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Recognised Europa League champions Sevilla returns to lift the trophy following their triumph tonight via penalties v Roma 

by Sports Benches

Wow!! What a game!! And what a Final that is that goes on and on right until the very end of this Europa League season – this time between Sevilla FC (Spain) v AS Roma (Italy) from the  Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary.

Roma struck the opening goal thanks to Paulo Dybala, even though there’s a bit of backlash from Sevilla’s end as to whether or not if it was a foul beforehand during the first half (34th min). But never mind, Sevilla were right back in the mix at 1-1 apiece after the 55th minute thanks to Roma centre-half Giancula Mancini, who made an unfortunate error to his own keeper (Rui Patricio) before he booted the wrong way with the ball inside the net. 

Nothing much happened after that going into full-time & the same again throughout extra time, particularly the 2nd 15 min instalment that lasted for so so long (10 mins) following the original six mins of added stoppage time. So for the third straight time in recent Finals’ history, it all comes down to penalty shootouts where the winner will not only get to lift the trophy but also secure Champions League group stage qualification for next season.

That winner belongs to now 7 x Europa League champions Sevilla who were spotless all long while Roma had a few hit and misses, even though none of Sevilla’s players has scored at all through the first 120-130 odd mins of play.

Post Notes 

Looking back at that winning moment, Right-back Gonzalo Montiel thought his penalty shootout strike was blocked by Roma goalie Rui Patricio but then Patricio jumped out of his line somewhat early. So a penalty had to be re-taken by the referee & this time it’s through into the net where Sevilla became Europa champions once again – the exact same thing how he helped Argentina wrap up that World Cup Final as World Champions last year v France via penalties in Qatar (4-2 following 3-3 in two halves & Extra Time).

How good!! Even though they might have a mixed domestic season (La Liga) in 9th right now with a game to spare, but it doesn’t mean they can’t taste European glory as Sevilla will now play in one of Europe’s elite club competitions amongst the best next season (2023/24) thanks to their Europa League triumph tonight.

And as for Roma, they were halfway there towards lifting another European triumph following their win last year in the Conference League v Feyenoord. However, a few ill-disciplines, fouls & a lopsided momentum across the pitch allowed Sevilla to make up some lost time before they made few hit & miss strikes including from some winning free-kicks around the goalposts. 

Yes, gotta feel sorry for Giancula Mancini following two unlucky moments – an own goal where Sevilla levelled at 1-1 & a failed penalty shootout strike. But sadly, Roma’s brilliant start began to falter as the game goes on before they were under pressure going into sudden death penalties, and they just couldn’t get past Sevilla over the line with the loss. Roma may still be playing Europa League next season & go one better as long as they can finish 5th or 6th in the Italian Serie A League, but it might not be under Head Coach Jose Mourinho who could switch over to PSG in Paris, France.

Now after a wonderful Europa League Final night of soccer once again, bring on the Champions League Final next Sunday AM (Australian time) where current EPL champs Manchester City will take on Inter Milan at Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. Man City have yet to win a UCL title, having made the final once back in 2020-21 as they were runners-up 0-1 by Chelsea. Inter on the other hand, have last won a title there back in 2009-10 where they defeated Bayern Munich 2-0.

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National Treasure just closed off Blazing Sevens on what has been a sprint to the finish line of the 148th Preakness Stakes

by Sports Benches

How good? Having just saw another thrilling drag race finish to the 148th Preakness Stakes over at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It was a shorter seven entry field being lined up this time after 2nd favourite First Mission had to pull out due to injury (left hind ankle). 

Looking back on the race itself now, there were great starts into the Top 2 earlier on from the following few horses such as National Treasure & CoffeewithChris. 

Plus, we saw a mix of overtakes fighting for third through race favourite & current Kentucky Derby champ Mage, Red Route One & Blazing Sevens.

Then there’s the climax on the run home after Turn 3 where Blazing Sevens moved up to 2nd side-by-side with National Treasure. Blazing Sevens tried to push that overtaking edge past him at the last minute after he emerged out of late, but it’s National Treasure who held off top spot all along by such a really close margin through the finish line for the win. 

Well done to jockey John Velasquez & owner/trainer Bob Baffiert all around on what has been such a tremendous race to watch!! Oh so close from Blazing Sevens where he almost got it but probably the early momentum might have cost him there in 2nd. And Mage finished in 3rd  

who was jockeying mightily around the mid-pack following a good start to 3rd, but then Mage was nowhere near the standard National Treasure has set by a few lengths behind the Top 2 finishers.

