Latest news with #matchwinning
Yahoo
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
'That's pretty much what I do': Galvin on magic play
It's been seven weeks of headlines and scrutiny since Lachlan Galvin joined Canterbury but the young gun felt none of the pressure as he came up with the match-winning play against St George Illawarra. At fulltime on Saturday night, Galvin downplayed his magic cutout pass to Jethro Rinakama that allowed the rookie winger to slide over for a try and snatch a 20-18 win in the final two minutes. For coach Cameron Ciraldo, the pass was "one of the bravest" he'd seen from any NRL player, much less a youngster in his first game as a first-grade halfback. For Galvin, it was all part of the job description. "I just saw it and took it, that's pretty much what I do. I seen the pass and I threw it," he said. "I'm always going to do that, I'm always going to back my instinct. That's just me." Wasn't easy but got the job done. — Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (@NRL_Bulldogs) July 19, 2025 The play helped vindicate Ciraldo's call to oust Toby Sexton for the clash in the hope that Galvin at halfback may be the answer to the Bulldogs' long-running halves problem. Sexton and Galvin have been jostling to partner Matt Burton in the halves since the latter joined top-four hopefuls Canterbury from Wests Tigers. Ciraldo has played three different halves combinations in the Dogs' last three games, but the situation appeared to be growing more urgent given finals are drawing closer. But with the game on the line in his first proper audition at halfback, Galvin felt none of the pressure. "Natural instincts kicked in and I seen him come up and I just threw it," he said. "No pressure, I put the work in at training, 'Ciro' and all the coaching staff and the boys have put trust in me. I'm always confident going out there." View this post on Instagram A post shared by NRL (@nrl) But the headlines have not been lost on Galvin, whose messy exit from the Tigers has been the biggest story of the NRL season. Galvin, who only turned 20 this week, is not so naive as to think the outside noise will quieten down any time soon. "It is what it is," he said. "People are always going to have their opinions but I'm just going to keep working. I listen to the people inside the four walls at Belmore and that's 'Ciro' and all the coaches and all the boys. "I keep working hard and for it to pay off tonight and me to keep building for the rest of the year, that's all I'm going to do." Ciraldo indicated at fulltime that Galvin will be given extended time at halfback with the view to refining his combinations with Burton ahead of the finals. "(Burton) is mad to play with, he's got such a strong running game so I'm just trying to free up space for him to use that," Galvin said. "We're building a good bond now. He's real good out on the field. He talks well. Love him."
BBC News
16-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Sydney FC match winner Lacey's Welsh connections
For Sydney FC's Joe Lacey, a matchwinning goal against Wrexham was particularly special because of his Welsh Red Dragons went ahead in Tuesday's pre-season contest through Corey Hollman's early own goal before Alex Popovic equalised for the Sky Blues just before struck in the 74th minute as the Australian side beat Phil Parkinson's men at the Allianz goal meant that little bit more for Lacey, he revealed, because he has a Welsh mother while his aunty has worked at the Stok Cae Ras on matchdays as a paramedic."My mum's Welsh and it's very big for me," he said in a post-match interview."My family, they're all watching in Wales, she (Lacey's mother) is there at the moment."I love them all. I'm very grateful for them. They're all in Wales besides from my sister who came in from Newcastle, so I'm very grateful for them."On his goal, Lacey added: "It just felt like a video game. It felt like I had a VR (virtual reality) set on."Wrexham conclude their pre-season tour with a match against New Zealand side Wellington Phoenix at the Sky Stadium on Saturday, 19 July (06:30 BST).
