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Date: 2023-12-06 02:00:20 | Author: Online Games | Views: 780 | Tag: egame
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Andy Murray staged an encouraging recovery from his miserable Chinese stint with a lengthy win over Yannick Hanfmann at the Swiss Indoors in Basel egame
The 36-year-old’s 7-5 6-4 win snapped a three-match losing streak in consecutive tournaments but he was forced to fight against the German world number 51 egame
Murray clawed through some marathon opening exchanges to wrest the advantage but was almost pushed into a decider by Hanfmann, who threatened the Scot’s serve throughout egame
The German briefly delayed Murray by converting his eighth break point of the match when he served for the match at 5-3, but Murray immediately responded in kind to seal his place in the next stage egame
Murray said in his on-court interview: “I’m happy to come through egame
He’s had a brilliant year and he’s been playing very well, so it’s a good result egame
“It was tough egame
The first four or five games were something like 45 minutes egame
I don’t remember having that really before, it was ridiculous egame
”Murray is making only his third career appearance at the event, having lost to Roberto Bautista Agut in the first round in 2022 egame
Murray lost in the second round in Zhuhai before successive exits at the first hurdle in Beijing and Shanghai to Alex de Minaur and Roman Safiullin respectively egame
At the Vienna Open, Dan Evans was forced to retire from his first-round clash with Frances Tiafoe due to a calf injury egame
Evans was 4-1 up in the opening set when he pulled up behind the baseline, with Tiafoe progressing to the second round egame
British number one Cameron Norrie was given a tough time by Austria’s world number 169 Filip Misolic before edging into round two egame
Norrie had to scrap through a tight first-set tie-break and was hauled back in the second set by the plucky home favourite before battling through 7-6 (7) 4-6 6-3 egame
Like Murray, Norrie was recovering from a fruitless swing to Asia having fallen at the first stage in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as last week’s Japan Open in Tokyo egame
Heather Watson fell in the first round of the Abierto Tampico event in Mexico, losing in three sets to Ann Li egame
Watson won the first set 6-4, but the American - ranked 50 places below Watson at 156 - raced through the second 6-1 and took the decider 6-3 egame
More aboutAndy MurrayCameron NorrieDan EvansJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesComments1/1Murray back to winning ways after snapping three-match losing streakMurray back to winning ways after snapping three-match losing streakGetty Images✕Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this articleWant to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today egame
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“We are the bomb squad and we knew we had to play a massive role egame
” If South Africa’s narrow win over England in the Rugby World Cup semi-final could be summed up in one sentence, then this proclamation from Vincent Koch after the game would probably be it egame
When Koch emerged from the replacements on 55 minutes to take the place of starting tighthead prop Frans Malherbe, Owen Farrell had just slotted a drop goal from downtown Paris to give England a 15-6 lead egame
Nine points may not seem a lot but, with the final quarter of the match beckoning and the rain and wind increasing at the Stade de France, it was a comparatively huge deficit egame
Throughout the first few minutes of the second half, the Springboks had more or less emptied their bench as Ox Nche, RG Snyman, Kwagga Smith, Deon Fourie, Faf de Klerk and Willie Le Roux all entered the fray to go alongside the controversial 30th-minute substitution of starting fly half Manie Libbok for Handre Pollard egame
With their World Cup title defence hanging by a thread, South Africa trusted their bench and got their reward egame
Koch and Nche splintered the previously effective English scrum, Snyman burrowed his way across the line for the game’s only try and Pollard nervelessly converted tricky kicks to complete the hardest-fought of turnarounds – 10 unanswered points, a 16-15 win and a date with the All Blacks in another World Cup final next Saturday egame
Of the various phrases rugby has adopted over the years to describe those players in the matchday squad but not in the starting line-up – from the traditional “replacements” and the egame football-ised “substitutes” through to the Eddie Jones-preferred ‘finishers’, the slightly patronising “impact players” and the frankly ludicrous “game-changers” adopted by Harlequins during the Paul Gustard era – none has captured the imagination quite like South Africa’s “bomb squad” egame
It doesn’t matter if you think it’s a slightly self-serving and faintly ridiculous term, the players fully buy into the ethos of what it stands for egame
The intensity and physicality that generation after generation of Springbok has prided themselves on is summed up by this two-word mantra egame
“Each person knows exactly his role in the team, whether you’re starting or in the bomb squad,” explained Koch egame
“When we created the bomb squad, we knew exactly what our job is egame
The starters start the whole process and it’s for us to come and finish it egame
“All the players on the bomb squad are very excited to make a massive difference in the game egame
”Vincent Koch celebrated RG Snyman’s try as the bomb squad thrived (AFP via Getty Images)And against England, when the chips were down, they realised they needed to step up more than ever egame
“The bomb squad always stands for energy,” added Koch egame
