UFO Info Week-End

The big wing from Northampton took a fearful pasting for his trouble

The big wing from Northampton took a fearful pasting for his trouble – like Lewsey, he bore many and varied scars of battle at the end of the match – but fortunately for England, his tormentor fluffed the wide- angled penalty. Spencer’s place-kicking had been scratchy from the start, and the 12 points he spurned were expensive in the extreme.Still England had to defend, and they must have wondered if the second half would ever end, with Stuart Dickinson, one of the more whistle-happy referees on the circuit, stopping the game with pedantic relish.Some 15 minutes were added to the 80, but England did not crack a second time. In match terms, they have not cracked since losing in Paris more than 15 months and 12 matches ago. Clive Woodward described it as a triumph for “guts, determination and heroics”, and the national coach was not exaggerating. England’s 15-13 victory over New Zealand here at the Westpac Stadium, their first on All Black soil in 30 years, established a new record – they have now won 12 consecutive Tests for the first time in their history – and confirmed them as the world’s top-ranked team.

It also erased the last lingering memories of the 1998 “tour of hell”, when Woodward’s understrength tourists were laughed out of New Zealand after conceding 234 points in five matches. Doug Howlett, the All Black full-back, scored the game’s only try deep in the final quarter, but Carlos Spencer missed four kicks at goal.The game’s turning point came in the second-half when the New Zealanders failed to capitalise after England were reduced to 13 men following the temporary dismissals of their experienced back-row forwards, Neil Back and Lawrence Dallaglio, for ball-killing offences.The remnants of the England pack had to survive a series of second-half scrums on their own line, and their successful manning of the barricades proved crucial to the outcome. Frustration then got the better of the All Blacks late in the game, when Josh Lewsey, the Wasps full-back, was mercilessly trampled at the bottom of a ruck and forced to leave the field with head wounds.”Certain things in rugby are a little taboo,” Lewsey said afterwards. “I was stamped a couple of times, and then managed to move my head as it was coming again. I jumped up to have a go back, but Martin Johnson [the England captain] told me to shut up and take the bullet.” Ali Williams, the young lock forward from Auckland, was later reported by the Australian citing official, Michael Somes, and ordered to appear before a disciplinary tribunal.Woodward, who toured New Zealand with the British and Irish Lions 20 years ago and was forced to swallow a Test whitewash, said the victory gave him “huge satisfaction” and described his team’s defensive performance as the best he had ever witnessed.

“Our visit here in 1998 was a low point in the history of English rugby,” he added. “This is one of the high points.”John Mitchell, who had not previously suffered a home defeat as All Black coach, said England had given themselves a “fantastic psychological boost” in the build-up towards this autumn’s World Cup in Australia, while Reuben Thorne, the New Zealand captain, credited the tourists with an “outstanding defensive display”.. When people bemoan the dismal prospects for British tennis, it is evident they have not heard of Andrew Murray. That is not altogether surprising, since Andrew is only just 16, and at the end of last year stood at 255 in the world junior rankings.

And all of them on clay, a surface traditionally alien to British tastes and skills. This is a tribute not only to the level of tennis available at Emilio Sanchez’s academy in Barcelona, where he is based, but also to Andrew’s determination to master the art of clay-court tennis. There is also an impressive confidence to be set alongside that determination.”I want to be in the top 10 in the world, first in the juniors and then grown-ups,” said the quiet-spoken Scot. “I love doing sport and don’t enjoy going to school, so it’s either tennis or nothing I think I do everything quite well. I am quick around the court and I am intelligent, probably my two main strengths.”The £30,000-a-year cost of learning the game at the school run by Sanchez and his one-time Spanish Davis Cup doubles partner, Sergio Casal, is partly covered by the Lawn Tennis Association and Tennis Scotland, and topped up by a supermarket and soft-drinks company. In addition, the Scottish Institute of Sport have set up a strengthening and conditioning programme for Andrew, which extends to sending someone to Barcelona to monitor his progress.Murray has been at the Academia Sanchez-Casal since last September, though he spent much of the winter and spring playing clay-court events in South America and Europe. Though his travelling coach is a fellow Scot, Leon Smith, Andrew has spent priceless time hitting with Sanchez and Casal in Spain, and has impressed both.Praising Andrew as “a very talented player”, Sanchez added: “His big strengths are that he has a very good selection of shots and is very mature for his age That means his head is pretty well set He has a clear focus on what he wants to do.