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« on: May 5th, 2015, 4:52am » |
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- The wet and windy Wellington weather could have just as big an impact on Sundays Rugby World Cup quarterfinal as the skills of Australias backs or the power of South Africas forwards. With the heavy, grey skies above New Zealands capital dumping almost constant rain on Wellington Regional Stadium so far this week, both sides are prepared to adapt their game to the conditions. "Tactically you tinker a few things," Australia flyhalf Quade Cooper said. "It comes down to the nines, 10s and 15s. There might be a bit more kicking or, if youre running dead on into a head wind like today, you might have to hold onto the ball because theres no point kicking and it going back over your head. "Every game day for us, it tends to rain. Weve just got to prepare for the worst and, if we are lucky enough to have a nice day out there, we can make the most of it." Forecasters predict rain to cease on Saturday but both teams trained on a wet Wednesday morning, aiming to get a feel for the conditions should things fail to improve for the weekend. "There were a few kicks that were going backward, but the boys were enjoying it," Cooper said. "We very rarely get conditions like that so the boys were making the most of it and trying to get involved as much as possible. "You play all around the world in all different kinds of whether and, preparing for a game like this, it makes the game so much more interesting for us as a whole." Interesting, is one way of putting it. Challenging and difficult might be closer to the mark for some of the players. "It was pretty full on," Wallabies winger James OConnor said. "There were some gale force winds going on. You never know whats going to happen on Sunday, so if we prepare for all occasions its going to put us in a good state." The Australia forwards ran through their setpiece routines, tweaking them to cope with the conditions. "Im just glad the secondrowers took into consideration the conditions and I threw them up in the front part of the lineout," hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau said. "That said, we threw up a few back ones as well, which quite surprisingly hit the mark. Its probably not the best conditions to throw lineouts in, but youve just got to adjust to it." Some of those adjustments are unlikely to be tolerated by referee Bryce Lawrence on Sunday. "There were times when we just mucked about and thought why not just throw it into the wind?" Polota-Nau said. "And it hit the mark. Im not too sure if the referees will determine that straight or not." With its big rumbling pack and focus on pushing the ball forward through contact phases, South Africa is arguably better suited to a game played in the wet. "I think in wet weather like this, and obviously there is a fair bit of wind around in Wellington, territory will be very important," Springbok flanker Schalk Burger said. "So whichever way you find fit to get territory advantage you will probably use. "But at the moment the weather is looking fine so hopefully it stays that way and both sides can play some good rugby, enterprising rugby and it can be a great spectacle." Wales and Ireland play at the same stadium 24 hours earlier, so Sundays match could also be affected by a churned surface if that first quarterfinal is played in the wet. Wales kicking coach Neil Jenkins scored almost all his 1,090 test points for Wales and the Lions with his boot, but may be stuck for exactly what advice to give his team for Saturday. "Ive been lucky enough to travel," Jenkins said. "Ive been around the world and to most stadiums in the world and (people) say its one of the toughest stadiums in the world to kick in. In most stadiums, the wind pretty much goes one way but in the Cake Tin its swirling around so its very difficult to understand which way its going and very difficult to kick in. "Its probably one of the toughest stadiums in the world for goalkicking." air Womens Jordans . The Arena das Dunas in the northeastern city of Natal sustained minor damage during the protests, but demonstrators stayed away on Sunday and officials said the stadium passed its first test, with only minor adjustments needed going forward. air Jordan Fusion . -- Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is listed as probable to return to the lineup Sunday against the New Orleans Saints after missing the past three games with a high ankle sprain. http://www.sneakeraj.com/. Jordan signed his contract Wednesday, making