Sport news in brief
Jones vows to keep rotating team before World Cup
Eddie Jones has urged his England players to bounce back from Sunday’s shock loss to Argentina but says he will continue to use the Autumn Nations Series to experiment with an eye on next year’s World Cup.
Jones insisted he takes full responsibility for the 30-29 loss, believing he allowed attention to stray towards the squad’s longterm expectations, and he expects a reaction when they take on Japan this weekend.
“I was very disappointed with the last game,” head coach Jones said. “We weren’t good enough and it was totally my responsibility. When your team doesn’t play to the potential you
want, there is always something in the message that you’re giving the team that’s not quite clear. When I reflect on the game, we’ve been looking at a number of long-term strategies to get ourselves set for the World Cup, and maybe our focus wasn’t tight enough on the Argentina game. Maybe we were overthinking a bit, and that’s entirely my fault.”
Jones has made three changes to his 36-player squad for Saturday’s clash with the team he memorably steered to a famous World Cup win over South Africa in 2015, with Northampton duo Tommy Freeman and Alex Mitchell joining Saracens hooker Jamie George in being called up. George’s return is a surprise after he was initially expected to miss out on the entire autumn series after breaking two metatarsals while playing for Saracens early last month. Jones also hopes Manu Tuilagi will be passed fit after he struggled with blisters in the loss to Argentina.
Everton out of Carabao Cup after Bournemouth thrashing
Bournemouth trounced Everton 4-1 in the only all-Premier League tie last night in the Carabao Cup third round. The managerless Cherries, with Gary O’Neil still in the dugout on an interim basis, took an early lead through Jamal Lowe and never looked like letting the game slip from that point.
Meanwhile, Leicester City secured their place in the fourth round and continued a recent improvement in results with a 3-0 win at home to fourth-tier side Newport County. In the late match and the shock of the evening, Premier League outfit Brentford were taken to penalties and subsequently knocked out by League Two side Gillingham.
Championship side Burnley left it late to beat League Two Crawley, but two late strikes from Anass Zaroury did the damage to turn a one-goal deficit into an eventual 3-1 win. There was no such respite for Bristol City, though, as they were beaten 3-1 at home by League One side Lincoln City.
Elsewhere, MK Dons beat Morcamble 2-0, Warren O’Hora and Matthew Dennis scoring, while the night’s other game to go to penalties after 90 minutes saw Stevenage thwarted late on by Charlton Athletic in a 1-1 draw.
Hamilton becomes honorary citizen of Brazil
Lewis Hamilton has become an honorary citizen of Brazil ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix. The seven-time Formula One world champion traces his desire for motor racing back to watching Brazilian great Ayrton Senna during his youth.
Following his victory at last year’s race, the Englishman completed an additional lap while holding the Brazil flag – mimicking Senna at his home race in 1991. It was that gesture that helped see Hamilton, 37, bestowed with the honour by the president of the chamber of deputies, Arthur Lira, ahead of this weekend’s race at Interlagos.
“When I was five years old, I saw Ayrton race for the first time, and that was the moment when I knew I wanted to be world champion,” Hamilton said at the event. Many people said it was impossible, but fortunately, the fact that I’m here today is proof that persistence and hope can make everything possible.” Hamilton, born in Stevenage, is currently fifth in this season’s drivers’ championship and has won the Brazilian Grand Prix on three occasions.
Head replaces Finch in Australia squad for England ODI series
Travis Head has been drafted into Australia’s squad as a replacement for Aaron Finch for the three-match ODI series against England that follows the T20 World Cup.
Finch relinquished the captaincy of Australia’s 50-over side and retired from the format after helping his side to a series clean sweep of Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand in September. Pat Cummins has taken on the mantle as skipper and Australia have resisted the temptation to rest him – and fellow quicks Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – ahead of a busy summer schedule.
Australia will play nine Tests from the end of this month to March and their trio of fast bowlers featured in Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign, in which they crashed out at the Super 12s group stage.
Mitchell Starc was peculiarly absent for the hosts and defending champions’ final match against Afghanistan but is included for ODIs against England at Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne. The first ODI at Adelaide is four days after the T20 World Cup final – which England have a chance of being in having reached the knockout stages, where they will play India tomorrow – on 17 November. The series concludes five days after that at the MCG, with the penultimate match at Sydney on 19 November, with Australia announcing a full strength 14-strong group for the assignment.
Want your views to be included in The Independent Daily Edition letters page? Email us by tapping here letters@independent.co.uk. Please include your address
BACK TO TOP*