WORLD OF SPORT
▷▷▷ Hardest taskmaster of the day In theory you would have thought that a 35-16 victory to book a place in the Super Rugby semifinals would have left most coaches content. But do not include Chris Boyd, the coach of the Wellington Hurricanes, in that generalisation. Despite seeing his side prevail over the ACT Brumbies yesterday, he was far from happy with how they had performed on the field, describing the display as “sloppy” and “terrible” at times and expects them to improve in next weekend’s semi-finals. “TJ [Perenara] just said it was a sloppy performance for us and it was,” Boyd told local media, referring to his scrumhalf’s summary of the grinding win at Canberra Stadium. “We were really disappointed at half-time. “I think it’s our poorest performance in the last three games we’ve played and we can’t walk away happy. At times we were terrible and we won ugly but we can’t keep doing that.”
▷▷▷ Biggest things are getting serious of the day Australia’s cricketers have been warned this year’s Ashes series could be scrapped even if a new pay deal is reached with the game’s governing body. Australian Cricketers Association chief Alistair Nicholson told the players the showpiece Test series against England, due to begin in Brisbane on November 23, is under threat. Negotiations over a new Memorandum of Understanding between players and Cricket Australia (CA) have all but broken down, although Nicholson and CA counterpart James Sutherland are scheduled to meet today. Nicholson said that even if a deal was struck, it would still take time to sort.
“Given past experience and the massive detail involved, this would take some time and still may not be completed with time enough to meet the needs of fans, sponsors and broadcasters invested in the upcoming tours and the [Australian] summer of cricket,” he said.
▷▷▷ Best help of the day Liverpool’s friendly with Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin next Saturday was in danger of not happening after the German club’s pitch had been deemed unplayable. It had been used for a music concert by the band U2 earlier this month. But the playing surface at the Olympic Stadium has been relaid, at an estimated cost of £116,000 (Dh553,000) to ensure that the pre-season friendly will take place. The BBC reported over the weekend that it was U2 who had contributed a large sum of the money for the pitch to be changed, with the amount they paid reported to be £80,000.