TheEnglish and Irish Lions of Rugbycontinue their tour of New Zealand where they are facing off against the famedAll Blacks in various locales. Readersof this space will remember our mention a few weeks ago that the All Blacks hadnot lost on New Zealand soil since, like, the invention of Rugby orsomething. Well, lose they have, atWellington. It was their first defeat onhome turf in 48 tests, 8 years, and even then quite rare. Their coach, SteveHansen, was so moved by the last that he declared "losingsucks." He is entitled, I guess,having lost for the first time at home in 2,849 days.
Theworld champion All Blacks were beaten 24-21 by the British and Irish Lions onSaturday evening. They lost without theaid of a star player, Sonny Bill Williams, who was ejected after a shouldercharge against a Lion's player. He wasthe first All Black to be ejected from a game in 50 years, and after facing ajury, has been suspended for four matches. TheLions had not bested the All Blacks in any competition since 1993, and had lostthe first game 30-15. If they win again,they have a shot of their first series win in New Zealand since the early1970s. That game, the third and last, willbe held at Auckland's Eden Park nextSaturday. The All Blacks have not lost theresince 1994. InGermany/Belgium, the Tour de France continues with a second stage, which leavesDusseldorf, Germany, to arrive at Liege in Belgium, a 203 km jaunt which stopsshort of entering Holland, and bypasses the Ardennes, at least for today. Theopening time trial yesterday was an exciting event, both in the closecompetition until the end, and the many falls by cyclists, who were cycling ondrenched pavement which was as slick as ice. Even those who came to aid fallen cyclists had to be careful not tocharge too hard. Several of this year'steams showed off their new team kit in the characteristic skin suits of thetime trial. Tragically, Movistar'spopular rider Alejandro Valverde crashed out of the Tour with a brokenknee. At 37 years of age, this may behard to come back from. Sky's GeraintThomas took Saturday's stage. Stagetwo promises more excitement, on mostly flat roads, attractive to breakawayriders looking to make a name for themselves. Tennis:Coming up this week: Wimbledon! -- Posted By Rex to SR at 7/02/2017 07:16:00 AM -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "omnisport" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/omnisport. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
