ENGLAND
Tuilagi free to join squad
England center Manu Tuilagi was set to fly out with his teammates for the three-Test tour of South Africa yesterday after his citing for a dangerous tackle was dismissed by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The Leicester center was charged for a tip-tackle on Harlequins scrumhalf Danny Care during the Premiership final on Saturday, but the RFU said in a statement on Tuesday that its three-man panel “was not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the referee was wrong in not sending the player off.” The statement added: “Tuilagi is therefore free to continue playing and will fly out to South Africa with the England squad tomorrow [Wednesday] evening.” England play South Africa in Durban on June 9, in Johannesburg on June 16 and in Port Elizabeth on June 23.
ENGLAND
Harden to miss stag party
Rupert Harden cut short his plans to attend his friend’s stag party after being called up by England on Tuesday for the tour to South Africa as a late replacement for the injured prop Matt Stevens. Stevens, who was born in South Africa, was ruled out of contention after damaging his shoulder in England’s victory over the Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday. “It’s really tough on Matt, but he has been assessed by the medics and he wouldn’t be able to train or play for some time,” England coach Stuart Lancaster said. The Australian-born Harden is uncapped at senior level, but he has played twice for the second-string Saxons team and has been first choice for club side Gloucester this season. He was preparing to leave for Berlin for a stag party, but instead found himself in a grueling training session on an altitude bike at England’s training base in Surrey, two days before he was due to leave for South Africa with the rest of the squad. Stevens’ withdrawal leaves England without a specialist prop capable of playing both sides of the front row.
TONGA
Taione elected chairman
Epeli Taione, a former Tonga player who adopted the sponsor’s name Paddy Power during the 2007 World Cup and portrayed an All Blacks player in the movie Invictus, has been elected the first chairman of the new Tonga Rugby Union. Taione was elected this week by a vote of 38-16 over the only other candidate for the chairmanship, Tongan Prime Minister Siale’ataonga Tu’ivakano. The new board met for the first time on Monday. Taione played for English clubs Newcastle, Sale, Harlequins and London Welsh, South Africa’s Natal Sharks, France’s Racing Metro and Japan’s Sanyo Wild Knights during a 13-year professional career. He played 18 Tests for Tonga and six for the Pacific Islanders.
NEW ZEALAND
World Cup losses shrink
Taxpayers face a smaller bill than expected for staging last year’s Rugby World Cup in what organizers are calling final evidence of the tournament’s success. Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd announced on Tuesday that the final deficit from the seventh World Cup was NZ$31.3 million (US$23.4 million), 20 percent or NZ$8 million lower than forecast. The company that organized the tournament was set up in 2006 as a joint venture between the New Zealand government and the New Zealand Rugby Union, with an agreement the government would meet two-thirds and the union one-third of any loss. The rugby union’s liability was later capped at NZ$10 million.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite