Beaten semi-finalists at the hands of Clermont Auvergne in April, Leinster will be a force to be reckoned with once more in 2017-18 if this success, achieved despite the absence of several pivotal players, is anything to go by.Former Australia flanker Scott Fardy withdrew on Saturday due to personal reasons, adding to a lengthy list of unavailable stars that already included injured Ireland quartet Jonathan Sexton, Rob Kearney, Sean O’Brien and Jamie Heaslip.These sides met in the pool stages last season, with Leinster enjoying a 57-3 rout in the corresponding fixture, but this encounter at the RDS Arena proved a much more evenly-matched affair.Joey Carbery gave Leinster the lead – with the club’s 400th Champions Cup try – before Josh van der Flier was awarded a second by the TMO in the 25th minute.Nemani Nadolo made it 12-7 shortly before the interval, diving over after the ball shot out of a scrum, and during the break there was a celebratory moment as one Leinster fan proposed to his partner and received the answer he was hoping for.At half-time, on the big screen in the RDS, William asked Emma to marry him.And she said… yes!#LEIvMON pic.twitter.com/df3sCpKVoS— Leinster Rugby (@leinsterrugby) October 14, 2017Following those heartening scenes, Leinster swiftly reasserted themselves in the second period through Robbie Henshaw’s try.An excellent Montpellier move led to Nadolo’s second but Leinster soon secured their bonus point as Barry Daly crossed on his European debut for the club. Ruan Pienaar’s penalty and Adam Byrne’s yellow for an intentional knock-on made for a nervy finish, but Leinster held on.Not the result we were after against a tough @leinsterrugby side. Always a pleasure playing up here!. Esp when these r free after the game pic.twitter.com/UDCqcumKmd— nemzy (@nemani_nadolo) October 14, 2017The other match in Pool 3 saw Premiership champions Exeter Chiefs need a late Sam Simmonds try to secure a 24-15 win over Glasgow Warriors in a gripping encounter at Sandy Park, while Racing 92 just edged out Leicester Tigers 22-18 at Stade Yves Du Manoir.There was a moment of history as La Rochelle claimed their first Champions Cup win, a 34-27 success at Harlequins, while Bath marked their return to Europe’s top table by shutting out Benetton Treviso 23-0 at The Rec.Photo Twitter @leinsterrugby Caption: Leinster celebrate their win over Montpellier
The Government here have strongly backed the country’s Pacific Games bid, investing more than K1.2 billion (£2.8 billion/US$4.3 billion/€3.9 billion) in sporting infrastructure here.Tkatchenko believes staging the Commonwealth Games, which usually attracts athletes from 71 countries and territories, would not be an issue for the country.“The Commonwealth Games has the same amount of athletes we are hosting right now during this Pacific Games,” he said. “It’s not much different to the Pacific Games – it just takes you to that next level.“These facilities are internationally recognised so in that regard we can host the Commonwealth Games.“So Commonwealth Games, bring it on!”Samoa are due host the upcoming Commonwealth Youth Games, which are scheduled begin on September 5 and last until September 11, but as yet no Pacific island has ever staged – or even bid for – the Commonwealth Games.The event has, however, been staged in Australia on four occasions and New Zealand three. Australia is also due to host the next edition of the Commonwealth Games, in 2018.The 2022, version, meanwhile seems certain to be awarded to an African country for the first time with Durban the only bidder following the withdrawal of Edmonton in Canada. Barring criticism of the Games Village from the New Zealand football team, the Pacific Games venues have largely been well received, although surrounding parts of some remain incomplete, such as car parks and gravel outside the Sir John Guise Stadium.Concerns were raised in the build-up to the Games that the Taurama Aquatic Centre would not be ready in time but it has proved to be one of the crown jewels of the event so far and saw 30 Pacific Games records broken during the swimming competition.“That is a history set for Papua New Guinea and the Pacific,” Tkatchenko added.“No other Pacific Games have achieved over 30 Games records in swimming and this is a bonus for us.“We have set a precedent in our facilities.”The country already has the first step in place in their plan to ensure these Games form a sporting legacy for Papua New Guinea, a key mantra Tkatchenko has spoken of during the event, with the announcement that next year’s Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships will take place here.It represents a major boost for the sporting development of the country as weightlifting is considered as one of the top sports in the Pacific. PACNEWS
