Joe Green Sports

Player of the Week There are multiple contenders for the Player of Round 4, mainly from the English and Irish camps after both enjoyed convincing victories. We finally saw the half-back combination of Connor Murray and Johnny Sexton spring back alive after a dormant few weeks, and Manu Tuilagi’s first try at Twickenham in 6 years was quickly followed by his second try at Twickenham in six years, while Joe Cokanasiga ran the show with just one hand on his first 6 Nations start. However, George Kruis, whose tireless work usually goes unnoticed despite his 6ft 5in frame,   was crucial in extending England’s 100% record over Italy to a 25 th game. The Saracens lock used his height to maximum effect as his two charge downs directly led to two tries, one for himself and one for the grateful Brad Shields. Kruis also excelled in the more familiar territory of the breakdown, and his 16 tackles will have done his World Cup chances no harm as he fights for selection against Maro ...

Ajax Run Riot as Tadic Silences Bernabeu The Champions League is infamous for producing upsets on the largest scale, as complacent favourites come unstuck against underestimated underdogs time and time again. This year’s competition has been no exception; most notably Liverpool’s shock loss to Red Star Belgrade in the group stage, and Inter Milan’s failure to beat PSV that saw them eliminated altogether. However, arguably the biggest shock of the tournament happened on Tuesday in Madrid, when Ajax not only defeated but dominated 13-time champions Real Madrid as Dusan Tadic ran the show, scoring one and assisting a further two as the Real defence failed to cope with the Serbian playmaker in the absence of talismanic captain Sergio Ramos. Ramos himself was left red-faced as he watched on from the stands, after admitting that he intentionally got himself suspended for the 2 nd leg against Ajax in order to avoid being banned for a more important game later in the competition, of...