Red Route One finished in 4th followed by Chase the Chaos who were both also circling outside the Top 2; Perform came home in 6th where benefited a late move off CoffeewithChris after the early race contender (CoffeewithChris) just couldn’t find the execution he badly needed to pass National Treasure out of Turns 3 & 4.

Now that the 2nd Triple Crown race is done with no repeat triumph to carry on from the Kentucky Derby opener by Mage, we look forward to the 155th Belmont Stakes in New York on Saturday 10th June (US Time)/Sunday 11th June (Australian time in the morning). The only change to this next event is that Fox will be replacing NBC as the main broadcaster there for the 3rd & final Triple Crown event of the year.

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Mage runs down Two Phil’s & Angel of Empire in time towards a sprint to the finish line with the 2023 Kentucky Derby win at Churchill Downs

by Sports Benches

Wow!! What a race that is to close down another unreal Kentucky Derby for the 149th running this year over at Churchill Downs. There were a mix of early front-runners who put their names earlier on for the majority, while others chose to save their best for last like race favourite Angel of Empire. But then we saw the climax going into the last two corners & the front stretch that all changed everything.

Two Phil’s may have secured the first move where he tried to hold off top spot towards the finish line after he kept the other front-runners in check for the whole time. But look out for Mage who supercharged his way from mid-pack past Two Phil’s side-by-side before they closed them out with the big win followed by race favourite Angel of Empire in 3rd.

Congratulations to the team at Mage who is celebrating that huge breakthrough moment right now, having pulled the curtains down on both Two Phil’s & the resurgent Angel of Empire that capped off such a close three-way battle in the end.

I’m sure there will be many more memorable & mind-blowing finishes like this one as the next Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing heads off to Pilmico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland, in two weeks’ time.

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Manly Edge Out Hard Fought Victory Over Wests Tigers

by Admin

This afternoon saw the Wests Tigers succumb to yet another loss in the NRL, when they were once again beaten by the Manly Sea Eagles in Campbelltown Sports Stadium.

Manly, who have now won their last five games against Wests, earned themselves a 22:16 victory whilst being two players down by the end of the match.

The first half saw a back and forth affair between the two teams. Despite having 69% of ball possession throughout the first ten minutes, the Tigers were unable to find any tries. Manly’s Cherry Evans (7.) was able to capitalise on this failure and score the first try of the game in the ninth minute, which was converted by Reuben Garrick amongst boos (5.) to 6 points. Next to score a try was the highly touted Olakau’atu (11.), converted by Garrick to move the score to 12:0 at twenty-one minutes in.

Only four minutes remained in the 1st half, the Tigers were able to finally crack the Eagles’ defence. A massive jump from Charlie Staines (2.) over Schuster (6.) saw them score their first try and edge closer towards their first win of the season. 12:6 at the end of the first half – there was still hope for both the Tigers and their fans.

The start of the second half began with new Wests fallback Jahream Bula being ruled offside, leading to a penalty being scored by Manly kicker Garrick, moving the score to 14:6 off the bat. This, nor the slippery conditions could not hold the Tigers back however. Koroisau (9.) comes out the back of a scrum and muscles his way through the Eagles’ defence to drop onto the tryline. A welcome conversion from Wakeham (6.) makes the score 14-12 whilst nearing the midway point of the half.

At the 70th minute mark, Brad Parker (3.) was taken off the pitch and was not to return. The Sea Eagles were now a man down.

Utilising his team’s momentum, To’a (3.) scores a third consecutive try for the Tigers in the sixty fourth minute – allowing them to claw their way into the lead for the first time in the match. A missed conversion from Wakeham leaves the score at 14:16. Time running low on the clock meant that the Wests had no choice but to hold their ground.

Only ten minutes remained and to make matters even worse for the faltering Eagles, Tom Tbrovejic (1.) was subbed off due to a groin injury, rendering them a fallback down for the rest of the match.

With their backs against the wall, Manly pull it back. Cherry Evans kicks the ball next to the tryline and it is caught by a towering Jason Saab (7.) who stands at 6’6. Leaping into the air Saab is able to catch and deliver it past the tryline to pull the Eagles back into the lead with mere minutes left. Characteristically Garrick converts and puts Manly in front by 4 points, 16:20.

An offside ruling adds insult to injury to the Tigers’ effort. Manly wisely took and scored a penalty which sealed the deal for the Sydney based team. 16:22 to the Eagles at full time.

