five meters from the Reds line. Josh Canham won the ball cleanly for the Reds but in transferring it to Fraser McReight, Barrett got a hand in the way. He regained the ball and drove over for the first try of the match. In the 20th minute, the Crusaders won a penalty close to the Reds 22 when McDermott was ruled to be not supporting his weight at a ruck. The Crusaders kicked to the corner, Barrett won the lineout and after several thrusts, Williams forced his way over. He limped from the field a few minutes later with a knee injury. Rivez Reihana landed one of two conversions and the Crusaders led 12-0 at halftime. Advertisement Reihana left the field temporarily for a head injury assessment before halftime which allowed veteran flyhalf James O'Connor to make an earlier than expected appearance against his former Reds teammates. Hotham pursued his own kick to score a brilliant try in the 57th minute and Reihana scored after the Crusaders had sorely pressed the Reds' defense from lineouts. In other matches in the first playoff round, the Chiefs will play the Auckland-based Blues in Hamilton and the ACT Brumbies will play the Wellington-based Hurricanes on Saturday. ___ AP rugby:
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Brumbies on high alert for major Hurricanes threat
While much has been made of the breakdown battle, the ACT Brumbies are on high alert for the threat coming from the Hurricanes back-line in their Super Rugby Pacific qualifying final. The Brumbies are out to make amends at GIO Stadium on Saturday's after the Hurricanes snapped an eight-year losing streak in Canberra in round 11 when they cracked a 35-29 win. That scoreline set up their charge to the play-offs, winning six straight. Hurricanes winger Kini Naholo was pivotal in the match, making 10 tackle-busts en route to two tries, but will miss the final after suffering an ACL injury last month with Fatafehi Fineanganofo taking his place. Brumbies fullback Tom Wright said there was still plenty of strike weapons in the visitors' line-up and they couldn't give them any room to move. Peter Umaga-Jensen and Billy Proctor are two of the form centres of the competition and will keep the Brumbies pairing of Len Ikitau and David Feliuai on their toes. "I saw Umaga-Jensen carve out a pretty decent try on the weekend and Billy Proctor obviously, you don't have to go looking too far at the season that he's had also, so I dare say Len and Dave will have their hands full," Test No.15 Wright said. "The Hurricanes bring in that sort of expansive style of football, they play an exciting game and there's going to be a lot of points scored so we're looking forward to that challenge, but, you know, we didn't get here, by accident either. "With the season our centres have had as well, I know that they're (Hurricanes) going to be looking at that pretty seriously and trying to stop them at the same time, so it's going to be a good battle." A lil' slice and dice through the defence from Peter Umaga-Jensen 😮💨#SuperRugbyPacific #HURvMOA — Super Rugby Pacific (@SuperRugby) May 31, 2025 As well as a dominant home record, the ACT outfit have also enjoyed a favourable finals record against the Hurricanes, eliminating them in 1997, 2022 and 2023. Dependent on the results of the other two finals, as the third-ranked team the Brumbies could still advance to the semi-finals even with a loss. But after suffering a tight loss to the Crusaders in the final round, which cost them a top-two ladder position, Wright said his team wanted to control their own destiny. He didn't feel they were far off their best against the Crusaders, with a slow start proving costly. "For all the good work that we did we made it bloody hard on ourselves so we need to be a bit sharper as very much more of the same challenge will be coming at us this weekend from the Canes - big ball-carrying, physical guys with the footy, they want to impose themselves," Wright said. "We're looking forward to bringing the game to them."
