NRL ROUND 8 WRAP

Round 8 of the NRL had it all, upsets, landslide results, controversial refereeing and one of the tries of the year from South Sydney's Greg Inglis.

Greg Inglis

The traditional Anzac Day game of St George vs Roosters saw the Roosters return to form with a classy 34-14 win. The Dragons started the year well but are running out of puff a little while the Roosters are improving each week. In a good team effort five-eighth James Maloney was the outstanding performer for the Roosters.

The second game of Anzac Day saw the ever unpredictable New Zealand Warriors upset the struggling Melbourne Storm 16-10. If only they could bring a little consistency week-to-week the Warriors could be a Premiership contender.

Shaun Johnson

The final match on Anzac Day saw a high quality see-sawing match between South Sydney and the Brisbane Broncos. Both teams have been good this year and this game was a good hit out. The undoubtable highlight was the try that many have called the best solo try of all time by South Sydneys superstar fullback Greg Inglis, after picking up the ball 20 metres out from his own line Inglis evaded and outsprinted seven players to go all the way for a sensational try. The final penalty that saw Souths hit the lead was very controversial and was roundly booed by the Brisbane crowd.

Saturday saw the Sharks, Cowboys and Bulldogs notch victories. The Sharks scored their second win of the year over the Penrith Panthers 24-20. In another see-sawing match the Sharks showed great desperation to snatch a last minute win. The North Queensland Cowboys finally put together a performance everone knows they are capable of with a big win over Parramatta 42-14. Parramatta has been a surprise packet this year but their bubble was well and truly burst by the Cowboys. The third match again saw the Bulldogs grind out victory this time against the Newcastle Knights 16-12. With five wins on the trot now for the Bulldogs they sit top of the table.

Bulldogs

Sunday saw Manly put the cleaners through the Canberra Raiders 54-18. Manly have had a relatively quiet start to the year but showed they are just warming up while its back to the drawing board for Raiders coach Ricky Stuart who will be searching for answers. The final game of the round saw the Titans knock over the Tigers at Leichhardt Oval, a venue that not many visiting teams are able to get the win. While the Tigers were without star players Robbie Farah and James Tedesco, the Titans can now not be denied as one of the form teams and genuine contenders for 2014.

With Round 8 over lets look at the TOP 8:

1. Bulldogs            12
2. Manly                12
3. Titans                 12
4. Tigers                10
5. Roosters             8
6. Brisbane             8
7. Souths                8
8. Penrith                8


David

NBA Playoffs Round 1

Round 1 Playoffs are truly on the way and just as predicted it has been unpredictable and exhilarating with both conferences. These are the conferences and the match ups below.

Eastern conference match ups of the round 1 2014 Playoffs are as follows:
1. Indiana Pacers versus the Atlantic Hawks
2. Miami Heat versus the Charlotte Bobcats
3. Toronto Raptors versus the Brooklyn Nets
4. Chicago Bulls versus the Washington Wizards

Western conference match ups of the round 1 2014 Playoffs are as follows:
1.San Antonio Spurs versus the Dallas Mavericks
2. Oklahoma City Thunder versus the Memphis Grizzles
3. Los Angeles Clippers versus the Golden State Warriors
4. Houston Rockets versus the Portland Trail Blazers

Current Results of the Round 1 Playoffs are:
Indiana and Atlanta tied with two games a piece
Washington leading Chicago 3-1
Toronto and Brooklyn tied with two games a piece
Miami white washing the Charlotte Bobcats 3 to zip

Dallas leads San Antonio 2-1
Portland leads Houston 3-1
Los Angeles and Golden State are tied with 2 games each
Oklahoma City and Memphis are also tied with two games a piece.

There is still plenty of round 1 to go stay tuned to see who makes it to the next round!

WSW THROUGH TO 2nd STRAIGHT GRAND FINAL!!!

The weekend saw the A-League semi-finals, with the grand final rematch of Central Coast Mariners and the Western Sydney Wanderers seeking redemption. 

WSW had a home ground advantage with the stadium full with the RBB. 

The game was not an easy match for the WSW with the CCM putting them through their paces. 

The first half saw a goal in the 31st minute, with Hersi nudging in a close ball to see the WSW in the lead 1-0. 

