Showing posts with label Melbourne. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melbourne. Show all posts

Tuesday, 22 March 2016

Brumbies Stand Down CEO Jones


Brumbies chief executive Michael Jones has been stood down by the Super Rugby club’s board following a radio interview in which he was critical of the club’s finances.

Jones’ standing down followed a surprise visit to Canberra by Australian rugby boss Bill Pulver on Monday, with Brumbies chairman Rob Kennedy informing the CEO of his decision hours later.

“It was with great regret that I informed Michael of the board’s decision,” Kennedy said in a statement on Monday night. “However, I believe this decision is in the best long term interest of the Brumbies.”

The club’s general manager of community rugby, Craig Leseberg, will take over as interim CEO, while it is still unclear whether Jones will fight or accept the decision.

Jones earned the ire of club and Australian rugby officials on Saturday, when he told ABC Grandstand he was concerned about the future of the club.

The Brumbies are currently under investigation by ACT Police, after Jones called on them to investigate a deal signed by previous club management with the University of Canberra.

“If the Brumbies cease to be an entity, which is one of the very foreseeable outcomes ... the ARU will be in default of the SANZAAR agreement, because they are required to field five teams every week,” Jones said on Saturday.

“And if this organisation folds and goes into administration the ARU is in default. They are big stakes games that a lot of these guys are playing, and its fairly irresponsible of most of them to do it.”

The Brumbies took a reported $1.68 million loss in 2015, and Jones also told the ABC they have made a profit just once in the past 11 years.

However, an ARU spokesman told News Corp Australia that the organisation would step in to save the club if required.


Saturday, 5 March 2016

Reds Feel Full Force at Suncorp

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The pressure on Queensland Super Rugby coach Richard Graham has intensified after a disastrous 22-3 defeat to the Western Force at Suncorp Stadium. It continued an abysmal start to the season by the inexperienced Reds, who again failed to fire a real shot in attack and showed little to suggest they weren’t in for a long, tough year ahead.

The Force held a small lead for most of Saturday night’s match but broke away late, and sealed the win through the game’s sole try from winger Luke Morahan on the fulltime siren. Former Red Jono Lance came back to haunt his old side, booting four from four penalties and setting up Morahan’s try in front of 17,533 fans.

And as if the ongoing absence of Liam Gill, James Slipper and Kane Douglas wasn’t enough, there was more bad news for Queensland on the injury front. Hooker Saia Fainga’a succumbed to what appeared to be an ankle injury midway through the first stanza, placing him in immediate doubt for next week’s home clash with the Melbourne Rebels, while a groggy Hendrik Tui also hobbled off late in the match.

After allowing Wallaby James Hanson to move to Melbourne in the off-season, Queensland’s only back-up hooker is the raw and inexperienced Andrew Reddy. He came off the bench for just his fifth Super Rugby cap and coughed up two costly second-half penalties.

Even import fullback Ayumu Goromaru had an off night with the boot on his Super Rugby starting debut - the Japanese star was recruited specifically for his dead-eye goalkicking but converted only two of his four penalty attempts.

Showers fell before kickoff but the damp conditions alone didn’t excuse a stodgy, error-riddled showing from both sides. The Reds had 58 percent of first-half possession but still trailed 9-3 at the break, unable to convert the ball they had into attacking opportunities as was the case a week earlier against the NSW Waratahs.

Fans had to wait until almost the stroke of halftime for the first real enterprising passage of play from Queensland – when former NRL players Eto Nabuli and Karmichael Hunt combined on a threatening break that ultimately fizzled out - but even then, it was the Force doing the scoring, with Jono Lance slotting his third penalty of the night on the siren.

The Reds were unable to conjure up anything resembling a fightback in the second half, despite closing to within six points at one stage, with their raw but powerful backline again unable to click.


Saturday, 27 February 2016

Waratahs Thrash Reds at Allianz Stadium

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NSW Waratahs made a successful start to the Daryl Gibson era and inflicted more misery on arch rivals Queensland with a 30-10 win in their opening-round Super rugby match in Sydney. The Tahs scored four tries to one on Saturday night, racking up their fifth straight win over the Reds, in front of 24,044 spectators at Allianz Stadium.

The bonus-point performance emulated the Brumbies’ effort against the Hurricanes and set up an early season blockbuster between the two leading Australian franchises on Friday in Canberra. The Tahs showed plenty of sparkle before the break with the new playmaking duo of five-eighth Kurtley Beale and inside centre David Horwitz prominent.

They lost some gloss after half-time as Queensland’s pack fought hard to earn their side a foothold in the game. First-half tries to captain and openside flanker Michael Hooper, winger Matt Carraro and debutant Horwitz set up a 20-0 halftime buffer for the home team. Hooper crashed over from close range, Carraro pounced on a loose ball and the impressive Horwitz touched down after toeing the ball ahead.

