Kenya shock NZ at Wellington Sevens

Upset ... Kenya's Oscar Ouma (L) attempts to evade New Zealand's Tomasi Cama. Source: AFP

Kenya have beaten New Zealand in a monumental semi-final upset at the IRB Sevens World Series tournament in Wellington.

Australia, who lost to New Zealand earlier on Saturday, made up for the loss with victory over Scotland in the consolation Plate final.

In a tournament full of upsets, including Fiji losing to Canada for just the second time ever, perhaps the biggest shock was the unfancied Kenyans defying history and home advantage against the All Blacks.

The thrilling 19-14 win in extra time stunned the crowd who fully expected the series leaders to advance, particularly as they led 14-0 with just four minutes remaining.

However, the Kenyans responded to first-half tries by Tomasi Cama and Tim Mikkelson with tries to Oscar Ouma and captain Collins Injera, the latter a patient effort well after the final hooter had sounded.

Ouma grabbed the winner 40 seconds into 'golden try' extra time against the tiring hosts to book a first final in 14 years of trying in Wellington.

Perennial crowd favourites, Kenya have threatened many times but never won a world series event, but sport can have a cruel irony about it as they fell in a similar manner to New Zealand in the final.

Facing a previously underperforming England and chasing their first IRB tournament victory in 83 attempts, Kenya couldn't defend a score of 19-12 late in the second half as England added to their 2009 Wellington crown.

As Kenya did against the All Blacks, England scored an equlising try after the the siren had sounded and, with the Kenyans temporarily down to five men due to sin bins, scoring the golden try was almost a formality.

It represented a remarkable turnaround for England, who hadn't reached the quarterfinals of any of the first three legs of the series.

Earlier, Australia gained some degree of consolation by beating Scotland 22-7 in the Plate final.

The young Australia side effectively finished fifth of 16 teams on Saturday to round out their best effort of the series.

They won five of six matches, sweeping through pool play unbeaten on Friday - including an upset defeat of Fiji - and comfortably accounting for South Africa (28-12) and the Scots in the Plate division.

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Storm cruise through NRL trial

Brett Finch played in Melbourne Storm's first trial match against Brisbane Easts. Source: Scott Barbour / AAP

High-flying Melbourne winger Matt Duffie suffered an injury scare in his first game back after shoulder surgery as the Storm cruised to a 28-4 win over Queensland Cup side Brisbane Easts in their NRL trial.

Duffie, one of only a handful of their regular starters to line up for the pre-season match, suffered a corked thigh just a minute before halftime at their Melbourne training ground.

He limped from the field and had ice strapped to his leg although he later said the injury was just a "bruise''.

Kiwi-born Duffie was making his first appearance since undergoing a shoulder reconstruction just before the finals which ruled him out of Melbourne's charge to the NRL title.

Starting at fullback, he looked sharp with a couple of good runs and scored a try when moved to the wing for the second quarter.

"I felt good,'' said the 22-year-old, who asked coach Craig Bellamy if he could play.

"I was obviously blowing a bit ... I haven't played since July.

"My runs were fine and it was good to get back out there.''

Duffie has added three kilograms to his wiry frame to try to bulk up after two shoulder operations.

"Ever since I've started playing it's been a focus because I've always been pretty slender compared to everyone else,'' he said.

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Halfback Brett Finch, returning to the Storm for a second stint after a season with Super League club Wigan, captained the team while first choice backs Sisa Waqa, Mahe Fonua had a run.

Former Knight Junior Sa'u played the second half and grabbed a try.

They were watched by teammates including captain Cameron Smith and fellow stars Billy Slater and Cooper Cronk.

Melbourne secondrower Tohu Harris opened the scoring in the third minute and the home side were out to 12-4 at the main break, with neither side kicking conversions.

For the final two quarters Bellamy took off most of his first grade contenders, filling the positions with National Youth Cup players.

Finch said he thought the team played well in a seven-try effort, given it was their first hit-out.

"It's always nice to have a gallop after such a long pre-season,'' he said.

"There were obviously a few mistakes there but I think the coach would be pretty happy.

"There were a lot of young fellas and they played really good.''

The Storm play Canberra in Geelong on Friday night in their last trial before flying to the UK for their World Club Challenge against Leeds on Feb 23.

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Victory cling on to break Heart

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Winner ... Mark Milligan celebrates after scoring the Victory's second goal. Source: Joe Castro / AAP

Melbourne Victory used Melbourne Heart as a stepladder to climb a little closer to the A-League peak, with a pulsating 2-1 derby win at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

A delightfully worked first half goal to Archie Thompson and Mark Milligan's second half penalty capped second-placed Victory's win as they closed within three points of league leaders Central Coast Mariners.

Victory's win was soured by injury concerns to star attacker Marco Rojas and defender Nick Ansell.

While coach Ange Postecoglou was not overly worried by Rojas's late substitution - believing it was just muscle tightness - Ansell broke down in the first half with a groin injury.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Central Coast	19	11	6	2	17	39
2	Victory	19	11	3	5	4	36
3	Western Sydney	18	10	2	6	8	32
4	Adelaide	18	10	2	6	4	32
5	Newcastle	19	6	5	8	-8	23
6	Brisbane	19	6	3	10	-1	21
7	Heart	19	6	3	10	-3	21
8	Sydney	19	6	3	10	-9	21
9	Wellington	19	5	5	9	-10	20
10	Perth	19	5	4	10	-2	19

The talented central defender had only just returned from injury, and Postecoglou believes he will at least miss next weekend's top of the table away clash with Adelaide United with his new problem.

But Postecoglou was again happy with his team's performance - their past 15 matches yielding just two defeats.

"It was a cracking night of football, great atmosphere ... they put us under pressure at times and we always looked threatening going forward," he said.

Victory goalkeeper Nathan Coe was perhaps his side's most important player - three huge first half saves denying the Heart as a frenetic opening 45 minutes swung in the balance.

With the Heart menacing early, Coe was called into action inside six minutes to deny fullback Jeremy Walker.

He produced a gem of a reflex stop from Eli Babalj on 13 minutes, then for the pick of the trio, a diving save high to his left to stop a goalbound Golgol Mebrahtu free-kick just before halftime.

His magnificence between the sticks allowed those outfield to work the necessary magic - midfielder Marcos Flores' superb turn and chip freeing Thompson on 29 minutes to score and put the Victory ahead.

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Both sides had excellent patches of play in the first half, before Victory were handed clear advantage early in the second when Heart midfielder Jonathan Germano manhandled Flores in the box off the ball and was caught out by referee Strebre Delovski.

Milligan hammered home the penalty to the delight of the majority of the 41,203 crowd.

But with the Victory seemingly in control, a neat individual goal from Heart winger David Williams in which he beat two defenders meant a nervous last 17 minutes for the home side.

Heart's best chance of an equaliser was again created by the lively Williams, whose excellent cross on 76 minutes was headed just wide by Mebrahtu.

Heart goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne also produced two fine saves late in the match to stop the Victory going further ahead.

Heart coach John Aloisi believed his side played and competed well.

But striker Josip Tadic's substitution after just 33 minutes with a suspected broken toe will again stretch the club's depth - with the retirement of Vinnie Grella and sale of Socceroo fullback Aziz Behich to Turkey in the past week.

"Our back five probably have 20 A-League games between them," Aloisi said.

"Considering the players we've lost, considering what happened this week, I couldn't be more proud of the boys.

"They played well, unlucky to lose the game I think. I thought we created enough chances to score goals."

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Mixed night for Quade in Reds trial

Mixed night ... Quade Cooper got a trial game under his belt as the Reds beat the Blues. Source: Patrick Hamilton / AAP

Quade Cooper displayed many of his sublime skills but finished red-faced in his Super Rugby trial return as Queensland outlasted a spirited young Blues outfit on Saturday night.

The Reds scored seven close-range tries to five by the physical Blues to win an entertaining pre-season cobweb-duster 41-35 at a packed Toowoomba Sports Ground.

Part-time boxer Cooper mixed mostly good, with some bad and ugly in his 60 minutes on the field in his only hit-out before Queensland's Super Rugby campaign kicks off against the Brumbies in Canberra in a fortnight.

