Hull 20 Huddersfield 34: Danny Brough sends England reminder

Danny Brough gave England coach Steve McNamara another nudge with a superb display just days before the national squad to face the Exiles is revealed as Huddersfield won 34-20 at Hull.

The Giants scrum-half kicked brilliantly, scored the decisive try and dictated play as his side kept up with Warrington at the top of the engage Super League.

Huddersfield boss Nathan Brown said: 'On form, Danny should be in the England team. He's earned his chance because he's playing consistently well.'

David Hodgson's  hat-trick ensured the Giants led for most of the afternoon. Even when the hosts did threaten an upset, having clawed their way back to within two points late on, Jordan Turner fumbled Sam Obst's pass and Brough went over for the match-winning try.

Tries from Michael Lawrence and Hodgson had sandwiched Ewan Dowes' first-half effort for Hull.

Hodgson got his second soon after the interval. Then Mark O'Meley and Willie Manu crossed for the hosts, before Hodgson's third, Brough's interception and Lee Gilmour's try completed the scoring.

Stand-off Ben Jeffries scored three of Bradford's five tries in their 28-14 win over Salford.

Catalan Dragons returned to winning ways with a 42-22 win at Wakefield.

Castleford revived their play-off challenge by ending a four-match run of defeats with a 56-24 win over Harlequins.

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England beaten by Barbarians

The Barbarians conjured a superb last-minute try to condemn a youthful England side to defeat in a non-cap international at Twickenham.

Tries from Henry Trinder, Ugo Monye and James Simpson-Daniel helped the hosts into a 24-7 lead after 26 minutes.

But the Baa-Baas hit back with four unanswered tries to lead 31-24 before England responded with a penalty from Charlie Hodgson and a Tom Johnson try.

But Baa-Baas wing Tim Visser finished off a flowing move to win it late on.

It was a second try for the Edinburgh-based Dutchman, as the invitational side out-scored England six-to-four on the try count.

The hosts also had to contend with worrying-looking injuries to Harlequins duo Ugo Monye and Joe Marler.

Monye, a contender for the final wing spot in England's World Cup squad, limped off with damaged knee ligments while 20-year-old prop Marler was carried off on a stretcher with mild concussion. Matt Banahan also suffered a soft tissue injury.

Of the players hoping to boost their prospects of getting on the plane to New Zealand, captain Luke Narraway probably advanced his cause the most, while Banahan confirmed his versatility with a powerful display and fly-half Charlie Hodgson showed touches of class.

Hodgson's array of passing was in evidence from the off as he created the opening try inside three minutes.

Twice sending Banahan - playing at inside centre - on short bursts up the middle, the Saracens-bound number 10 then checked his pass superbly to put Narraway in space, who in turn sent Trinder over.

If the young Gloucester centre, one of five players making their senior debuts, enjoyed his start to life at international level, he was swiftly exposed to its harsher realities.

Paul Sackey, England's top try-scorer at the last World Cup, left him clutching at thin air as hared round him in the lead-up to the Barbarians' first try.

Prop Marler, another debutant, drifted to the right in the defensive line and Frederic Michalak seized the opportunity, delaying his short pass perfectly to fellow Frenchman Benoit Baby, who danced through the gap and sprinted to the line.

Michalak's conversion levelled matters at 7-7 before England reasserted themselves.

The giant Banahan ploughed straight through Michalak and Exeter flanker Johnson - another debutant - just failed to ground a bouncing ball in the left corner.

A strong drive from Marler, bouncing off Springboks flanker Joe van Niekerk, earned England a penalty that Hodgson - to the sound of mild booing from the crowd - kicked to nudge the hosts 10-7 ahead.

Their second try arrived in the 19th minute as Banahan sucked in the Baa-Baas midfield on a dummy run, Hodgson released Simpson-Daniel and he and Mike Brown put Monye into space.

The Harlequins wing chipped inside and when Nicolas Jeanjean failed to secure the ball, Monye stooped over the full-back and dabbed the ball down, Hodgson adding a second conversion for a 17-7 lead.

Simpson-Daniel then profited from Narraway's good work in collecting a Michalak kick and leaving his opposite number Sergio Parisse for dead with a dummy before feeding his Gloucester team-mate.

Simpson-Daniel, who made his reputation when he embarrassed the great Jonah Lomu in the same fixture nine years ago, stepped inside Ruan Pienaar to finish in dazzling style.

That proved to be the high-point of England's afternoon, as the Barbarians got on top in the scrum and started to dominate at the breakdown.

