Wales eye fifth in Malaysia after beating Japan 6-4
Jolyon Morgan's hat-trick helped Wales men beat Japan 6-4 to give them a chance of finishing fifth at the FIH Nations League in Malaysia.Wales will face either South Africa or hosts Malaysia on Saturday and will finish at least sixth after they fought back from 3-2 down against Japan.Fred Newbold and Ryoma Ooka exchanged early goals and after Morgan struck his first, Japan seized the initiative through Koji Yamakasi and Kazumasa Matsumoto.Sam Welsh levelled and Morgan put Wales ahead before he completed his hat-trick.Veteran Gareth Furlong sealed the win with a late effort before Kosei Kawabe's finale.
Furlong said: "All the games have been really close, all the teams here are really well matched so really happy to get over the line today."To score six goals, any team would be really happy with that. But we probably do need to tidy up a little bit defensively. "Just before half time we were a little bit sloppy in ball-possession and gave them a way back in to the game. But credit to the guys for coming back from 3-2 down."South Africa and Malaysia's game is taking place later on Friday.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Times
28 minutes ago
- Times
Joe Schmidt not just fighting to win but to save rugby union in Australia
Australian rugby is not in a good place. The Wallabies are a lowly eighth, below Scotland and Argentina, in the world rankings. They finished last in both the 2023 and 2024 Rugby Championship campaigns. In the 2023 World Cup they were eliminated at the pool stage for the first time in their history. The Green and Gold lost 40-6 to Wales. That in itself tells quite a tale. As did the decision to hire Eddie Jones. Joe Schmidt has initiated some improvement. His team did beat England and avenged themselves against Wales last autumn but they also suffered the worst defeat in their history, 67-27, at the hands of Argentina. Domestically their Super Rugby Pacific season ended in mostly premature failure. The Queensland Reds failed to make the knockout section. So too the New South Wales and Western Australian franchises. The Brumbies, from Australia Capital Territories, managed a morale-boosting quarter-final victory against the Hurricanes before the Chiefs — from New Zealand, like the Hurricanes — overwhelmed them in the semi-final. The actual tournament is struggling to retain much interest because it has become an exclusively New Zealand competition at the sharp end. It is ten years since the Wallabies won the Rugby Championship, and 11 since Michael Cheika's Waratahs beat the Crusaders in front of nearly 62,000 supporters in Sydney, the last time an Australian team won the Super Rugby title. The reflection of this in crowd sizes is glaring. The average attendance in Sydney was 16,000 this season, while it was 1,000 less in the union stronghold of Brisbane. Twenty years ago, these averages were almost double today's figures. When the Brumbies beat the Hurricanes, I was horrified with the endless rows of empty seats in Canberra. As for Western Australia, they have averaged a fraction over 6,700. Rugby league averages 21,000 per game compared with Australian Super Rugby's 12,000. Aussie Rules packs in 39,000 spectators on an average match day. Football is also on the rise. On a Sunday morning there are throngs of kids playing 'touch footie' in Sydney and plenty of supporters turn up for the city's Shute Shield, featuring the long-established union clubs. It is predominantly middle class — but that's no different to England. In some ways, the two countries have similar problems. New South Wales and Queensland continue as the nation's rugby epicentre — for fans, clubs and schools — but it struggles to make an impact in other parts of the country. Just as the Premiership has struggled to understand that outside the traditional strongholds the sport has stagnated so it has failed to thrive in Victoria and Western Australia. The failure of Melbourne to maintain a team was testament to Aussie Rules' grip over union. Whereas Aussie Rules has made dents in the union markets of Sydney, union has not been able to nationalise rugby union. Last weekend, at the Optus Stadium in Perth, where the British & Irish Lions tour to Australia kicks off for real, 31,000-plus turned up on the Saturday for North Melbourne v Fremantle Dockers, and nearly 44,000 for the next day's game, West Coast Eagles v Carlton. These are figures beyond union's dreams. Until now. The Lions begin their tour against Western Force in Perth, Western Australia, next Saturday. The legion of Lions supporters, anticipated to number about 40,000 through the tour, will pack the stands, almost certainly outnumbering the locals with their average crowd of 6,700. That life support for the union code is the Lions playing doctor and revitalising the sport's ailing body. Australia needs an end to echoing stadiums and, more than any team in the world, the Lions quartet of nations guarantees non-stop atmosphere. But what — other than to replenished coffers — are the long-term implications should the tour degenerate into a sequence of one-sided affairs before the Test series? The Wallabies' so-called 'Super' teams