England rugby union team manager Martin Johnson has resigned after 3.5 years in the job following England’s flat performances and exit in the quarter-finals of the recent Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) scheduled a news conference at their Twickenham headquarters with Johnson and professional rugby director Rob Andrew for late yesterday afternoon and though there was no official RFU comment, sources at the governing body confirmed that his resignation would be confirmed.
Johnson, England’s 2003 World Cup-winning captain, steered England to their first Six Nations title in eight years, but his contract was due to expire at the end of next month.
He had made clear last month, after the 19-12 loss to France that ended a World Cup campaign characterized by a lack of discipline on and off the pitch, that he was considering his position.
Others had also questioned his future.
“We were knocked out in the quarter-finals and we played poorly throughout the competition,” former RFU vice chairman and Lions prop Fran Cotton said last month.
“Martin has now been in charge three-and-a-half years and it is very difficult to understand what style of play this England rugby team is all about,” Cotton said.
A series of unwanted front-page headlines accompanied England’s underwhelming World Cup, with stand-in captain Mike Tindall subsequently thrown out of the elite player squad and handed a hefty fine for his off-field antics.
Tindall, married to Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter Zara, was photographed drinking with a “mystery blonde” in a bar in Queenstown during the tournament.
Speculation about who might replace Johnson has been clouded by internal chaos at the RFU, with acting chief executive Martyn Thomas leaving next month.
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