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Down Under

View from Oz: Geelong on the march

Neil Sherwin had a front row seat on another hectic weekend of Aussie sport.

AFL

GEELONG CONTINUES TO keep pace with Collingwood at the top of the ladder following a comfortable 127-61 win over North Melbourne.

The Cats face the Pies this coming weekend in what will be a true test of the latter’s credentials for back to back Premierships.

Gold Coast continued their recent run of rollercoaster results to defeat the Brisbane Lions in what was a cracker of a first Queensland derby.

Former Brisbane player Jared Brennan picked up the Best on Ground award in the wake of comments from his ex-teammate Simon Black who labelled him “a mercenary” in the lead up to the game.

In the weekend’s other games, the two West Australian sides suffered away defeats with Fremantle and West Coast losing out to Richmond and Essendon respectively, while Hawthorn beat Port Adelaide, Melbourne thumped Adelaide, and Sydney came from behind to see off the Western Bulldogs.

Rewinding to last week, the West Australian Football League (WAFL) witnessed a horrific injury when Jaymie Graham of East Fremantle went down under a sliding challenge from a Subiaco player.

Graham, a former West Coast Eagles star, was left in agony as his knee twisted in ways it isn’t designed to. It later transpired that he ruptured three of the four main knee ligaments (ACL, MCL and PCL), all of which were operated on during the week, and it remains to be seen whether the 28-year-old will play again.

The video went viral via YouTube and made news around the globe.

If you’re squeamish then look away now.

Soccer

Melbourne Victory were  in Asian Champions League action against Gamba Osaka on Thursday night, with the much-maligned Kevin Muscat skippering the club at home for the last time.

The game ended in a 1-1 draw with Adrian Leijer’s opener for Victory cancelled out by Sota Nazakawa, a result which leaves the Victorians little chance of qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition with just one group game to go.

Muscat is someone who has never been far away from controversy and has become a figure that has divided the opinions of the Australia football community. His most recent indiscretion occurred in January when he was given an eight game ban for a horrendous challenge on Adrian Zahra  in the Melbourne derby against the Heart.

The former Australian international played for Millwall, Wolves and Crystal Palace, as well as Rangers in Scotland, and amassed a total of 76 yellow and six red cards during his time in England.

Super Rugby

The life and times of England international Danny Cipriani continue to make headlines down under with the fly half omitted from the Melbourne Rebels trip to South Africa.

The Rebels left for Johannesburg today minus the controversial star who has been disciplined twice in recent weeks for his off field antics. Just last week Cirpiani and team mate Richard Kingi broke team rules by staying out in the wake of the defeat to the Waratahs and both were dropped for Friday’s 33-18 loss to the Queensland Reds.

Now the axe has been wielded again, casting a shadow of doubt over the 23 year old’s future in Super Rugby.

In the other all Australian game of Round 12, the Waratahs saw off the Western Force in Sydney 20-15. Former Force winger Ryan Cross was amongst the try scorers for the hosts while John Ulugia also crossed. Wallabies Kurtley Beale and James O’Connor were in great kicking form for their respective teams with the latter scoring all his side’s points.

Australia’s other side, the Brumbies, enjoyed a superb start against the Sharks in South Africa and led 13-0 after 25 minutes but collapsed to a 34-16 defeat.  JP Pietersen, Steven Sykes, Adrian Jacobs and Anton Bresler all touched down for the home side to recover from Christian Lealiifano’s early try.