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Rugby Union: Coach Eddie Jones has backed Dylan Hartley (picture) to continue as England captain for the Six Nations Championship though the hooker would not have played for almost two months by the start of the tournament. Hartley was banned for six weeks in December for striking an opponent playing for his club Northampton but Jones believes it was nothing more than a technical error from his skipper. “We’ve had many chats and no one is more disappointed than he is,” Jones said. “That’s the first mistake he has made for us. Dylan made a judgment error.” England will face France at Twickenham on February 4 in their opening game of the Six Nations.
Tennis: Andy Murray laboured past Austrian Gerald Melzer 7-6 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open yesterday after defending champion Novak Djokovic had also progressed with relative ease. Murray will play Spain’s Nicolas Almagro next. “He played great, great tennis and dominated large parts of the match,” Murray said on court. Djokovic, seeded two, had an easier time against Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos, winning 6-3 6-4 in 72 minutes.
Pro Wrestling: A judge ended a murder case against ex-professional wrestler Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka in Pennsylvania, on Tuesday, after ruling him mentally incompetent to stand trial over the 1983 death of his girlfriend. Lehigh County Judge Kelly L. Banach granted a request from Snuka’s attorney to end the case, The Morning Call newspaper said. In June, Banach had found Snuka, 73, incompetent to stand trial. He was charged in 2015 with third-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in the death of Nancy Argentino, 23, who, prosecutors said, was found with head injuries in their shared motel room, shortly before she died.
Rugby League: English rugby league side Bradford Bulls have gone into liquidation after years of financial struggle, with administrators rejecting a bid to save the indebted former Super League champions. The Rugby Football League (RFL) said in a statement that the move was “not an entirely surprising development given the scale of debt incurred by the previous management of the club and the debilitating level of financial commitment already entered into for 2017”. The Bulls won the Super League four times but ran into financial difficulties over unpaid taxes in 2012, when fans raised around £500,000 to keep the club going after banks cut their overdraft facilities.
Cricket: South Africa and Australia will contest a four-test series for the first time in almost 50 years when they clash in March and April 2018, Cricket South Africa (CSA) announced yesterday. Australia will tour South Africa seeking revenge for their 2-1 home series loss in November and will play four tests for the first time since being humbled 4-0 on South Africa soil in the 1969/70 season. Since South Africa’s readmission to international cricket in 1991 the sides have met in only two- or three-test series. The first test will be played in Durban (March 1-5).