I Dig Sports
How an Englishman saved England slayer Van der Merwe
And that brings us back to Cockerill, head coach of Edinburgh at the time.
"We signed him for not a lot of money, but he had this hip issue," he said. "There was a problem with the cartilage in his hip and he failed his medical. He needed surgery. He was going to be missing for three or four months.
"I'm thinking, 'Well, he's going to be good and he's not expensive, let's look after him and over time that breeds trust and loyalty'.
"Some members of the SRU said, 'He's not fit, he's failed his medical, so we shouldn't keep him. He's effectively in breach of contract'.
"It was madness. Some at Murrayfield would not have had him because he was injured, but a little patience and he's turned out to be one of the best in the world."
Cockerill saved the SRU from itself. Of course, the irony of an Englishman fighting for a player who's been the slayer of England is not lost on him. The whole thing appeals to his sense of devilment.
But there was more to it than just signing Van der Merwe. There was developing him, too. And he needed some amount of developing.
There are still aspects of his game that are far from world class - defence, work-rate, ability in the air. He seems to save his best stuff for Test rugby, which can be a bugbear of Edinburgh fans.
But, when he's on, boy, he's unplayable.
"He understands the game better now than he did before," Cockerill said. "He's turned into more of a complete player, but back then it was just raw pace - and you can't coach speed, can you?
"In the early stages with Edinburgh, he was very wooden. Finishing wasn't a problem, but understanding the game defensively needed improving, to say the least.
"Catching the ball was a problem. At the start, when the the ball was in the air, you were closing your eyes and hoping he'd catch it.
"The boys used to take the mickey out of him because, you know, he's not going to win any crossword competitions. But put a rugby ball in his hands and watch out."
Head coach Fabien Galthie has made sweeping changes to his 23-man squad following his side's 26-25 defeat by England last time out.
Fly-half Matthieu Jalibert and wing Damian Penaud have been dropped with Thomas Ramos moving to number 10 and Leo Barre and Theo Attissogbe coming into the back three alongside Louis Bielle-Biarrey, the tournament's top try-scorer with four.
With Emmanuel Meafou unavailable because of an illness, Thibaud Flament makes his first appearance of the tournament alongside Mickael Guillard in the second row.
Galthie has opted for a 7-1 split on the bench, with scrum-half Maxime Lucu the only recognised back among the replacements.
France: 15-Barre; 14-Attissogbe, 13-Barassi, 12-Moefana, 11-Bielle-Biarrey; 10-Ramos; 9-Dupont (capt); 1-Gros, 2-Mauvaka, 3-Atonio; 4-Flament, 5-Guillard; 6- Cros, 7-Boudehent, 8-Alldritt.
Replacements: 16-Marchand, 17-Baille, 18-Aldegheri, 19-Taofifenua, 20-Roumat, 21-Jegou, 22-Jelonch, 23-Lucu.
Russell may share his first name with his opposite number, albeit with a slightly different spelling, but the similarities end when it comes to experience.
Scotland's fly-half will win his 84th cap on Saturday, while England's Fin Smith, aged 22, will make just his second Test start.
Their rivalry has grown from the club game as Smith's Northampton Saints overcame Russell's Bath in last season's Premiership final.
In the 2024-25 campaign, Russell has scored more points, beaten more defenders and had more touches than Smith,, external who in contrast has made more successful and dominant tackles.
Russell will want to get his hands on the ball and influence the game once more, while Smith retains the England number 10 jersey after his measured, man-of-the-match display against France, in which he created late tries for Tommy Freeman and Elliot Daly.
England centre Ollie Lawrence, who plays alongside Russell at Bath and has seen Smith develop from an academy prospect since their time together at Worcester Warriors, says the younger man is under no pressure to emulate the Scot.
"I don't really think there's too much pressure on Fin; certainly we aren't putting pressure on him to step up or anything like that," said Lawrence.
"The way he played against France and controlled the game put us in the right areas of the field. He managed to set up that try [for Daly] at the end, which was testament to how he's come on as a player.
"Ever since he left Worcester and went to [Northampton] Saints, he's only gone like this [upwards].
"Finn Russell is a world-class 10, a great player and I've got a huge amount of respect for him. But equally I'm definitely not looking at Fin and saying he has to match the other Finn during the game.
