🗞 Bring back the Biff

March 28, 2021

G'day sports fans,

Classic golf quote: How did you make a twelve? "I had a long put for an eleven." - Clayton Heafner

In today's edition of Sport Journal:

🤕 Casualty ward full

🏎 Business as usual

🦘 40-man squad announced

🍳 🥓 Sport Breakfast

🏎 Hamilton wins after tense battle with Verstappen: Hamilton wins in Bahrain after Verstappen forced to hand back lead after off-track pass. McLaren's Ricciardo was seventh.

🏃🏽‍♂️Rohan Browning has run the third-fastest men's 100m time by an Australian athlete, something likely to give the country its first runner in the Olympic 100m sprint, since Athens in 2004. (abc)

🙋🏽‍♀️ Sam Kerr's double took Chelsea back to the top of the Women's Super League in a patient victory over lowly Aston Villa at Kingsmeadow.

😡 Cristiano Ronaldo stormed off the pitch and threw his armband to the floor after being denied an added-time winner in their World Cup qualifying 2-2 draw against Serbia. Elsewhere Luxembourg (with the same population as Gold Coast – Tweed Heads) beat Ireland 1-0.

🇦🇺 AFL

The AFL decided to keep Brisbane men’s team in Melbourne for at least another day on Sunday, to buy time before making a definitive call on where the Lions’ Thursday night game against Collingwood is played. (TheAge)

1,000 - Superstar Sydney forward Lance Franklin had such a positive comeback game in the Swans' 33-point victory over the Adelaide Crows that "he'll get to 1000 goals easily".

Those are the words of former Brisbane Lions champion Jonathan Brown, who even jokingly said the four-time Coleman medallist "should have 1200 in his sights". (nine)

Watch all the best highlights from a thrilling weekend of football.

🏉 NRL

Round 3 snapshot: Pearce joins 300 Club; Broncos, Tigers break drought. (NRL)

Dragons 38-12 Sea Eagles: Dufty relishes revised role in rout of Sea Eagles.

Rabbitohs 26-16 Roosters: ACL blow for Keary as Rabbitohs outgun Roosters.

Raiders 31-34 Warriors: Hand of Roger saves Warriors against injury-ravaged Raiders.

Broncos 24-0 Bulldogs: Broncos shut out Bulldogs to snap losing streak

Eels 28-4 Sharks: Morris calls for 18th man as knockout blows floor brave Sharks.

Knights 20-24 West Tigers: Doueihi erases memory of dark night in Newcastle.

Cowboys 8-44 Titans: Fifita the destroyer as Titans heap more pain on Cowboys.

🐴 Racing

Eduardo gives them a galloping lesson in the Galaxy: Joe Pride repeated the ‘world’s best sprinter tag’ after Eduardo won back-to-back races at Rosehill Gardens.

The Warwick Farm trainer famously coined the phrase WBS (World’s Best Sprinter) after Terravista won the Group One Darley Classic at Flemington in 2014.

And Pride is getting as excited about Eduardo. “I think he’s the best sprinter in Australia and he might be the best sprinter in the world,” Pride said.

Stay Inside was dominant in the Golden Slipper, Verry Elleegant exacted revenge on her sparring partner Addeybb in the Ranvet while Eduardo proved he's one of the top sprinters in the land. (Slipper day Review)

📺 Stay Inside - he only does it for the carrots. (Twitter)

🐍 Sunday’s Capalaba Cup greyhound meeting was cut short, after a snake found its way into the starter's boxes at the Queensland track.

With three races of the 12-race card still to play out, the meeting couldn’t proceed after the reptile found its way into the boxes and couldn’t be moved on.

⚽️ Football

A-League

Melbourne City turned a one-goal deficit into a 4-1 advantage to clinch a club-record sixth consecutive A-League victory, over Western Sydney Wanderers.

A contest between first and last on the A-League table ended all square, after Central Coast Mariners drew 1-1 with Melbourne Victory.

A two-goal cushion proved enough to help ten-man Perth Glory outlast a Newcastle Jets comeback to clinch a 2-1 victory.

A Denis Genreau goal was the difference in Wollongong as Macarthur overcame Wellington Phoenix by the odd goal (1-0).