“We needed to create a nice vibe egame
Putting the replacements on a bit earlier helped the boys to start to bring that energy and lift up the spirit and bring a massive work-rate egame
”Where South Africa’s replacements thrived, perhaps England’s faltered just a touch egame
The English gameplan, devised by Steve Borthwick and perfectly executed by the players for the windy and rainy Parisian conditions, relied upon relentless kicking, winning the subsequent aerial battle, slowing the game down and dominating the set-piece egame
Maybe then, they could escape with a win against an objectively superior team egame
They kicked 93 per cent of possession away (the highest percentage of the tournament), had an average ruck speed of 6 egame
73s (the slowest of the tournament) and had zero linebreaks (the only team to do so in a game at this tournament) egame
They disrupted South African lineouts, turned over multiple mauls and Borthwick’s decision to play his two strongest scrummaging props – Dan Cole and Joe Marler – from the start earned them scrum parity and redemption from the disaster in that facet during the 2019 World Cup final egame
Ox Nche was immense from the bench against the Springboks (EPA)This is a Springboks side that pride themselves on their dominance up front, as shown by opting for a scrum after calling a mark in their own 22 during the quarter-final victory over France egame
Of course, they won a penalty from it egame
Yet England were holding their own during those engagements, even thriving, and most importantly winning on the scoreboard egame
But the innate problem with starting your best scrummagers came to fruition in the second half egame
Replacement props Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler are far more dynamic around the park and more destructive carriers than their veteran counterparts but, with England showing no desire to run any plays more than two metres either side of the previous breakdown, those skills were negated once they came on for Marler and Cole egame
Instead, their inferior scrummaging was brutally exposed by a fired-up Koch and Nche, who turned parity into Springbok dominance egame
They won two scrums against the head, including a vital one at 15-6 down on their own line, and engineered multiple penalties on their own feed, including the most vital of all – on halfway, with 77 minutes on the clock and England leading 15-13 egame
Pollard banged over the long kick and the rest was history egame
Handre Pollard broke English hearts with his late penalty (PA Wire)Nche was coy when asked in the mixed zone after the game what had made the difference at scrum-time in the final quarter and how he bested his opposite number, Sinckler egame
“That is the dark arts,” he smiled egame
“It is hard to explain to you egame
We had a plan for that egame
We knew what we were trying to achieve egame
“They have had a great scrum for the competition and a great hit egame
Our focus was surviving that and applying pressure egame
Our mentality for every scrum is to get a penalty if we can egame
If they do survive, we play out the back and get into our shape egame
”The “dark arts” ultimately won the day, South Africa survived a second straight one-point knockout match and must now plan how to overcome the All Blacks in a battle to be the first side to win four men’s Rugby World Cups egame
Luckily, they have a not-so-secret weapon egame
“We are the bomb squad egame
” More aboutSouth Africa rugbyEngland RugbyRugby World CupJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesComments1/4How South Africa’s not-so-secret weapon turned World Cup semi-finalHow South Africa’s not-so-secret weapon turned World Cup semi-finalVincent Koch celebrated RG Snyman’s try as the bomb squad thrived AFP via Getty ImagesHow South Africa’s not-so-secret weapon turned World Cup semi-finalOx Nche was immense from the bench against the Springboks EPAHow South Africa’s not-so-secret weapon turned World Cup semi-finalHandre Pollard broke English hearts with his late penalty PA WireHow South Africa’s not-so-secret weapon turned World Cup semi-finalSouth Africa’s replacements shone to overcome England Reuters✕Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this articleWant to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today egame
SubscribeAlready subscribed? Log inMost PopularPopular videosSponsored FeaturesGet in touchContact usOur ProductsSubscribeRegisterNewslettersDonateToday’s EditionInstall our appArchiveOther publicationsInternational editionsIndependent en EspañolIndependent ArabiaIndependent TurkishIndependent PersianIndependent UrduEvening StandardExtrasAdvisorPuzzlesAll topicsegame BettingVoucher codesCompareCompetitions and offersIndependent AdvertisingIndependent IgniteSyndicationWorking at The IndependentLegalCode of conduct and complaintsContributorsCookie policyDonations Terms & ConditionsPrivacy noticeUser policiesModern Slavery ActThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inCloseUS EditionChangeUK EditionAsia EditionEdición en EspañolSubscribe{{indy egame
truncatedName}}Log in / Register {{#items}}{{#stampSmall}}{{/stampSmall}}{{#stampClimate}}{{/stampClimate}}{{#stampPremium}}{{/stampPremium}}{{title}}{{#desc}}{{desc}}{{/desc}}{{#children}}{{title}}{{/children}}{{/items}}Indy100Crosswords & PuzzlesMost CommentedNewslettersAsk Me AnythingVirtual EventsVouchersCompare✕Log inEmail addressPasswordEmail and password don't matchSubmitForgotten your password?New to The Independent?RegisterOr if you would prefer:SIGN IN WITH GOOGLEWant an ad-free experience?View offersThis site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy notice and Terms of service apply egame
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