Hosea Gear inspired a thrilling fightback for the Wellington Hurricanes as the home side kept their semi-final hopes alive with a 44-21 victory over the Queensland Reds yesterday.
The 26-year-old winger initiated Wellington's rally after an early Reds onslaught when he touched down after the first-half siren, before adding a brace of tries in 12 second-half minutes as the Hurricanes amassed 31 unanswered points after the break.
After racing to a 21-8 lead, the Reds' second-half capitulation dropped them out of the top four and left their post-season hopes out of their hands with one round remaining.
The Hurricanes notched a fourth win in a row to move into third place prior to the weekend's other fixtures.
"I think that the 40 minutes we played in the second half really summed up what we talked about at half-time," Hurricanes captain Andrew Hore said in a televised interview.
Gear combined beautifully with Cory Jane early, receiving a quick pass out of the ruck then feeding his fellow winger for the Hurricanes' first try.
Jane then repaid the favour after the half-time siren, setting up Gear for his first after the Reds had scored three unanswered tries through flanker Scott Higginbotham, winger Rod Davies and outside centre Will Chambers.
The Reds' last try, inspired by a brilliant dribbled kick by fly-half Quade Cooper, proved the last of the team's highlights, as the Hurricanes' defensive pressure shut down their forwards.
Flanker Andrew Shaw was sin-binned for lifting a player in a tackle immediately after the break. The Hurricanes took full advantage with two converted tries, with Tamati Ellison crossing the line a few minutes after Gear's second.
Gear crossed for his third less than 10 minutes later, before reserve David Smith jogged over for the easiest of tries to extend the lead to 42-21 six minutes before time.
* AFP
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The Case For Trump
By Victor Davis Hanson
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Second Test, Day 2:
South Africa 335 & 75/1 (22.0 ov)
England 205
South Africa lead by 205 runs with 9 wickets remaining
MATCH INFO
Champions League quarter-final, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)
Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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The specs
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances