Wilson: I’ve nothing but admiration for Hendry’s return
PARTIES Ill-judged decision to press ahead with clash casts both associations in bad light
KYREN Wilson has welcomed Stephen
Hendry’s snooker comeback but ruled out emulating the Scot’s brave quest to rejoin the tour in his sixth decade.
The 29-year-old compiled two centuries as he cruised into the semi-final of the Players’ Championship with a 6-2 win over Neil Robertson in Milton Keynes.
Wilson could conceivably face the seven-times world champion in the third round of next week’s Gibraltar Open, when 52-year-old Hendry will make his long-awaited return.
Wilson said: “One thousand per cent, when I’m 52 I’ll be on a beach in Portugal, retired and with multiple alcoholic drinks by my side.
“But Stephen obviously has a great presence in the game. I’ve worked with him before and I’ve just tried to pick his brains. I always like to try to learn from these guys.”
Commentating on ITV4, Hendry described Wilson’s performance as of the best he has seen as the Kettering player eased into a 3-0 lead.
Robertson rallied to 3-2 including a century of his own, but remained distinctly second-best and Wilson wrapped up a semi-final place with further breaks of 95, 126 and 80.
In other live action last night, Ruthless Ronnie O’Sullivan blew away Jack Lisowski 6-1 to book his spot in tonight’s Players Championship semi-finals.
The Rocket roared into the final four with 63, 79, 124, 93, 125 and 59 breaks.
And O’Sullivan will clash with Barry Hawkins in a repeat of the 2013 World Championship final.
RUGBY’S determination to defy common sense and medical science in order to get the Six Nations round three clash between France and Scotland in Paris played as initially scheduled on Sunday backfired in humiliating style yesterday lunchtime, when the tournament organisers were finally forced to postpone the match, less than 24 hours after they had declared it was full steam ahead.
News yesterday morning that an 11th French player had tested positive for Covid was the hammer-blow which could not be absorbed by further assurances that self-isolation and daily testing regimes were curbing the spread of the virus through the squad. Four members of the French management team have also tested positive and reports in France have suggested that head coach Fabien Galthie could be “Patient Zero”, having apparently breached the group’s “bubble” on a number of occasions during the week leading up to Les Bleus victory over Ireland two Sundays ago.
After no new Covid cases were reported on Tuesday and
Wednesday morning, the Six Nations Testing Oversight Group had felt confident enough about the outbreak being under control to give the game the thumbs up on Wednesday afternoon, but that proved premature, and by yesterday lunchtime they had finally bowed to the inevitable.
Now focus turns to when the game can eventually be played. This is going to be a challenge because the professional and international fixture schedule is chock-a-block through to early August, and World Rugby’s Regulation Nine sets out very clear parameters about the specific windows when clubs are required to release their players to international duty.
Scottish Rugby issued a statement pre-postponement in which it was made clear that they would regard the game being called off and re-arranged on a date when their English and French based players might be held back by their clubs as an unfair outcome from a problem they have had no part in creating. “Any postponement will have an impact on the player release agreement in place with clubs, which could see more than 10 Scotland players unavailable for selection if the game is rearranged,” the statement said.
That message was reinforced by head coach Gregor Townsend soon after the postponement was confirmed.
“While we fully accept the decision of the Testing
Oversight Group to recommend postponing our match against France on medical grounds, it is disappointing not to be able to play this fixture on Sunday,” he said. “We have had a good week with our players who were focussed and ready to represent their country in Paris and continue our progress in this year’s Guinness Six Nations.
“Throughout this tournament, and the previous Autumn Nations Cup, we have worked hard to maintain strict Covid protocols which have enabled us to select our strongest possible teams for these important international fixtures.
“We will wait to see what options are available to play this match against France, but it remains our position that we want to have all our eligible players available to us for that fixture, so we can compete to the level we would have done this weekend.”
It is now all but certain that the game won’t be rescheduled for next weekend. Not least because the French squad trained together – and were therefore close contacts – on Wednesday, before the positive Covid test result was returned on Thursday morning, which should trigger a 10-day isolation period for those players who took part in the session.
Reports from France have indicated that the match being played in July is an option, however that would clash with the Lions tour, if it goes ahead, and Scotland hope to have a decent representation on that trip for the first time this century.
Scotland are understood to be looking for the game to be played sooner rather than later, and the tournament organisers are reportedly considering a midweek game in the week commencing 8th March, but that doesn’t seem credible given that it would require the teams to play each other followed by their Six Nations round four matches inside the space of just a few days.
The weekend of 27th March is also apparently on the table, but that presents the same problem as playing next weekend in that it clashes with full English Premiership and French Top14 fixture schedules and it is not an international window.
Regulation Nine has been a thorny issue for several years, with clubs determined to enforce their rights in order to derive as much benefit on their salary outlay as possible. While it might be hoped that the exceptional circumstances of this situation can invoke some flexibility, that is far from guaranteed.
The RFU in England and FFR in France pay clubs in their jurisdiction handsomely so that their national team can get access to players outside of international windows, so the SRU might well be expected to do the same.
JOE Root refused to condemn the pitch after accepting his England side were outplayed by India in a humbling two-day third Test defeat in Ahmedabad.
However, Root suggested the International Cricket Council may take their own view of another rampant turner.
Seventeen wickets fell inside the first two sessions at the new Narendra Modi Stadium, wrapping up India’s first innings and England’s second at warp speed to leave the hosts chasing just 49 for the win.
