Flanker Dave Dennis and center Rob Horne have been released from the Wallabies’ training camp to bolster the New South Wales Waratahs for their match against the British and Irish Lions tomorrow.
Amid continuing controversy over the weakness of the provincial sides facing the Lions on their tour matches, the pair are to fly down from the Queensland camp to take part in the match at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Halfbacks Bernard Foley and Ben Lucas on Wednesday were also released from the Australia squad preparing for the IRB’s World Cup Sevens tournament to reinforce the team.
“It’s good,” Lions coach Warren Gatland said. “It’s an opportunity for those players, if they’re not going to be selected for the first Test, to have a run against us and perhaps even go back and have a bit of information on us for the Australian side as well.”
“It’s great for the players and great for us as well,” he added.
New South Wales are traditionally one of Australia’s strongest provinces, but coach Michael Cheika had been trying to put together a side with 10 players in the Wallabies squad and another three injured internationals.
The Lions have only faced a challenge in one of their four tour matches so far, against the Queensland Reds, and there have been concerns they might go into the first Test on June 22 underprepared because of the lack of meaningful opposition.
Former Lions and England coach Clive Woodward accused the Australians of treating the tourists with “contempt” when the Western Force rested several first-team players for their 69-17 defeat in Perth.
Woodward also suggested the Lions should consider not returning to Australia if they were continued to be offered weak opposition in preparation for the three-Test series against the Wallabies.
Although the Lions management have been more diplomatic than Woodward, there is no doubt there have been concerns about what lessons can be learned from comprehensive victories over undergunned teams.
The ACT Brumbies’ utility forward Peter Kimlin and prop Scot Sio have also been released from the Wallabies squad to play against the Lions in Tuesday’s final tour match before the Test series gets under way in Brisbane.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but