France's weak lineup for the first rugby test against New Zealand raises questions
French coach Fabien Galthié has brought an understrength squad to New Zealand for the three-test series, leaving at home many of his leading players who have been involved in the latter rounds of the Top 14 club competition.
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Associated Press
36 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Owen Farrell's 'aura' and 'serious quality' will help Lions in Australia, teammates say
SYDNEY (AP) — Owen Farrell's curveball call-up by the British and Irish Lions was welcomed by his new teammates Friday, with the former England captain praised for his high standards and leadership qualities as he heads to Australia for his fourth tour. Lions coach Andy Farrell picked his son to replace the injured Elliot Daly and it's a somewhat controversial selection. Owen Farrell hasn't played test rugby since the 2023 Rugby World Cup — he took a break from internationals to prioritize his mental well-being — and has had an underwhelming, injury-hit club season at Racing 92 in France, including a May 4 concussion since which he hasn't played. However, the 33-year-old Farrell is one of the great England players of his generation, having earned 112 caps and scored more points than anyone else, and is now the only player in the Lions squad who was involved in the triumphant tour to Australia in 2013. 'You don't lose class. Faz is a class player, so I'm well happy,' said hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie, who has played for England with Farrell. 'When it was announced internally, the reaction was good. Faz is a well-known player. He's played quality rugby over many years. 'One thing about Faz is the standards he sets on the training field. He's got (a) bit of an aura about him on training fields, which makes you want to try and train to perfection. I know it's quite hard to perfect training every single day, but he definitely makes standards higher.' Farrell was arriving in Sydney on Friday and won't be playing in the tour match against the New South Wales Waratahs at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, when Tadhg Beirne will captain the Lions. 'Owen bring some serious quality. We're looking forward to him coming into the squad and getting to hang out with him,' said Beirne, who played with Farrell during the 2021 Lions tour to South Africa. 'Any type of leadership is only going to enhance the squad. Playing with him four years ago, I've seen all those leadership qualities that he brings. There's the quality of his talent as well, which will do nothing but boost the squad.' ___ AP rugby:
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Mourinho's Fenerbahce join Roma in race for Mikautadze
While waiting to understand Dovbyk's future, the target for the Giallorossi attack is still Mikautadze. The Georgian striker had an excellent season with Lyon, scoring 17 goals and 11 assists. However, the relegation of the French club has put the striker on the market, with the French club setting the price at 20 million to let him go. Advertisement Roma have gone as high as 18 million. However, as reported by FootMercato, Mourinho's Fenerbahce also wants Mikautadze and has started initial contact with the player. However, the striker will not be sold until July 10. On that date, in fact, the DNCG will examine the French club's appeal.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Tour de Pulse returns — with reinforcements. Plus: Ben Shelton vs. the Wimbledon curfew
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Chris will be back Monday. For now, enjoy the holiday vibes: Longtime readers here may recognize that The Pulse simply stans the Tour de France. Since we first started sending out weekend editions three and a half years ago(!), Tour de Pulse has been a recurring conceit in these digital pages. It's a passion of mine. Replies to those emails, as well as comments on my smattering of coverage on the site, always conveyed one sentiment: More cycling on The Athletic, please! So it's with genuine delight today that I share this news: We're all-in. For this year's Tour — which runs tomorrow through July 27 — the versatile Jacob Whitehead is on the case, delivering excellent features from the road and contributing to daily briefings along with several other writers. Advertisement And it's perfect timing, as the sport enters its new golden era. I checked in with Jacob for a quick guide to the race: The general classification (yellow jersey) is again expected to come down to the Big Three of Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel. How have these three continued to dominate? 💬 In raw performance terms, climbers are performing better than ever before. Is this cycling's Nadal-Federer-Djokovic era? Quite probably, and with the presence of one-day specialist Mathieu van der Poel, it might even be more accurate to speak of a Big Four. But truth be told, Pogacar and Vingegaard's levels are so high that this race will likely be a two-way fight, even against arguably the best time-trialist of all time in Evenepoel. The Slovenian and Dane have split the past five Tour de France titles between them. What other storylines or riders should we be watching? 