The Reds showed more fight against a less impressive Waratahs outfit after the break, scoring 10 unanswered points in the third quarter. Five-eighth Jake McIntyre dummied his way over for the visitors’ only try just before the hour. Needing to get three tries ahead of the Reds to earn a bonus point, the Tahs crossed for their fourth five-pointer in the 62nd minute, when impressive halfback Nick Phipps won the chase to a Beale kick.

The Reds contributed to their downfall with some poor discipline, conceding four penalties in the first eight minutes and had a man sin-binned in each half. Referee Angus Gardner warned Queensland captain and lock Rob Simmons in the eighth minute, after his team had conceded those first four penalties, that the Reds risked having someone sent to the bin if they didn’t clean up their act. 

Simmons didn’t heed the warning as he was sin-binned five minutes later. No-nonsense Australian official Gardner also delivered a stern lecture to both front rows just before halftime.

In the second half, he sin-binned two reserve props, the Reds’ Sam Talaki and the Waratahs’ Jeremy Tilse. An injury to centre and Reds debutant Henry Taefu meant Japanese World Cup star back Ayumu Goromaru was on after just 27 minutes, a bonus for the large Japanese media contingent attending the game. He scored the Reds’ first points from a 37-metre penalty in the 45th minute, missed with another attempt from slightly further out a few minutes later, but converted McIntyre’s try.


Tuesday, 23 February 2016

Honda Name Hasegawa Head of F1


Yasuhisa Arai, the head of Honda’s Formula One programme, will step down at the end of the month and be replaced by Yusuke Hasegawa, McLaren’s engine partners said on Tuesday.

Hasegawa has previous experience in Formula One from Honda’s time with the BAR and Jordan teams.

Arai, 59, had led Honda’s efforts in the sport since they returned in a new partnership with McLaren in a troubled 2015 season marked by a lack of performance from the unreliable power unit.

Honda said that Arai, who will retire next year, had been moved as part of a wider restructuring.

McLaren finished ninth of 10 teams in 2015 and will be hoping for a considerable improvement in the new season, which starts on 20 March in Melbourne, Australia.

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso is “excited” to get the 2016 campaign underway as he believes McLaren-Honda learnt a great deal from last year’s “tricky” season. McLaren’s first year back with Honda power did not go according to plan.

The team managed just 29 points, suffered 12 retirements and were hit with a record 105-place penalty at the Belgium Grand Prix.

Throughout the season both McLaren and Honda insisted that it was a year for laying foundations for the future. Foundations that Alonso hopes will reap some rewards in 2016.

“The start of a new season is always a special feeling, characterised by a lot of anticipation for the year ahead,” said the double World Champion. “This year is no different: I’m excited and raring to go.

“Last year the spotlight was very much on McLaren-Honda as we embarked on the first year of our renewed partnership. It was a tricky season for all of us, but we learned a hell of a lot.

“Likewise, it’s been a very productive winter for me. I’ve been training extremely hard, as usual, but also enjoying time with my family, and keeping tabs on all the hard work going on at the McLaren Technology Centre, Woking, where the McLaren guys have been doing an incredible job to get everything ready in time. The Honda boys have been working flat-out in Sakura, too.”

As for the new MP4-31, which was unveiled online the day before pre-season testing, Alonso reckons it is “nicely packaged” car.

“The aero package shows fantastic attention to detail. The whole car is beautiful in fact – it’s particularly nicely packaged from an aerodynamic point of view as I say – and I’m 100 per cent ready for the challenge ahead.”


Tuesday, 2 February 2016

Froome Warned UCI on Mechanical Doping


Chris Froome has claimed he warned cycling authorities about possible mechanical doping in the sport.

After decades of struggling to combat illegal drug use, cycling’s image suffered a fresh blow on Sunday when stewards at the world cyclo-cross championships found an electric motor in Belgian teenager Femke Van den Driessche’s bike.

Den Driessche has maintained her innocence since the discovery, but Froome said he had heard whispers about mechanical doping before and shared them with the International Cycling Union (UCI)

“It’s a concern that I’ve had, something I’ve brought up with the UCI independent commission when I sat down with them and said, ‘listen, from my point of view there are these rumours, it would be my advice that the UCI implements controls and measure to start checking bikes more regularly’,” said the two-times winner of the Tour de France.

The UCI has promised to step up testing for motorised doping, which Froome has welcomed. “I think they are taking the threat seriously and hopefully this will mean that they only increase the number of checks that they do on the world tour level,” the 30-year-old said ahead of taking part in the Herald Sun Tour, which starts in Victoria, Australia, on Wednesday.


