The British and Irish Lions suffered twin calamities Saturday, losing the first rugby union test 21-3 to New Zealand's All Blacks and losing captain Brian O'Driscoll to a tour-ending shoulder injury.
O'Driscoll was helped from the field a minute into the series, providing an unwitting symbol of the disaster that was to engulf the tourists in 80 minutes of wet and windy rugby at Jade Stadium.
Coach Clive Woodward's boasts about the potency and the preparation of the Lions were made to seem hollow as the All Blacks, with tries to lock Ali Williams and winger Sitiveni Sivivatu, delivered a mighty blow.
Woodward's eccentric selection, featuring 13 Englishmen in the 22-man squad at the expense of the current Six Nations powerhouse Wales and with Jonny Wilkinson at inside center, failed to achieve the ends of its design.
The Lions were thoroughly outplayed, putting Woodward's bid for a glorious coaching swansong seems in jeopardy.
"We just didn't have the ball and at this level of rugby you have to have the ball," said Woodward. "The better team won, we were well beaten and we have to move on quickly.
"To lose Brian O'Driscoll is a huge blow but we'll regroup and stay positive."
Woodward, who led England to World Cup glory two years ago, has staked his coaching reputation on this tour, for which he's been furnished all of the resources the so-called Home Unions can provide.
His squad of 45 players and more than 30 technical assistants were drawn together to allow Woodward to demonstrate the full power of British rugby and to give the Lions their first series victory in New Zealand since 1971.
Instead, the All Blacks showed the merits of concentration on the basic precepts of test rugby.
Williams, the lineout hero with his plunder of possession from Lions' throws, burst through a yawning gap in the tourists' lineout in the 24th minute, drove to the tryline and stretched out a giant hand to force the All Blacks' first try.
Sivivatu, in only his second test match and after a four try debut against Fiji, bewildered the Lions' defense to score New Zealand's second try seven minutes into the second spell.
Skipper Tana Umaga cut open the Lions' defense in midfield and, sensing more than seeing Sivivatu loom on his left, steadied and fired a long pass to the Fijian-born winger.
Sivivatu shrugged off his marker, Josh Lewsey, fended another defender, drove through a third and cut infield on a 30m run to the tryline.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier