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Friday 6 OctOber 2023

All Blacks finish Rugby World Cup pool play with 73-0 win over Uruguay

Associated Press strong scrummaging.
LYON, France (AP) — New Fainga’anuku completed
Zealand overcame a slug- his late hat trick with tries in
gish start to beat Uruguay the 68th and 78th minutes
73-0 in its final pool match and prop Tamaiti Williams
at the Rugby World Cup on also celebrated his first
Thursday. But the All Blacks’ test try while New Zealand
performance was less than cycled through three goal-
the polished quarterfinal kickers Mo’unga, McKen-
rehearsal they were hoping zie and Beauden Barrett
for. New Zealand took 20 who all kicked conversions.
minutes to score the first try At the end of their pool
of the match and for much matches and ahead of
of the first quarter was put a potential quarterfinal
under pressure by Uruguay, against Ireland, the All
which rose to the occa- Blacks will reflect carefully
sion of the first official test on several concerning as-
match between the teams. pects of Thursday’s match.
The All Blacks recovered to They can’t afford a slow
score four tries in the sec- start, a lack of organiza-
ond quarter and lead 26-0 tion at the breakdown or
by halftime. But they will New Zealand’s players perform Haka ahead of the Rugby World Cup Pool A match between New the poor skill execution that
Zealand and Uruguay at the OL Stadium, in Lyon, France Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023.
look back on their shaky (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) plagued them early in this
start with concern as they match. The date with Ire-
were often turned over pleasing effort which was half. He kicked ahead and Blacks scored first-half tries land still depends on the
at breakdowns by Uru- finished by Manuel Ardao, when the ball bounced, through McKenzie, Richie outcome of Friday’s final
guay and at times looked who was just taken into he balanced precariously Mo’unga, Jordan and Roi- Pool A match between
stretched in defense. touch in a covering tackle close to the touchline and gard and started the sec- France and Italy and antici-
Still, the All Blacks finished by Will Jordan. swept the ball one-handed ond half with tries to prop pates a French win.
with 11 tries including a sec- New Zealand’s solid scrum to Jordan. Fletcher Newell his first in There still were high points
ond-half hat trick to winger gave it a foothold in the By halftime, the All Blacks tests a second to McKen- on Thursday. All Blacks lock
Leicester Fainga’anuku. match and scrumhalf Roi- had control of possession zie and Fainga’anuku’s first. Sam Whitelock became
After their first up loss to gard again played a lead- and tries came more regu- But when they ran on their only the second male in-
France, they beat Namibia ing role, staking a claim for larly. They were able to lift bench from 50 minutes or ternational after Wales’
71-0, Italy 96-17 and added a bench role in the quarter- the tempo of the match as so their cohesion again be- Alun Wyn Jones to play 150
another 73 points on Thurs- finals squad. they had tried but mostly gan to fray and the match tests. All of New Zealand’s
day.Both teams had early McKenzie also shone from failed to do in the first half became scrappy. More front-liners came through
tries disallowed: The All fullback and his sublime as referee Wayne Barnes than 10 minutes elapsed unscathed and there still
Blacks twice, to Cam Roi- piece of skill to create a often found fault with their between their seventh try is strong competition for
gard and Damian McKen- try for Jordan was the All breakdown technique. and their eighth, a sec- some places in the quarter-
zie, and Uruguay a crowd- Blacks’ highlight of the first With momentum, the All ond to Jordan again from final lineup. q

Daiki Hashimoto of Japan defends men’s gymnastics title.

American Fred Richards finishes third

Associated Press championships on Thurs- win back-to-back world all- gold at the Tokyo Olympics. Richard collected himself
(AP) - Japanese star Daiki day, overcoming an early around titles in eight years. Hashimoto struggled on the to finish his routine and ap-
Hashimoto defended his ti- mistake on floor exercise to The 22-year-old Hashimoto floor exercise to start the fi- peared to be resigned to
tle at the world gymnastics become the first athlete to posted a total of 86.132, nals, his lone misstep on a finishing off the podium,
over a point clear of Illia night in which he showed telling a nearby camera,
Kovtun of Ukraine at 84.998. again that he is the rightful “It’s part of the journey.”
American teenager Fred heir atop the sport following Just not the end of it.
Richard, a sophomore at countryman Kohei Uchimu- Miscues by the others hop-
Michigan, earned a surpris- ra, a two-time Olympic and ing to stand with Hashimo-
ing bronze at 84.332. six-time world champion. to during the awards cer-
Hashimoto finished third in Hashimoto became the emony namely Chiba and
qualifying behind team- first man to win consecu- Sun Wei of China opened
mates Kenta Chiba and tive world all-around titles the door for Richard to be-
Kazuma Kaya, meaning since Uchimura went back- come the youngest Ameri-
he did not automatically to-back in 2014 and ‘15. can man ever to win an
earn a berth in the finals Richard became the first individual medal at worlds.
because of rules that limit U.S. male gymnast to fin- And it came two days after
each country to two en- ish in the top three in the Richard helped the U.S. win
tries. Hashimoto ended up all-around since Jonathan bronze in the team finals,
taking Kaya’s spot, a deci- Horton earned a bronze the first time the Ameri-
Japan’s Daiki Hashimoto reacts after his performance on the
parallel bars during the men’s all-round final at the Artistic sion the Japanese delega- in 2010. He did it despite a cans have finished in the
Gymnastics World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium, tion made unanimously in mistake on high bar during top three in a major inter-
Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. deference to Hashimoto, the final rotation that sent national competition since
(AP Photo/Virginia Mayo) who won the all-around him tumbling to the mat. 2014.q