■ Rugby Union
Jonny out of England tour
Jonny Wilkinson's hopes of playing for England again in Australia, where he helped them win the World Cup in 2003, were shattered yesterday when he was ruled out of the forthcoming tour. Wilkinson played the last 50 minutes of Newcastle's 27-22 defeat to London Irish in the European Challenge Cup semi-final as he continued his comeback from a groin injury, but ended the match limping. Asked after the game if Wilkinson would benefit from touring with the national squads during the off-season, Newcastle director of rugby Rob Andrew replied: "Jonny won't be touring this summer, to Australia, Canada or anywhere else." Yesterday's game was Wilkinson's second game in his comeback from a groin injury.
■ Cricket
Contracts still unresolved
West Indies cricket officials are threatening again to overlook players for the national team if they can't settle on contracts within the next 10 days. The 18-month-old dispute could force West Indies to resort to fielding second-rate teams as it did last year against South Africa and Sri Lanka. The West Indies Cricket Board gave a deadline of last Friday to complete central contracts with its top players, but no agreement was reached between board representative Deryck Murray and Players Association chief Dinanath Ramnarine, both agreed to meet again today.
■ Soccer
Socceroos hit by injuries
Australia's World Cup hopes were hit by a four-pronged injury scare following the weekend's FA Cup and Premier League matches in England. First-choice goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer suffered a suspected fractured cheekbone, winger Harry Kewell a groin problem and midfielder Tim Cahill a knee injury. Striker Mark Viduka failed to start Middlesbrough's FA Cup semi-final against West Ham United due to a thigh injury. Australia begin their first World Cup finals campaign for 32 years on June 12 against Japan. Brazil and Croatia are the other teams in Group F.
Badminton world No. 3 Anders Antonsen clinched his first Indonesia Open title yesterday after beating Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen, while South Korea’s An Se-young won her second championship in Jakarta. The 28-year-old Dane sank world No. 7 Chou at the Indonesian capital’s Istora Senayan arena, winning 22-20, 21-14 in a 60-minute match to secure the prestigious Super 1000 event. Antonsen came out on top in a tightly contested first game before cruising to victory in the second. In a more closely fought women’s singles final, South Korean ace and world No. 1 An fought back from one game down to beat China’s
Spain starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams dazzled on Thursday as La Roja beat France 5-4 in a thriller in Stuttgart, Germany, to set up a UEFA Nations League final with Portugal. Yamal bagged a brace, while Williams scored and provided an assist as the two wingers cut France’s makeshift defense to ribbons. Mikel Merino and Pedri were also on the score sheet for the UEFA Euro 2024 champions. Kylian Mbappe netted a second-half penalty, but Spain were 5-1 up and cruising, before Les Bleus suddenly woke up as their opponents took their foot off the pedal. France’s three late goals — a
Italy crashed to a 3-0 loss away to Norway, as the four-time FIFA World Cup champions made a disastrous start to their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign on Friday, while Belgium had to settle for a draw in North Macedonia. Alexander Sorloth, Antonio Nusa and Erling Haaland all scored in the first half in pouring rain in Oslo as Norway made it a night to forget for Italy, who missed out on the past two World Cups. “I have no explanation. Our supporters don’t deserve this kind of match. We need to do some soul-searching. It’s unacceptable,” Italy captain and goalkeeper Gianluigi
The Crusaders yesterday produced a clinical performance in difficult conditions to beat the Queensland Reds 32-12 and claim home advantage in next week’s Super Rugby semi-finals. Lock Scott Barrett and prop Tamaiti Williams scored first-half tries to reward an outstanding performance from the Crusaders’ forwards in wet, slippery conditions and bitterly cold temperatures. Scrumhalf Noah Hotham defied the conditions in the second half to score a superb solo try and, after kicking a conversion and penalty to make the score 22-0 at the hour mark, flyhalf Rivez Reihana scored a try which took the game beyond the Reds. “Typical Christchurch weather, cold, wet
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