The second half was underway with WSW leading 1-0. Late in the Second half Hersi put through a pass to release Rocca who finished with ease, making the score line 2-0. The CCM could not match the brilliance of the WSW. WSW are through to their Second grand final with only being in the league for their second season.

The Second semi final was with the Brisbane Roar hosting the Melbourne Victory.

This match was a close match with no goals being scored in the first half. The second half saw Berisha put the Roar on top in the 58th minute with a 1-0 lead over the Victory which would end up being the final score line. However, Victory were left furious as a tackle inside the Roar box in stoppage time which should have been a penalty. 

The Roar face the Wanderers in the final held in Brisbane. Plenty of Wanderers are going to make the trek to Brisbane to watch their magic side play.

Justin

Monte Carlo Masters Finals Outcome

What an amazing end to such an exciting tournament! Stanislas Wawrinka has won the Monte Carlo Masters for the first time on Sunday by defeating Roger Federer 4-6 7-6 (5) 6-2 in the final. Though he struggled in the first set, he eventually recovered from this loss to win the next two sets and claim his first Masters title just six weeks before the May 25-June 8 grand slam tournament in Paris. He had this to say about his win: "When I came here, for me it was more like a test. I knew I was playing good tennis, but I didn't expect to win because the draw was so strong."

Roger Federer and Stanislas Wawrink holding up their trophies.

Even though I personally wanted Roger Federer to emerge victorious in the tournament, the match was very well played and Stanislas Wawrinka definitely deserved the win after all the hard work he put in. Roger Federer must be commended though for still displaying exceptional skill in the sport despite his age. Though I had initially envisioned that Novak Djokovic would win the tournament due to his stellar performance in the tournament up to the quarter finals, it was a nice change of pace for the underdog to achieve victory.

Let's look forward to the French Open and hope that Stanislas Wawrinka maintains his game!

Chentduren Aumkaran

EPL TITLE CONTENDERS!!!

Liverpool are sitting comfortably at the top of the Premier League table with 80 points thanks to an important win against Manchester City two weeks ago.
Their nearest rivals are Chelsea who are in second place, behind by five points, also with three games to follow.
Behind Chelsea is Manchester City, sitting on 74 points one point behind Chelsea, with four games to go, with a maximum 12 points on offer. 
These top three teams are in the contention for the English Premier League title. Unfortunately, Arsenal are highly unlikely to become Champions this season. 

A blockbuster game coming up this Sunday with the top two teams, Liverpool and Chelsea competing. This fixture is favourable to Liverpool as Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho has decided to play a weaker squad to rest his better players for the up coming Champions League match. If Liverpool win it is almost certain that Liverpool will become the Champions. If Chelsea win, Liverpool will remain at the top of the table, however the points difference will become smaller. 

For Man. City to become Champions they will have to win their next four games and hope that luck is on their side, relying on other teams to lose. 

English Premier League

Standings

#	Team	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	PTS
1	Liverpool	35	25	5	5	96	44	52	80
2	Chelsea	35	23	6	6	67	26	41	75
3	Man City	34	23	5	6	91	35	56	74
4	Arsenal	35	21	7	7	62	41	21	70
5	Everton	35	20	9	6	57	34	23	69
6	Tottenham	35	19	6	10	51	49	2	63
7	Man United	34	17	6	11	56	40	16	57
8	Southampton	35	13	10	12	50	45	5	49

Lets see what the next few games bring!!!

Justin

NBA Playoffs Begin!

The season has ended for 2014 for the NBA and that means playoffs are on the way which begin on the 19th of this month! The playoff lineups in both conferences have been shaken up having some teams such as the Boston Celtics not clinching a playoff berth while being in the playoffs which seems to be since their franchise opening. The Los Angeles Lakers showing without there star Kobe Bryant they aren't much with placing last in the conference no where near clinching a playoff berth. While teams placing last in previous seasons gaining a playoff berth like the Charlotte Bobcats. 
 Miami Heat are of course the favourite to win even though they did not gain first place in the conference but Paul George and his Indiana Pacers have been giving them a run for the money all season. The playoffs for this year seem like they will be full of surprises just as the teams in the playoffs have surprised everyone.

