Wallabies need to be more expansive
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The Independent
3 minutes ago
- The Independent
British and Irish Lions lock Joe McCarthy in race to be fit for second Test
Joe McCarthy is the chief injury concern as the British and Irish Lions finalise plans for their shot at completing a series victory over Australia on Saturday. McCarthy limped off in the 27-19 triumph over the Wallabies in the first Test with the foot condition plantar fasciitis and has been unable to train since, making him a major doubt to be involved in the rematch at Melbourne Cricket Ground. With Thursday's training session before Andy Farrell names his team being the final opportunity to prove his fitness, the Ireland enforcer looks likely to miss out. Potentially signposting an adjustment to the pack to face Australia in the second Test, James Ryan and Jac Morgan were replaced early in the second half of Tuesday's 24-19 victory over the First Nations and Pasifika XV. If McCarthy is ruled out, Ollie Chessum could be drafted into the second row alongside captain Maro Itoje, creating a vacancy on the bench, while another option is to move Tadhg Beirne from flanker to lock. Should repositioning Beirne be Farrell's preferred choice, Morgan becomes a contender to make the matchday 23. Given the Lions bullied the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium, unenforced changes to the pack are unlikely. Farrell could shake up his back-three, however, after wings James Lowe and Tommy Freeman struggled to make an impact in the series opener. Lowe in particular struggled with the poor finishing which has been a feature of his tour apparent again. Of the four possible options to step in, two are injured and one has been repeatedly exposed in defence, with only the fourth offering Farrell room for manoeuvre. Mack Hansen missed the first Test because of a foot problem and has yet to train this week, placing his involvement on Saturday in grave doubt, while Darcy Graham is waiting for scan results after sustaining ankle ligament damage early in his Lions debut against FNP. Duhan van der Merwe, who was fortunate to be selected ahead of Graham in the original touring party, has been targeted by kickers all tour and his defensively frailties would be exploited by the Wallabies. The ace up Farrell's sleeve is Scotland's Blair Kinghorn, who made his comeback from a knee injury at Marvel Stadium on Tuesday and apart from throwing two intercept passes, proved himself ready for Test duty. Nominally a full-back, he is also a high quality option on the wing, the position he has filled most recently for his club Toulouse this season. Owen Farrell showed he is ready for a call-up to the bench in Melbourne if needed with a solid 80 minutes against FNP, Marcus Smith passed a head injury assessment and Garry Ringrose made a successful first appearance since being concussed against ACT Brumbies. In the midst of a schedule of three games in eight days, players have been given Wednesday off, but Farrell and his coaching assistants are to meet to finalise selection. 'I let everyone have their say, I play devil's advocate, we thrash it out and then we all agree,' Farrell said. 'There is all sorts that goes into it – performances, there's no doubt about that – but there is also what's right for this second game? Are a few changes going to freshen it up or do we go with the same guys? 'All that comes into the pot. It's whatever is best for the team and what do we need for a game at the MCG with over 90,000 people. It should be challenging.'
BBC News
4 minutes ago
- BBC News
Prem season to open with Thursday night game
The 2025-26 Prem rugby season will begin with a Thursday night fixture for the first time in its history when Sale Sharks take on match will kick-off at 19:45 BST on Thursday, 25 September at the Salford Stadium, opening the first of 18 champions Bath will travel to Harlequins for their first game of the campaign the following day, with runners-up Leicester Tigers playing Bristol Bears away on Sunday, 28 top flight of English domestic rugby union has been rebranded as the 'Prem' for the upcoming season with the aim of giving it a more informal, less corporate feel and also drawing in more younger fans. Newcastle host Saracens on Friday, 26 September and Exeter travel to Northampton on Sunday afternoon in the two other fixtures across the opening will be no Saturday match, to avoid a clash with the Women's Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham on 27 last of the 18 rounds will conclude on the weekend of 6 June, 2026, with the Prem final title decider at Twickenham on Saturday, 21 June move to a midweek night fixture follows news that the men's Six Nations will open with a Thursday night game for the first time in February 2026."Kicking off the campaign with a Thursday night opener brings a fresh twist to our traditional curtain-raiser, and we're looking forward to seeing Sale Sharks and Gloucester Rugby set the tone in style," said chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor. Marquee weekend at Villa, Spurs & Cardiff in March Three fixtures will be played at Premier League or international football stadiums on the final weekend of March (27-29).Gloucester face Leicester Tigers in The Slater Cup - named after Ed Slater, former captain of both teams, who retired in 2022 after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease - at Aston Villa's Villa Park on Saturday, 28 Bears face Harlequins at Principality Stadium, while Saracens take on Northampton Saints at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium."Marquee fixtures remain a key pillar of our strategy to broaden rugby's reach," Massie-Taylor added."We're thrilled to see Villa Park host The Slater Cup for the first time and to witness the continued growth of Bristol Bears' Big Day Out in its second year." Premiership opening weekend fixtures Thursday, 25 SeptemberSale v Gloucester (19:45 BST)Friday, 26 SeptemberHarlequins v Bath (19:45 BST)Newcastle v Saracens (19:45 BST)Sunday, 28 SeptemberNorthampton v Exeter (13:00 BST)Bristol v Leicester (15:30 BST)
The Guardian
34 minutes ago
- The Guardian
West Indies turn to Lara and co after record Test low, but future looks bleak
'People are coming and going like the walking dead, padding up and unpadding.' Michael Clarke surveys the hallucinogenic scene in front of him at Newlands in November 2011, the grand view of Table Mountain unlikely to ease the agony, his first-innings 151 now chip-shop paper. Clarke's Australia are 21 for nine, sliding towards the lowest total in Test history. Nathan Lyon and Peter Siddle get them to 47 to avoid record-breaking embarrassment but it's barely consolatory. 'By the time we go back into the field, we're still unable to accept what's happening,' Clarke writes in his autobiography. 'We look like a cricket team, but we are 11 ghosts, unable to believe this reality.' South Africa have a target of 236 – hardly straightforward – but Graeme Smith and Hashim Amla ton up in an eight-wicket procession. Well, at least West Indies didn't have to field. Their 27 all out against Australia last week at Sabina Park, completing a 176-run loss and series whitewash, bears a couple of explanations. This was a low-scoring three-Test series all the way through, the highest individual effort Brandon King's 75, and the pink ball is more dangerous than any other weapon in Mitchell Starc's hand. But this also bears repeating: twenty-seven. Tragic for rock'n'roll, a new low point for the Caribbean game. Cricket West Indies' president was quick with the state-of-emergency announcement. 'There will be some sleepless nights ahead for many of us, including the players, who I know feel this loss just as heavily,' said Kishore Shallow. He called for a meeting and invited the legendary triumvirate of Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards and Brian Lara to contribute their views. 'This engagement is not ceremonial,' Shallow added, before immediately harking back to 'our golden eras'. An impromptu nostalgia fest seems unlikely to solve decades-long decay. Deep introspection is a natural reaction to a two-digit total. In 2013, Brendon McCullum won the toss under blue skies in Cape Town and chose to bat in his first Test as New Zealand captain. South Africa were batting by lunch, McCullum's men cooked for 45 inside 20 overs. Mike Hesson, New Zealand's head coach, knocked on McCullum's door that evening and was joined by other members of the backroom staff as the discussion turned to something bigger than technique and selection. 'We just spoke from our hearts,' McCullum later recalled. 'About who we were as a team and how we were perceived by the public. It was agreed that we were seen as arrogant, emotional, distant from our public, and we were up ourselves … We were full of bluster but soft as putty.' Two years later, after a run of six Test series without defeat, they found adoration on the way to their first World Cup final. West Indies are not new to this kind of distress. Lara experienced it first-hand and moved on from it with his own stubborn extravagance. In 1999, when Steve Waugh's Australia bowled West Indies out for 51 in Trinidad, Lara responded with a double hundred in Jamaica that same week. His magnum opus 153 not out followed in the next Test. In 2004, England's tour of the Caribbean began with Steve Harmison taking seven for 12. 'The English now had these towering brutes bowling chin music,' Lara later wrote, noting the role reversal, his own quicks no longer the ones to fear. The hosts were shot out for 47, their lowest total until this month. Lara still found room for his world-record 400 at the end of the four-match series, a luxury not afforded to the current generation. India experienced the pain in December 2020 when undone for 36 in the first Test against Australia in Adelaide – another pink-ball collapse – but that performance continues to grow in significance. Prithvi Shaw and Wriddhiman Saha were discarded for the next Test, replaced by Shubman Gill, on debut, and Rishabh Pant. The series turned India's way and the pair have done pretty well for themselves since. Sri Lanka produced their lowest total just eight months ago, bowled out for 42 in Durban, but they at least showed ticker with 282 in the fourth innings. The in-game recovery doesn't quite match that of Australia's women against England in the second Test in Melbourne 67 years ago. The hosts were dismissed for 38 in the first dig on a wet surface. 