USA won a HSBC Series title and the Americas Rugby Championship in two days, demonstrating the strength of the US grassroots gameThat the USA is the sleeping giant of rugby union has come to be something of a cliche. But events in Montevideo and Las Vegas this weekend suggest there is life in the old phrase yet. If the deciding game of the Americas Rugby Championship or finals day at the USA Sevens did not jolt the ogre fully awake, it seemed at least to give it a start. Related: Houston? No problem – SaberCats bullish about latest US rugby venture Related: Meet Phaidra Knight: free radical flanker in World Rugby Hall of Fame Related: Wales to play South Africa...
This week’s roundup also features tennis hot shots, a keeper glitch and a snooker player riding his luck … and the table1) Let’s have some speedway memories: Peter Collins v Egon Muller in 1984; Bruce Penhall in 1981 action; world championship action from Wembley in 1967 … and then in 1981 … and back in 1933. Inside at Wembley Arena in 1982, to White City in 1977 a trip to speedway school in 1949 and Swindon that same year. Oh, and here’s some cycle speedway from 1955.2) Absolute savagery from Aleksandr Mostovoi for Spartak Moscow v Metallist in 1990, which leads us to this review of his time at Celta Vigo. Continue reading...
Galleries who never warmed to the 14-times major champion are willing him to make his latest comeback one of the greatestTiger Woods seemed destined to be celebrated but not loved. If that appears harsh, the greatest golfer in a generation appeared perfectly at ease with that scenario himself. Until now.Woods’s complex relationship with US galleries conjures gallows humour. A string of relationships, after all, were so damaging not only to Woods’s personal life but his broader reputation. Woods, already deliberately distant from fellow competitors, was apparently forever tarnished as tales of his extra-marital antics emerged. Phil Mickelson, the immaculate blue-eyed boy and long-time Woods rival, benefited in popularity terms. Related: Tiger Woods says Masters plan on track as Justin Thomas...
Mike Pence’s very presence in Pyeongchang is having a debilitating effect on everyone and everything enduring his contactIt is, perhaps, a question as old as athletic competition itself: who is sport’s worst spectator? Of all the absolute arses, watching all the sports in all the world, who is the most unspeakably irksome, the most antithetical to everything you thought you knew about the power and possibilities of physical contest? Whose name is Death, Destroyer of Sports? Who is Earth’s foremost sporticidal maniac?I could have sworn I sat next to him at Stamford Bridge once. Yet a friend insists the entity takes female form, and attends the same junior netball games as her every week, destroying not just her own kids’ confidence,...
The New England Patriots tight end has hinted he may consider retiring at the age of 28 – and there are plenty of reasons for swapping the NFL for HollywoodFollowing his team’s Super Bowl loss this month, New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski hinted he is contemplating retirement. It’s not entirely certain how seriously the 28-year-old is taking his decision – many believe this is merely a contract negotiation stunt – but if he does retire, the NFL’s loss could become Hollywood’s gain.Sylvester Stallone and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who himself made the leap from wrestling to Hollywood, have been trying to convince Gronkowski to try his hand at acting, while David Arquette, who apparently is still in the...