Richie McCaw looks set to play his first Super Rugby match of the season after being named in the Canterbury Crusaders squad for tomorrow’s clash with the Waikato Chiefs, but Dan Carter has been ruled out through injury.
All Blacks skipper McCaw, widely regarded as the world’s best openside flanker, had surgery on a broken foot on the eve of the season and missed the first eight weeks, but will return on the bench for tomorrow’s match in Mt Maunganui, New Zealand.
Flyhalf Carter was recalled to the starting line-up after missing the 27-0 mauling of the champion Bulls on Saturday because of a hamstring problem, but was ruled out again after it tightened on him again in training on yesterday.
Carter, the all-time leading scorer in Super Rugby, will be replaced by Matt Berquist, who stood in for him and led the backline against the Bulls last weekend.
Berquist will have a new halfback partner after Kahn Fotuali’i was named at scrumhalf in place of Andy Ellis.
With McCaw on the bench, No. 8 Kieran Read will start as captain, as he has throughout the seven-times champions’ impressive start to the season.
Coach Todd Blackadder was not getting carried away, however, ahead of what he expected to be a tough encounter with the Chiefs, who welcome back All Blacks fullback Mils Muliaina, who has not played since he suffered a back injury in the third week of the competition.
“These derby matches are especially important in this season’s competition due to the conference format,” Blackadder said in a news release. “Traditionally they always carry extra spice and it will be a tough, physical match up there.”
“I was pleased with what we achieved against the Bulls in Timaru last weekend, but we still have plenty to work on and I know the guys are looking forward to doing that,” he said.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later