"He'll do his thing, he's a confident lad and we'll back him all the way. He has so much more potential and so much more to show in an England jersey."
Russell was the last fly-half to wear the British and Irish Lions jersey in a Test match, but he has yet to shine in this Six Nations after a relatively quiet game against Italy before his match-up against Ireland's Sam Prendergast was cut short because of his head injury.
The Scot needs a big performance to reassert his claim for Lions selection against a young contender aiming to take the shirt from him.
CONCORD, N.C. Toyota has been a leading organization in the support and growth of dirt racing. In 2025, the company is continuing that commitment by extending its partnership with World Racing Group.
The iconic manufacturer will again be the Official Vehicle of the World of Outlaws and Super DIRTcar Series, sponsor the Toyota Dash at every World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series event and continue to serve as the presenting sponsor for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series.
Everyone at Toyota is pleased to continue our relationship with the World Racing Group, said Jack Irving, general manager, TRD U.S.A. The World of Outlaws and Xtreme Midget schedules extend throughout the country and hit many unique markets that are important to Toyota. Supporting the World Racing Groups efforts continues to be a high priority for Toyota as we look to expand our engine program, especially in the sprint car ranks.
In addition to seeing Toyotas branding at each race and on DIRTVision, Race Fans will get to see Toyotas products in action at each race with Toyota Tundra TRD Pro trucks pacing the field at every World of Outlaws Sprint Car, World of Outlaws Late Model, Super DIRTcar Series and Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series event.
Theyll also see Toyota power in action on track with several midget teams running a Toyota engine and Roth Motorsports running a 410 c.i. Toyota engine on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car tour with TRD development driver Michael Buddy Kofoid.
Toyota is also now accepting 410 engine orders for more teams to run the race-winning engine. Interested parties can reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.
Dirt racing continues to be a priority for everyone at Toyota, continued Irving. The success on track is even more of a bonus. We are excited about the line-up we have in place this season across both the World of Outlaws and Xtreme Midget competition, and we look forward to achieving continued success and contending for both championships with our supported teams.
Toyota has been an incredible partner to work with and were proud to have such an iconic brand associated with World Racing Group, said Brian Carter, World Racing Group CEO. We look forward to continuing that partnership for years to come as we both share the same initiative of growing dirt racing.
Unveiling their 2025 paint scheme earlier this week, it was very apparent that Rod Gross Motorsports and driver Tanner Thorson had a new marketing partner for the season ahead.
Set to run with High Limit Racing for a second season, Thorson and RGM have added JST Motorsports as the teams primary sponsor.
Jason Tessier and I met through Scott Sawyer and his support of the Smith Titanium company, Tanner Thorson said. As we continued to stay in contact and build a relationship, he and his wife, Shantel, had hinted at wanting to get a taste of High Limit Racing, and what it took to have a team at this level. We did some figuring, and put a really good deal together to have him come on board as our title sponsor, and we are excited for this new partnership.
Tessier, a racer himself, got his start in dirt track racing at the young age of 12 and eventually went the two-wheel route and raced motorcycles until he was urged to take his racing efforts back to four wheels.
Returning to micro and midget racing, Tessier was a regular at Smith Titanium and in his dealings with Thorson at the shop the relationship began to grow and blossom.
While Tessier simply admits to loving dirt racing and it truly being a passion project, his wife, Shantel, a USA Today and Wall Street Bestselling Author, decided to take their passion for dirt track racing and her success as an author and use the platform to cross promote her line of work.
Building cars, I was at Smith TI a lot, and with Tanner having his cars there and working, we built a really solid relationship, Tessier said. With this being my passion, I strive to have a High Limit team myself and this is a great way to get my feet wet on that level and truly see what it takes.
We had the idea of using a few of our micros to display book cover art, and the response was incredible, Tessier added. We are looking forward to using that same concept on a national stage and seeing everything comes together. We are all very excited to partner with Tanner and RGM and are eager to see how their season goes.
INDIANAPOLIS VensureHR, a leading provider of HR services and technology for small and mid-sized businesses, has signed a multi-year agreement with A.J. Foyt Racing as a sponsor of the No. 14 Chevrolet piloted by Santino Ferrucci in the NTT IndyCar Series.
