Martin Johnson said England were in rude health ahead of their end-of-season tour Down Under. After serving up disappointing fare in their first four Six Nations matches, England finished on a high with a spirited and much-improved performance in the 12-10 defeat by eventual Grand Slam winners France in Paris.
Up-and-coming talents such as prop Dan Cole, scrum-half Ben Youngs, wing Chris Ashton and full-back Ben Foden were given chances in the tournament and they all took them with both hands, leaving Johnson with plenty of options at his disposal in most departments in his team.
Johnson said the build-up to next year’s World Cup in New Zealand begins this June with his team’s five-match trip to the southern hemisphere, which takes in a pair of Tests with the Wallabies, two further midweek fixtures and a tour-ending game against the New Zealand Maori in Napier.
Despite being criticized for only finishing third in the Six Nations, Johnson believes England are in great shape.
“We have a good foundation for the summer tour and heading into the autumn [November] series,” England’s 2003 World Cup-winning captain told reporters at Twickenham on Wednesday. “Now some of these players understand what it means to be a Test-match player, the work involved, not just in Test week, but also the preparation required.”
Johnson said the criticism of his side, who won just two of their five Six Nations matches this season and lost to both Australia and New Zealand in November, has served only to strengthen the resolve of England’s players and coaching staff.
“The trust between the coaches and players is better than it ever has been,” said Johnson, who confirmed there would be no changes to his under-fire coaching staff prior to the forthcoming tour.
England’s recent record against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa is not great — since 2004, they have won just four of 24 matches against the three southern-hemisphere powers although one of those was their 2007 World Cup quarter-final victory over the Wallabies.
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
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
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
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB