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| Scorned Frogs era long gone: TCU stands tall amid BCS TCU's most recent trip to a major bowl was so long ago, Texas was still the largest state in the union. Now, TCU and Boise State will meet in ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Nemanja Vidic: new passenger for gravy train to Madrid Nemanja Vidic was never a loss to the diplomatic corps, to judge from his suggestion once that Manchester’s “main attraction is considered to be the timetable at the railway station, where trains leave for less rainy cities”. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Shaun Edwards: Martin Johnson buys a bit more time England's manager is targeting the Six Nations with the World Cup only 20 months awayIf there are more ways than one to skin a cat, then Martin Johnson is going with the one he knows best. The World Cup may be on the horizon – in fact less than 20 months away – but, while not entirely ignoring the Webb Ellis Cup, the England manager has his sights set almost myopically on winning the Six Nations.First things first, that's the thinking, and that was the way Clive Woodward went about winning the World Cup in 2003, when Johnson was his captain. So now that the on-field leader of 2003 is in control of the whole show we can look forward to a repeat, or at least an attempt at a repeat.Instead of rushing towards a team with potential to win in 2003, Woodward went about his work methodically – building a side who learned how to win games before starting to experiment. New players joined a team that was buoyed by success and bit by bit, the match-day 22 that won in Sydney was put in place. Unfortunately for Johnson, Woodward had six years to get the chemistry right, not 20 months.And how do we know this is how Johnson is thinking in the build-up to 2011? Well, we don't for sure and, quite fairly, those suggesting a less conservative approach will point to the fact that this week he admitted being too proscriptive in the way he prepared England for the autumn Tests and added Chris Ashton and Shontayne Hape to his elite squad.You can see these are signs that Johnson is prepared to take chances on in-form selections or players with potential rather than history, but for the counter argument I'd draw your attention to the props in the squadannounced on Wednesday and particularly the fact that Johnson is prepared to give the wounded duo, Andrew Sheridan and Julian White, more time to put their hands up and say they will be fit for action when Wales turn up at Twickenham on 6 February – only three weeks away.Both are formidable scrummagers, that's a fact, and in their prime they've done a job on plenty of front rows. But Sheridan is still recovering after operations on his dislocated shoulder while White, also injured, is very much a part-time prop and full-time farmer these days, and is not even the tighthead currently commanding attention at Leicester.As Wasps last week and Saracens the week before discovered, Dan Cole is very much the man of the moment at Welford Road and one can only assume that by not promoting him immediately Johnson is merely using White's injury to buy time and see the 22-year-old in Europe, against Viadana this week and the Ospreys next. Only then will he make the final decision.Likewise Sheridan and the other 22-year-old Saxons prop looking for promotion, Matt Mullan. It seems the Worcester loosehead would have come into contention earlier, but got injured and was not available for the autumn internationals. Now the feeling could be that a couple more games might help confirm he's back to the formidable form of last season.The options are fascinating, as is the question of who captains England and how the arrival of Courtney Lawes alters the chemistry of England's second row.Lawes is definitely something for the future if not the present. The 20‑year‑old got his first cap in the autumn and is now looking to get a start, presumably in the second row, although Northampton have been using him occasionally as blindside flanker. The problem is that it's hard to see England playing both Steve Borthwick and Lawes, when that would leave the second row short on the kind of scrummaging muscle needed behind the tighthead prop.A better pairing would be Lawes and Simon Shaw who, based on his Lions form and the difference he made during limited time he played in the autumn, has to be a shoo-in. However, that in turn leaves questions about the lineout as well as Borthwick's captaincy. The lineout – the jumping if not the calling – is resolved if England pick Tom Croft at No6. Johnson has said he will deal with the captaincy question closer to 6 February.Time for a change? Who knows? But if I had a few bob to spare I'd check the odds on Lewis Moody leading out England at least once this Six Nations.England rugby union teamMartin JohnsonSix Nations rugbyRugby unionShaun Edwardsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Murray: It feels like Wimbledon • Straight sets win under roof comfortable for Murray• Will play Frenchman Marc Gicquel in second roundAndy Murray claimed he felt like he was playing at Wimbledon after winning his first-round tie at the Australian Open under the Rod Laver Arena roof yesterday.The No5 seed brushed aside South African qualifier Kevin Anderson 6-1 6-1 6-2 to begin his quest for a first grand slam title in impressive fashion.The match was played indoors because of the persistent showers that left the outdoor courts at Melbourne Park sodden and forced 14 women's and 13 men's matches to be postponed until today. After his win Murray said the atmosphere felt like SW19, where he played under the new retractable roof for the first time last year."You create your own atmosphere on the court, but the conditions are similar to Wimbledon with the roof," he said."It actually slows the court down like at Wimbledon. It gets quite humid in there, whereas it's pretty dry heat normally, and it's just quite heavy. It slows the court down a bit, so that was a bit different."The British No1 admitted he had been happy to get through his match quickly with a number of players on the outside courts having to wait through four rain delays and windy conditions before finishing their matches.Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev and American Mardy Fish were two of the worst hit players with their match spanning almost eight hours. The pair were second on Court 11 and after beginning shortly after 1pm Golubev did not wrap up his 6-2 1-6 6-3 6-3 win until after 9pm."It was maybe a little bit easier to play indoors, because you know once you get on the court you're going to finish," Murray said. "You're not getting stopped. Also, I watched some points of some of the matches on the outside courts, and it was pretty windy out there, too. They were pretty tough conditions to play in, so indoors was obviously a lot easier."Murray will play Marc Gicquel, who beat Simone Bolelli 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3, in the second round.Andy MurrayAustralian OpenTennisguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Rafael Nadal's title defence remains on course at the Australian Open Rafael Nadal remains on course to defend his Australian Open title but the Spaniard was made to work for his third round victory over Philipp Kohlschreiber. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |