Johnson steps down as England boss

Martin Johnson, captain of the World-cup winning side of 2003, has stepped down as England manager after the terrible World Cup, in which a number of players broke rules and they crashed out to France in the quarter-finals. The 41-year-old won 84 caps for England as a player, and had a good record as a boss.

JOHNSON'S ENGLAND RECORD

• Games coached - 38

• Wins - 21

• Defeats - 16

• Draws - 1

• Points for - 826

• Points against - 652

• Winning rate - 55.3%

Graham Henry, who recently quit as New Zealand boss and wanted a job with England, is a favourite to take the position.

With Johnson England won the six nations, but it was his only success as manager.

What do you think will happen to him now? He is a very good manager, but who could he go to?

Zachary

New Zealand survive scare but South Africa go out

New Zealand’s rugby team survived a bad first half to beat Argentina but South Africa crashed out thanks to a loss against Australia.

The Springboks, clear favourites with New Zealand, dominated possession however couldn’t turn territory into points, and Australia led 8-3 at half-time. South Africa thought they had levelled things shortly after the break, but the pass was said to be forward.

However that didn’t matter as Morne Steyn kicked six points to put them reigning champions into a 9-8 lead. But O’Connor, for the Aussies, kicked a well-taken penalty to give them the win. 9-11 to Australia, and South Africa were out.

New Zealand’s opponents, Argentina, were expected to be a pushover but in fact gave the Kiwis a tough match. NZ led 12-7 at half-time, but Argentina had scored the only try, but Weepu kicked 4 penalties to help new Zealand lead. Marcelo Bosch kicked a penalty to scare New Zealand even more, but Weepu replied with a good hit. Without their no.1 kicker, Dan Carter, the normally brilliant Kiwis nearly lost out to fantastic Argentina. Luckily for New Zealand, however, they scored 2 tries to win 33-10.

Semi-final 2

Australia v New Zealand

Wales through, but England and Ireland crash out in the quarters of the RWC

Wales’ Rugby Union team got through to the semi-finals of the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, but England and Ireland crashed out.

Wales and Ireland faced each other in what everyone knew would be a close game.

But Wales took the advantage very early on as Shane Williams scored only his second ever try against Ireland and Rhys Priestland converted. Ireland, kept getting penalty after penalty, but they always kicked into touch to get a line-out, but Wales’ defence held out. Finally, Ronan O’Gara kicked the points easily, right in front of the posts. Wales then scored a superb penalty from Leigh Halfpenny, then it was half-time. 10-3 Wales.

Shortly after the second period had started, Keith Earls went over the line and O’Gara got the kick. 10 all. This is when Wales put on the gas. Two tries, from Jonathan Davies and Mike Phillips, and a second conversion from Priestland shattered Ireland’s hopes of reaching the Semi-Finals. For Wales, however, the dream is well and truly alive.

But for England it was a different story. Two first half tries and a couple of penalties meant France went into the break at 16-0 up. England tried in the second half, but despite two tries, from Foden and Cueto, they lost 19-12.

So now the semi-final is France v Wales. England fans feel like they’ve been robbed, but in truth France played well. Well done to Wales as well.

Semi-Final 1

France v Wales

England are out of the World Cup again!

England’s football team went home from the World Cup in the second stage again. But this time it was in the women’s tournament! In an amazing game, Ellen White had the chance to score inside 2 minutes, rounding the no. 2 French keeper but seeing her shot blocked. France were the better side, it has to be said, and England were defending for long parts of the game deep inside their own half. But it was the Lionesses who broke the deadlock, with Jill Scott guiding an effort past a troubled Deville in the French goal. Deville, of Montpellier, was only playing because France’s no. 1 had been sent off against Germany. But it seemed like England had won when, on 87 minutes, they were still 1-0 up, despite their goal being under constant threat. But then, it fell out to the French captain, Elise Bussaglia on the edge of the England box. She made no mistake, her shot banging the post and flying in. But France, unlike England, did not want to go to Extra Time. England survived that, though, and despite having half the team limping around groggily, they even had a good chance through Ellen White, the Arsenal forward just hitting the shot into the side-netting. France should have won, but a series of blocks by the English defence and some brilliant catches from Karen Bardsley in the England goal put the tie into penalties. France won the toss and decided to take first. Up stepped one of their most influential players, Camille Abily, shot against Bardsley. Bardsley jumped to save a badly taken penalty. Then a strange thing happened. Kelly Smith, despite having her normally fantastic left foot literally useless due to injury, and only on the pitch because England had run out of substitutes, SCORED!!!!! But Bussaglia soon had France back on level terms, smashing a shot into the top right. Karen Carney slotted home a pen coolly to get back up France’s neck. France equalised though, Thiney easily beating Bardsley. Stoney stepped up to take the next one, though, and Deville went the right way, but the Lincoln player had taken a great penalty. France then scored through Bompastor. But then, disaster struck! Claire Rafferty, playing in only her fifth game, missed, sending the ball wide. Le Sommer sent Bardsley the wrong way. Pressure on England! Faye White came up to take the deciding kick. Miss, and England would be out of the competition. Score, and they had a chance. She stood up, ran, and kicked. BAM! The sound of the ball hitting the woodwork brought despair to all England fans’ faces. The French ran around the pitch celebrating. England’s players sank to their knees. They are out of a Football World Cup again early on in the tournament.

