An international arrest warrant was issued on Friday against former Australia rugby captain Rocky Elsom, who was sentenced in his absence to five years in prison by a French court for misuse of corporate assets, a lawyer in the case told AFP.
Fairytale meets formidable: Hull KR and Wigan face off in Grand Final for the ages
Wigan’s last trophy was 22 days ago, Hull KR’s, over 14,000 days. Yet the Robins may still be the ones to beat the Warriors
Masters versus apprentices. History breakers versus history makers. The club that reign supreme over rugby league against the team aiming for the ultimate coup d’etat. However you dress it up, Saturday evening’s Super League Grand Final has all the makings of a classic and more subplots than you could ever imagine.
In the red corner, there is Wigan Warriors. Defending champions and so much more. They currently hold all four major trophies available to win: the World Club Challenge, the Challenge Cup, the League Leader’s Shield and the one they are aiming to defend on Saturday, the Super League title.
Continue reading...Sanderson v Diamond friendship on sidelines in battle of the north | Robert Kitson
Newcastle head to Sale on the back of a 24-game losing streak with a pressing need to attract a fresh audience
It is supposed to be a snarling northern “derby” but, in reality, Sale’s Friday night date with Newcastle is a case of friends reunited. The Sharks’ Alex Sanderson and the Falcons’ Steve Diamond take their respective eight-year-olds to the same swimming class every week and have been mates for so long they know pretty much exactly what the other is plotting.
Sanderson, in particular, has been warning his squad they will need to be up for the fight against their bottom placed, winless opponents: “They’re already talking survival, food on plates and roofs over heads; we’ve got to match their emotional levels.” Diamond, for his part, has been busy stripping down his side’s tactics to the barest essentials to counter Sale’s big pack and territory based game. “We’re not even competitive at the moment,” he says. “There’s still players here who don’t understand what we’re trying to do on game day.”
Continue reading...Hull KR’s Ryan Hall: ‘It was the human pull of this club that got me’
Veteran of six Grand Final wins with Leeds seeks a fairytale finale as his current club chase a first trophy since 1985
There have been few stories in recent years quite like the rise of Hull KR from the doldrums of Super League to the sport’s biggest domestic game in only four seasons. And there are few players as eloquent, experienced and in such an ideal position to tell it quite like Ryan Hall.
Hall is not your average rugby league player. He is a qualified accountant, having completed a degree while playing at the highest level. He can solve a Rubik’s Cube in under a minute and is capable of playing several musical instruments. Plus, there is the fact that Hall has played an integral role in one of the most incredible transformations any club have seen for some time.
Continue reading...‘Only thing that’s missing’: Penrith co-captain disappointed to abandon World Club Challenge
- Panthers tell NRL they will not be able to face Super League winner
- Four-time premiers to meet Sharks in 2025 season-opener in Las Vegas
Isaah Yeo has admitted his disappointment that Penrith will skip the World Club Challenge, after the Panthers officially told the NRL they could not contest the only major trophy they are missing.
By defeating Melbourne in last Sunday’s grand final, the Panthers clinched both a historic fourth consecutive premiership and a date with the winner of the Super League decider between Wigan and Hull KR on Sunday (AEDT). But Penrith’s trip to Las Vegas for round one of the 2025 season has complicated matters, given the clash of premiers usually takes place in either England or Australia just before the NRL regular season begins.
Continue reading...‘No trust and confidence’: Rebels launch $30m lawsuit against Rugby Australia
Axed Super Rugby club the Melbourne Rebels have kicked off a $30 million course case against Rugby Australia in the Federal Court of Australia to try get themselves back into the Pacific competition.
Suaalii’s $9m Rugby Australia secret revealed as controversial agent strikes again
It may be at least five years until we see Joseph Suaalii back in the NRL again amid the report that his rich deal with Rugby Australia includes a secret contract clause.
Sergio García could make Ryder Cup return after talks with Luke Donald
- Spaniard would have to rejoin DP World Tour
- García has had strong season in LIV Golf
Sergio García could be in line for a sensational Ryder Cup return at Bethpage next year after Luke Donald revealed he has held recent talks with the Spaniard about rejoining the DP World Tour.
García resigned from the Tour in 2023 after a sports arbitration panel ruled sanctions imposed on the former Masters champion and others who joined LIV Golf were appropriate. That appeared the end of the Ryder Cup road for García, the event’s record points scorer, given only DP World Tour members can play for Europe. García had an impressive 2024 season on LIV, finishing third on the overall individual standings.
Continue reading...The Breakdown | Once at war with the world and himself, Sexton in his own words is revealing
If you thought you knew the celebrated former Ireland fly-half, it’s time to look deeper – this is no leafy lane memoir
Perhaps the most tell-tale aspect of Johnny Sexton’s new autobiography is that it took seven years to stitch together. Seven years? Not since James Joyce took a similar timeframe to write Ulysses has there been such a slow-cooked Irish literary stew. And as Peter O’Reilly, Sexton’s excellent (and potentially long-suffering) ghostwriter, reveals in the final acknowledgments, there was little need for many supplementary interviews because of “Johnny’s exceptional memory for detail”. Combine those twin ingredients and a tasty dish is all but assured.