VensureHR is kicking off the partnership with an enhanced presence on the Indy car in the season opener next weekend in St. Petersburg, Fla. In addition to being positioned on the wheel ramps all season long, the global HR technology company will be featured atop the sidepods of the famed No. 14 as a major associate marketing partner for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
For the Indianapolis 500, VensureHR will be a major associate marketing partner on the No. 4 Chevrolet driven by David Malukas, the 23-year-old driver who joined A.J. Foyt Racing this season.
Just like A.J. Foyts legacy is cemented in the world of auto racing, so too is VensureHR among Professional Employer Organizations (PEOs), said Alex Campos, CEO of Vensure Employer Solutions. When the green flag waves, we look forward to showcasing our HR and technology services to race fans across the world.
Founded in 2004, VensureHR is part of Vensure Employer Solutions, the largest privately held organization in the HR technology and service sector.
We signed with VensureHR as a client to utilize their services which will help our organization become more efficient administratively and thus more competitive in some key areas of business, which Im really excited about, said Larry Foyt, president of A.J. Foyt Racing. Integrating VensureHR into our racing program strengthens our relationship overall and showcases their brand to a variety of other businesses that may wish to engage their PEO services like we have.
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. Winning begets winning and over the past four seasons Chris Dyson knew plenty of that, taking three consecutive Trans Am championships in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
But losing narrowly, as Dyson did last season to Paul Menard, is a tremendous motivator. Dyson, whose 26 Trans Am wins make him the series winningest active driver, brings renewed focus to the season, which begins this weekend at Sebring (Fla.) Intl Raceway.
Watch Trans Am from Sebring LIVE on SPEED SPORT 1.
Looking back at last year, when we unloaded the trailer at every race, we had a potential winning car, Dyson said as the CD racing crew was putting the finishing touches on his No. 16 Gym Weed Ford Mustang. Unlike the three previous seasons, last year we just had a lot of bad racing luck. Its the nature of the sport that sometimes youre smiled on by fortune and other times not.
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But the team has done everything it can to be sure that we have the best opportunity to win races and fight once again for a title.
Dyson said he was encouraged by the results of a preseason test at Sebring last month.
Last year, particularly in the first half of the season, we were still working out minor bugs in our new Riley chassis, Dyson commented. We were really strong the second half of the year, but there were still areas that we felt the car could be improved and we worked on refining those over the winter.
The results at the Sebring test give me confidence that we have an even stronger car to start the season with this weekend than we had at the final race last season at Circuit of the Americas.
Dyson won the 2021 and 2022 Sebring Trans Am races, the latter from the pole (and perhaps even more impressively in 2021 from last on the grid). But his 2024 seasons string of misfortunes began at the season opener, when Dyson was collected in a racing incident at the first corner after the green flag.
We also had a disappointing result at Sebring in 2023, Dyson noted. But we clawed our way back and by mid-season at Lime Rock we were on track for our third championship. Last year we had enough continuing bad luck that we just couldnt establish the momentum we needed. But the most important thing is that we were fast everywhere we went.
If you have the speed, usually results follow. And I think thats why Im confident that this weekend will be a strong one for us.
Dyson Named to Inaugural Class of Trans Am Hall of Fame
Fifty-nine years after the running of the first Trans Am race at Sebring Intl Raceway in March, 1966, the series has established a Hall of Fame to recognize and honor the most outstanding of the several hundred drivers, team owners and other participants who have competed in Americas longest-running road-racing series over the past six decades.
Dyson, a three-time series champion who currently stands fourth all-time amongst race winners, is one of 18 individuals who have been selected as members of the Trans Am Hall of Fames inaugural class.
To say I am honored to be recognized as a member of such an esteemed group is an understatement, Dyson said. I am so grateful for my family and my team members who encouraged me along the way and put me in a position to succeed. My results are a living reflection of everyone who mentored me and made sure I had the opportunities to fulfill my dreams. Its been so satisfying racing here in this incredible series and its one of the great chapters of a long and thrilling career.
This is really humbling; its hard to put adequately into words.
The Vancouver Canucks and goaltender Kevin Lankinen agreed to a five-year, $22.5 million contract extension on Friday.
