The closing stages of the Rugby World Cup will, to all intents, be a rerun of this year’s southern hemisphere Rugby Championship after New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and Australia all reached the semi-finals at the expense of European opponents. Most notable were Argentina, who stunned the Six Nations champions Ireland 43-20, and New Zealand, who ran in nine tries in a 62-13 rout of France. South Africa and Australia squeaked past Wales and Scotland, respectively, in thrilling quarter-finals, with the Scots – wooden spoonists in the Six Nations – especially unlucky to be denied by a contentious last-minute Bernard Foley penalty. Australia now face Argentina while New Zealand meet South Africa to decide the finalists.
Bad light denies England
England and Pakistan drew the first cricket Test in Abu Dhabi, but not before Alastair Cook’s side almost contrived to engineer a victory on one of the most lifeless tracks seen outside the actual desert itself. After double-centuries earlier in the match from Cook and Pakistan’s Shoaib Malik, England’s debutant spinner Adil Rashid took five second-innings Pakistan wickets on the final day to leave the tourists with a target of 99, only for fading light to curtail the chase 25 runs short. “It’s frustrating but I’m just proud of the way the guys hung in there for five days,” said Cook. Meanwhile, plans are afoot to experiment with a new coloured ball, described by the International Cricket Council’s chief executive Dave Richardson as being “greeny yellow”, to allow Test matches to continue in fading light.
Djokovic stays on top
The world No 1 Novak Djokovic continued his otherworldly domination of men’s tennis with victory in the Shanghai Masters. On such a different level to everyone else is the Serb that his ATP Tour opponents appear to have drawn up a rota to share the burden of each crushing defeat; this time it was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s turn to be drubbed 6-2, 6-4. At the WTA Tianjin Open, Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic 6-1, 6-2.
Bridge fails to cross into sport
Bridge players, remove your helmets and retire your bats: the card game has lost a bid to be legally recognised as a sport. The UK court ruling means bridge is ineligible for sports lottery funding, although Peter Stockdale of the English Bridge Union claimed it was not just about the money. “It is primarily about recognition. There are a number of opportunities and organisations that are only available to you if you are a sport,” he said. A previous bid to get bridge included in the 2020 Olympics also ended in disappointment.
