Nick Phipps of the Waratahs during the Super Rugby match between Toyota Cheetahs and Waratahs at Free State Stadium on June 06, 2015 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images
Nick Phipps of the Waratahs during the Super Rugby match between Toyota Cheetahs and Waratahs at Free State Stadium on June 06, 2015 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images

Super Rugby play-off race reaches climax in regular season’s final round



The race for the Super Rugby play-offs reaches its climax in the final round of the regular season this weekend, but the competition between hopefuls for World Cup places offers an intriguing subplot in Australia.

The reigning champions New South Wales Waratahs, clinging to top spot in the Australian conference, will hope to stave off the challenge from the second-placed ACT Brumbies and secure a home semi-final with a big win over the lowly Queensland Reds in Sydney on Saturday.

At ground level, however, the Waratahs match will offer an absorbing duel between incumbent Wallabies halves Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps and their predecessors Quade Cooper and Will Genia.

The once-favoured Reds duo of fly-half Cooper and scrum-half Genia have been superseded by their Waratahs counterparts in the Australia pecking order.

With the Reds already out of the play-offs running, the match may be their last chance to give Michael Cheika, coach of both the Wallabies and the Waratahs, second thoughts.

“I’d say they will be coming here with a lot of motivation. It’s an opportunity for them to get in front of the Australian coach and they will probably see that as an Australian trial,” Daryl Gibson, an assistant coach to Cheika at the Waratahs, told local media.

Cooper was subdued last week as the Reds were thrashed by New Zealand’s visiting Waikato Chiefs, but the week before he was stellar against Western Force on his return from a two-month shoulder injury lay-off.

Starting fly-half Foley was relieved by the mercurial Cooper in the final two Tests of Australia’s season-ending tour of Europe last year and does not want to give his coach any scope for a review of the status quo.

“We don’t want to play a bloke like that back into form,” Foley told local reporters.

Cheika is to name an extended Wallabies squad of 45 after this weekend’s matches and trim down to 35 for the first two Tests of the Rugby Championship, which features New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina.

A rule change by the Australian Rugby Union has allowed foreign-based former Wallabies backs Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell and flanker George Smith to be eligible for selection.

Cheika said all three players had put their hands up. “So it all comes down to the selection table like everyone else,” Cheika said at Australia’s World Cup shirt launch in Sydney yesterday.

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Name: Almnssa
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If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.

When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.

How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

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Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021

Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.

The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.

These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.

“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.

“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.

“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.

“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”

Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.

There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.

“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.

“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.

“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”

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