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/ 17 September 2007
A United States arbitration panel has ended deliberations on embattled 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis’s doping case and will reveal its ruling in the next seven days, the American’s lawyer said on Monday. Landis tested positive for the banned male sex hormone testosterone but has maintained his innocence.
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/ 17 September 2007
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A few months ago Fourie du Preez could have been forgiven for having given up hope of playing in the World Cup. How England must have wished that had been the case as he once again showed why he is regarded as the best scrumhalf in world rugby.
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/ 17 September 2007
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Tiny Tonga have realised two dreams and there’s one more still to come if they can defy the odds and knock aside England for a quarterfinal spot at the Rugby World Cup. The Tongan Sea Eagles shocked their fancied Pacific Island rivals Samoa 19-15 to remain unbeaten in the tournament after knocking over United States 25-15.
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/ 16 September 2007
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Hosts France showed no mercy to 14-man Namibia on Sunday as they got some vital momentum for Friday’s crucial Group D World Cup clash with Ireland, winning 87-10 to post their record score in international rugby. Vincent Clerc ran in three tries, while locks Jerome Nallet and Sebastian Chabal grabbed a brace each.
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/ 16 September 2007
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Tonga, playing the final minutes two men down, broke a nine-match losing sequence to derail Samoa’s hopes of reaching the quarterfinals at the Rugby World Cup with a fighting 19-15 win on Sunday. The Tongan Sea Eagles followed up their opening 25-15 win over United States to remain unbeaten in the tournament and lie second in Pool A.
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/ 16 September 2007
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There is no question of the South Africans taking their feet off the pedal after two convincing victories in their opening World Cup matches said coach Jake White on Sunday. The inspirational 43-year-old handler admitted they were on a high but would not now lose their way.
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/ 15 September 2007
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Ireland barely withstood a late onslaught to scramble over the line against a dogged Georgia by 14-10 on Saturday. Despite fielding a second-string side, Georgia stayed with their lauded opponents all the way and never tired in the second half as they did in their 33-3 defeat to Argentina in midweek.
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/ 15 September 2007
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Odds-on World Cup favourites New Zealand brushed aside a spirited but hopelessly outclassed Portugal 108-13 in a Pool C game on Saturday, but it was not all plain sailing for the All Blacks. Portugal, the last of the 20 teams to qualify for the World Cup and with only three professionals in the match-day squad of 22, never gave up in the blistering heat at Stade Gerland.
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/ 15 September 2007
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South Africa coach Jake White said his team played one of the best matches of his tenure to crush England 36-0 in their World Cup Pool A match on Friday. He added that one of the most pleasing aspects of their victory was that the world champions had few chances to score.
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/ 14 September 2007
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South Africa humiliated world champions England in Paris on Friday as they inflicted a record World Cup defeat on them winning 36-0 to avenge their 2003 World Cup loss to the English. Two tries to JP Pietersen (taking his total to three), one from Juan Smith and 18 points from Percy Montgomery handed England defeat.
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/ 14 September 2007
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All Black coach Graham Henry on Friday called for consistency from the International Rugby Board (IRB) when it dealt with incidents of foul play after a severe clampdown in the opening games of the World Cup. With the tournament barely into its second week, the IRB has sent out a firm message to the teams that foul play will not be tolerated.
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/ 14 September 2007
Soldiers in the Central African Republic (CAR) have massacred hundreds of people and burned villages, forcing civilians to flee, during a counter-insurgency campaign, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Friday. The watchdog group blamed President Francois Bozize’s elite guard for atrocities carried out since mid-2005.
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/ 13 September 2007
Formula One leaders McLaren have been stripped of all their 2007 constructors’ points and fined -million in a spying controversy involving Ferrari information. However, the governing FIA ruled that Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso could keep their points in the drivers’ contest.
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/ 13 September 2007
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On the surface, Friday’s World Cup pool clash between England and South Africa looks similar to their 2003 meeting. In reality four years has seen an astonishing 180 degree shift in expectations. The winners at the Stade de France will go on to a probable quarterfinal against Wales and a possible semi against France.
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/ 13 September 2007
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South Africa and England have quite a Rugby World Cup history and their clash at the Stade de France on Friday promises to be yet another enthralling chapter. It was here eight years ago that the Springboks — then the defending champions — ended England hopes of landing the William Webb Ellis trophy and ridiculed Clive Woodward’s statement of ”judge me on the World Cup”.
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/ 13 September 2007
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The Wallabies are shocked by what they see as an over-the-top crackdown on foul play at the Rugby World Cup and are on notice to keep it clean during the rest of the tournament. The International Rugby Board (IRB) has sent out a firm message to the teams that foul play will not be tolerated with four citings and suspensions from the opening matches.
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/ 13 September 2007
James McFadden’s long-range goal earned Scotland a landmark 1-0 victory over France on Wednesday night to put them firmly on course for the Euro 2008 finals on a winning night for Britain. McFadden turned and shot with less than half an hour to go at the Parc des Princes to propel Scotland to the top of Group B and within sight of their first major finals in a decade.
