JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- The Lions extended their unexpectedly bright start to Super Rugby when they beat the Blues 39-36 for the first time since 2006 in a see-saw battle at Ellis Park on Saturday. Although the hosts were outscored five tries to three by the team from Auckland, Marnitz Boshoff landed four penalties and two dropped goals to give them their third win in five games since returning to the competition. The Lions missed out on Super Rugby in 2013 when they lost their place to the Southern Kings, and were expected to struggle after earning their way back into the tournament through a playoff victory. However Saturdays win put them fourth in the standings, while the Blues were 13th after a third loss in four games. The first half belonged entirely to the Lions, as they bounced into the break with a 17-0 lead. After the game had gone scoreless for the first 30 minutes, Blues prop Charlie Faumuina was yellow carded for collapsing a maul close to his own tryline, and two minutes later scrum-half Francois de Klerk capitalized on the numerical advantage to score the games first try. Boshoff added the conversion and a dropped goal, before Courtnall Skosan went over on the stroke of half-time gave the Lions a significant advantage. Boshoff added a penalty after the break to push the gap to 20 points, and the Blues earned a second yellow card when Tom Donnelly failed to use his arms whilst clearing out a ruck. However when the lock returned, the Blues came roaring back into the match with two tries in three minutes to narrow the deficit to eight points. Coenie van Wyks try with 20 minutes remaining gave the Lions some breathing room, but the Blues kept coming and Frank Halai held off a defender to score under the posts moments later. Boshoffs penalty made it 33-22 with 10 minutes to play, only for centre George Moalas converted try to put the Blues within four points. However a couple of penalties from Boshoff made the game safe, ensuring that Benji Marshalls 80th minute try gave the Blues no more than a losing bonus point. ------ Lions 39 (Francois de Klerk, Courtnall Skosan, Coenie van Wyk tries; Marnitz Boshoff 3 conversions, 4 penalties, 2 dropped goals), Blues 36 (Charles Piutau, Bryn Hall, Frank Halai, George Moala, Benji Marshall tries; Chris Noakes 2 conversions, penalty, Simon Hickey 2 conversions). HT: 17-0 . LA (SportsNetwork. . But qualifying for her first Scotties Tournament of Hearts after years of falling short in tough Manitoba provincial championships is as good as consolation prizes get for the 29-year-old from Winnipegs Fort Rouge Curling Club.
http://www.customcubsjersey.com/custom- ... 1840n.html. -- Another baseball tradition is about to largely disappear: a manager, with a crazed look in his eyes, charging the field and getting into a face-to-face shouting match with an umpire. . Which is to say, the top of this years draft class is not as dynamic or exciting as the 2013 class of Nate MacKinnon, Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Drouin and Seth Jones and its not as strikingly promising as the highly-anticipated 2015 slate of Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin. . Virtanen opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period, then gave Canada a two-goal lead with a power-play goal 1:03 into the second. Sweden cut the lead in half when Daniel Muzito Bagenda scored a power-play goal at 10:57 of the second. ROCHE-SUR-YON, France -- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Richard Gasquet beat Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-2, 7-5 to give France an unassailable 3-0 lead over Australia and a spot in the Davis Cup quarterfinals on Saturday. Hewitt and Guccione were previously undefeated in the Davis Cup as a doubles team, but Tsonga and Gasquet overpowered them by hitting 21 aces to 4, and 74 winners to 38. The Australians rallied from a 3-0 deficit and won the opening set when Hewitt hit a return winner off Gasquets serve. However, Guccione failed to serve out the second set at 5-3 as the match turned in Frances favour. "If we could have gone up two sets to love, it could have been a different story," Hewitt said. In the tiebreaker, the French team jumpedd to a 6-3 lead after Guccione netted a backhand volley and Tsonga slapped a forehand winner.dddddddddddd Tsonga fired an ace to level at one set apiece. The French pair did not face any break points in the third and fourth sets. The hosts went a set up when Gasquet whipped a forehand pass down the middle and won the match when Gasquet hit a powerful backhand that Hewitt could not return. "Its a feeling of accomplishment," Tsonga said. "We played three good matches. We played unbelievable again today." On Friday, Tsonga cruised past Hewitt 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (2), and Gasquet routed Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (3), 6-2, 6-2. France will face Germany in the quarterfinals while Australia will compete in the playoffs to stay in the World Group. ' ' '