him the third inside linebacker with special teams experience that the Redskins have added in free agency. air Jordan CDP .Y. -- If USA Hockey needed a reminder of how well Ryan Miller can play, the Buffalo Sabres goalie provided one. air New Release Jordans . Wigginton, 36, was released by the St. Louis Cardinals in July after hitting .158 in 57 at-bats. Hes a career .261 hitter with 169 home runs. Marlins third basemen totalled three homers and 44 RBIs in 2013, worst in the majors in both categories.PHOENIX -- The Los Angeles Dodgers made a big splash in their return to Chase Field. They beat Arizona 6-0 on Friday night in their first visit to the ballpark since clinching the NL West title there last September and angering the Diamondbacks by celebrating in the ballparks swimming pool. One of the ringleaders of the pool assault, Adrian Gonzalez, drove in five runs Friday night to snap out of a slow start that had him batting .189 with four RBIs coming in. Hyun-Jin Ryu, pitching on an extra days rest, threw seven dominant innings, allowing two hits, striking out eight and walking one. He retired 18 of his last 19 batters and allowed only a pair of singles by Miguel Montero. Gonzalez hit a two-run homer off Brandon McCarthy (0-2) in the first inning, doubled in two more in the third and had an RBI single in the eighth. The Dodgers Hanley Ramirez was 3 for 4 with two doubles, drove in a run and scored three times. "You dont get very many of these, where you score a few runs, everything goes good with your pitching, and there was really no true stress in the game," Los Angeles manager Don Mattingly said. "It was just one of those games that kind of went our way." Ramirez and Gonzalez, the Nos. 3 and 4 batters, were a combined 6 for 8 with six RBIs and four runs. "Thats what were there for," Gonzalez said. "Thats what were out here for is to try to get rusn for our pitcher." Gonzalezs homer, on the first pitch he saw, landed in the right-field seats, not too far from the pool. Jamey Wright pitched two hitless innings to complete the shutout, which took just 2 hours, 26 minutes. The Dodgers had not blanked the Diamondbacks in Arizona since July 27, 2003, according to STATS. Ryu rebounded from a rough outing a week earlier against San Francisco, when he was tagged for eight runs -- six earned -- in two innings. He said the difference this time was he kept the ball down in the strike zone. "Because I got hit around last game," Ryu said through an interpreter, ";I was trying a little harder today.dddddddddddd"er He beat the Diamondbacks for the second time this season. He was the winning pitcher in the Dodgers 7-5 victory over Arizona in Australia on March 23. In another example of the Diamondbacks starting pitching woes, McCarthy allowed six runs and 10 hits in seven innings. His ERA stands at 7.78. "I havent really felt like I have thrown terribly this season," he said. "It has just been a few pitches in there that have gone wrong and they happen to really hurt me. Whether it is a combination of bad luck and bad pitches, it is really getting old." He retired his first two batters, then Ramirez singled up the middle. That brought up Gonzalez, who had been hitting the ball had lately with little to show for it. That changed in one swing that made it 2-0. The Dodgers got two more on Gonzalezs two-run single in the third. McCarthy settled down after that, retiring 11 in a row before Dee Gordons one-out single in the seventh. Yasiel Puig doubled leading off the eighth and scored when Ramirez doubled into the left-field corner. Ramirez came home on Gonzalezs single. Puig was back in the starting lineup after being sidelined by a sprained left thumb, the result of a headfirst slide into first base against San Francisco last Saturday. He missed two games and struck out on three pitches as a pinch hitter against Detroit on Wednesday. NOTES: Paul Goldschmidt was 0 for 4 and failed to reach base for the first time in 32 games, ending the fourth-longest streak in Diamondbacks history. ... Arizona manager Kirk Gibson said RH Josh Collmenter would start Sunday against the New York Mets, with Randall Delgado going to the bullpen. ... The Diamondbacks signed 37-year-old LHP Randy Wolf to a minor league contract. He will pitch for Triple-A Reno. ... Arizona goes with LH Wade Miley (2-1, 4.05 ERA) on Wednesday, the Dodgers start RHP Zack Greinke (2-0, 3.27). ... Mattingly said after the game that RHP Dan Haren will start on Sunday. cheap jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '
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