💬 The battle for the green jersey will be intriguing, with a loaded sprinters' field. Tim Merlier, Jonathan Milan and Jasper Philipsen are the fastest three men in the world, but there are also many specialists who can win on tougher finishes — Van der Poel, Wout van Aert, Kaden Groves and last year's green jersey winner Biniam Girmay. American climber Matteo Jorgenson has steadily improved every year of his professional career — though he is working for Vingegaard, it will be fascinating to see whether the 26-year-old can prove himself as a future Grand Tour winner in the mountains. (Author's note: 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸) Those pesky cobblestones — typically chaos agents — won't be featured heavily on this year's route. Which racing days are you most looking forward to? 💬 Three days stand out for me. The first is Stage 7, which finishes on the short, steep slopes of the Mur de Bretagne — this will be the first chance to truly see the GC contenders test each other's levels. Then, on Stage 16, the race will finish on top of the legendary Mont Ventoux for the first time since 2013 — the 'giant of Provence,' tied with Alpe d'Huez as the most infamous climb on the Tour. Two days later, there will be another summit finish on the Col de la Loze — a climb where Vingegaard once forced Pogacar to wheeze into his team radio: 'I'm gone, I'm dead.' Can he do it again? It will be a race-deciding moment. I'm buzzing. Check out our full race preview, and watch the Grand Départ tomorrow at 8 a.m. ET on NBC. And PSA: I recommend you binge Season 3 of 'Unchained' on Netflix before this thing really heats up Boxer Chavez Jr. arrested by ICE Former WBC middleweight champion Julio César Chávez Jr. was arrested by ICE in California yesterday. The Mexican boxer lost to Jake Paul via unanimous decision just days ago. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the fight took place one day after Chávez was determined to be in the country illegally. Read our full report. Advertisement Guardians pitcher subject of gambling probe Luis Ortiz has been placed on 'non-disciplinary paid leave' through the end of the All-Star break as a result of a gambling-related MLB investigation, Zack Meisel and Ken Rosenthal report. The league is investigating the starting pitcher for a pair of suspicious pitches in games this season that drew unusual betting activity, according to ESPN. Here's everything we know. More news American Ben Shelton will take the court at Wimbledon today to (probably) play just a couple minutes. Really. The 22-year-old was set to serve at 6-2, 7-5, 5-4 yesterday, just four points from closing out his second-round match against Australian Rinky Hijikata, when the contest was suspended due to darkness. The players had twice previously discussed calling the match with the umpire, but were told to play on. Shelton was understandably livid. So instead of having a full day off today, Shelton had to finish his match. He did. In 70 seconds. Oof. More details in the Wimbledon Day 4 briefing. 📺 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest 10:45 a.m. ET on ESPN networks Genuine intrigue here, as the king returns after a brief plant-based exile. First up (on ESPN3), 10-time champ Miki Sudo is somehow an even heavier favorite among the women than Joey Chestnut is on the men's side (noon ET, ESPN2). 📺 Club World Cup quarterfinals 3 p.m. ET and 9 p.m. ET on DAZN We'll see if Al Hilal can ride the momentum from its big last-16 upset into the first game today against Fluminense, which also didn't expect to be here. In the second contest, 18-year-old Palmeiras prodigy Estevao plays against Chelsea, whom he is slated to join this summer. Huh? Jim Bowden polled MLB front-office decision-makers on the key players — namely, the best starting pitcher, reliever and position player — most likely to be traded at this year's deadline. The biggest surprise? How many of them have little idea what's going to happen. Chantel Jennings says it's time for the WNBA to drop its age restrictions, with at least 60 new roster spots coming over the next five years. Advertisement On paper, new Lakers signing Deandre Ayton is a fit with the team. Will that be enough? Sam Blum checked in with Austin Barnes, who was behind the plate for 551 of Clayton Kershaw's 3,000 strikeouts, but was cut from the Dodgers in May. A nice piece about friendship and respect. Related … the trivia answer from yesterday: Former Giants All-Star Brandon Belt accounts for a tidy 1 percent (30) of Kershaw's career strikeouts, the most in the league, in just 67 plate appearances. (For comparison: Buster Posey had 19 Ks in his league-leading 120 PAs vs. Kershaw.) I hope this knowledge comes in handy. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The tragic news that Diogo Jota and his brother died in a car crash. Three of our writers shared personal memories of Jota. Most-read on the website yesterday: The same
