Chessum and Freeman serious doubts to face All Blacks in blow to England
Ollie Chessum and Tommy Freeman are serious injury doubts for England’s game with New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday,The two British & Irish Lions players sat out training on Monday and their participation against the All Blacks is in jeopardy,Chessum is struggling with a foot injury and was seen on crutches at England’s training base in Bagshot,He was replaced after 70 minutes of the 38-18 win against Fiji on Saturday and in the likely event he is ruled out Maro Itoje’s expected second‑row partner would be Alex Coles,Freeman was also replaced in the later stages of the victory and it is understood he is nursing a hamstring injury.
The 24-year-old has become an integral part of England’s back-line, starting at outside-centre against Australia before moving back to the right wing against Fiji.He has started all England matches he has been available for since the start of 2024 and his absence would be a considerable blow.Elliot Daly has returned to full training, but has not played since he fractured an arm when with the Lions in June and it would be a huge call to throw him straight back into action against New Zealand.Freddie Steward (hand) and Tom Roebuck (ankle) missed out against Fiji, but have returned to training.If they are not available, England would be facing a back-three crisis.
Steward started against Australia and would appear to be in competition with Daly for the No 15 jersey if Steve Borthwick does not keep Marcus Smith at full-back.If Roebuck is fit he would be the expected replacement for Freeman.Borthwick did reveal that Freeman was back under consideration to start in the No 13 jersey against New Zealand, but Ollie Lawrence would probably remain at outside-centre if the Northampton Saint is unavailable.Chessum has endured a series of serious injuries on international duty.He missed all of the autumn campaign last year after a knee injury at England’s preparation camp in Girona and nearly missed out on the 2023 World Cup because of an ankle injury in the Six Nations that year.
Borthwick is not blessed with a wealth of second-row options and if Itoje and Coles are named to start on Saturday Chandler Cunningham-South would be pressed into providing cover.He started at No 8 against Fiji, but Borthwick is expected to reshuffle his back row with Sam Underhill coming back in the fold.The 29-year-old destructive tackler sat out the victory against Fiji but has started 13 of England’s matches since the 2023 World Cup and is rarely omitted if fit.It would be a surprise if Tom Curry, who has come off the bench in both England’s matches this autumn, did not return to the starting lineup.Sign up to The BreakdownThe latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewedafter newsletter promotionEngland entertain the All Blacks on the back of nine consecutive Test victories, but have lost their past three encounters against them, all by narrow margins, and have not beaten New Zealand at Twickenham since Manu Tuilagi ran riot in 2012.
Underhill is one of the few members of the squad to have tasted victory against the All Blacks.He and Curry starred as Eddie Jones’s “Kamikaze Kids” in the 2019 World Cup semi-final victory against New Zealand.“As a team they are incredibly good decision-makers and they take advantage of teams that are slow to react to things,” said Underhill, who had a memorable late try disallowed against New Zealand in a narrow 2018 defeat.“You have almost got to see the game as quickly as you can, then the physical intensity; they are an athletic team, a dynamic team that make the most of space and speed of ball to give their athletic guys the ability to show what they can do.”
‘Focus on driving and talk less’: Ferrari president hits back at Lewis Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton has been told to “focus on driving and talk less” in a rebuke from the Ferrari president, John Elkann, which was almost certainly a reaction to Hamilton’s outspoken description of his first season with the team as a “nightmare”.Hamilton has endured a difficult debut year with Ferrari, with the team underperforming and the seven‑time champion having a trying time adapting to a new environment and practices.After another disappointing race at the São Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday, when forced to retire the car on lap 37, Hamilton was unusually blunt, stating: “This is a nightmare and I’ve been living it for a while. The flip between the dream of driving for this amazing team and then the nightmare of the results that we’ve had.”Elkann, who was instrumental in persuading Hamilton to join Ferrari and with whom the British driver is friends, gave an equally forthright response, speaking in Milan
Chessum and Freeman serious doubts to face All Blacks in blow to England
Ollie Chessum and Tommy Freeman are serious injury doubts for England’s game with New Zealand at Twickenham on Saturday. The two British & Irish Lions players sat out training on Monday and their participation against the All Blacks is in jeopardy.Chessum is struggling with a foot injury and was seen on crutches at England’s training base in Bagshot. He was replaced after 70 minutes of the 38-18 win against Fiji on Saturday and in the likely event he is ruled out Maro Itoje’s expected second‑row partner would be Alex Coles.Freeman was also replaced in the later stages of the victory and it is understood he is nursing a hamstring injury
US anti-doping accuses Wada of trying to ‘smear America’ amid Enhanced Games row
The war of words between anti‑doping bodies over the Enhanced Games has intensified after Usada accused Wada of attempting “to smear America”.Travis Tygart, president of the US Anti-Doping Agency, made the claim as he hit back at the World Anti-Doping Agency suggestion that it should do more to stop the pro‑doping event scheduled to take place in Las Vegas next year. Tygart said that Wada’s intervention was a “desperate attempt to divert attention” from its role in the Chinese swimming scandal of 2021.“For an organisation reportedly part of a criminal investigation by US law enforcement, the continued and blatantly false attacks from Wada president [Witold] Banka are a telling smokescreen,” Tygart said. “His attempts to smear America and our US Olympic and professional athletes is a desperate attempt to divert attention away from his failure in allowing China to sweep 23 positive tests under the carpet
Erasmus’s coaching scholarship takes South Africa to a higher plain | Robert Kitson
Some wins count double in terms of the message they send. And amid the blizzard of weekend Test matches it was Saturday night’s result in Paris that will resonate the longest in both hemispheres. Not only the outcome, either, but the manner of it. To say South Africa exploded a few cosy theories would be the understatement of the rugby year.So much for the idea, for example, that France would avenge the injustice of their World Cup quarter-final defeat to the Springboks
Trump booed at Commanders NFL game before calling plays from Fox broadcast booth
Donald Trump became the first sitting US president in nearly 50 years to attend a regular-season NFL game when he dropped in on the Detroit Lions’ win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.There were boos from large sections of fans, as well as scattered cheers, at the Commanders’ Northwest Stadium when Trump was shown on the screens late in the first half – and again when the president was introduced by the stadium announcer at halftime. The Washington DC area has strong Democratic support, while Trump’s cuts to the government have affected many workers in the vicinity of the Commanders’ stadium. Sunday was not the first time Trump has received a hostile reception from a Washington sports crowd: he was greeted with ‘lock him up’ chants at the Washington Nationals’ home stadium during the 2019 World Series.The jeering continued while Trump read an oath for members of the military to recite as part of an on-field ceremony during a break in the game
Wales humbled by Argentina as Steve Tandy witnesses scale of task ahead
The start of a new Welsh rugby chapter left fans reading the same old story, Argentina claiming their biggest victory against the host side and consigning Wales to their 19th defeat in 20 Tests.Welsh supporters had hoped the team had turned a page in the summer after they ended their losing run with a win against Japan and had since given the reins to their new head coach, Steve Tandy. But it is clear there is still a lot of work to do to get this once formidable Wales side back to its glory days.Alongside their torrid form, discussions will be focused on the Wales centre Ben Thomas after he escaped a red card. Thomas was being held in a ruck and kicked a leg towards Pablo Matera’s head, for which he was shown a yellow card
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