England's Rugby League side beat France 56-8 on Friday night, scoring 10 tries in a superb second half performance that augurs well for the World Cup later in the year.
Performances of note included the three tries for Warrington center Martin Gleeson, whose place in the side had not been guaranteed, and Hull KR wing Peter Fox’s touchdown in his first ever match for England. Stand-off Leon Pryce, who was named man of the match, and loose forward Kevin Sinfield had good performances, while the home side could not counter the energy of front-row forwards Jamie Peacock and Adrian Morley.
The French 13, who were made up of nine players from Super League club Catalans Dragons, did well to keep the score to 16-8 at the break.
PHOTO: AP
EIt was France who went ahead when Toulouse scrum-half James Wynne put the home side ahead. Thomas Bosc, the free-scoring Catalans half-back, added the conversion to put the French 6-0 in front, but from then on it was pretty much all England.
England’s other try scorers, Gleeson apart, were Pryce, substitute Maurie Fa’asavalu, Fox, Keith Senior, Jon Wilkin, Danny McGuire, and Paul Wellens.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
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Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
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