England will play Russia tomorrow in the 5-8th places crossover games and Ireland play China, the winners of those matches filling the last two places in next year’s World Cup. In the semi-finals, South Africa play Scotland and New Zealand take on India.
In a bruising and dour battle a draw, which would have seen China through to the semi-finals, looked inevitable until Simpson broke the deadlock. His problems began at the fourth fence, a treble, where It’s Otto refused at the final element and sent poles flying in all directions. It took five minutes for the fence to be rebuilt.Billington’s day went from bad to worse when he fell from the horse after the final fence.

Final Pool A standings: 1 South Africa (P5, Pts13) 2 India (5-9); 3 England (5-9); 4 Ireland (5-4); 5 Japan (5-4); 6 Canada (5-2) Pool B: Spain 4 Zimbabwe 0.. Paul Darragh jumped two clear rounds on the mare Scandal to lead Ireland to success in the Nations Cup at the Kerrygold Dublin Horse Show yesterday while Britain, the joint leaders after the first round, trailed into fifth place. Ireland, who received the Aga Khan Trophy from their president Mary Robinson, claimed the victory without Eddie Macken having to jump a single fence. The Slough midfielder found Lynsey McVicker inside to strike the first blow into the back of the net.Spurred on by a large band of supporters, the Irish again drove forward, though their endeavours received a setback with the temporary suspension of Mary Logue. Reduced to 10 players, they forced a penalty corner in the 43rd minute and Arlene Thompson scored the equaliser.At a penalty corner with just seven minutes remaining, the ball was switched by Thompson to Kelleher, who drove in the winning goal. There was still time for Japan’s captain Sahori Miyazaki to hit the crossbar at the other end, but the Irish survived Their coach Terry Gregg was ecstatic.

“You can’t believe what this result means to me,” he said.WOMEN’S WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS (Harare): Pool A: Ireland 3 Japan 2. He could also be passed by in the table by Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, who is six off the lead after a 68.. Sara Kelleher guided Ireland to an unexpected 3-2 win against Japan in the World Cup qualifying tournament here yesterday, with the victory earning her team a place in tomorrow’s fifth-to-eighth play-offs. Ireland, who had just one point from their labours here before yesterday’s encounter, had to win against the Japanese to keep alive any hopes of making next year’s finals in the Netherlands. They started badly, letting in two goals in the opening 14 minutes and looking ragged.
Towards the end of the first half they won a string of penalty corners but were unable to breach the Japanese defences, with Japan’s goalkeeper Nima Miyazaki quite outstanding in covering her line.Kelleher, who had turned in moderate efforts at the tournament until this game, led Ireland’s recovery eight minutes into the second half with a strong run down the right.

“I started thinking about the record after I birdied the fourth, my 13th hole.” said Sjoland, who led last year’s Italian Open with five holes left but finished second. The first-round leader, Britain’s Scott Henderson, was nine under par, two shots off the lead, with three holes left when play stopped.Sjoland was a stroke off the European Tour record for 18 holes as he joined Garrido and Jimenez on 11-under-par 131, two strokes ahead of the field. The Swede also equalled the best score of the year, by Britain’s Jamie Spence at the Cannes Open, as he picked up 10 birdies by the time he came to the eighth, his 17th hole.Needing two more birdies for the first 59, a putt of 18 feet spun out of the cup on the eighth and he just missed the hole at the ninth, his last, from 15 feet.Sjoland had switched to an old putter and needed only 25 putts in his round. Patrik Sjoland narrowly missed birdie putts on the last two holes to lose a chance of becoming the first European Tour player to break 60 in a full event, in the second round of the Czech Open near Prague yesterday.

The Swede’s 10-under-par 61 sliced three strokes off the Karlstein course record and earned him a share of the lead with Spain’s Ryder Cup prospect, Ignacio Garrido, and another Spaniard, Miguel Jimenez.
Early evening thunderstorms halted proceedings with 36 players left to complete their second rounds this morning. “I want to go out on a high and there’s no way you can top all this.”Teams, Digest, page 24. This is Rose’s first experience over here and Quaker Ridge offers a typical US Open set-up with the thick rough around the greens to be avoided.”This is my favourite type of golf,” Rose said “I prefer target golf to links golf. No doubt I’ll be nervous, but I don’t think there’s any extra pressure on me being the youngest. If you’re playing well you can cope with anything.”While the Americans are led by Steve Scott, 19, the runner-up to Woods when he won a third US Amateur last year, and 45-year-old John Harris, Great Britain and Ireland also have a range of youth and experience.