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.
Continue reading...‘Overly aggressive’: Details emerge over ‘rude’ and ‘unacceptable’ Cheika spat
Leicester head coach Michael Cheika has been hit with a two-week suspension after being found guilty of disrespecting an independent match-day doctor.
Champions League Cinderellas, Mauricio Pochettino’s first camp with USMNT & should Lionel Messi win MLS MVP?
Christian and Kyle Martino react to a busy Champions League week. Then, the guys look ahead to the USMNT’s first international window under Mauricio Pochettino. Later, Christian and Kyle discuss whether Lionel Messi deserves this season’s MLS MVP.
Lionel Messi, despite missing half of the MLS season, is still the clear MVP
Lionel Messi's unprecedented MVP candidacy challenges the history of U.S. pro sports, but his transformative impact for Inter Miami is undeniable.
The five county cricketers of the year
A player can only make the list once. View the previous winners: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017
By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog
The Australian (with a British passport, so watch this space) conforms to the template of an English seamer. Even his curved run up is old-school, helping to get the shoulder turn and slightly round-arm action that promotes the outswing that leads to nibble after nibble after nibble.
Continue reading...FC Cincinnati, MLS denounce alleged anti-gay slur targeted at player during game vs. NYCFC
An MLS game got ugly at one point on Wednesday.
Impromptu haka leaves Jahrome Hughes with a tear after Dally M win
- ‘That meant a lot,’ says Melbourne Storm’s Kiwi No 7 after tribute
- Sydney Roosters forward Olivia Kernick wins women’s medal
An emotional Jahrome Hughes has admitted he had a tear in his eye after Melbourne teammates launched into a haka to honour his Dally M medal, while Roosters second-rower Olivia Kernick won the women’s award.
In scenes reminiscent of fellow New Zealander Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s win in 2018, Melbourne winger Will Warbrick took over the Dally Ms to celebrate Hughes’ award. After holding off James Tedesco by one vote and landing the first big individual honour of his career, Hughes watched as Warbrick launched into a haka alongside Storm second-rower Eliesa Katoa and Canberra prop Joseph Tapine.
Continue reading...The Spin | County Championship 2024 awards: the final word on the season
Surrey won Division One yet again, but more counties get a look-in – for reasons great and farcical – in these awards
The 2024 County Championship season dribbled to an end on Sunday afternoon, handshakes taken as early as was polite, while the autumn roared in. It was the longest Championship season on record – stretching from 5 April to 29 September – finishing with the favourites, Surrey, easing to victory with one round to go and Sussex winning Division Two on the final day, a thousand supporters hanging around in gloves to watch Clare Connor present the trophy.
But how quickly things move on. Rod Bransgrove announced the sale of Hampshire to the Delhi Capitals co-owners before the Spin had time to pull the season’s trophies out of the Guardian cabinet where they have been gathering dust since last year. So belatedly, and somewhat overshadowed by powerbrokers in important shoes rustling papers in mahogany boardrooms, here are the summer’s County Championship awards.
Continue reading...County cricket talking points: joy at Glamorgan and Yorkshire as season slips away
Yorkshire replace Lancashire in Division One of the Championship, with Glamorgan winning the One-Day Cup
By Gary Naylor for the 99.94 Cricket Blog
Even the weather gods seemed irritated by the scheduling of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup Final, rained off on the Sunday and held over to the reserve day, a miserable, back-to-school, Monday if ever there was one.
Continue reading...South African pitch invader knocked out cold in brutal hit
A pitch invader was knocked out cold by a security guard during a rugby match in South Africa.
Jorge Martín wins crash-hit Indonesian Grand Prix to extend MotoGP lead
- Spaniard seals redemptive victory after accident last year
- Bagnaia 21 points behind Martín after finishing third
Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martín led a crash-hit Indonesian Grand Prix in Mandalika from start to finish, to win his third race of the season and extend his lead over the reigning champion, Francesco Bagnaia, to 21 points in the MotoGP standings.
Martín started on pole in hot and humid conditions at the Mandalika International Street Circuit and stayed in front throughout the race, despite having his fellow Spaniard Pedro Acosta breathing down his neck.
Continue reading...