Yachting: Team NZ top heading into semis

Team New Zealand will go into the semifinals of the Louis Vuitton Trophy yachting regatta in France as the top crew after two further victories today in the round-robin stages.

They beat American rivals Oracle and French entry TFS off Nice on the Cote d'Azur to take their win-loss record to 9-1.

Skipper Dean Barker and his colleagues have one round-robin race left and cannot be overtaken on the leaderboard in the America's Cup-style match-racing event.

They are two wins ahead of Britain's Team Origin, skippered by three-time Olympic champion and former Team NZ back-up helmsman Ben Ainslie.

The other teams occupying the top four spots are Italians Azzurra and Russia's Synergy, who recorded a good win over Team Origin, leading from start to finish.

Synergy, who have New Zealander Rod Dawson calling tactics, have been one of the stories of the regatta, almost upsetting Team NZ last week and then losing another race because of equipment damage.

Their Polish skipper, Karl Jablonski, said the important thing was the atmosphere on board.

"We went through a difficult time at the beginning," he said.

"If something goes wrong, there are a lot of possibilities for the team to explode or not be happy, but we are holding together."

- NZPA