Sports45 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2015 WCup adds spice to Wales England clash Rugby Preview CARDIFF: Wales versus England remains a Australia, nicely setting up today’s match as returns at tighthead having recovered from Ireland in the opening round in 2013), can rugby Test match that never fails to whet the both teams strive to consolidate and build a foot problem for his first Test appearance boast relative stability in their team. appetite and stir emotions, and this year momentum with one eye firmly on the in almost a year. The team, however, fea- Gatland has made two changes from there is the added spice of a World Cup World Cup. tures only nine survivors from the side that the side that beat South Africa 12-6 in largely on English soil in which the two long- For it is only eight months until Wales started the 26-17 victory over Australia at November, winger George North and hook- time rivals have been drawn in the same and England meet again in their crunch pool Twickenham in the climax to the November er Richard Hibbard both starting in place of tough pool. Bragging rights are up for grabs match at Twickenham on September 26 - program, and just five from the XV thrashed Liam Williams and Scott Baldwin. “England in today evening’s match at Cardiff’s crunch because the pool also includes the 30-3 by Wales in Cardiff two years ago. have so much strength in depth I don’t Millennium Stadium, where 10 years ago Wallabies and unpredictable Fiji, with only “While we have certain players unavail- think it matters who they pick,” Gatland said Gavin Henson nailed a long-range penalty two qualifying for the knock-out phase. The able through injury, it’s great to be able to of England’s supposed injury problems. that handed the Welsh victory over England English arrive in Cardiff ravaged by injuries welcome back guys who missed the “Last year they were able to go to New and opened the way to a first Grand Slam in to key players such as centres Manu Tuilagi, November series such as Dan Cole, Mako Zealand and push the All Blacks really close 27 years. Brad Barritt and Kyle Eastmond, fly-half Vunipola and Tom Youngs,” said Lancaster, in that first game (of the tour) and then After Warren Gatland took over in 2007, Owen Farrell, the lock trio of Joe who had his team training on Wednesday to make a number of changes the for second the Wales team then went on to clinch Launchbury, Courtney Lawes and Geoff the sound of hymns being blasted out over and third Tests.” Today’s match will be Grand Slams in 2008 and 2012 and the title Parling, backrowers Tom Wood and Ben loud speakers in a bid to get used to the England’s first at the Millennium Stadium in 2013, but have been unable to translate Morgan, and prop David Wilson. atmosphere awaiting them in Cardiff. “Their since the 30-3 defeat in 2013 which cost that form on a consistent level against the Coach Stuart Lancaster named Luther experience, alongside that of players like them the Grand Slam. The last English Southern Hemisphere giants of Australia, Burrell and Jonathan Joseph in a new mid- Tom Croft and Nick Easter, will be invaluable cleansweep in the Six Nations dates back to New Zealand and South Africa. They did field partnership and handed bench recalls against a strong Welsh team.” Wales, which 2003 when they went on to win the World manage to edge a weary-looking Springbok to the experienced pair of fly-half Danny has lost just one of their last nine Six Nations Cup, a precedent Wales will be seeking to team in November, as England beat Cipriani and No 8 Nick Easter. Prop Dan Cole matches at Millennium Stadium (22-30 to avoid come match day. —AFP Tunisia refuse to apologize, face Nations Cup expulsion BATA: Tunisia’s football federation are refusing to apolo- gize to the Confederation of African Football after accus- ing them of cheating, a member of the federation’s execu- tive committee was quoted as saying on Wednesday. In the wake of the violent scenes that followed Tunisia’s con- troversial elimination from the tournament by Equatorial Guinea last Saturday, the north Africans were fined $50,000. They were also ordered to say sorry for “insinua- tions of bias and lack of ethics against CAF and its officials, or to present irrefutable evidence to substantiate the accusations”. African football’s governing body gave Tunisia a dead- line of midnight on Thursday to write a formal letter of apology or face the possibility of being disqualified from the next edition’s qualifiers, which start in June. Tunisia rejected this after a meeting of the federation’s executive committee in Tunis on Wednesday, the Tunisia