Setién’s team makes a ‘handyman’ to the LeganésDouble Messi and goals from Griezmann, Lenglet and Arthur Photo: EFE With De Jong, insecure in the spinal cord, Quique Seitién’s pupils searched for the second one, either with a clearing of Griezmann’s space or, with a standing ball, with the Messi-Lenglet connection.In two fouls, the Argentine contacted the Frenchman’s head, which both times he finished high. The third time was the charm. Messi, this time in a corner, designed a millimeter center to the center, which combed elegantly to score the second (2-0, min. 27).A bit that brought Barça to the quarterfinals in less than half an hour of the game. Despite this, the team held before the break, knowing how to stop Messi and looking, without hitting, his options in the offensive gaps left by the locals.In the resumption, Barça defended with the ball. They played and played the premises waiting for their opportunity with a slow ball pace.Given the tedium, Aguirre moved the bench in the 57th minute, giving entry to Kevin Rodrigues and Eraso. Two changes that preceded the third goal of Barça.De Jong, gray in the first half, revealed himself with deep assistance to Messi. The Rosario trumpeted his classic diagonal on the left. He crossed the ball with his left foot and, after bouncing with Tarin, misled Cuéllar.With the game decided, the Barça monologue followed with the ball, also with the entry of Junior, Rakitic and Arthur. It was the Brazilian who closed the win. With the messy Leganés, Ansu tried it first, Messi was not right in the rebound and, from inside the area, the midfielder scored the fourth of the night (4-0, min.77).Ruibal was left without air in the best opportunity of the Leganés to score the goal of honor shortly before Messi, with a clearing of the space at Rakitic’s pass, closed the win, sealed the pass to the quarterfinals of his team and added his Victory number 500 wearing the Barca jacket.-Data sheet:5 – Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba (Junior, min. 63); Busquets, De Jong, Vidal (Rakitic, min. 60); Griezmann (Arthur, min. 72), Ansu Fati and Messi.0 – Leganés: Cuellar; Rosales, Tarín, Siovas, Awaziem, Silva (Kevin Rodrigues, min. 57); Óscar Rodríguez, Roque Mesa (Eraso, min. 57), Rubén Pérez, Ruibal; and Braithwaite (Plomer, min. 71).Goals: 1-0, min. 4: Griezmann. 2-0, min. 27: Lenglet. 3-0, min.59: Messi. 4-0, min.77: Arthur. 5-0, min. 89: Messi.Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández, from the Balearic committee. He admonished Rubén Pérez (min. 24), coach Javier Aguirre (min. 63), Awaziem (min. 72) and Rodri Tarín, from Leganés.Incidents: match of the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey football played at the Camp Nou before 43,216 spectators.
Barcelona sealed the pass to the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey after comforting thrashing Leganés at Camp Nou (5-0), where the Quique Setién project regained its verticality and took a breath after the league defeat against the Valencia.The Barça team, more incisive in attack, sentenced the ‘cucumber’ team with the goals of Clément Lenglet and Antoine Griezmann, in the first half, and Lionel Messi, by double game, and Arthur Melo, after the break.He changed the Setien script and, from a three-player defensive line, recovered the most classic 4-3-3. It showed on the grass. Messi, with freedom on the right, Griezmann, of ‘nine’, and Ansu Fati, unbalancing on the left, gave his team the depth that was missing in the first three meetings of the Cantabrian coach on the Barça bench.A team with more verticality and less academic control of the ball, but without reliability in defense. Proof of this were the six arrivals that the Leganés completed in the first half. The first 30 seconds of the match, with a left-handed Braithwaite that touched the root of the post.He did not score the Danish on the first occasion he had, but Barcelona did in the 4th minute. They sent the areas. Messi searched the space for Semedo, looking for the area to Griezmann, who crossed the ball with his right hand to give the first joy of the night to a half-empty Camp Nou.The French, very participatory tracing uncheck space, again finished off another combination of Messi with Alba, but the referee canceled both offside of the Catalan side.Barça insisted with depth, but did not dispel defensive doubts. Roque Mesa and Ruibal, from outside the area, searched without luck, while Braitwaite did not believe in the interior of the area a precise center of Siovas.