'England were killing themselves laughing,' Betty Wilson, the great Australian all-rounder, told Cricinfo. Wilson twirled to figures of seven for seven to bowl them out for 35 in reply. She failed to clock her hat-trick to finish the innings, notified only on the way off the field. 'This sudden revelation caught me unawares and I started crying,' she said. 'I was just determined that they wouldn't get the runs.' Will any of these comebacks, collective and individual, provide hope to West Indies supporters? Probably not. Unlike India, who were bowled out for 46 by New Zealand last October, West Indies have no world-beating reserves to call upon, no control of the game's financial model, no recent triumphs to talk about in the other forms. It used to be that the men's red-ball failures were partly assuaged by their Twenty20 excellence, World Cup victories in 2012 and 2016 something to cling to, the power of Chris Gayle and co enough to rally round. But there is decline in that sphere, too. As West Indies perished to two 3-0 series defeats in England last month, Nicholas Pooran – Wisden's leading T20 cricketer in the world – announced his retirement from international cricket at 29, his remaining days to play out in the far more profitable franchise world. 'I'm pretty sure more will follow in that direction,' warned Daren Sammy, their head coach, adding that there are challenges in 'trying to keep our players motivated to play for the crest'. No wonder the desire to go back in time. 'When we came that morning, there was a slight silence but a focused silence in the changing room,' Keshav Maharaj tells the Spin. The morning, of course, is from last month at Lord's, with South Africa still 69 runs away from winning the World Test Championship. 'I wouldn't say it was nerves because I've seen our team nervous.' No, this time was different. After all the last-four failures and a lost final the year before, they got it done, that dreaded c-word told to do one. When did Maharaj know that the title was theirs? 'Definitely in the last 10 runs, although it was a nervy 10 runs, but I think the five wickets in hand was our saving grace at the time.' Maharaj spoke tearfully minutes after victory, with Graeme Smith, the former South Africa captain, asking the questions. 'I couldn't hold back my emotions. I was never going to do it. If you saw Dale Steyn in that interview as well, he burst into tears. It just shows how much it meant to us as a nation. I know Graeme was a little bit stronger than all of us, but I could see the passion and raw emotion within his eyes as well.' The win 'hasn't fully sunk in yet', says Maharaj, who then captained a new-look South Africa side against Zimbabwe at the end of June, the match including the 35-year-old's 200th Test wicket. Maharaj is the first South African spinner to reach the mark. 'Spin is a dying art in the world,' he says. 'I just want to pave the way for the next generation to believe that spin, the art of bowling spin, is something you can pursue and make a career from and be one of the world's best.' That'll explain the respect for Liam Dawson. Maharaj faced his fellow left-armer when Dawson last played Test cricket on South Africa's tour of England in 2017. 'He's come on leaps and bounds,' says Maharaj. 'To see how he's done in SA20, and he's dominated quite significantly in the last three years of county cricket. Always rated him as a bowler. He's also a great human being. When I had my achilles injury, he reached out to me because he had a similar injury, so it was quite nice. He's a wonderful asset, not just from a bowling perspective, but as a package because he bats as well.' I asked him a few questions about the tactics, whether you're going to stick with the 3-4-3 this season' – Kuldeep Yadav got his chat on with Ruben Amorim after India met up with Manchester United. With this week's Test match in Manchester, we take a look back at a painful experience there in 2014 for an England great when the home nation defied the loss of Stuart Broad at Old Trafford with a broken nose, romping to a second consecutive victory over an India team whose spirit then had been fractured, as Andy Wilson reported here. India's captain, Shubman Gill, reckons that England breached 'spirit of the game' during the third Test at Lord's, Simon Burnton reports, while Ali Martin tees up the fourth Test at Manchester. Gary Naylor shares the frustration of county cricket fans left waiting until September for the T20 Blast quarter-finals. And while Australia's selectors took a punt on Sam Konstas as Test opener – he is left with the debt, writes Geoff Lemon. … by writing to To subscribe to The Spin, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