Craig Goodwin put Adelaide in front from the penalty spot but it was 20-year-old goalkeeper Joe Gauci who tied up the three points against Sydney FC. (1-0)

🔁 Gareth Bale could be one of six players Real Madrid allow to leave to help fund moves for Paris St-Germain's 22-year-old France striker Kylian Mbappe and 20-year-old Borussia Dortmund and Norway forward Erling Braut Haaland. (Sunday Mirror)

🔁 Melbourne Victory are keen on signing Ulises Davilla, Cameron Devlin and Mark Birighitti. (@RobbieSlater17)

🏏 Cricket

🙋🏼‍♀️ Super Ash: Star batsman powers Australia to win over Kiwis: Australia was reeling at 3-14 against the Kiwis. Then World Cup-winner Ash Gardner smashed an unbeaten half-century to power the tourists to a six-wicket win in first T20I at Hamilton.

Gardner finished on 73 from 48 deliveries, as she hit six boundaries and three sixes.

Together with Ellyse Perry, who finished 23 not out in her return to the Australian team after more than a year out because of injury, the duo completed the job with two overs to go.

🤒 Tendulkar tests positive to COVID-19 in second wave: Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has tested positive to COVID-19 as India is ravaged by a brutal second wave of the virus.

🎾 Tennis

Australians James Duckworth and Alexei Popyrin have caused massive upsets at the Miami Open in the second round.

World No. 104 James Duckworth defeated world No. 13 David Goffin 6-3 6-1 in the biggest victory of his career in just under 80 minutes. While Popyrin, coming off his first ATP Tour crown at the Singapore Tennis Open, overcame 30th seed American Reilly Opelka 6-4 6-2.

"All of the hard work I've put in the pre-season is paying off, 11 wins in 14 matches," Popyrin told ATPTour.com. "I really thought I was consistent during the match. Putting in lots of returns is difficult when Reilly is firing down 230 km/h bombs."

🏉 Rugby

🦘 Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie has announced his 40-man squad ahead of their three-day training camp on the Gold Coast next month.

There are 14 uncapped players in the group, including Australian Sevens representative Tim Anstee, former Junior Wallabies hooker Lachlan Lonergan and veteran David Porecki.

The average age of the squad is just 25 and is comprised of 14 Brumbies, 12 Reds, seven Melbourne Rebels, four Waratahs and three members of the Western Force.

Western Force recruit Sitaleki Timani is set to return to the national fold after an eight-year absence, with the 34-year-old named in a Wallabies squad for the first time since the 2013 year-end tour.

While utility forward Seru Uru forced his way into the reckoning after a series of standout displays in Super Rugby AU for ladder leaders, the Reds.

Super Rugby

Brumbies thump Force in Canberra to return to the top of the table: The Brumbies had far too much firepower for the Western Force at the GIO Stadium in Canberra on Friday, cruising to an emphatic 42-14 victory. (match report)

Queensland snap eight year Sydney drought: The unbeaten Reds have returned to the top of the Super Rugby AU table by thrashing the winless Waratahs 46-14. (match report).

👋🏼 The struggling New South Wales Waratahs have terminated the contract of head coach Rob Penney.

  • Penney took over as Waratahs coach prior to the 2020 Super Rugby season

  • The Waratahs have failed to win a match this Super Rugby AU season

  • Jason Gilmore and Chris Whitaker will replace Penney on an interim basis

Barrett clinic downs Highlanders: Jordie Barrett scored all the Hurricanes points as they dominated the Highlanders in their Super Rugby Aotearoa clash, winning 30-19.

Chiefs beat Blues with last-gasp try in thriller: The Chiefs snatched an incredible 15-12 victory over the Blues with the final kick of the match thanks to a last-minute try from Damian McKenzie. (match report) - Shout out to McKenzie's lid also.

🌏 ROW

🥊 Dillian Whyte produced a brutal fourth-round knock-out to win his rematch with heavyweight Alexander Povetkin in Gibraltar and avenge his shock loss to the Russian. Could we see Wilder v Whyte next?

👊🏻 Cameroon's Francis Ngannou showcased his devastating punch power as he knocked out Stipe Miocic in the second round to capture the undisputed UFC heavyweight title in Las Vegas at UFC 260.

The bout was a rematch of their 2018 meeting at UFC 220, where American Miocic dominated Ngannou over five rounds for a landslide unanimous decision victory in Boston.

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