Tuesday, 8 December 2015

Rousey Faces Six Month Recovery


Ronda Rousey says it may take six months to fully recover from the injuries she sustained in her Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title defeat by Holly Holm in November.

Holm, 34, ended her fellow American's unbeaten 12-fight streak with a second-round knockout in Melbourne.

"It might be three to six months before I can eat an apple, let alone take an impact," Rousey, 28, told ESPN.

The Expendables 3 star added she was hoping to reclaim her title.

"Maybe I can't do it all before my prime, before my body is done, but maybe I can," added Rousey, who is set to appear in a remake of 1980s film Road House.

On Sunday, Holm had a day named after her, at a parade in her native Albuquerque, New Mexico.


Tuesday, 3 November 2015

Crikey! Michelle Breaks Payne Barrier

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Australian Michelle Payne has become the first female jockey to win Australia's most prestigious horse race, the Melbourne Cup.

The New Zealand-bred Prince of Penzance won despite being an outsider, with French horse Max Dynamite second and New Zealand horse Criterion third.

Frankie Dettori was banned for a month and fined A$20,000 (£9,338) for careless riding on Max Dynamite.

Payne said winning was "everybody's dream as a jockey in Australia".

"My sister and I had a feeling I was going to win, and it turned out exactly how I thought it would," the 30-year-old told reporters.

Only the fourth female to ride in the Cup during its 155-year history, she added: "It's such a chauvinistic sport, I know some of the owners wanted to kick me off."

She praised Prince of Penzance trainer Darren Weir and owner John Richards for their support but said: "I want to say to everyone else, get stuffed, because women can do anything and we can beat the world."

Red Cadeaux broke down before the finish line with an injured leg, but officials said they did not believe the injury was life threatening.

Jamie Spencer was suspended for 14 days for causing interference on British-trained Big Orange, who finished fifth.

Time of her life: Ms Payne said every Australian jockey dreams of winning the Melbourne Cup. She said she started when she was five

Michelle Payne said she had been dreaming of winning the Melbourne Cup since she was five years old

Payne, who has fought back from life-threatening race injuries during her career, said she hoped her win would inspire other women: "It's a very male-dominated sport and people think we [women] are not strong enough and all of the rest of it, but it's not all about strength.

"There is so much more involved, getting the horse into a rhythm, getting the horse to try for you.

"It's being patient and I'm so glad to win the Melbourne Cup and, hopefully, it will help female jockeys from now on to get more of a go. We don't get enough of a go."

Japan's Fame Game had been a firm favourite to win Australia's biggest race, but it was Payne who rode to victory, beating odds of 100-1.

Michelle Payne celebrates her winning ride on Prince Of Penzance to win race 7 the Emirates Melbourne Cup with brother and strapper Stephen Payne

Michelle Payne celebrates her winning ride on Prince Of Penzance with brother and strapper Stephen Payne

The Payne family is steeped in Australian racing. The youngest of 10 children, Michelle was raised by her father on the family farm in Victoria after her mother died when she was just six months old.

Eight of her nine siblings have also been jockeys, but none has won a race as big as this.

For the Australian owners of Prince of Penzance, a horse that cost just $50,000 (£25,000; $36,000), it was a lucrative day as they will take home almost A$3.6m (£1.7m; $2.6m) in prize money.

Dubbed "the race that stops a nation", the Melbourne Cup is the world's richest two-mile handicap race, worth A$6.2m ($4.2m; £2.9m).

Eleven international horses were among the 24 in the race. Only one of the local starters, Sertorius, was actually bred in Australia.

Meanwhile, vets have reportedly operated on three-time Melbourne Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux.

Racing Victoria said earlier the horse had a suspected fetlock injury to his left foreleg.

"On-course veterinarians have splinted and stabilised the horse's leg and he has now been transferred to the University of Melbourne Veterinary Clinic at Werribee to undergo further assessment," it said in a statement .

Last year's cup ended controversially after two horses died.

Pre-race favourite Admire Rakti died after finishing last, while seventh-placed Araldo was put down after fracturing a cannon bone.


Monday, 31 August 2015

Sharapova Out of US Open


Maria Sharapova has pulled out of the US Open on the eve of the tournament.

The Russian world No3 has been struggling with a muscle strain in her right leg and has not played a competitive match since losing to Serena Williams in the Wimbledon semi-finals just over seven weeks ago.

She travelled to New York for the year’s final grand slam tournament, but announced a day before the start that she had withdrawn.

Sharapova wrote on her Facebook page: “Unfortunately I will not be able to compete in this years US Open. I have done everything possible to be ready but it was just not enough time. To all my amazing fans, I will be back in the Asian swing in a few weeks and look forward to finishing the year healthy and strong.”

Sharapova will be replaced in the draw by the Russian, Daria Kasatkina, who will now play Daria Gavrilova.