will be stripped of some of their Test performers. And though Schmidt does not have the strength in depth to risk all of his core players, he has made more than expected available for Western Force. On Thursday revealed that Wallabies squad members Nick Champion de Crespigny, Tom Robertson, Darcy Swain, Tom Robertson, Dylan Pietsch and Nic White would all be free to play. For the tour, this is promising news. Andy Farrell's job isn't to play the part of rugby missionary and go easy on the opposition. The Lions have hit Western Force for a century of points in the past. If they thrash them on June 28, where does that leave the already sparse loyal core of 6,700 fans? It may be pure coincidence but this week the venue for the first Lions match hosted rugby league's showpiece, the State of Origin; New South Wales versus Queensland brings the East Coast of Australia to a grinding halt. This match, the second of the three-game series, was played at the Optus Stadium in Perth a mere ten days before the Lions kick off. Queensland, having lost in Brisbane, fought back to level the series at 1-1, with the decider now set for Sydney. The marketing men couldn't be more delighted with the way the State of Origin has panned out in the distant west. It will take a stunning performance from Western Force to eclipse the 26-24 windswept Origin thriller. League has made the sort of mark in Western Australia that union can only dream of. As for the Tests, Australia have one warm-up game against Fiji before the series. The Lions have the advantage in terms of preparation and strength. Schmidt has to gamble with his stars, arguably throwing the warm-up games. Nothing but a compelling Test series stops Australia from sliding further away from its already tenuous position among the nation's winter sports. On the terraces and in the bars the tour will be a riotous carnival. The Lions' combined support base guarantees colour in abundance. On the pitch, however, Schmidt is tasked with the toughest test for Australia's coach since the game turned pro. They triumphed in 2001, two years after winning their second World Cup and two years before losing to England in the 2003 final. That was a great Aussie team and the series went dramatically down to the dying seconds. If Australia lose the series and the Lions leave a trail of hammerings in their wake, the 2027 World Cup in Australia is going to rely on tourists and ex-pats. This tour is about more than the future of the Wallabies. It is a threat to the entire code of rugby union.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
K-League to end rule banning foreign goalkeepers
Foreign goalkeepers will be allowed to play in South Korean professional football from next year when a ban on signing them is ended after 27 years. The ban has been in place since 1999 and was introduced to help develop homegrown keepers by ensuring they received enough playing there were only 10 professional clubs in South Korea 26 years ago, compared to the current 26 in the country's top two divisions."Starting in 2026, clubs will be permitted to register foreign goalkeepers," said the Korea Professional Football League."The K-League previously restricted their participation beginning in 1996 and introduced a full ban in 1999 to encourage the development of domestic goalkeepers, as most clubs at the time relied on foreign players in the position."
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Ryan Reynolds' favourite Wrexham player who starred in Deadpool in talks over transfer exit after being frozen out
PAUL MULLIN, once the poster boy of Wrexham's fairytale rise, is heading for the exit door after a dramatic fall from grace. The 30-year-old striker, who bagged goals galore to fire the Red Dragons to back-to-back promotions, is now in talks to join Wigan Athletic. 4 4 4 According to the Daily Mail, Mullin has been frozen out at the Racecourse Ground. The report further claims the striker clashed with manager Phil Parkinson in January and he hasn't kicked a ball since. Rumour has it the frustrated forward even phoned Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney to vent his fury over being benched. And things have gone from bad to worse after the January arrivals of Sam Smith and Jay Rodriguez saw Mullin slip further down the pecking order. Now the club have landed Ryan Hardie from Plymouth which effectively slams the door shut on Mullin's hopes of a comeback. Despite Mullin playing down talk of a rift, his days at Wrexham look numbered. Wigan have been circling for months and are finally pushing to seal a loan swoop. Mullin, who is on £5.8k a week and hastwo years left on his deal, could now be on the move as tensions boil over behind the scenes at Wrexham. From hero to outcast, it's a stunning twist in the tale of one of football's unlikeliest stories. There are growing reports that Wrexham could still go in for Jamie Vardy, who will be on the move this summer. 4 They're looking to add experience as they aim to engineer another promotion that would land them in the Premier League. But so far, there's been little to suggest Vardy will be heading to the Racecourse Ground, with interest in him also coming from the MLS.
