Ireland stalwart Paul O’Connell, England prop Matt Stevens and South Africa back-rower Duane Vermeulen have all signed for European champions Toulon, club president Mourad Boudjellal said on Monday.
The emblematic Ireland captain and lock O’Connell, 35, has signed for one year with the option of another as he leaves Munster following 15 years with the Irish side.
O’Connell, who has 101 Ireland caps, is to join following the World Cup in September and October.
South Africa-born Stevens, 32, joins from Sharks on a two-year deal after an international career for England that saw him win 46 caps, while he was part of the British and Irish Lions tours in 2005 and 2013, although without playing any Test matches.
Stevens was banned for two years in 2009 after testing positive for cocaine while playing for Bath. Vermeulen, 28, has played 29 times for the Springboks and joins from Stormers on a three-year deal.
The No. 8 was one of the players nominated for the World Player of the Year award last year.
The trio join an impressive recruitment that has already seen the likes of All Black great Ma’a Nonu, Australia internationals Quade Cooper and James O’Connor, and US wrecking ball Samu Manoa agree to move to the reigning triple European champions.
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