Gael Monfils expanded the successful custom of French tennis in Montpellier to beat this Sunday in the Canadian last Vasek Pospisil, 7-5 and 6-3, and be carried out for the third time in his profession with this title.Champion in 2019 and 2014, Monfils, is the final of the French gamers that dominates this event. In the 9 editions of this occasion, solely in 2012 and 2017, with the Czech Tomas Berdych and the German Alexander Zverev, as champions respectively, the title escaped from French fingers.With six direct serves and breaking the 4 break factors that his opponent had, Monfils took the ninth title of his profession in one hour and 34 minutes. Pospisil, executioner in the semifinals of Belgian David Goffin, second favourite, shouldn’t be good at Monfils. On six events, counting this one from Montpellier, the 29-year-old Canadian has by no means been in a position to win a single set to the French, ninth in the world. Vesely wins in PuneThe czech Jiri Vesely, of 26 years and 107 of the world, was the executioner of the Belarusian Egor Gerasimov, second of this nationality that has occurred to him this week, and has been proclaimed winner of the event of Pune (India). Vesely, who had saved six match factors in the final two days, beat Gerasimov, 7-6 (2), 5-7 and 6-3. That is the second event that Vesely wins, the first since the one among Auckland in 2015. He had additionally performed Bucharest that very same season, however fell in the last.
Effort: “Very happy for the team and for the club. We are once again in the top eight in Europe against an extraordinary rival. A very important rival with a pushing crowd. Llorente revolutionized the team. An enormous joy, it seems simple but it is not.”He took advantage of the mistakes: “Soccer is trying to look for the rival’s difficulties. We tried to push them up to create possibilities with the Costa line, Felix and Correa. We had Diego’s, but they found the first goal almost in the long run. We did not lower our arms with the second goal and we found it 2-1 and the teams felt they had something inside. “ Oblak: “Oblak is as important as Savic, like Felipe, like Félix … We have a goalkeeper who is the best in the world, like Barcelona who also plays Messi and solves games for him. Oblak is the best, he solves us and that is why he is in the place it deserves. “Message in the extension: “His line was breaking. The 5-4-1 was going to allow us a counterattack and it was. The change of Costa for Llorente was going to be defensive, but it was not …”. Later, Simeone continued analyzing the match in the press room:Atlético played a historic game …
There were several situations to highlight. The first, that we face a rival of the best that we have had in these eight years that I have been, with a changed leg, with good bands and we could find the game in breaking that line that they do so well. At the beginning we had one with Diego, then it cost us, the rival began to hold the game by the sides. We found the goal against, Llorente entered to give legs because Diego had given everything and we needed people to break. For some Llorente’s change can be defensive, he has a great shot and a great three-quarter step ahead. At the end of the game we started to improve, just when people started to sing, we recovered balls later and we had João Félix’s. In overtime they hit us and a team comes that does not change at any time. The 2-1 came that gave us strength, the 2-2 and the 2-3 already with spaces. It is a match for the history of Atlético. We are proud to be among the top eight in EUropa.Is Oblak the Messi of Atlético?In order to stop all situations, they have had difficulty being able to shoot. Oblak is the best goalkeeper in the world. Messi solves games defensively and Oblak solves them on goal. Oblak powers the team. Fans will remember this match for a long time.Klopp said he does not understand Atlético’s way of playing but that he is the right winner. How does Atlético play?Atlético plays to win. With their weapons and to win. Exploiting the flaws of the rivals too. So we play.One of his mottos is never stop believing and it was applied …The other day against Sevilla we shot seventeen times and this is football. The Qarabag left us out, but this is football, remember? The issue is to detect where the rival’s defects are and I think we were very precise about this.Are you concerned that the Champions League may be suspended?A world health issue and hopefully it will be resolved in the best way. I already say it in UEFA that seems to me unfair today of Atlético. The thirty minutes to score three goals in the opposite field Liverpool did not have. Our goal is more important than their goal. This time it favors us and other times it can harm us. Liverpool had thirty minutes less to value the double goal in the opposite field.