The hosts lost Bath-bound flanker Carl Fearns to the sin-bin for killing the ball at a ruck six minutes before half-time and the Barbarians should have immediately capitalised.

With a man advantage at the scrum, they worked a perfect opening only for Van Niekerk to waste the scoring chance with a forward pass to Sackey, released by Toulon and sporting the pink socks of Stade Francais, a sign perhaps of where he will be playing next season.

But after a break-out from Brown, Paul Hodgson's pass was intercepted by Michalak, who raced away to score, the maverick Frenchman adding the conversion for good measure.

That brought the Barbarians to within 10 points at the interval, and they halved that deficit nine minutes into the second period.

For all the positives from Simpson-Daniel in attack, the watching Martin Johnson would not have been too impressed with the way the wing allowed his opposite number Visser to collect Michalak's cross-kick, step past him and race away up the left touchline to score.

Michalak missed the conversion to leave it at 24-19, and did so again when the Baa-Baas drew level in the 57th minute, replacement Joe Tekori showing soft hands to put George Smith over in the right corner.

But the momentum was with the invitational side, and Van Niekerk swiftly plundered a fifth try from close range, Michalak converting for a 31-24 lead.

England took stock while Marler, after a lengthy spell of on-pitch treatment, was carried off.

Hodgson kicked a penalty - to more boos - to reduce the deficit to four points, and reinforced with several replacements, they regained the lead with eight minutes left, Johnson capping his debut with a dummy before accelerating over.

But the Barbarians, who introduced rugby league convert Willie Mason for his union debut for the last 15 minutes, had the last word with a try befitting their tradition.

Fijian Tekori outstripped the England midfield before releasing the charging Van Niekerk.

The powerful South African was stopped just short, but still conjured an off-load off the floor for Visser to finish, Pienaar converting with the last kick of the match.

England: Brown (Harlequins), Simpson-Daniel (Gloucester), Trinder (Gloucester), Banahan (Bath), U Monye (Harlequins), Hodgson (Sale), Hodgson (London Irish); Marler (Harlequins), Paice (London Irish), Doran-Jones (Gloucester), Kitchener (Worcester), Attwood (Gloucester), Johnson (Exeter), Fearns (Sale), Narraway (Gloucester, capt)

Replacements: Brookes (Newcastle, for Doran-Jones, 58, Doran-Jones for Marler, 62), Gaskell (Sale, for Fearns, 52), Gibson (London Irish, for Kitchener, 58), Young (Newcastle, for P Hodgson, 58), Myler (Northampton, for Brown, 66), Turner-Hall (Harlequins, for Monye 43). Not used: Gray (Harlequins)

Sin Bin: Fearns (35).

Barbarians: Jeanjean (Brive); Sackey (Toulon), Baby (Clermont Auvergne), Bastareaud (Stade Francais), Visser (Edinburgh); Michalak (Toulouse), Pienaar (Ulster); Perugini (Aironi), Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso), Kubriashvili (Toulon), Lund (Biarritz), Geldenhuys (Aironi), Van Niekerk (Toulon), Smith (Toulon), Parisse (Stade Francais, capt).

Replacements: Bruno (Toulon, for Ghiraldini, 50), Hayman (Toulon, for Kubriashvili, 50), Tekori (Castres, for Geldenhuys, 55), Williams (Cardiff Blues, for Smith, 65), Mason (Toulon, for Sackey, 65), Rabini (La Rochelle, for Baby, 50). Not used: Tillous-Borde (Castres).

Referee: Christophe Berdos (France)

Attendance: 38,680

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England Squash set to continue record onslaught at European Team Championships

Barker, who reached last month's Canary Wharf Classic final, will play third string in a strong five-man squad comprising world No 1 Nick Matthew and James Willstrop, England's top two respectively, Daryl Selby and Jonathan Kemp.

England, under new national coach Chris Robertson, will also start overwhelming favourites as they attempt to win their 19th successive European team title.

And Barker, 27, will aim to prove a point to his compatriots in Espoo as the left-hander launches his blueprint to climb the rankings and reach more world tour finals.

"My career has always been pretty steady progress," said the current world No 7. "But I think next year I will have to make some changes to break the mold."

That will include making a bid to win his first national title next year where Barker says he will be one of four players vying for the title after Selby's surprise win over Matthew in February.

"I definitely want to get my ranking higher. But I am encouraged especially after where I was this time last year where my squash got on top of me.

"But I have now beaten all the top players above me and I have got a little bit of time on my side.

