England on Sunday shrugged off the absence of their best players to score five tries in a 27-13 win over fierce rivals Wales at Twickenham, boosting confidence among the Six Nations champions ahead of their upcoming tour to Australia.
England came from 10-0 down after 14 minutes, with Luther Burrell and Anthony Watson crossing for tries in the first half and Ben Youngs, Jack Clifford and Marland Yarde going over after halftime.
England coach Eddie Jones was without his Saracens contingent of Owen Farrell, Billy Vunipola and second-row duo Maro Itoje and George Kruis, who were absent because they played in the English Premiership final on Saturday.
Flyhalf George Ford had a day to forget with the boot, missing six of his seven kicks, but England were not made to pay and kept intact coach Eddie Jones’ unbeaten start to his tenure.
“We didn’t get off to the best of starts, but it was great to see everyone dig in,” England lock Joe Launchbury said. “I think the second half we had a bit of control and that was where we got the win.”
It was Wales’ third match against England at Twickenham in nine months. Wales won the first — and most important — in the pool stage of the Rugby World Cup, lost in the Six Nations and were brushed aside on Sunday after a bright start given to them by prop Rob Evans’ converted try in the sixth minute.
Wales were without Sam Warburton and France-based players. Flanker Dan Lydiate injured his shoulder during the game and Wales said he would miss the upcoming three-Test tour of New Zealand.
“I think we brought a tempo and an intensity which we didn’t bring here in the Six Nations in that first half, but that 12-point swing at the start of the second half killed us really,” Wales center Jamie Roberts said.
England are to play three Tests against Australia, beginning in Brisbane on June 11.
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