On February 14, UEFA decided to ban Manchester City from entering its competitions for two seasons for failing to comply with the Financial Fair Play between 2012 and 2016. The mancuniano club assured that same day that it would seek “a fair trial as quickly as possible” and as soon as he could he used the TAS to review his case and trying to get a more favorable sentence that would force UEFA to readmit them to the Champions League.Publicly, in court, it will be City against UEFA but, behind, there are many more clubs that want to play a decisive role. According to Daily Mirror reports, the intrigues between clubs have begun and Arsenal is in the lead. This newspaper affirms that the City firmly believes that Arsenal has been the main promoter of a lobby of Premier clubs that wrote to the TAS to position itself in favor of UEFA and maintain the sanction that leaves them out of continental competitions. . In this lobby, which is claimed in court as ‘interested parties’ would be the gunners with Liverpool, Manchester United, Chelsea, Leicester, Wolverhampton and Burnley, all within or around European positions. The Mirror assures that the main motivation was to be able to eliminate a rival from the dispute of a classification that ensures huge revenues, for this reason, the newspaper clarifies that the red club entered without much interest to have their place secured for the next edition. Arsenal declined to comment on reports from this British newspaper that it dares to claim that the Gunners will deny if City asks for explanations. The skyblue will fight to maintain their place in the Champions League in a trial in which they will review the sanction applied by UEFA and that the English press dates for the end of this summer due to the general stoppage due to the coronavirus pandemic.Arsenal-City: a confrontation that comes from afar Since the change of ownership of Manchester City over a decade ago, Arsenal have been very critical of the ways of the skyblue club. There are more than a few players who made the route from North London to Manchester to raise the level of the blues while the Gunners lost their stars as Nasri or Adebayor.The penultimate encounter is recent since, according to this newspaper, Arsenal tested Arteta without notifying the Manchester club, something that was not liked at all by the Etihad offices. Now, they will dispute the Champions also in the courts.
The ceremony is already known. Sign in the boardroom with Florentino Pérez and then shake hands in the Si Sistine Chapel ’of the Bernabéu (with the 13 Champions behind, in which four had Karim as the starter) and the shirt with the name of Benzema and the number 2022 on the back. The shirt is already awaiting its moment in a drawer on the main floor of the stadium, but there is no date for its public display. Karim, at the moment, will have to wait to take that photo with the person who hired him personally at his family home in Lyon on June 29, 2009, winning the game against Manchester United, who intended to do a lightning operation with the then young man. Olympique crack (there scored 66 goals).Benzema, in these eleven years of white, has played 501 games with the white shirt, scoring 241 goals (0.48 average), in addition to giving 119 assists, without a doubt one of the great pillars of his game. His museum play at Calderón in the 2017 Champions League semifinal has also been left for posterity. Karim wants to leave Madrid at 34 and play one last season in Lyon “which he will always carry in his heart apart from Real Madrid”, as his own agent confessed. Benzema is proud of his career at the Bernabéu as evidenced by the image he published on his Social Networks on Monday, with a photo of Cristiano, Bale and him together celebrating a goal: “Legèndaire BBC”. No translation needed … On February 26, hours before the Madrid-Manchester City game of the first leg of the Champions League at the Bernabéu, Karim Benzema’s renewal transcended for one more season. The Frenchman, who ended his contractual agreement with Madrid in 2021, was automatically linked until June 30, 2022. A date on which Karim would be 34 years old, the age at which a center forward is already planning his last football straight . The good news came from his own agent, Karim Djaziri, on the Team Duga RMC Sport program. “Karim just extended his contract until 2022. It is official.” In reality, that “officiality” was only given by him, but the club took charge after filtering that indeed that agreement with the Madrid center forward exists and that it would be made public at the end of this season. But the coronovirus crisis and the postponement sine die of the competitions the roadmap has changed. Not because Karim’s contract extension (Benzema has signed until 2022) is in danger, but because the club intended to make a presentation of the renewal in a big way and as a thanks to the good performance of Benzema in recent seasons.
