| League of American Bicyclists: Albuquerque named bike-friendly city Albuquerque has been designated as a Bronze Level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Fanball.com retires fantasy sports pioneer Wiegert Charlie Wiegert, a pioneer of fantasy sports games, has parted ways with Fanball.com, the Chesterfield company that purchased the fantasy sports business he helped launch in 1991. The move came as new owners at Liberty Media Corp. in Denver brought in new management, Wiegert said. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Saracens 26-20 Leicester Saracens 26-20 LeicesterMaybe Saracens should visit a beer festival every week. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the squad's much-publicised trip to the Oktoberfest last Monday there was no doubting the spirit and togetherness which infused their win today over a depleted Leicester. If it did not quite atone for their Premiership final defeat to the Tigers last season, this result may well come in handy when the play-off permutations are calculated next May.The toast of Watford, not to mention Munich, was the increasingly familiar South African axis of Schalk Brits and Derick Hougaard, who collectively caused the visitors recurring headaches. Brits, the sharpest hooker out of the blocks anywhere in world rugby, scored one try and created another while Hougaard added to his match-winning effort against Northampton with another heavy-duty haul of 16 points. Despite a late Tigers revival from 26-10 down, it was just enough to tilt a fluctuating contest and hoist Sarries into third place.Leicester, for their part, felt strongly that the French official Romain Poite played the most decisive role. Not for the first time the stream of invective aimed at the referee from the Tigers' coaching bench was loud and increasingly personal, promoted by Poite's perceived lack of consistency. Whatever the validity of Leicester's complaints, screaming four‑letter, nationality-themed, integrity‑questioning obscenities at the ref is neither big nor clever.The local radio station, broadcasting live from a few seats away, was even forced to issue an on-air apology for audible bad language which may ultimately land Matt O'Connor, Richard Cockerill's assistant, in hot water. Nobody minds passion but boorish abuse is something else and this is not Leicester's first offence. Cockerill later queried the wisdom of Poite's appointment, part of an exchange deal facilitated by the Rugby Football Union. "There were some head-scratching decisions at times … you'll have to ask [head of elite referees] Ed Morrison whether putting a French referee in charge of a big English game is a worthwhile exchange," said the former England hooker.Ironically it was Saracens' Brendan Venter who last week highlighted the current disparity in refereeing interpretations across the Channel and the game today fully underlined his point. "I fear so much for world rugby that we're not going to crack down on the tackler at the breakdown," said Venter, admitting his players had increasingly taken the law into their own hands. "My players cheated four times in the second half by not releasing the player because we adapted to the referee. It's not that Romain is a poor referee. This guy is one of the top six in the world. It's just that he referees differently. But who's going to lose in the end? The spectator. The game will not be a good product."For this, among other reasons, the encounter was several megawatts short of last season's electrifying final, particularly from the Tigers' perspective. The only area where Leicester were consistently dominant was the scrum where Dan Cole and Boris Stankovich caused all sorts of angst for Deon Carstens and Petrus du Plessis. Cockerill was already howling for a penalty try long before one finally materialised five minutes before the interval, Carstens having already been yellow-carded as Sarries wriggled desperately on Cole's remorseless hook.Power, though, is only one part of rugby's simultaneous equation. Composure also helps and the Tigers were guilty of complacency for both Sarries' first-half tries. Matt Smith will not want to see the replay of his 22nd-minute missed tackle which allowed the ever-alert Chris Wyles to wriggle through the defensive line and put Brits over in the right corner. The visiting defence were similarly lax when their 14-man opponents sneaked over for another soft score a minute before half-time, Brits accelerating off the side of a ruck and releasing Richard Wigglesworth for a try which did little for Cockerill's blood pressure.Things went from bad to worse after Hougaard had kicked two further penalties and a long drop goal. First Horacio Agulla was sin-binned for killing the ball before the Tigers were briefly reduced to 13 men when Ed Slater was adjudged to have deliberately slapped the ball down after Sarries had taken a quick tap. In the circumstances Leicester did well to rally, partly thanks to a neat chip-and-chase try from Lucas Amorosino. "It's not every day you beat Leicester and you feel a little bit deflated," acknowledged Venter. "We butchered a couple of sitters and that's my disappointment. We should have had a bonus point ... we were much better than them today."Having beaten the English champions, Sarries now face the French title winners Clermont Auvergne next weekend. Next summer they plan to venture even further afield with a pre-season camp in Buenos Aires, cementing their reputation as enthusiastic wandering minstrels. Some truly desperate oom-pah music from Bavaria was even played over the public address before kick-off, although Sarries did draw the line at wearing Lederhosen. At this rate, they will gladly be back in Munich next year; Leicester fans, in contrast, were left to weep into their bitter and pray for a refreshing start to their Heineken Cup campaign.Saracens Wyles; Strettle (Powell, h/t), Ratuvou, Mordt (Barritt, 61), M Tagicakibau; Hougaard, Wigglesworth; Carstens, Brits (George, 70), Du Plessis (Nieto, 45), Borthwick (capt), Vyvyan (Botha, 55), Brown, Burger (Saull, 55), Joubert.Tries: Brits, Wigglesworth. Cons Hougaard 2. Pens Hougaard 3. Drop goal Hougaard.Sin-bin: Agulla 56, Slater 66.Leicester Amorosino; Hamilton, Hipkiss, Smith (Robinson, 66), Agulla; Twelvetrees, Grindal; Stankovich, Hawkins, Cole (Castrogiovanni, 68), Slater, Skivington, Croft (capt), Newby, Pienaar (Woods, 51).Tries Penalty try, Amorosino. Cons Twelvetrees 2. Pens Twelvetrees 2.Sin-bin Carstens 35.Referee R Poite (France). Attendance 7,517.This article was amended on 4 October, 2010. The original photo captionidentified the Leicester player as Scott Hamilton. This has been corrected.PremiershipSaracensLeicesterRugby unionRobert Kitsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Minnie Pearl Building gets $1.5M in flood rehab permits With the Grand Ole Opry House reopened, and the Nov. 15 reopening date for the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort fast approaching, new building permits continue to be issued for Gaylord Entertainment Co.’s flood-damaged properties. feeds.bizjournals.com |
Ilya Kovalchuk benched in Devils' blowout loss to Sabres Ryan Miller had 26 saves, Thomas Vanek scored twice and the Buffalo Sabres wrecked goalie Johan Hedberg's Devils' debut in a 6-1 victory over ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |