ENGLAND
Tuilagi free to join squad
England center Manu Tuilagi was set to fly out with his teammates for the three-Test tour of South Africa yesterday after his citing for a dangerous tackle was dismissed by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). The Leicester center was charged for a tip-tackle on Harlequins scrumhalf Danny Care during the Premiership final on Saturday, but the RFU said in a statement on Tuesday that its three-man panel “was not satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the referee was wrong in not sending the player off.” The statement added: “Tuilagi is therefore free to continue playing and will fly out to South Africa with the England squad tomorrow [Wednesday] evening.” England play South Africa in Durban on June 9, in Johannesburg on June 16 and in Port Elizabeth on June 23.
ENGLAND
Harden to miss stag party
Rupert Harden cut short his plans to attend his friend’s stag party after being called up by England on Tuesday for the tour to South Africa as a late replacement for the injured prop Matt Stevens. Stevens, who was born in South Africa, was ruled out of contention after damaging his shoulder in England’s victory over the Barbarians at Twickenham on Sunday. “It’s really tough on Matt, but he has been assessed by the medics and he wouldn’t be able to train or play for some time,” England coach Stuart Lancaster said. The Australian-born Harden is uncapped at senior level, but he has played twice for the second-string Saxons team and has been first choice for club side Gloucester this season. He was preparing to leave for Berlin for a stag party, but instead found himself in a grueling training session on an altitude bike at England’s training base in Surrey, two days before he was due to leave for South Africa with the rest of the squad. Stevens’ withdrawal leaves England without a specialist prop capable of playing both sides of the front row.
TONGA
Taione elected chairman
Epeli Taione, a former Tonga player who adopted the sponsor’s name Paddy Power during the 2007 World Cup and portrayed an All Blacks player in the movie Invictus, has been elected the first chairman of the new Tonga Rugby Union. Taione was elected this week by a vote of 38-16 over the only other candidate for the chairmanship, Tongan Prime Minister Siale’ataonga Tu’ivakano. The new board met for the first time on Monday. Taione played for English clubs Newcastle, Sale, Harlequins and London Welsh, South Africa’s Natal Sharks, France’s Racing Metro and Japan’s Sanyo Wild Knights during a 13-year professional career. He played 18 Tests for Tonga and six for the Pacific Islanders.
NEW ZEALAND
World Cup losses shrink
Taxpayers face a smaller bill than expected for staging last year’s Rugby World Cup in what organizers are calling final evidence of the tournament’s success. Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd announced on Tuesday that the final deficit from the seventh World Cup was NZ$31.3 million (US$23.4 million), 20 percent or NZ$8 million lower than forecast. The company that organized the tournament was set up in 2006 as a joint venture between the New Zealand government and the New Zealand Rugby Union, with an agreement the government would meet two-thirds and the union one-third of any loss. The rugby union’s liability was later capped at NZ$10 million.
The Major League Baseball World Series trophy is headed to Los Angeles, but the party is extending all the way to Japan. People milled around local train stations yesterday morning in Tokyo as newspaper extras were ready to roll off the presses, proclaiming Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as world champions along with their Dodgers teammates after a stirring Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees. The 30-year-old is a national hero in Japan whose face adorns billboards and TV adverts all over the country. Ohtani this year became the first player in history to hit 50 home runs and
STAR IN DOUBT: After partially dislocating his shoulder in a feetfirst slide into second base, the status of Japanese slugger Ohtani is uncertain for Game 3 as he undergoes tests Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday walked back to his dugout and made the slightest tip of his cap to cheering fans. He left Japan for moments like this, an opportunity to put the Los Angeles Dodgers in control of the World Series. Yamamoto allowed one hit over 6-1/3 innings and Freddie Freeman homered for the second straight night as Los Angeles beat the New York Yankees 4-2 for a 2-0 Series lead. However, the Dodgers head to New York uncertain whether Shohei Ohtani can play after their biggest star partially dislocated his left shoulder on a slide at second base. “We’re going to get
Three-time reigning world champion Kaori Sakamoto on Saturday led a Japanese podium sweep at Skate Canada, locking up a second straight Canadian women’s title despite two falls in her free skate. Sakamoto, who led 19-year-old American Alysa Liu after the short program, looked a little tight during her jazzy free skate, falling on a Salchow jump and again on a triple flip while fighting to hang on to a few other moves. Her second-best free skate score of 126.24 was enough for gold in the second Grand Prix event of the season in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She finished with 201.21 points, well ahead
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on Monday combined for 63 points as the Phoenix Suns sent LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers tumbling to their first defeat of the season. Booker bagged 33 points and Durant 30 to give the Suns a thrilling 109-105 win at Phoenix’s Footprint Center, avenging the Lakers’ 123-116 win over the Suns in Los Angeles on Friday last week. The Lakers arrived in Phoenix buoyed by an impressive 3-0 start to the campaign under new head coach J.J. Redick. They looked poised to keep that run going after making a blistering start, sprinting into an early 26-8