They promptly wrapped up victory by 10 wickets to ensure three full days went unused for just the seventh time in the last 75 years of Test history.
With just 140.2 overs sent down, it was the shortest match since 1935 in terms of balls bowled, and only amplified the debate which raged over the fitness of the previous surface – a loose dustbowl in Chennai.
As captain Root made a point to assume responsibility for his side’s shortcomings and made it clear that being bowled out for 112 on day one, then 81 in their second attempt, was not good enough.
But it was hard to escape a feeling of exasperation at the extreme spin that has dominated for the past fortnight, even though Root himself was able to cash in to the tune of five wickets for eight with his occasional off-breaks.
“I think that this surface is a very challenging one, a very difficult one to play on. But it’s not for players to decide if it’s fit for purpose; that’s up to the ICC,” he said, after a result that ended England’s slim chances of reaching the World Test Championship final on home soil this summer.
“Again, I’m paid to play the game, not make those decisions, but it’s something that I’m sure they’ll look at off the back of the last couple of matches. As players we have to try to counter it as best we can. It is frustrating and something we have to learn from – we have to get better and we have to keep finding a way to score runs on surfaces like this. India outplayed us.
“If I’m getting five wickets on there then you can tell it is giving a fair amount of spin, that sums the pitch up slightly. There always has to be an element of home advantage.”
IT is said that there are lies, damned lies and statistics. The league table always tells the truth, though, and the numbers make for pleasing reading for Steven Gerrard.
His focus has always been on one game at a time, but even he cannot resist the temptation to think of what lies ahead in the coming weeks. He admitted as much after the win over Dundee United, but the statement came with a caveat that offered another insight into his mindset and the drive and determination that has taken Rangers to the brink of the Premiership title.
There was, he stated, no harm in thinking, but he reaffirmed his position of refusing to get too carried away. The 4-1 victory against the Arabs was hugely satisfying and significant, but Gerrard’s mind was already turning to the Europa League clash with Royal Antwerp.
With no top-flight fixture until he takes his side to Livingston next midweek, Gerrard has plenty of time to ponder where Rangers are and where they are heading. He can be pleased in one regard and positive in the other.
It has been a matter of when, not if, Rangers would be crowned champions for some time, but the finishing line is now looming large. Three games are potentially all that stand between them and a league title that has been so sought-after by so many for so long.
This will be a championship celebrated like no other, but it has been won thanks to the same factors as every other. Over the course and distance, Rangers have been the best side in the country.
Shocks and upsets can occur in 90 minutes, but not across an entire league campaign and Gerrard’s side have emerged as worthy and overwhelming champions this term.
Excuses – such as the laughable suggestions around a lack of fans at Parkhead impacting them more than others – will be offered from across the city about why
Celtic have failed in their bid for ten-in-a-row.
This isn’t a title that they have lost, though. It is one that Rangers have won as they have been superior and set the standard in every area.
Their record right now speaks for itself. Unbeaten after 30 matches, Rangers are two points ahead of where Celtic were at the same stage last season when the Premiership was brought to a premature end and nine-in-arow was delivered via an email from Hampden.
In the maelstrom of headlines and controversies that have plagued this season, it has perhaps been lost just how relentless Rangers have been.
This title will mean that much to supporters and the club for a myriad of reasons that the tally which has secured it ultimately matters little. This squad will go down in history for unique reasons, but they have a chance to leave a mark in the record books as well.
Rangers cannot match
the incredible feats of the Celtic Invincibles but they can equal their Premiership total of 106 points if they win their remaining eight games this season. If that proves just beyond them, then the 100-points barrier will be the next target.
With a new manager set to arrive at Parkhead this summer, it would make the job that little bit more ominous if Rangers were to finish with a lead into the mid-20s in terms of points, and such an ambition shouldn’t be beyond them.
When Walter Smith clinched Rangers’ last league title a decade ago, his side did so with victory over Kilmarnock that gave them a total of 93 points. The following season, Celtic would collect the same number as they won the first of nine whilst Rangers imploded off the park.
But in the campaigns that followed, the 90-point marker was only reached twice as Celtic won the 2013/14 title with 99 and the 14/15 flag with 92. That 106 of Rodgers’ side stands out, of course.
Rangers’ current mark of 82 points would have been enough to win the 12/13 league that saw Celtic finish with 79 points from 38 games and they are on course to smash the tallies of 86, 82 and 87 that were recorded through the rest of the run to nine-in-a-row.
The side that Gerrard is set to guide to greatness cannot lay claim to being the most entertaining or the most skilful team ever to bring the title back to Ibrox. Indeed, there are better sides that have tried and failed in that very ambition.
But that doesn’t diminish their achievement and the way in which this title has been won speaks volumes of their own qualities and character. In a season like no other, they will be remembered even more fondly than those illustrious champions in whose footsteps they follow.
When Gerrard spoke to the Press on Wednesday, a day which marked his 1,000th in charge of Rangers, he reflected on the highs and the lows of his tenure and revealed how those moments have shaped him as a manager and his players as a team to bring them to the point where they stand just a few hours of football away from the title.
When he was appointed in May 2018, Gerrard would have been aware of parts of the Rangers back story, but the time since will have given him a fuller understanding of just what the club went through and what the supporters endured.
The three years from administration to regime change were the most difficult and turbulent, while the three from the arrival of Dave King, John Gilligan and Paul Murray offered only false dawns and crushing disappointments. In the third season of Gerrard’s reign, Rangers are now poised to turn the dream into a reality.
Their record right now speaks for itself