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/ 13 September 2007
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The Rugby World Cup appeal committee on Thursday reduced Springbok flanker Schalk Burger’s four-match suspension to two matches. This was announced following an appeal hearing by the committee into the incident where Burger tackled a Samoan player in the air during the Boks’ opening match on Sunday.
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/ 13 September 2007
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England head into Friday’s crunch clash against South Africa with the key duty of goal-kicking set to be given to a man who has yet to score a Test match point in the union game. Andy Farrell was a prolific goal-kicker in rugby league but since his transfer from Wigan to Saracens in March 2005 has struck precious few kicks.
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/ 13 September 2007
A kilogram just isn’t what it used to be. A 118-year-old cylinder that has been the international prototype for the metric mass, and kept tightly under lock and key outside Paris, is mysteriously losing its weight — if ever so slightly. Physicist Richard Davis of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sevres, south-west of Paris, says the reference kilo appears to have lost 50 micrograms.
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/ 12 September 2007
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Italy rebounded from their All Black mauling to record a morale-boosting, if incredibly dour, 24-18 win over Romania in a Rugby World Cup Pool C game at the Stade Velodrome in Marseilles on Wednesday. In a game that was certainly no advert for free-flowing rugby, the forwards battled out a war of attrition interrupted by a veritable comedy of handling errors.
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/ 12 September 2007
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Fiji overcame sweltering conditions in Toulouse and stubborn Japanese resistance to win their opening pool B World Cup match 35-31 on Wednesday. Japan thrilled the crowd by fighting all the way to the final whistle against their more experienced and bigger opponents, who picked up a crucial bonus point for scoring four tries, before agonisingly coming up just short.
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/ 12 September 2007
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South Africa flanker Schalk Burger’s appeal against a four-match suspension for a high tackle on Samoa scrumhalf Junior Polu will be heard on Thursday. A South African team spokesperson said the hearing had been set for 06h00 GMT in Paris. Springbok coach Jake White was shocked at Burger’s ban, handed out in the early hours of Wednesday.
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/ 12 September 2007
Gorillas, China’s baiji dolphin, Asian vultures and Pacific corals on Wednesday joined the list of species hurtling to oblivion as the World Conservation Union (IUCN) warned of a fast-track ”global extinction crisis”. In an update of its famous Red List of biodiversity, the Swiss-based IUCN said it had identified 41 415 species at threat.
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/ 12 September 2007
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Tonga claimed their third-ever win at the Rugby World Cup with a rousing 25-15 victory over the United States in Pool A at Stade de la Mosson in Montpellier on Wednesday. The flamboyant Pacific Islanders threw caution to the wind with an adventurous display to overcome the American Eagles.
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/ 12 September 2007
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South Africa great Os du Randt may be 35 but that doesn’t lessen England’s respect for the powerhouse prop. Reigning world champions England will look to end a three-match losing streak against the Springboks when they meet in Friday’s potentially decisive Pool A clash in Paris.
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/ 12 September 2007
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South Africa flanker Schalk Burger will not play at this year’s World Cup again unless his team reach the semifinals. Burger was banned for four matches at a disciplinary hearing that ran into the early hours of Wednesday morning after he was found guilty of a dangerous tackle on Samoa scrumhalf Junior Polu in South Africa’s 59-7 victory on Sunday.
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/ 11 September 2007
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Argentina closed in on the World Cup quarterfinals on Tuesday with a 33-3 win over a battling Georgia side, which was topped-off by a last-minute try that guaranteed a crucial bonus point. However, the eastern European side won plenty of new fans when they held the Pumas, who shocked France in the opening game, to just 6-3 at the interval.
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/ 11 September 2007
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England captain Phil Vickery was suspended for two matches on Tuesday for tripping United States centre Paul Emerick. It is a ban that rules the tighthead prop out of the world champions’ key Pool A clash against South Africa in Paris on Friday and the September 22 fixture with Samoa in Nantes.
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/ 11 September 2007
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South Africa coach Jake White kept England guessing by delaying naming his team for their World Cup Pool A match at the Stade de France on Friday. White announced a 22-man squad on Tuesday and said he would reveal his starting team only 48 hours before kick-off as tournament rules allow.
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/ 11 September 2007
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Percy Montgomery almost sounds like he should have been sitting with King Arthur and his knights but instead the fullback will be chasing his own Holy Grail of the Rugby World Cup. Montgomery is the national side’s record points scorer with 797 and if selected for Friday’s match will join Joost van der Westhuizen as the leading cap winner with 89.
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/ 11 September 2007
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World Cup heroes Jonny Wilkinson and Lawrence Dallaglio have been left out the England team to play South Africa in their Pool A match at the Stade de France on Friday. Flyhalf Wilkinson missed the opening match against the United States with an ankle injury but Dallaglio played at number eight. Both men were in the winning World Cup final team four years ago.