Wimbledon final weekend: Surprises in store!

In an eventful final weekend at Wimbledon two new winners won both the singles.
On the woman’s event on Saturday, Maria Sharapova (2004 winner) v Petra Kvitova, in a game which many thought would go to Sharapova, went the other way. Kvitova won 6-3, 6-4. The top ten women in the world now are:1. Caroline Wozniacki (Den)
2. Kim Clijsters (Bel)
3. Vera Zvonareva (Rus)
4. Victoria Azarenka (Blr)
5. Maria Sharapova (Rus)
6. Na Li (Chn)
7. Petra Kvitova (Cza)
8. Francesca Schiavone (Ita)
9. Marion Bartoli (Fra)
10. Samantha Stosur (Aus)

In the men’s there was also another shock, with former champion Rafael Nadal losing out to Novak Djokovic. Djokovic was the better of the two while Nadal was unusually sloppy, the score being 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3. The Serb ended a non-stop Federer/Nadal winning streak, and his win inspired Murray feel that he could win a grand slam too, and Djokovic approved of it. Here are the men’s rankings:


1. Novak Djokovic (Ser)
2. Rafael Nadal (Spa)
3. Roger Federer (Swi)
4. Andy Murray (GB)
5. Robin Soderling (Swe)
6. David Ferrer (Spa)
7. Gael Monfils (Fra)
8. Mardy Fish (US)
9. Tomas Berdych (Cze)
10. Andy Roddick (US)

4th round results and woman’s quarters

Not many surprises in the men's tournament, but there were some in the women's round. First, Dominika Cibulkova stunned the world by beating Caroline Wozniacki, world no.1. Then the Williams sisters made early exits. 9^th seed Marion Bartoli beat Serena Williams in straight sets, and then Venus lost to Pironkova in straight sets.

In the men's round, Andy Murray easily beat Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-2. Novak Djokovic also thrashed Llodra of France 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Federer beat Youzhny of Russia comfortably, but Rafael Nadal faced a sterner test against Del Potro. The reigning champion passed through 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Bernard Tomic also kept his dream alive by beating an unseeded Malisse in straight sets.

In the woman's quarters Maria Sharapova easily beat Cibulkova 6-1, 6-1. German wild card Sabine Lisicki kept the dream alive by beating Marion Bartoli. Azarenka of Russia beat Paszek easily, and Kvitova also passed Pironkova. Here are the remaining fixtures.

Men's quarter-final draw:
Nadal v Fish
Murray v Lopez
Tsonga v Federer
Tomic v Djokovic


Women's Semi-final draw:
Sharapova v Lisicki
Kvitova v Azarenka

Djokovic and Federer through, but Soderling crashes out

Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer passed stern tests against Marcos Baghdatis and David Nalbandian, but 5^th seed Robin Soderling lost to teenager Bernard Tomic of Australia.

Federer was on first on centre court, and he beat Nalbandian, a guy who has beaten Federer 8 times, 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in 1 hour 46 minutes. Djokovic was next on centre court, and the 2cnd seed faced a much sterner test against Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, but went through 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, despite smashing his racket to peices in the second set after an amazing rally.

Soderling felt sick and dizzy against Tomic, and the 18-year-old swept past the Swede 6-1, 6-4, 7-5.

Here are the 4^th round men's fixtures:

Nadal v Del Potro

Fish v Berdych
Murray v Gasquet
Kubot v Lopez
Ferrer v Tsonga
Youzhny v Federer
Tomic v Malisse
Llodra v Djokovic

Queens club tennis

Queens club tennis

For the six-day period of 6-12 of June 2011, the 2011 AEGON Championships was held at the Queens Club in west London. Zachary's Sports News' very own Zachary Macpherson went down there on the second day (7^th June) to catch the atmosphere and see some good tennis. First up was a thrilling match between Feliciano Lopez of Spain, (4lst in the world) and Andy Roddick from the USA who stands 10^th in world ranking and is a former WORLD NO. 1. It was a closely fought match, in which the American just won by 2 sets to 1, and it put him in the next round. Next up was Fernando Verdasco, also a Spaniard, (23^rd in the world), against Nicolas Mahut of France. Verdasco won hands down, in a match that Mahut barely played in. But the REAL thrashing was yet to be seen. This game was between Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, another Frenchman, and Michael Berrer, who are 19^th and 79^th in the world. Tsonga thrashed Berrer 6-0, 6-1 in a game that the German rarely threatened. After that game it was a doubles game between Tomaz Belluci and Andre Sa, both from Brazil, and Marc Lopez and Rafael Nadal, the singles world no. 1. Lopez and Nadal are from Spain. In a closely fought set, Nadal and Lopez just edged out the Brazilians  7-6 in the tie-breaker. In the second set the Spaniards won 6-2, and that was the final game on centre court.

The rest of the tournament

There was a British surprise in store as James Ward, the British no. 2 got to the semi-finals, but got beaten by Jo-Wilfred Tsonga. Andy Roddick lost to Andy Murray in the other semi, in a match which Murray was at his best. In the final Murray went a set down but fought back to win his second AGEON championships. Andy Murray!

Sorry, guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Hi, sport fans. Sorry about the time off, but I'm back now. I'll be filling you up on all the latest news, gossip and results in all sports!!!!!!!!! Regularly come to this webpage to find out more.

Zachary LM J