The Independent
14-07-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
England match-winner Shoaib Bashir praised after injury rules him out of series
Ben Stokes praised Shoaib Bashir's bravery after England's young spinner claimed the match-winning wicket in a thriller against India, despite suffering from a broken finger that rules him out of the remainder of the Test series. Bashir broke the little finger on his left hand while attempting a caught-and-bowled on day three of the third Rothesay Test and has already been booked in for surgery in the coming days. But he showed serious fortitude to bat against the 90mph pace of Jasprit Bumrah on Sunday evening and played a brief but decisive role with the ball in an impossibly tense fifth-day finish. With India creeping towards the finish line on 170 for nine chasing 193 in the final session, he bowled last man Mohammed Siraj via a back-spinning ricochet off the face of the bat. Having spent the majority of the last two days watching the game unfold with England's coaching staff, it was a remarkable way for a captivating contest to conclude, securing a 22-run win and a 2-1 lead for the hosts. 'It was great that Bash was able to get that last wicket with everything he had to deal with this week,' said Stokes, who must find a new spinner for the last two Tests. 'He's 21 years old and he's got a very badly broken finger. To go out there and bat for us and to be willing to sit there on the bench, waiting for his moment to come on and bowl, I think just proves how much it means to everyone who gets the opportunity to put the shirt on. 'Not even a couple of breaks is going stop anyone getting out there. To finish that game off was written in the stars. It's not good news for Bash, it's very disappointing for us as a team and for him, but I think the courage that he showed (was outstanding). 'There would be a lot of people who might not have been brave enough to go out there and face Bumrah, then also put themselves up for wanting to get out there and bowl, and help his team.' England's win came on the sixth anniversary of their 2019 World Cup final win at Lord's, with Stokes, Jofra Archer, Joe Root and Chris Woakes the four survivors from that unforgettable super-over success. Archer was the man to bowl the most pressurised six balls of England's white-ball history and those memories inspired Stokes to use him again in the morning session on his first Test outing in four-and-a-half years. He responded with a couple of magnificent wickets, ripping out Rishabh Pant's off stump and diving for a brilliant caught-and-bowled off Washington Sundar. 'That was genuinely the reason why we went with it, it felt right in my tummy that Jof was going to do something this morning to break the game open,' he said. 'Gut feel doesn't always work but those two wickets he got this morning obviously swung the game massively in our favour. The Pant wicket was massive.' Remarkably, Archer was possibly the only person among the 30,000 in attendance who had not twigged the relevance of the occasion. 'I said to him this morning, 'you know what today is don't you?',' said Stokes with a smile. 'And you know that highlight package of India knocking off 300-odd back in the day with Sourav Ganguly (in 2002). He thought that was six years today. 'I said, 'no, that World Cup that we won'. He was like, 'oh that one'. He's an absolute beauty that boy.' Just as he did in 2019, Stokes left Lord's with the player-of-the-match award. He put in a quite incredible shift here, scoring 77 runs across both innings, producing a vital run out and taking five wickets. He was England's iron man on day five, bowling 19.2 overs across two lung-busting spells and dismissing key man KL Rahul as well as the defiant Bumrah late on. 'I have got some history of turning up in moments like that with the ball. I was pretty pumped,' he said. 'Bowling to win a Test match for your country on day five…if that doesn't get you going or up for going out there and putting in for your team, I don't know what will. The game was on the line; today it was going to be my decision on when I stopped bowling.'
The Independent
14-07-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
England match-winner Shoaib Bashir praised as injury rules him out of series
Ben Stokes praised Shoaib Bashir's bravery after England's young spinner claimed the match-winning wicket in a thriller against India, despite suffering from a broken finger that rules him out of the remainder of the Test series. Bashir broke the little finger on his left hand while attempting a caught-and-bowled on day three of the third Rothesay Test and has already been booked in for surgery in the coming days. But he showed serious fortitude to bat against the 90mph pace of Jasprit Bumrah on Sunday evening and played a brief but decisive role with the ball in an impossibly tense fifth-day finish. With India creeping towards the finish line on 170 for nine chasing 193 in the final session, he bowled last man Mohammed Siraj via a back-spinning ricochet off the face of the bat. Having spent the majority of the last two days watching the game unfold with England's coaching staff, it was a remarkable way for a captivating contest to conclude, securing a 22-run win and a 2-1 lead for the hosts. 'It was great that Bash was able to get that last wicket with everything he had to deal with this week,' said Stokes, who must find a new spinner for the last two Tests. 'He's 21 years old and he's got a very badly broken finger. To go out there and bat for us and to be willing to sit there on the bench, waiting for his moment to come on and bowl, I think just proves how much it means to everyone who gets the opportunity to put the shirt on. 'Not even a couple of breaks is going stop anyone getting out there. To finish that game off was written in the stars. It's not good news for Bash, it's very disappointing for us as a team and for him, but I think the courage that he showed (was outstanding).'