In his first rugby appearance in five months, the Wallabies playmaker set up a long-range break with his first touch of the ball - an inside pop pass to Digby Ioane - and also produced some signature jinking steps and flick passes.

But his last two acts on the field left a sour taste in Cooper's mouth as he was one of many barrelled by powerful winger Albert Nikoro and then stripped of the ball just minutes later.

Both mistakes led to Blues tries as John Kirwan's young team stormed back into the contest to trail 29-28 at the three-quarter break.

Cooper's goalkicking, given the duties for his sole pre-season trial ahead of sharpshooter Mike Harris, was more rusty - slotting just two from five.

Harris immediately showed he was the man for the job by landing one from touch as the Reds closed out the topsy-turvy match.

The signs were promising for the Aucklanders who are attempting to rebuild under new coach Kirwan following a forgettable 2012.

The Blues had a 14-0 lead by the first drinks break with prop Angus Ta'avao and lock Ronald Raaymakers both bustling their way over after set pieces near the line.

But Queensland's pack muscled up to run in three close-range tries to forwards Adam Wallace-Harrison, James Hanson and Radike Samo in the last 12 minutes of the half.

Wingers Rod Davies and Luke Morahan were among the Reds best performers while halfback Nick Frisby and young flanker Liam Gill impressed after the break to build up the 29-14 advantage.

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Eels tighten defence in Knights win

Defence ... Parramatta thrashed a young Knights outfit. Source: Gregg Porteous / News Limited

New Parramatta coach Ricky Stuart has demanded his troops get physical in defence this season and the young Eels made an encouraging start in a 46-10 NRL trial win over an inexperienced Newcastle in Armidale.

The Eels were the worst defensive team in the league last year and slumped to the wooden spoon.

But Stuart is determined to turn things around and has spent the pre-season trying to put a sting into Parramatta's tackling efforts.

Eels captaincy candidate Reni Maitua scored a try and played strongly in the comfortable victory in front of 5023 fans, while exciting lock forward prospect Ken Edwards put his hand up for a first grade spot by bagging a double and collecting the man-of-the-match award.

Utility forward Taulima Tautai was the pick of Parramatta's NRL talent playing at prop and Luke Kelly did well with his audition in the five-eighth jersey.

Kelly set up a couple of tries, as he looks to partner Chris Sandow in the halves to start the year.

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Another to stand out for Stuart, was his hooker Nathan Smith - who is vying with Matt Keating to start the year in the No.9 shirt.

Smith said Stuart has instructed his players to go hard at each other at training and believes the emphasis on defence paid off in the opening trial.

"Everything we've been doing is really physical and technique based and we've been getting stuck into each other at training,'' Smith told AAP.

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"Last year we were a bit poor in that aspect and we needed to really get our bodies in front and dominate the ruck and the edges.

"We really needed to dominate the whole game defensively and I think we did that.

"It's only very early, the first trial - but the things we didn't get right last year seem to be fixing themselves and we're on the right track.''

Smith and the Eels' NRL talent played about 50 minutes, before Stuart injected some of his fringe players and younger talent.

Parramatta led 26-0 at halftime and were up 36-0 when the big names left the field.

Fullback Peter Mata'utia was the only Newcastle player with NRL experience, but the rookies snuck in for two late consolation tries.

Smith believes he's put himself in a good position to push Keating for a starting berth come round one.

"I thought my games at the back end of last year were pretty good too. If I'm not No.9 I'd love to be 14 (on the bench), and just make my way through the year into the side.''

The Eels were minus stars like Sandow, Jarryd Hayne and Willie Tonga.

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WA thrash Bulls in Ryobi Cup

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The "bad boy'' tag had already been shed by Shaun Marsh.

However, that didn't stop the talented West Australian batsman having another go at getting into the national selectors' good books at the Gabba on Saturday.

WA posted a massive total of 4-308, before Queensland were bowled out for 198 in the 44th over of their reply.

Marsh kept statisticians - and he hopes selectors - on their toes by thrashing an unbeaten 155 for the Warriors, setting up a 110-run win.