Drastic improvement from the Wests Tigers was still not enough to break their losing streak so far this year, with the Manly Sea Eagles continuing to be a nightmare for them. Extending their losing streak to seven and keeping them at the bottom of the league.

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Jon Rahm reigns supreme over Brooks Koepka on the final day of this year’s Masters where he gets to wear the green jacket for the first time at Augusta

by Sports Benches

Gotta say that the fourth & final round of The Masters at Augusta National has changed everything in the lead up towards the finish line. Yes, I mean the for the leader in particular when Brooks Koepka, who kept top spot for the majority until this point, didn’t have a great run today with a mix of putting mishaps after he finished joint 2nd alongside the now oldest best Masters finisher of Phil Mickelson (age 51).

That paves the way for Spaniard Jon Rahm the opportunity to capitalise on Koepka’s mistakes & go one better for the top spot. And he too has done more than enough to not only keep it consistent bar the bogey on the Par 4 9th through the end of his final shift (4 birdies & all other pars of 3 under 69), but also secure his 2nd major Championship since the 2021 US Open, as well as his first Masters victory at a total of -12. Congrats to Jon on what has been a stellar Easter Sunday as he now gets to don the green jacket.

While there’s plenty of late movers we can name a few that ended up on a high in the Top 10 leaderboard, we didn’t have much hope in making a late charge into the top-half spots despite some promising progress from the beginning at our Aussies & NZ corner. Kiwi Ryan Fox finished T26 on his first Masters appearance after a great first couple of days, but then began to slip away towards the end. Meanwhile, Cameron Smith topped the charts for Australia in T34 ahead of Adam Scott & Jason Day in T39.

And even though he had a difficult 2nd half run, shoutout to Amateur Sam Bennett who finished in T16, having been around Rahm & Koepka for the lead at one stage earlier on Day 2. Now he’s set to play more golf without a caddie ahead of tomorrow’s 36-hole/two-day Aggie Invitational for his school – Texas A & M. 

What a wild few days it has been where we saw some stop-start play due to wet weather before there’s so much movement alongside an jaw-dropping change of leader on the run home, as we can’t wait for next year’s 88th Masters edition.

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Wet weather has once again stop and started the third round of the 2023 Masters on a halt at Augusta National with Brooks Koepka still on top spot.

by Sports Benches

The second last day of this year’s Masters have been hit by wet weather once again at Augusta National where we had to squeeze in some catch up time from Friday’s 2nd Round before players below the Top 50, who missed the cut, had to leave the golf course ahead of the Round 3 start right away. But then there’s more of the same interrupted drama as not only these players will have to get through the leftover Day 3’s play done tomorrow AM, but also the full final round later in the afternoon as well to cap off such an up and down few days of major C’ship golf.

Now the makeup of the final Day 3 leaderboard hasn’t been finished yet but Brooks Koepka is still your leader at -13 ahead of Jon Rahm in 2nd (-9). And amateur Sam Bennett (-6) still hopes to turn things around from 3rd & go after Koepka & Rahm for the top spot despite his poor start of back-to-back bogeys. Then there’s more people coming in and out of the Top 5-10 apart from Koepka & Rahm – maybe Bennett if he can pull off a masterstroke Round 3 spell – with Patrick Cantlay & reigning US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick emerging into the Top 4 as of late at -4 alongside Collin Morikawa & Viktor Hovland.

And we still have three Aussies & one Kiwi in the mix despite little upturn in progress if they want to wrap up on a high even as outside contenders.

Good to see NZ’s Ryan Fox improving up a few spots to Tied 14th (-3), even though he had two bogeys in between the first nine & still has 7 holes left to finish after a great two days out. Jason Day is still holding on the Top 10 places in Tied 8th, but his shift earlier today hasn’t been the same so far with just one birdie on the Par 5 2nd. And so does Adam Scott where he regressed massively from a 1st half Top 10 to now Tied 28th, while there’s not much progress from Cam Smith in Tied 23rd.

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2023 The Masters Golf: Rain halts play with a huge twist across the golf course & leaderboard late on Day 2

by Sports Benches

Well, we didn’t get to see much through the rest of Day 2 at Augusta National when rain interrupted ongoing play late this afternoon. There were players and spectators being forced to evacuate by officials, while there was a huge tree collapse over on the 17th tee where no one was fortunately hurt. So we will wait and see how the make up of the current leaderboard look like going into tomorrow before entering the final two rounds in the race for the one & only green jacket prize.