Lankinen, 29, has stepped up in place of the injured Thatcher Demko, posting a 19-8-7 record with four shutouts, a 2.53 goals-against average and .905 save percentage over 34 games this season.
That's quite the return on investment for Lankinen, who signed a one-year, $875,000 contract in September.
"Kevin has done a great job for us in net this season," Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said. "Right from the start of the year, he has shown a strong desire to compete and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win hockey games. A good leader and teammate, we wouldn't be in the position we are in right now without his strong play."
Undrafted to begin his career, Lankinen has a 64-51-19 record with seven shutouts, a 2.94 GAA and .905 save percentage in 146 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators and Canucks.
Lankinen represented his native Finland at the recent 4 Nations Face-Off.
The surprising smash hit 4 Nations Face-Off finished with a bang on Thursday night when Canada defeated the United States 3-2 in overtime to claim the international tournament's championship. In the process, the final became the most-bet hockey event in legal betting history.
On Friday morning, BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel reported that the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game was their most-bet hockey event of all time by total tickets, with DraftKings adding that it also attained the highest handle of any hockey event ever. Caesars and ESPN BET said the game fell just short of their records -- held by the 2024 Stanley Cup Final Game 7 between Edmonton and Florida -- but put up amazing numbers for a mid-February hockey contest.
"Handle for the 4 Nations Final surpassed last year's World Series games and was on par with Sunday afternoon NFL games, which is remarkable when comparing the general scale of hockey and football betting," ESPN BET director of North American sports trading Adrian Horton said via email.
Saturday's first matchup between USA and Canada had previously been the most-bet hockey game of the season, but Thursday night's finale attracted about double the amount of money at ESPN BET and 2 times the number of bets at BetMGM.
Bettors largely wagered along country lines in the championship, with ESPN BET reporting 79% of bets and 77% of handle on USA's money line, while the sportsbook's Canadian counterpart, theScore BET (also owned by Penn Entertainment), saw 84% of tickets and 87% of money backing Canada's money line; the game went off as a consensus pick 'em at -110 for each side.
BetMGM saw slightly fewer bets and less handle backing the Americans, but it was still a majority that, combined with the high volume, made Canada's victory a "good outcome for the sportsbook," per the sportsbook's trading manager Halvor Egeland.
As a whole, the 4 Nations Face-Off was a massive success for the sports betting industry. ESPN BET said that its four most-bet hockey games of the season were the United States' four games, with BetMGM adding that five of its top seven highest-bet hockey events of the season came from the tournament.
"The NHL absolutely nailed it with the 4 Nations Face-Off," DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello told ESPN over text message. "Bettors saw how seriously the players took it and reacted accordingly. Every game of this tournament yielded significant action."
While bookmakers are expecting an initial rush of bets when the NHL returns on Saturday, the league could see its usual lull once college basketball heats up heading into March Madness. That said, the recent big stage for high-stakes hockey could create a bigger boom as teams compete for the Stanley Cup.
"I really think it'll ramp right back up again once we get to the playoffs, especially if we can get some fun matchups," Karry Shreeve, Caesars Sportsbook's head of hockey, told ESPN. "I think the playoffs can really ride off of this momentum more than maybe the rest of the regular season as a whole."
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Blue Jackets captain Boone Jenner appears ready to make his season debut four months since having surgery to repair a shoulder injury.
President of hockey operations and general manager Don Waddell said Friday that Jenner and fellow forward Kirill Marchenko had been activated off injured reserve. Marchenko is back after having surgery on his broken jaw earlier this month.
Jenner's return to the lineup comes just in time for him to play in the Stadium Series outdoor game against Detroit on March 1 at Ohio State's stadium. The 31-year-old was injured during a training camp practice Oct. 4, and when he had surgery a few days later, Waddell was hopeful Jenner would be back playing games before the end of the NHL regular season.
The injury news is not all good, though, as the Blue Jackets will be without forwards Kevin Labanc and Owen Sillinger for the rest of the season. The team said Labanc had shoulder surgery on Tuesday, while Sillinger is out with a knee injury.
Despite the rash of injuries and expectations of being near the bottom of the standings, Columbus is firmly in contention, one point out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with 26 games left to play.
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