He stroked 12 fours and six sixes - including three straight off Alister McDermott - to register the highest knock at the Gabba, second-best by a WA batsman and ninth biggest overall in domestic one-day history.

Not a bad effort for a bloke who started the summer playing Perth club cricket after his brother Mitch's ill-fated birthday celebration ensured he returned from the Perth Scorchers' Champions League campaign with his tail between his legs.

Marsh dug deep in the Big Bash League to break back into Australia's Twenty20 side against Sri Lanka this summer - and a one-day call-up against the West Indies may still be on the cards based on his heroics on Saturday.

He wasn't the only star to shine for a WA outfit that has kept their one-day final hopes alive.

Australian Twenty20 teammates Marsh (155 not out off 147 balls) and captain Adam Voges (112 off 116) put on 229 for the third wicket after WA were reeling at 2-16 in the ninth over.

It was WA's second-highest stand in domestic one-day history - just shy of their overall record of 257, also for the third wicket, set by Murray Goodwin and Mike Hussey against NSW in Perth in 2001.

And it easily eclipsed WA's 160-run third-wicket limited overs record partnership against Queensland set by Justin Langer and Chris Rogers in 2003 in Perth.

It ensured fourth-placed WA notched back-to-back bonus point wins to move to 14 points on the one-day ladder to remain a mathematical chance of making the final with one game left up their sleeve.

Third-placed Queensland (15pts) had everything to play for with a finals berth in their sights but didn't fire with the bat.

Victoria (19pts) lead the competition ahead of South Australia (18pts), who have a game in hand.

Only Nathan Reardon (58), former Australia one-day batsman Peter Forrest (40) and recalled opener Greg Moller (39) looked like taking it to a WA attack led by Nathan Coulter-Nile (3-48), left arm quick Jason Behrendorff (3-39) and promising spinner Ashton Agar (3-51).

The Warriors also looked sluggish early with the bat, crawling to 50 in the 17th over.

However, by the 25th over the Warriors had registered three figures as Voges and Marsh began to take charge.

Their 218-ball stand finally came to an end when Voges' ramp shot went awry and he was caught off Matthew Gale (3-50 off 11 overs) in the 45th over.

Voges thumped 11 fours to notch his highest domestic one-day knock.

Voges dared to dream about a one-day final ahead of their regular season finale against Tasmania on February 19.

''To be able to back up what we did against NSW (Wednesday night's 111-run win in Sydney) is really pleasing,'' he said.

''It will be a tough ask to get to the final but the pleasing thing is the way we go about everything - it is getting great results.''

Voges credited new coach Justin Langer for his recent Twenty20 international recall and Marsh's form - and attitude - reversal.

''He has changed a few things with my technique and tinkered a bit with Shaun as well - it is starting to bare some fruit,'' he said.

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Pakistan crash to all-time Test low

Dominating ... Dale Steyne takes a wicket as Pakistan crumble. Source: AAP

Pakistan crashed to their lowest Test total when they were bowled out for 49 by a South African pace barrage on the second day of the first Test at the Wanderers Stadium on Saturday.

1st Test - New Wanderers Stadium

1 February 2013 - Day 2, Session 3

South Africa 2nd Innings

H. Amla	50	91	4	0	54.95
A. de Villier...	63	84	6	0	75
S. Ajmal	16	1	61	1	3.81

Dale Steyn took six for eight in 8.1 overs as Pakistan failed to match their previous low - 53 against Australia in Sharjah in 2002/03.

South Africa led by 204 runs on the first innings, but decided against enforcing the follow on.peAB de Villiers equalled the South African wicketkeeping record by holding six catches as the Pakistan batsmen failed to cope with top quality bowling on a pitch with steep and sometimes variable bounce as well as some sideways movement.

Vernon Philander took two for 16 and Jacques Kallis two for 11.

Azhar Ali (13) and captain Misbah-ul-Haq were the only Pakistan batsmen to reach double figures.

It was the third time in two seasons that South Africa bowled out opponents for less than 50.

Australia were bowled out for 47 in 2011/12 and New Zealand were dismissed for 45 earlier this season. Both of those matches were in Cape Town.

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