In the meantime, we saw a huge reshuffle of players coming in and out of the Top 10 places so far until this point. The man to watch right now is USA’s Brooks Koepka, who is currently in top spot by himself now after an excellent shift today on 5 under 67 which puts him at a total of-12, with Spaniard Jon Rahm is not far behind even though he has another 9 holes to go from the 10th. So does Last year’s US Amateur champion Sam Bennett where he moves up to 3rd right now (-8) through excellent back-to-back scores of 68, as he looks to become the first amateur player to win the The Masters in its 87-year existence. 

Then we have our Aussies & Kiwis corner with Jason Day (Tied 6th at -5) & Adam Scott (Tied 10th at -4) still in the Top 10 despite some dips in form. Although Scott still has some holes to catch up, so there’s plenty of time left to make a late charge going into this weekend. Meanwhile, nothing much has changed from NZ’s Ryan Fox over in Tied 18th, while Cam Smith can hopefully turn things around going into the back nine & climb a few places on Tied 22nd right now. And sadly, there’s very little chance of both Harrison Crowe (Tied 63rd) & Min Woo Lee (Tied 71st) surviving the Top 50 cut ahead of this weekend where Harrison didn’t improve that much & Min-Woo going from bad to worse with 3 holes still to play.

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2023 The Masters Golf: three-way tie + flying starts from Aussies Jason Day & Adam Scott in the Top 10 on Day 1 of 4

by Sports Benches

The Masters is back for another year at Augusta National in Georgia where we are currently seeing a three-way tie for the lead following the first day’s play all on 7 under 65. These players come from three different countries such as Jon Rahm from Spain, Norwegian Viktor Hovland & USA’s Brooks Koepka. It’s been a long time since Koepka has been hanging round top spot after his win at the 2019 PGA Championship, while Hovland has been excellent from start to finish & Rahm’s first hole double bogey didn’t bother him too much with so much consistency & excellent scores over in the other 17 holes.

Then we have two Aussies of Jason Day & 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott rounding out the Top 10. Day sits at Tied 4th alongside Cameron Young on 5 under 67 with two birdies on the front nine followed by three more at the back nine apart from every other par he scored along the way. Yes, Scott may be a bit unhappy with his bogey on the Par 4 18th as he‘s not far behind on Tied 6th at 4 under 68, but he too didn’t do bad though where he collected three birdies + an eagle on the Par 5 15th. So fingers crossed on these two to keep up that strong start & hopefully bridge their way into the top spots tomorrow ahead of the weekend’s final two rounds.

There’s still time to turn things around & go one better over in Tied 17th from the current British Open champion Cameron Smith on 2 under 70 alongside NZ’s Ryan Fox where his back nine wasn’t bad but needs to improve his back nine despite a good end to his shift. Plus, Min Woo Lee needs to cut down these bogeys if he wants to survive the Top 50 RD2 cut following an inconsistent shift of 3 under 75 in Tied 63rd. And so does Harrison Crowe who is currently in the same spot as Min Woo; he too got away with two birdies despite some inconsistency on the front nine, but sadly didn’t gain anything particularly on the 13th & 14th holes for the rest of his day. Opening Day done, three more to go for the race towards donning the green jacket come Sunday.

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Horse Racing: Ushba Tesoro wows Algiers en route to his breakthrough win for Japan in the 2023 Dubai World Cup

by Sports Benches

Great to watch some different kind of racing in the horses with the 27th Dubai World Cup 2000m running under lights & also on dirt over at Meydan Racecourse. 

It’s been a quiet three-way battle from the start that lasted for the majority between No.2 Bendoog, No.9 Panthalassa & No.10 Remorse, with 2nd favourite Algiers not far behind in the hunt. Then this changes everything going into the final homestretch where Algiers starts to work its way up front past Bendoog after gaining a few spots along the way. Algiers was almost there to cash in his frontrunner status but the winner belongs to Ushba Tesoro, having gone out of nowhere to surprising Algiers with 100m to go before he pulled off a sensational performance in 2:03:25. 

Good to see Bendoog & Remorse firing off well as who entered this race as the outsiders. But then they later lost track on the run home where they ended up on the back half of the field, particularly when Bendoog was unlucky to have fell away from Top 2 with only a few hundred meters to go while Remorse just didn’t have the energy to go all the way past Turn 4. 

Wow!! That is amazing to see from the new champion in Ushba Tesoro & jockey Yuga Kawada who just gifted Japan their 2nd Dubai World Cup title since Victoire Pisa back in 2011. From one prestigious horse race to another, next up is the 175th Grand National edition from Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, UK on Saturday 15th April (3 weeks from now).

