England crush Italy in Six Nations
LONDON: Centre Jonathan Joseph grabbed a brace of tries as England gained their second win in the Six Nations Championship and swept aside a brave Italian side 47-17 with a dominant second half display at Twickenham.
No.8 Billy Vunipola, scrum-half Ben Youngs and replacements Danny Cipriani and Nick Easter also went over for England, who again fell behind in a game before rallying and then surging clear.
They had been stunned by a fine early try from Italy captain Sergio Parisse while centre Luca Morisi also crossed twice for the visitors in the second half.
England full-back Mike Brown became rugby’s latest concussion victim as he was knocked cold and out of the match after just 12 minutes. His head collided with the shoulder of Italy centre Andrea Masi and he was treated on the field before being taken off on a stretcher.
But he soon recovered and was not taken to hospital but took a seat in the dugout to watch the rest of the match.
“It’s going great. It’s great to get the win today. The boys showed great spirit to come back and get the win,” Joseph, who ended up on the wing after Brown went off, told the BBC.
England eventually ran out easy winners with a strong second half display against a tiring Italian side, which had been beaten 26- NEW YORK: Australian Lindsay Gaze, seven times an Olympian as a player and coach, was among five direct-elect inductees named Saturday to the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Gaze, whose son Andrew became an Aussie star and played in the NBA, was joined on the sport shrine’s honor list by former American Basketball Association star Louis Dampier, former NBA coach Tom Heinsohn, 1940s star John Issacs and former college coach George Raveling.
In addition, the Hall named 12 finalists from modern-era North America basketball, a select few of whom will join the Class of 2015 at a September 11 enshrinement ceremony in Springfield, Massachusetts.
That finalist group includes African-born big man Dikembe Mutombo, an eight-time NBA AllStar; seven-time NBA All-Star Jo Jo White and returning prior finalists and NBA All-Stars Tim Hardaway, Kevin Johnson and Spencer Haywood.
Other finalists are three-time Women’sNBAMostValuablePlayer Lisa Leslie, 39-year NBA referee Dick Bavetta, US college coaches 3 by the Irish in Rome the week before.
Italy head coach Jacques Brunel said: “We started fine but then it all went wrong. You must play at a high level for 80 minutes not just 20 minutes in the Six Nations.”
The visitors had not scored a Test try for 254 minutes. Yet they stunned England after just three minutes as the powerful Parisse, who grabbed the previous one against Samoa in November, bulldozed his way over.
“Jonathan Joseph was outstanding. It was a big shift to put him on the wing as it’s not John Calipari, Bill Fitch and Bo Ryan plus the all-time winningest US high school coaches, Robert Hughes and Leta Andrews.
Finalists need 18 of 24 votes from the selection committee to enter the Hall of Fame. Results of the voting will be announced on April 6 at Indianapolis ahead of the US men’s college final.
Gaze, 78, of Adelaide, played for Australia at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and coached the Aussies at the 1972, 1976, 1980 and 1984 Olympics. He later guided the Melbourne Tigers to Australian crowns in 1993 and 1997.
Heinsohn, 80, was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1986 and his repeat as a coach makes the long-time Boston Celtics coach only the fourth so doubly honored after Bill Sharman, John Wooden and Lenny Wilkens.
Mutombo, 48, from what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, is a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He led the NBA in blocked shots five seasons in a row from 1994-1998 and over 18 NBA seasons from 1991 to 2009 produced 11,729 points, 12,359 rebounds and 3,289 blocked shots. - AFP ideal but with Browny’s injury it was an obvious one for us to put Anthony to full-back having played there for his club and JJ on the wing,” said England coach Stuart Lancaster.
“He still found a way to influence the game which is great.
“We shall see how it goes with Mike Brown. It helps the fact that it is two weeks and a day before we play Ireland but we will take him through the return to play protocol. I spoke to him in the changing room and he was grumpy that he had to miss the game and frustrated -- he is grumpy anyway.”
England lost Brown with concussion in a painful collision as the Harlequins man attempted to intercept fly-half Kelly Haimona’s chip through as Italy went back on the attack.
But, as he went to catch the ball, Masi got to it first and the Italian’s right shoulder clattered into the side of Brown’s head.
Brown was left flat out on the grass unmoving and with blood dripping from his nose.
George Ford’s boot put the hosts on the scoreboard and England managed to put their noses in front with a slightly controversial try from Vunipola.
It appeared the Saracens forward had been forced into touch in the left-hand corner by desperate late Italian tackling from captain Parisse and scrumhalf Edoardo Gori.
Vunipola surged forward and, after watching a series of replays, referee John Lacey awarded the try even though it seemed inconclusive.
England’s next attack saw the impressive Joseph show off his pace and skill to burst through a hole in the Italian defence and the Bath youngster crossed the visitors’ line for Ford to convert.
Ford kicked another penalty at the start of the second-half but Morisi showed a fine turn of speed to defy tacklers before scrambling across the England line for his side’s second try.
The England response was swift with scrum-half Youngs darting over from the back of a scrum.
England were dominant as first Joseph raced through a large Italian hole for his second. Cipriani came off the bench to replace Ford and with his first touch in a Test since 2008, the Sale Sharks fly-half took Jonny May’s pass to stroll across the line for a try. A dream international return.
Nick Easter went over next as the 36 -year-old became the oldest player to score a try for England. He sunk to the bottom of an England rolling maul which pushed Italy back over their line.
Mor i si d ive d over i n t he corner for his second and Italy’s third try but it was too late for a revival from the visitors. - AFP
Gaze enters Hall of Fame, Mutombo finalist