Sporting Week in Review:
Posted by Rob Shepherd on Friday, April 7, 2017
It’s been a packed week of sporting action and the great news is that it doesn’t slow down! It’s Ladies Day at the Grand National today, with high price fashion and big hats the order of the day. The Grand National holds seven races per day with the main race starting on Saturday Evening at 5:15pm. You can catch all the action for the first time on ITV this year, yippee, no subscription needed.
In the football world, it was back to Premier League action and with mid-week games, it was a footy fest which was a welcome relief after the tedium of international fixtures.
Merseyside Mauling
The highly-anticipated Merseyside derby took place and it would be the blue side of Liverpool who would be the April fools. Sadio Mane gave the hosts an early lead before Matthew Pennington equalised with his first Everton goal on his first appearance of the season. Within three minutes of this goal, Liverpool were back in front when Coutinho beat two players and curled a shot into the top corner. Divock Origi secured the win which strengthened Liverpool’s claims to a top four spot and of course a lucrative Champions League place. This great work was slightly undone when they could only draw 2-2 against Bournemouth in their mid-week fixture.
Tottenham continued their great form by beating Burnley 0-2 and then completing a stunning comeback against Swansea City to win 1-3. At 88 minutes, Spurs were losing 1-0 but goals from Ali (88 mins), Son Heung-min (91 mins) and Eriksen (94 mins) secured a vital win to keep the pressure on leaders Chelsea.
City Struggle
This was supposed to be the week that City would stamp their authority on the league, games against Arsenal and Chelsea could have been the springboard for an unlikely late title charge. However, a credible 2-2 draw was followed by a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Chelsea.
Another team that would have hoped to close the gap on the leading pack was Manchester United. On paper, they had two relatively easy games. West Bromwich Albion and Everton, both at Old Trafford. It wasn’t to be, a 0-0 bore draw against West Bromwich was followed by a 1-1 draw with Everton. Despite most of the football, United needed a 94th minute penalty by Zlatan to snatch a point. The point means United extend their unbeaten run to 20 games, but have now drawn nine times at home in the league and 12 overall. Everton could have gone above them in the table with a victory. United are back in 6th place, a position they have occupied for almost six months straight.
Hull’s Mission Impossible
One team who are on fire at the moment are Hull City! Despite looking like relegation fodder for the last couple of months, Hull are in amazing form. They beat West Ham at the KC stadium 2-1 and followed up this great result by thumping strugglers Middlesbrough 4-2. These results lift Hull out of the drop zone by 2 points.
Weekends Fixtures
Spurs v Watford
Man City v Hull
Middlesbrough v Burnley
Stoke v Liverpool
West Brom v Southampton
West Ham v Swansea
Bournemouth v Chelsea
Sunderland v Man Utd
Everton v Leicester
Crystal Palace v Arsenal
Making Rugby News Headlines in the Past Week
Lions Watch –
Cipriana slim chance of selection seem to have ended after a poor game for Wasps in the Champions Cup Quarter Final where he was substituted early in the second half. The opposing fly half, Jonny Sexton bossed the proceedings and injuries aside must have his bum firmly on the plane. In the same game, Joe Launchbury and James Haskell failed to perform up to expectations while Leinster’s Seán O’Brien came to the fore at flanker.
However, in this game, and the weekend, the standout performer was Joey Carbery. The 21-Year-old, in his break-through season, has outperformed many of his more experienced counterparts at his favoured position at Fly half and at Fullback where he played at the weekend.
Chris Ashton was again outstanding for Saracens in the Champions Cup and the clamour rises for him to be included in the touring party even though overlooked by England on the International stage. His Saracens team mate Owen Farrell reverted to fly half and is a shoe in to make the plane, the big question will be as a centre or fly half.
Anthony Watson had a good game for Bath and is a favourite to make the touring party while his teammate George Ford may have blown in chances with recent poor performances.
Peter O’Mahony Impressed for Munster in the back row adding to the conundrum facing Warren Gatland for whom to take to New Zealand in this very competitive position.
Six Nations
The Six Nations is still making the news with France facing possible disciplinary action for malpractice regarding their player substitution in their game against Wales as we previous reported last week.
The incident has been referred to the Untoward Incident Review Group (UIRG), the first time in Six Nations history that a disciplinary matter has been dealt with at this level.
CHAMPIONS CUP SEMI-FINALS
Results from the weekend
Saracens 38 – 13 Glasgow Warriors
Leinster 32 – 17 Wasps
Munster 41 – 16 Toulouse
ASM Clermont Auvergne 29-9 Toulon
Chris Aston produced a masterclass for Saracens in their win over Glasgow – adding fuel to the Lions Selection debate – and has now equalled Vincent Clerc’s record of 36 tries in European Cup Games , however taking 18 games less to do so.
Wasps will rue the day when they got stung (puns intended) when Willie Le Roux dropped the ball whilst showboating as he crossed the try line, at that point in the game they were only 8 points behind Leinster – oh what might have been.
Semi Final Draw
Munster Rugby v Saracens – Saturday 22nd April 2017
ASM Clermont Auvergne v Leinster Rugby – Sunday 23rd April 2017
EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP
Quarter-final results from the weekend
Edinburgh 22-32 La Rochelle
Bath 34 – 20 Brive
Gloucester 46 – 26 Cardiff Blues
Ospreys 21-25 Stade Francais
Semi Final Draw
La Rochelle v Gloucester Rugby – Saturday 22nd April 2017
Stade Francais Paris v Bath Rugby – Sunday 23rd April 2017
Ins & Outs
Mike Ford has left his Head Coach post at Toulon after their exit to Bath in the European Challenge Cup Quarter final. He was due to leave at the end of the season with the French side but after a disappointing season he has been dismissed. Mike has now been sacked from two top jobs in one season, Bath and now Toulon.
Johan Ackermann, the former Springbok, will be appointed head coach of Gloucester Rugby this summer replacing Laurie Fisher, who resigned last month.
Will Skelton, the Wallaby second row, is to join Saracens next season on a two-year deal. Skelton impressed enough whilst on loan at Saracens over the new year for them to sign him on a permanent basis.
Other News
Announced this week – Bilbao will host the European Champions Cup final next year, becoming the first city outside Britain, Ireland and France to host the event.
St James’ Park, Newcastle, will stage the 2019 final this after receiving much praise for their hosting of a World Cup match in 2015.
In Other Football News
Arsenal: Wenger has stated that Alexis Sanchez wants to remain at the club. The 28-year-old Chilean has been linked to Manchester United, PSG and Chelsea.
West Ham: West Ham are considering sacking manager Slaven Bilic if they lose to Swansea on Saturday. Defeat would be their sixth in a row in the Premier League.
Victor Lindelof: Scouts from Manchester United, Arsenal and West Brom were all at Benfica’s Portuguese Cup tie against Estoril, with United believed to be watching Sweden centre-back Victor Lindelof.
Leicester City: Leicester midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, 20, would be prepared to put in a transfer request to force a move to Manchester United, his agent has reportedly stated that Ndidi is keen on the switch.
Bristol City: Bristol City’s players are to reimburse away fans who travelled to Tuesday’s 5-0 defeat by Preston North End. The 386-mile round trip from Bristol to Deepdale was made by 312 Bristol City supporters. Midfielder Korey Smith said “The performance wasn’t good enough and we appreciate the fans who made the trip so the players came together and decided to refund the fans.”