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Opening night of the 2023 NRL season went down to the wire with Melbourne Storm came out victorious v Parramatta Eels after Harry Grant’s match-winning TRY at golden point

by Admin
  • Match: Parramatta Eels v Melbourne Storm
  • NRL 2023 Telstra Premiership Round 1
  • Venue: CommBank Stadium in Parramatta

Harry Grant wins a thrilling game for Melbourne Storm in Golden Point to kick off the NRL season in the right way. Second half tries from Nick Meaney and Young Tonumaipea helped Storm fight back in a close game at Parramatta.

Cameron Munster was the talking point as he went off in the late stages of the first half with a compound fracture to his finger but he came back on in the second half and was crucial in the opening game.

Parramatta opened the scoring after Mitchell Moses converted a penalty he won when he was hit late by Eliesa Katoa. The Eels have Josh Hodgson to thank for being in that position as the Englishman did what he does best – one on one steals. 2-0

The Eels looked like they were in with the first try of the season with great attacking play, but Isaac Lumelume couldn’t ground it to put Melbourne under more pressure.

Hodgson looked to grow into the game as he put a great kick in that nearly put Waqa Blake in but it was knocked out for a dropout. The dropout benefited Storm as Cameron Munster went short and reaped the rewards as Parramatta dropped it under the pressure.

Melbourne started to attack more and more as Munster put in attacking kicks to confuse the Eels’ defense before he suffered a compound fracture to his finger. Moses was then hit late again this time by Alec Macdonald, but the penalty came of nothing.

It took 30 minutes for the first try as Will Penisini found a clear path five metres out as Hodgson plays a great pass to Clinton Gutherson who lets Penisini in. Moses missed the conversion.6-0.

Melbourne, late in the first half, lost their Captain’s Challenge as Jahrome Hughes had the ball knocked out but it was considered a knock on.

Half Time – Parramatta Eels 6-0 Melbourne Storm

Meaney scored a great try seven minutes in the second half as Grant shows his skill running from dummy half and Josh King performed a great pass turn to put Meaney over. Meaney converted his own try. 6-6.

Junior Paulo put Parramatta ahead again as Hodgson created the space to put the prop forward in a great position to run 15 metres to score his first try of the season. Moses converted the try. 12-6.

Melbourne replied with a try of their own four minutes later after it looked like Nelson Asofa-Solomona went over but that was disallowed for two knock ons. From the scrum, Melbourne took the ball left as Tonumaipea went over in the corner, but Munster created that try with a great pass to himself to trick the Eels edge. Meaney converted the try to level it. 12-12.

Tyran Wishart was let off massively as he dropped a big bomb that could put the Eels ahead but then Parramatta put the ball out for a seven tackle set. Parramatta got the ball back and set up for the one pointer, but it was blocked by three defenders.

No one wanted to win this game it seemed as all the chances in the last five minutes were fumbled. Melbourne get a lifeline as they get a penalty to put Munster in a great position to win the game. Munster scuffs the kick and the opening game of the NRL season goes to golden point.

The game was won by Grant as he does his trademark jinking runs and breaks through to extend Craig Bellamy’s round one winning streak.

Full Time – Parramatta Eels 12-16 Melbourne Storm (AET)

Parramatta triesMelbourne tries
Penisini (30′), Paulo (59′)Meaney (47’), Tonumaipea (63’), Grant (83’)
GoalsGoals
Moses 2/3Meaney 2/2

Team Lists

Parramatta EelsMelbourne Storm
1. Clinton Gutherson1. Nick Meaney
2. Maika Sivo2. Will Warbrick
3. Will Pensini3. Reimis Smith
4. Waqa Blake4. Young Tounmaipea
5. Isaac Lumelume (22)5. Xavier Coates
6. Dylan Brown6. Cameron Munster
7. Mitchell Moses7. Jahrome Hughes
8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard8. Nelson Asofa-Solomona
9. Josh Hodgson9. Harry Grant
10. Junior Paulo10. Christian Welch
11, Bryce Cartwright11. Trent Loiero
12. Matt Doorey12. Eliesa Katoa
13. J’maine Hopgood13. Josh King
InterchangesInterchanges
14. Jirah Momoisea14. Tyran Wishart
15. Jack Murchie15. Alec MacDonald
16. Wiremu Greig16. Jordan Grant (17)
17. Makahesi Makatoa17. Bronson Garlick (19)
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