Sydney

South Africa may withdraw from the Super 14 rugby competition after 2010, leaving room for a Japanese team, while Argentina could join an expanded Tri-Nations, reports said on Saturday. Support is flagging for the Super 14 provincial series in South Africa, the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper said.

An Australian prisoner shed 14kg so he could slip between the bars of his cell and escape, a court in Sydney was told on Friday. Robert Cole (37) spent three days at large after escaping in January despite breaking his leg when he jumped from a high perimeter wall.

One of rugby’s premier flyhalves, Stephen Larkham, says he may have a run at inside-centre on the Wallabies’ tour of Europe next month. As assistant coach Scott Johnson attempts to reshape the backline, Larkham has been training at inside-centre, with regular number 12 Matt Giteau at scrumhalf and winger Mark Gerrard at flyhalf.

The Barmy Army, a group of die-hard English cricket fans, have scoffed at fears hooligans will accompany a flood of up to 50 000 British tourists expected in Australia during the upcoming Ashes tour. The comments came after New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma said on Tuesday he had sought intelligence from British police on known troublemakers.

The holy grail of cricket, the coveted Ashes urn, arrived in Australia for only the second time in 123 years on Tuesday under tight security ahead of this year’s battle for its ownership. The symbol of cricketing enmity between England and Australia arrived in Sydney in a special carrying case, strapped into a business-class airline seat and handcuffed to the wrist of its curator.

Australia’s cricketers are using the latest fitness techniques to get an edge over England in next month’s Ashes series, reports said on Saturday. The Aussies are looking more muscular and fitter with the help of sports science, including GPS satellite tracking systems and accelerometers to measure players’ physical activity.

The Tri-Nations rugby series will revert to a six-Test tournament in 2007 to allow for the staging of the Rugby World Cup in France, tournament organisers announced on Wednesday. The South African, New Zealand and Australian Rugby Unions (Sanzar) released the 2007 Tri-Nations draw, with the Springboks to start with a home international against the Wallabies on June 16.

Shane Warne is lining up for a pre-Ashes refresher with his spin-bowling mentor, Terry Jenner, ahead of the opening cricket Test against England in Brisbane on November 23. Test cricket’s leading wicket-taker is expected to reunite with former Test leg-spinner Jenner for a private nets session in Adelaide later this month, reports said on Wednesday.

A conflict over beer sponsors appears to have been the driving force in Allan Border’s decision to stand down from his role as an Australian selector, reports said on Wednesday. The former Test captain and prominent cricketing personality recently fronted television advertisements here for XXXX beer, which is a competitor of Foster’s, a major sponsor of Cricket Australia.

Matt Giteau is likely to be tried at scrumhalf on the Wallabies’ European rugby tour next month after the injury withdrawal of first-choice number nine Sam Cordingley, coach John Connolly said on Wednesday. Cordingley, promoted to first-choice after skipper George Gregan opted to stay at home, pulled out of the tour on Wednesday with a persistent foot injury.

Australia’s injury plagued former world number one Lleyton Hewitt said on Tuesday he was not contemplating retirement and believed he could again reach the top ranking on the men’s tennis tour. ”I was number one or two only a year-and-a-half ago, so I feel like I can still get back up there,” Hewitt said at a press conference to launch January’s Sydney International.

An Australian scholar in his 90s successfully capped off his law degree this week, winning a race against time he feared he might not live to finish. Having compressed the demanding course of legal study from six years into just four-and-a-half due to his advanced years, Allan Stewart graduated to a standing ovation on Saturday.

Stuart Appleby and Robert Allenby will tee off in next month’s Australian Open along with Greg Norman, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy and Aaron Baddeley. Organisers, reluctant to go after big-name overseas stars because of the cost of appearance fees, have settled for a strong home field for the national open championship at the Royal Sydney from November 13-19.

The Wallabies went into heavy training Monday at a six-day camp ahead of next month’s four-Test rugby tour to Europe. A 37-man squad was announced last week and the players began their training at Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales mid-north coast before their departure on October 27.

