All Entries Tagged With: "france"
Brazil awards key airport concessions for $14 bln (Reuters)
SAO PAULO, Feb 6 (Reuters) – Three groups won contracts to revamp key Brazilian airports with bids worth 24.5 billion reais ($14.2 billion) in a heated auction on Monday to overhaul infrastructure ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.
England extends O2 deal until after World Cup 2015
LONDON (AP)—English rugby retained its biggest sponsor on Monday despite the national team’s disgraced World Cup campaign in New Zealand, extending its long-standing deal with telecommunications giant O2 by four years. The Rugby Football Union said the partnership that began in 1995 will continue “beyond the 2015 World Cup,” retaining O2’s presence on the kit of the national teams. No financial details were disclosed, but O2 chief executive Ronan Dunne described the renewal as an “enhanced deal, bigger than previously,” which could reportedly earn the RFU more than 4 million pounds ($6.3 million) a year.
Rugby Sevens: Halai all fine by Tietjens
Super Rugby outfits might not want Frank Halai but New Zealand sevens coach Gordon Tietjens is happy to have the Waikato wing.
Rugby in the summer just won’t work, warns Cotton
By Ian Stafford Last updated at 9:06 PM on 17th December 2011 Fran Cotton, whose mud-caked face became one of the defining images of rugby as a winter pursuit, last night kicked plans to convert the game in England into a summer sport into touch. Cotton, the former England, Coventry and Sale prop who is now a powerful voice within the game, insisted that instead of trying to rearrange the global calendar and play English domestic rugby primarily during the summer months, the Aviva Premiership clubs should instead be focusing on trying to get their own house in order
Rugby not the only winner
In a stellar rugby season for New Zealand, and with a nod in the direction of the official rugby awards, Gregor Paul makes his own decisions about the best of the best (and the worst) of 2011 Best Decision To keep the selection door open for Cory Jane. The Hurricanes wing was in horrible form throughout Super Rugby. His head was scrambled by the birth of his third child; the difficulty of deciding whether to shift overseas in 2012 and the civil war raging in his franchise between new coach Mark Hammett and the senior players.
Wayne Rooney appeals at UEFA against Euro 2012 ban (AP)
NYON, Switzerland (AP)—Wayne Rooney is asking UEFA to repeal the three-match ban that excludes him from England’s 2012 European Championship group-stage matches. Rooney did not speak with reporters on arriving with England coach Fabio Capello to help present his case before a three-member appeal panel. Wearing a Manchester United blazer and tie, Rooney’s hearing began just 10 hours after his club was eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League by FC Basel
English rugby mole to be exposed
irishtimes.com – Last Updated: Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 09:41 Rugby: The English RFU is reputedly close to naming the source responsible for the leaking of three confidential reports into England’s troubled Rugby World Cup campaign. The documents, which were compiled by the English union, the English Rugby Player’s Association and the Aviva Premiership clubs, caused huge embarrassment after they were leaked to The Times newspaper as they lifted the lid on a disastrous tournament blighted by off-field woes. England’s tournament ended in quarter-final defeat to France but their exit since over-shadowed by personal accounts highlighting a lack of trust and leadership within the squad
Rugby World Cup ‘scapegoat’ Tindall slams RFU
Mike Tindall said he had been made a “scapegoat” for England ‘s shambolic World Cup campaign as he reacted to the news he’d been reinstated into the squad and had a fine reduced on appeal. Tindall was fined £25,000 and kicked out of England’s elite player squad by the Rugby Football Union elite rugby director Rob Andrew as a result of his drunken antics during a night out in the New Zealand resort town of Queenstown . But an appeal heard Monday by acting RFU chief executive Martyn Thomas — who quit his post on Tuesday — saw the fine reduced to £15,000 and restored 2003 World Cup winner Tindall to the squad
Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny: Changed mentality helped us recover from poor start to season (Goal.com)
Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny believes the club’s change in mentality was crucial to recovering from their poor start to the season. “When we started the season we lost a lot of games and we had to do something to change that,” he told Arsenal Player . “All the players changed their mentality and we have seen that we have a good team.
French rugby giants Perpignan look to new beginning
French rugby giants Perpignan will be looking to start life after the sacking of head coach Jacques Delmas earlier this week by ending a run of six successive Top 14 defeats with victory at home to Stade Francais on Friday. The 2009 French champions are in the hands of forwards coach Bernard Goutta and his backs counterpart Christophe Manas after it was decided that Delmas had to pay the price for the desperate run with the final straw last Thursday’s 23-13 European Challenge defeat by Newport Gwent-Dragons . Goutta swears that the squad have been far from disheartened by the removal of Delmas and in fact were mustard keen to turn over a new leaf and ensure they ended up in the top six which is good enough for the end of season play-offs