All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has made wholesale changes to the New Zealand team to face Scotland tomorrow, recalling the out-of-form Piri Weepu and introducing a new midfield lineup.
With Hansen intent on giving all of his 32-man squad a run in the opening two Tests of New Zealand’s European tour, only five players from the All Blacks’ last outing against Australia were included in the starting 15.
Weepu, who struggled for form with the Auckland Blues in the Super 15 competition, was handed a chance of redemption, replacing Aaron Smith at scrumhalf for the Test at Murrayfield.
Hansen also named veteran hooker Andrew Hore in the starting lineup, and gave Tawera Kerr-Barlow and Dane Coles the opportunity to earn their debut caps from an expanded eight-man reserve bench.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the inclusion of Otago Highlanders duo Tamati Ellison and Ben Smith, together in midfield for the first time, at the expense of Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith.
While Ellison and Ben Smith are relatively inexperienced at Test level, with 12 caps between them compared with Nonu and Conrad Smith’s 136, they have worked well together at the Highlanders, hinting that Hansen is looking to the future.
The All Blacks coach resisted the temptation to rest captain Richie McCaw and star flyhalf Dan Carter, pointing out that the starting team was still a strong side boasting 556 Test caps, backed up by 267 on the bench.
He said his charges were excited about playing in front of a packed house at Murrayfield and downplayed Scotland’s poor record against New Zealand, with the All Blacks posting 26 wins and two draws in 28 meetings.
After tomorrow’s Test, they play Italy next Saturday, Wales on Nov. 24 and England on Dec. 1.
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