I injured thems have forced the technician to use more some players. The absence of Martens in the season start gave more minutes to Hansen and Mariona, which could rotate less, the loss of Van der Gragtwho has had to stop twice, has left Cortés with only Pereira and Mapi as pure centrals, while the ligament tear of Andrea Falcón and Leila’s absences have given more opportunities to Swiss Crnogorcevic that arrived in the winter marketHe and Candela. Another one that is surprising to see with few minutes is to Vicky Losada which has been in the dry dock for several months, turning Alexia in almost essential and giving many more opportunities to Aitanawhich with 20 matches is one of those more has participated, but in seven of them he did it from the dock and in seven others it was replaced, reaching 1,159 minutes.Champions and Cup.Even in Champions has been rotations. Starting by the goalwhere the second goal Tajonar enjoyed a match as owner. Only four footballers have been starters in the four duels: Alexia, Pebble, Hansen and Mariona and of them only Alexia has played everything. In fact, the template even Pina or Codina have started out at least once, Losada being the only one who has not participated, due to injury. Like in the Queen’s Cup, where who has not debuted is Sandra Paños.He physical has become an obsession in Barcelona. Last year’s Champions League final, in which he lost to Olympique Lyon, was a before and after. After the duel, the players asked Lluís Cortés train more because they had felt like “benjamines” before the French, even though they knew each other with quality and technique to stand up to them. AND the recipe, for now, works. Rotations and a lot of physical work to be able to compete with the greats of Europe. And win in Spain where last year they went blank … EI Barcelona she’s being a steamroller this season. For quality, for technique, for tactics but, above all, by physique he far surpasses his rivals. And the secret is in rotations. Lluís Cortés wants to have the entire staff plugged in and he has succeeded dividing the minutes among all its players. Only canteranas are not enjoying too many opportunities in a template full of quality.Only three players across the squad have played 20 out of 21 matches disputed until today in league: Torrejón, Alexia and Aitana. However, they are not the ones with the most minutes. The caretaker Sandra Cloths with 1,710 minutes of the 1,890 disputed in 19 games is the one more time has been on the grass, followed by Mapi with 1,628 minutes in the same meetings. Nobody is essential, and that is seen in the minutes played. Team pillars as Jenni Beautiful he has rested in two games league to add 1,515 minutes followed by Patri Guijarro with 1,464 minutes in 18 games. In the other extreme, the quarries. Carla Armengol (11 minutes), Laila Codina (44) and Claudia Pina (44) are the least used so far.
According to the minister, “the way to resume the championship is getting narrower” and if it were in the presidents “I would think about next season, France can push Italy to do the same and there could be a majority of presidents ready to ask for the definitive suspension”. The problem, in that case, is the enormous losses that would be caused by not recovering the 124 postponed Serie A games: the television stations would refuse to pay the last tranche of transmission rights (more than 200 million) and the total economic damages would exceed 800 million, with several clubs fearing they may not be able to sign up for the next League. Spadafora, however, rejects the role of football-killer: “It would be crazy if he demonized Calcium, which carries money to the entire sports system. But if it cannot be restarted in security, it will have to be stopped and it is absurd for anyone not to understand it I do not think there is evidence for everyone and do not forget that several teams ended up in quarantine at the beginning of the pandemic. “ The cold war between Italian football and the government adds up and continues. To the tension of the last two days by the decree that prevents only team sports from resuming training the controversial statements of the sports minister, Vincenzo Spadafora, are added. This morning, in ‘La7’, he made his position clear again: “We are in contact with the Italian Football Federation, but resuming training does not mean resuming the championships. If we do not want uncertainties, we must follow the path of France and the Netherlands and stop everything”.
Calabar High school’s dominance in the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletic Championships was given a big boost with the opening and dedication of the first all-weather synthetic track for a secondary institution in the Caribbean.At the ceremony held at the Red Hills Road-based school yesterday, Vincent Lawrence, chairman of the Complex Implementation team announced that a total of $55 million was spent to make the dream a reality.”We are gathered here today (yesterday) to mark this special event where Arthur Wint, Dennis Johnson, Herbert McKenley and others were nurtured (and this) is a dream come true,” Lawrence, who is also a Calabar old boy said.”The dream started in the 1990s and now it is a reality. In 2013 after talks, the old boys had the ground surveyed. The government through the Sports Development Foundation had granted $10 million for several schools towards a sports project,” he shared.”The minister of sports, Natalie Neita-Headley, indicated that the funding from the government would not be enough and the school through its old boys and management team came up with majority of the funds,” he also added.WILL DOMINATE CHAMPSThe project was done by BSW based in Germany with local firm Pavecon Limited as the contractor for the six-lane track.Former Prime Minister P.J. Patterson said that his alma mater will continue to dominate Champs with this historic track.”The track is very welcome and will push our boys more. I hope other schools will follow in order for Jamaica to benefit,” Patterson said.”When you have a facility like this it has to be maintained properly. We are good at building things and not at maintaining,” he added.Patterson also disclosed that GraceKennedy made a contribution of $5 million towards a spectator stand in memory of former athletic administrator Adrian Wallace.The complex will be named after outstanding Jamaican Olympians Herb McKenley and Arthur Wint, who both attended the institution.Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller offered her blessing in officially opening the complex.The inaugural McKenley/Wint track meet will get underway at the facility today, starting at 8:30 a.m.