agency ATAP reported. “Our investigation into the affair and the BATA: Democratic Republic of the Congo’s forward Dieudonne Mbokani (right) challenges Ivory Coast’s opinion of neutrals is that we suffered scandalous injustice defender Serge Wilfried Kanon during the 2015 African Cup of Nations semi-final football match between from referees. Not only in the match against Equatorial Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ivory Coast in Bata on February 4, 2015. —AFP Guinea but right from the start of the tournament,” com- mittee member Hichem Ben Omrane was quoted as say- ing. “We will explain all of this to CAF at a meeting,” he Toure sparkles as Ivorians added. CAF fined Tunisia for what it termed “the aggressive attitude of some supporters in the stands, invasion of the ease into Nations Cup final pitch after the final whistle by players and substitutes of the Tunisian team-insulting the referee of the match and trying to physically assault him-and the regrettable behav- Ivory Coast chasing first title since 1992 ior of the president of the Tunisian Football Federation, Wadie Jary”. Jary went onto the field to remonstrate with BATA: Goals from Yaya Toure and Gervinho helped steer Ivory Coast into the box that was hit with ferocious power for the opening goal. Bony the African Nations Cup final in a 3-1 win over Democratic Republic of had been trying to weave his way through the defense but lost the ball the match officials. CAF also said Tunisia’s players broke a Congo in the Estadio de Bata on Wednesday. Toure, playing at a sixth which spilt in the direction of Gervinho but before he could get a foot on changing room door and a fridge. The governing body finals, blasted home a missile-like shot after 21 minutes to give the it, Toure came surging through to almost burst the net with sublime pre- suspended Mauritius referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn for Ivorians the lead but a handball allowed Dieumerci Mbokani to equalise cision. A careless handball from Eric Bertrand Bailly offered the his inability to control the match and took him off Africa’s from the penalty spot three minutes later. Congolese the chance for an immediate response from the penalty spot, elite panel. Gervinho had an effort cleared off the line in the 40th minute but the which Mbokani duly dispatched. Then came Gervinho’s header that hit Equatorial Guinea, who were also fined $5,000 after Ivorians won back the ball and caught the Congolese defense cold with the crossbar before Gabriel Zakuani cleared it while the Ivorians several spectators invaded the pitch to celebrate, beat Wilfried Bony setting up Gervinho to sweep home less than a minute lat- appealed that it had crossed the line. Tunisia 2-1 having equalized after being awarded a dubi- er. Defender Wilfried Kanon added a third midway through the second They regained their composure while DR Congo were caught ball ous penalty on the stroke of fulltime. They then scored a half with a rebound from a corner. Ivory Coast will play in Sunday’s final watching and Bony’s pass left Gervinho with little else to do but guide stunning free kick in extra time to claim an unlikely semi- in Bata against Equatorial Guinea or Ghana who meet in the second his effort home. Yannick Bolasie continued to offer a glimmer of hope for final berth. Their coach Esteban Becker was unsympathet- semi-final in Malabo yesterday. They overpowered their opponents, the Congolese with his mazy runs, having a 55th-minute effort saved. ic to Tunisia’s protests. “It’s logical that a team will be sad although coach Herve Renard said he had not been pleased with some But it was Gervinho, Bony and Toure who dictated terms in the second if they lose against a theoretically smaller team,” Becker of their sloppy play. “I had to keep reminding them we were playing in a half and a third goal seemed inevitable. “This is one step in our life, we said. “But that doesn’t justify things that don’t belong in semi-final with a goal of getting to the final,” he said. need to enjoy this night and be ready for the game on Sunday. It was football... Tunisia played a very dirty game; they tried to tough game, DR Congo were very fast but we were compact. All we care intimidate the smaller Equatorial Guinea players, this has Ferocious power now is about bringing the cup back home,” said Bony. Ivory Coast have no place in fair play.” —Reuters Toure showed the way in one of his better performances for the now reached two of the last three Nations Cup finals but their only previ- national team with a stunning shot on the half volley from the edge of ous success was in 1992.—Reuters.