Weekend Wrap: Dolphins, Liverpool the big winners

Wins for the Dolphins in the Ramslam T20 Final and Liverpool who put five past Arsenal were the highlights of a great sporting weekend that covered most sporting endeavours, with some disappointments thrown in for good measure, amongst them, the SA Sevens side in Wellington.

By Michael Marnewick

Wellington Sevens
New Zealand avenged their defeat at the hands of South Africa in the Las Vegas Sevens when they won their home leg, a 21-0 Cup final victory in the Wellington Sevens at the Westpac Stadium on Saturday. It's a two-horse race between the two sides on the log, with New Zealand overtaking South Africa to reclaim top spot, albeit by a narrow two point margin. Five rounds of the series have been completed with four remaining. Japan is next (22-23 March) followed by Hong Kong, Scotland, then England.

In the Six Nations, Ireland put on an impressive display to defeat Wales 26-3 and place in jeopardy a third consecutive title for the Dragons, and at the same time, reinforce their own hopes of winning the tournament as they went to the top of the log after two rounds. On a terrible Murrayfield pitch, England were too good for a gutsy, but poor, Scotland side who made way too many errors and kicked away far too much ball to really test the visitors. A 20-nil victory for England saw them into second place on the log, a position taken by France on Sunday after their 30-10 defeat of Italy.

Super Rugby Warm-ups
In Super Rugby friendly matches played over the weekend, it just goes to show either how unimportant the results of these matches is, or how little store the coaches place on the outcomes. The defending champs lost, the Sharks, Stormers and Force put on big scores, while there were some interesting results all round. The Hurricanes losing to the Rebels and the Waratahs defeating the Blues rather handsomely were two of the more indifferent results that will probably have no bearing on the tournament itself.

Results:
Crusaders 28-15 Highlanders
Kings 7-40 Stormers
Lions 14-57 Sharks
Chiefs 20-31 Reds
Rebels 24-22 Hurricanes
Waratahs 33-12 Blues
Western Force 69-3Samoa A

English Premiership
Chelsea have Liverpool to thank for opening the door to the title race after the former defeated the previous log leaders Arsenal 5-1 on Saturday. Chelsea took their opportunity to go top (which they did) with a 3-0 defeat of Newcastle as six points separate the top four teams (Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City and Liverpool).

Domestic T20 (Ramslam Final)

The Dolphins had their fans in raptures after a tense final saw them edge the Cape Cobras but just two runs in the Ramslam T20 Final on Sunday in Cape Town. David Miller, one of the brightest young prospects on the local cricketing scene, wasn't given much opportunity to showcase his abilities, but what appeared to be a less than competitive total posted by the Durban side proved to be enough as their bowlers did some great work up front and then at the death to restrict the Cobras to 144/7 after earlier posting 146/8. It was the first domestic title for the KZN side in over five years.