Because Johnny can remember everything and everyone. What his friends said and did, what his enemies were thinking (or, at least, what he thought they were thinking), how he felt at certain crucial moments. If it reads at times like a cold-eyed dispatch from an endless battle that is, for a good deal of his career, how it felt. “For so much of the time I was at war – with opponents, with rivals, sometimes with coaches, often with myself. For the most part … it felt like a fight.”
Continue reading...Viva la vida: Hull KR’s rise to Grand Final and a revolution built from the ground up | Jonathan Liew
Willie Peters’ side have earned their place at Old Trafford by staying true to themselves and serving the local community
To date, it’s still not entirely clear why Coldplay are coming to Craven Park. There was a certain bemusement last month when one of the world’s biggest and most unashamedly commercial bands announced that they were complementing their London residency next summer with two nights at the modest 20,000-capacity Sewell Group Craven Park, home of Hull Kingston Rovers. These, along with six nights at Wembley, are the only European shows Coldplay will play next summer. Even the city council described the news as “absolutely bonkers”.
Why Hull? Well for one thing, this is a city with a rich musical heritage in its own right, from the Housemartins to Everything But The Girl to Mick Ronson. And according to Neil Hudgell in a recent interview with The Times, the message came through that Coldplay wanted to play somewhere “northern and gritty”: authentic, out of the way, a little bit quirky. Hudgell is the owner of Rovers, and the man responsible for securing what we now have to describe as the second-hottest ticket in town.
Continue reading...Manu begins life in Japanese rugby union just 10 days after disappointing prelim exit
Just 10 days after his rugby league career ended, Joseph Manu has been captured training with his new Japanese rugby outfit Toyota Verblitz.
Adam Peaty: ‘I will 100% dedicate myself to LA 2028 if 50m breaststroke is in’
The double Olympic champion on why the shorter sprint could drive him to another Games, the lack of support for his female coach and what needs to change in anti-doping
“I think the 50m sprint is a great opportunity for me,” Adam Peaty says with a glint in his steely gaze as he reveals that, after winning two golds and a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke at three successive Olympic Games, he is ready to keep swimming until 2028. After a bid from World Aquatics, the sport’s governing body, to persuade the IOC to include more sprint events at the Los Angeles Olympics, the greatest breaststroke swimmer in history could resist retirement.
“If the 50 metre is part of that I will 100% dedicate myself to getting there,” Peaty continues. “If the 50 metre isn’t part of that then it’s a big question mark. It’s a 50-50 decision.”
Continue reading...NRL grand final 2024: Penrith Panthers defeat Melbourne Storm – as it happened
- Panthers beat Storm 14-6 to seal fourth straight title
- Liam Martin wins Clive Churchill medal
Nathan Cleary missed State of Origin, sat out large chunks of the season, and has had to play through pain all year, but the game’s greatest modern player will still be the most crucial participant tonight.
The 26-year-old has played just 12 games this season, his lowest tally across nine seasons in the NRL. The knee injury he suffered in last season’s grand final affected his off season, and then a serious hamstring complaint meant he played just two games between rounds three and 20. His shoulder injury a month later kept him out for another three weeks, but he has returned and managed it during the finals.
Yet Cleary’s left shoulder remains one of the grand final’s major talking points. He was taken off in the final minutes in the preliminary final against Cronulla after appearing to aggravate it in a tackle, and respected NRL injury analyst Brian Seeney has described the problem – which makes a recurrence more likely – as a “ticking timebomb”.
Munster said this week that he and Martin “didn’t like each other” even when they were teammates for Australia. “I thought we were fine, but obviously that’s not the case,” Martin responded. “If he feels like that, then that’s his problem. It won’t change anything on Sunday.”
Continue reading...Francesco Bagnaia wins in Japan to turn up MotoGP title heat on Jorge Martín
- Italian seals sprint race and grand prix double in Motegi
- Martín’s overall lead just 10 points with four races to go
Francesco Bagnaia won the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday to complete a weekend double and cut his gap to Jorge Martín down to 10 points at the top of the world championship standings.
The Ducati rider qualified in second after dominating practice and winning Saturday’s sprint race. Bagnaia quickly overtook the pole sitter, Pedro Acosta (Tech3-KTM), who crashed out while trying to reclaim the race lead on the third lap in Motegi.
Continue reading...Santiago Grondona’s debut double leads Bristol to blistering win over Bath
- Bath 26-36 Bristol
- Argentinian helps earn bonus point in first half
The days of low-scoring West Country derbies have gone the way of cassette tapes and Ceefax. A week ago, Bristol scored 41 points and still contrived to lose at home to Gloucester and last January they beat Bath 57-44 at Ashton Gate. This cracking game was not quite the same crazy whirl but the scoreboard still revolved at times like a fruit machine in Las Vegas.
When the music stopped and the nine tries were finally collated it added up to another hugely satisfying away day for Bristol, rewarding a consistently vibrant performance full of movement and purpose.
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