RUGBY UNION

Nov 2 2009 by Darren Kelso, The Journal

Blaze the latest injury setback

ENGLAND lock Richard Blaze’s foot injury will continue to be monitored by his club Leicester ahead of tomorrow’s announcement of the team to face Australia.

Blaze pulled out of the Tigers’ Guinness Premiership clash with Northampton and, while the RFU stress he “continues to be part of the England squad“, they have agreed that he will remain with the club.

Blaze’s injury is the latest in what England manager Martin Johnson has described as “as bad a run of injuries as there has been”.

ATHLETIC

Twaddle triumph

IAN Twaddle of North Shields Poly was a runaway winner of yesterday’s 13th Blackhill Bounders-organised Gibside Fruit Bowl Trail Race.

In driving rain, Twaddle took an early lead over the 400-strong field on the hilly course, pulling away to a 68-ses victory over Billingham’s Gary Grounds, with Conrad Franks of Gateshead third.

RUGBY LEAGUE

Confidence grows

ENGLAND’S giant forward Eorl Crabtree yesterday set his sights on bringing down the Kiwis after proving the Australians are not infallible.

The 6ft 6in, 18st front rower, nephew of the late wrestler Big Daddy, inspired a courageous England fightback in the Gillette Four Nations clash with the Kangaroos. England will take heart from blunting their star-studded opponents despite falling to a 26-16 loss.

“It was pretty fast, I’ll be honest with you, but my confidence grew,” said Crabtree.

TENNIS

Sister defeated

SERENA Williams claimed a fourth successive win over sister Venus to triumph at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha yesterday.

Serena, who was guaranteed to end the season as world number one, completed her fifth straight win of the end-of-season tournament, easing to a 6-2 7-5 (7/4) victory.

SCOTTISH FOOTBALL

Match abandoned

RANGERS manager Walter Smith had no complaints about referee Mike Tumilty’s decision to abandon their Clydesdale Bank Premier League game against Dundee United yesterday afternoon.

The game at Tannadice was halted at half-time after the match official and his assistants assessed the playing surface during the interval as torrential rain worsened, with Rangers leading 1-0.

Smith admitted: “I thought there was a possibility it would be called off when I watched from the stand in the first half.”