Australia’s heritage-listed "Tree of Knowledge", a 200-year-old ghost gum known as the birthplace of the centre-left Labour Party, has died after being poisoned, a party official said on Tuesday. The tree, which stands opposite a hotel in the centre of the small town of Barcaldine in the north-eastern state of Queensland, was the meeting place for sheep shearers during a landmark strike in 1891.

Richie Benaud says last week’s International Cricket Council (ICC) hearing into ball tampering arising from last month’s forfeited Test between England and Pakistan had hurt world cricket. The respected former Australian captain and cricket commentator said the ICC hearing was ”crass and unbecoming”.

Jonah Lomu has conceded his dream of playing for New Zealand in next year’s World Cup is over after he failed to land a contract in the Super 14. Lomu defied medical advice by making a comeback two years after a kidney transplant in the hope of finishing his career with a World Cup victory.

Australia winger Lote Tuqiri has admitted the Wallabies need to improve their mental attitude if they hope to beat New Zealand at next year’s World Cup. Australia have lost their last five Tests to the All Blacks but may need to beat their greatest rivals just to make next year’s World Cup final after being drawn to meet them in the semis.

Australian fast bowler Glenn McGrath has launched into the Ashes mind games, querying whether it will be possible for Andrew Flintoff to bat and bowl well while captaining England. McGrath, who has a history of niggling opposing sides before a Test series, made the remarks less than two months before the opening Gabba Test in Brisbane on November 23.

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of up to 7,0 hit near the South Pacific nation of Samoa on Thursday, triggering a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said. ”Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre,” the Hawaii-based warning centre said on its website.

Cricket Australia backed an international crackdown on racism on Tuesday but said the term ”pom” could still be used against the English. Cricket Australia spokesperson Peter Young said his organisation fully supported International Cricket Council recommendations made on Monday after South Africa players alleged they were racially abused on a tour Down Under.

Australian cricketers have gone into bat for Test coach John Buchanan amid criticism by champion leg-spinner Shane Warne of his relevance to the team. British tabloid The Sun quoted Warne this month as saying Buchanan deserved few plaudits for Australia’s world cricket domination. He also reportedly suggested the team didn’t need a coach at all.

Wallaby captain George Gregan announced on Tuesday that he would opt out of Australia’s four-Test tour of Europe in November to concentrate on preparing for next year’s World Cup. Gregan, the world’s most-capped international player with 127 Tests, said his decision to miss the tour was based purely on the opportunity to get ready physically for the World Cup.

Wallaby back Mat Rogers will switch codes again and join the National Rugby League’s Gold Coast Titans after next year’s Rugby World Cup, the team announced on Wednesday. Rogers will complete contractual obligations to the Australian and New South Wales rugby unions before joining the Titans on a two-year contract worth  000, the team said.

A British tourist rescued from the Australian outback had to be saved a second time when he returned to the wilderness to look for his belongings, it was reported on Wednesday. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the 50-year-old man was taken to Alice Springs hospital on Wednesday morning after spending four nights lost in the rugged Northern Territory.

A public farewell for Steve Irwin is likely to be held in a football stadium to accommodate his many fans, friends said on Monday after a private funeral for the Crocodile Hunter in which stories were told around a campfire. Irwin (44) had been swimming over a large stingray off Australia’s north-east coast last Monday when the ray lashed out and the serrated barb from its tail pierced his heart.

The Australian government has withdrawn funding for a climate-change conference after organisers booked lingerie models for a raunchy dinner show.
Conservative Prime Minister John Howard on Friday described the risque entertainment as "not appropriate" and two government departments withdrew funding totalling $6 000 from the event late on Thursday.

Steve Irwin fell victim to extraordinarily bad luck to be killed on Monday by a stingray, a bizarre-looking but normally shy creature whose defences include poisonous serrated barbs in the tail, experts said. At least 35 species of stingrays swim in the tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef where Irwin died.

Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian naturalist who won worldwide acclaim, was killed by a stingray barb through the chest on Monday while diving off Australia’s north-east coast, emergency officials and witnesses said. Irwin (44) was killed while filming an underwater documentary off Port Douglas.