The teams in the Western Conference Playoffs:
1.San Antonio Spurs  
2.Oklahoma City Thunder
3.Los Angeles Clippers
4.Houston Rockets
5.Portland Trail Blazers 
6.Golden State Warriors 
7.Memphis Grizzles
8.Dallas Mavericks 





The teams in the Eastern Conference Playoffs:
1.Indiana Pacers
2.Miami Heat
3.Toronto Raptors
4.Chicago Bulls
5.Washington Wizards 
6.Brooklyn Nets
7.Charlotte Bobcats
8.Atlanta Hawks 

Keep an eye out for the round 1 updates and comments!

Immanuel 

Monte Carlo Masters Quarter-Finals Update

Top seed Rafael Nadal defeated Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-1, 6-3 to achieve his 300^th career clay court victory and advance into the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters. Nadal is now the 11^th player in history to achieve the amazing feat of 300 wins on clay. He will face sixth-seeded David Ferrer in the quarter-finals.

Rafael Nadal

On the other hand, second seed and titleholder Novak Djokovic has cruised into the quarter-finals by demolishing unranked Spanish player Pablo Carreno Busta 6-0, 6-1. Novak has been having a smooth run throughout the tournament, not experiencing much difficulty in any of his matches so far. He will face either NO. 5 player Tomas Berdych or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the quarter-finals.

Novak Djokovic

Though initially struggling during his match, fourth-seeded Roger Federer defeated Czech player Lukas Rosol 6-4, 6-1 to advance to the quarter-finals. He will be facing ninth-seeded Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, who recently celebrated his 29^th birthday.

Roger Federer

Furthermore, third-seed Stanislas Wawrinka advanced to the quarter-finals by default due to Spain’s Nicolas Almagro retiring from the tournament due to a foot injury. He will be facing off against Canadian eighth-seed Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals.  

Stanislas Wawrinka

Judging from the quarter finalists, this is gearing up to be an explosive final!

Chentduren Aumkaran

NRL Round 6 Wrap

Another week of NRL and another week of surprise results, let's look at this weeks results

On Friday night we had Souths defeating the Panthers 18-2. In a fairly ordinary game Souths got back on track with a win over the Panthers. In an uninspiring match the highlight was Nathan Merritt becoming the leading try-scorer of all-time for South Sydney.

Nathan Merritt

The second game on Friday night saw the Titans continue their great start to the year and keeping their top spot on the ladder by defeating the Brisbane Broncos 12-8. Ben Barba continued his so-so start to the year, his error near full-time leading to the Titans scoring and eventually winning.

Saturday opened with the Canberra Raiders at home against the Newcastle Knights. The Raiders headed in favourites but again were underwhelming losing to the Knights 26-12.  Coach Ricky Stuart will again start to fill the pressure with his new club if they cannot start to win, at least at home.

Next was probably the most talked about result of the weekend and the most interesting. The pre-season wooden spoon favourites the Parramatta Eels defeating last years Premiers the Sydney Roosters 14-12. The Parramatta Eels are now fifth on the table and have looked one of the strongest teams of the year so far.

Jarryd Hayne

Saturday night also saw the Wests Tigers defeat the very disappointing North Queensland Cowboys 16-4. While the Tigers have been great so far their night ended on a sour note with the Captain and best player Robbie Farah hurting his arm and likely being ruled out for about 6 weeks.

Sunday saw the Bulldogs still a win from the unpredictable New Zealand Warriors in Auckland with thefinal score being 21-20. While the Warriors put in an improved performance they were again unable to get the win with the Bulldogs halves, Josh Reynolds and Trent Hodkinson, putting in superb performances.

In an uninspiring Sunday afternoon match Manly got back on track defeating the last placed Sharks 24-4. The highlight for Manly being the incredibly strong return from injury of winger Jorge Taufua who is being touted as a possible State of Origin contender.

Jorge Taufua

Monday night football was a cliffhanger with the Melbourne Storm coming from nowhere with a freak try after full-time to break the hearts of the St George Dragons 28-24. Both teams have been up and down this year but both should take heart that they put in two of the best performances of the round.


So let's take a look at the Top 8 after Round 6

1. Titans                      10
2. Bulldogs                   8
3. Wests Tigers             8
4. Manly                       8
5. Parramatta                 8
6. Melbourne                8
7. Souths                       6
8. Brisbane                    6


Lets see what Round 7 brings!


David

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