"I have tried to be more comfortable around the front of the court and playing at pace against the top players.

"There's definitely been an improvement this year getting to semis and finals and I need to go that one step further."

In the women's event, England, led by Jenny Duncalf, will aim to reverse a surprise defeat by Holland last year, having previously gone unbeaten for 32 years in the tournament.

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Jose Mourinho insists FA did offer England job to him first

By Sportsmail Reporter
Last updated at 8:51 AM on 29th March 2011

Jose Mourinho has countered claims from the Football Association that he was not approached for the England manager's job in 2007, insisting he was offered the position ahead of Fabio Capello.

In an interview with French sports daily L'Equipe, Mourinho revealed he was desperately close to accepting an offer from the FA before Capello was appointed in the wake of Steve McClaren's dismissal.

The Italian responded angrily to the Real Madrid coach's claim that he was 'hours' from taking his post, declaring it disrespectful to 'other managers' to discuss their jobs.

Plenty to ponder: Mourinho revealed he came close to accepting the England manager's job in 2007

The FA were distinctly unimpressed too, with officials stressing privately that, while they did speak to Mourinho, Capello was always their first choice.

In an official statement,an FA spokesman said: 'Fabio was our first choice for England manager,' a spokesman said. 'We have made that clear from the outset.'

But the Portuguese former Chelsea boss hit back, with his representative countering the FA's claims.

'The statement from the FA is not true,' Mourinho's spokesperson told the Daily Star.

'He was offered the job before Capello. There was a meeting between the FA and Jose and his agent Jorge Mendes in London. There was a lot of talk between the FA and Mendes.

'Jose made a dossier for the FA about what changes England needed to make and he came up with a project for the World Cup. When the offer was made, Jose was in Portugal.'

Italian's job: Capello was disappointed with Mourinho's comments about the England job

Capello, however, was left distinctly unimpressed at being told of Mourinho's admission, insisting: 'I don't speak about the relationship with the other clubs, out of respect for other managers.

'I don't like to speak about my relationship with the clubs, with other people. These are my personal secrets. I'll never tell you about what really happened in my career. I think it's serious.'

The FA tried to recruit the Italian as successor to Sven Goran Eriksson but were blocked by Juventus - in particular Juve deputy director general Roberto Bettega - and only then turned to Luiz Felipe Scolari and McClaren.

They explored the possibility of recruiting Mourinho but always suspected he would choose to remain in club management and they were proved right. At no point, they insist, was he ever the preferred option to the Italian.

When Capello was informed of Mourinho's interview, he insisted at first that he did not care.

In training: Capello puts the England squad through their paces ahead of the Ghana clash

'This is a question for the chairman who chose me, not a question for me,' he said. 'Every time a club or a different national team decides to choose a manager, they decide to speak with a lot of managers. It's normal. It's not different.'

Capello's mood soon changed, however, and would not have been helped by reports in Italy last night linking his trusted assistant, Franco Baldini, with a move back to Roma.

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Andrew Strauss warms up for England Test return

Andrew Strauss made his best score of the season against Glamorgan atLord's to lay the foundations for a return to the Test arena againstBangladesh next month.

Launching the Middlesex reply after Glamorgan had set them a 374-runtarget, the England skipper followed his first innings of 44 with anexhibition of mature strokeplay, stitched between long periods ofwatchful defence.

Strauss matched Dawid Malan shot for shot to score 69. But he wasnot pleased with his dismissal by former Middlesex man Jamie Dalrympleafter facing 132 balls in three hours because he played an ill-advisedslog sweep to a full-length ball.

Malan finished the day unbeaten on 94 as Middlesex reached 187 for four, still needing 188 to win.

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England and Duham bowler Graham Onions suffers further injury setback

England seamer Graham Onions has suffered a further setback in his recovery from a troublesome back injury. Onions, who was forced to return early from England's recent tour of Bangladesh, pulled up again while bowling in the nets at Durham's Riverside ground earlier this week.

The 27 year-old again complained of soreness in his back and was sent for a precautionary scan by England's medical staff.

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"The scans showed no serious injury and Graham will be re-assessed by England's medical team next week," said an England and Wales Cricket Board spokesman.

Onions's batting twice helped England avoid defeat in South Africa during the winter when his dogged tail end batting enabled them to escape with draws with nine wickets down at Centurion and Cape Town.

But he was dropped for the fourth Test in Johannesburg when England opted to play Ryan Sidebottom and has been left out of the squad for the forthcoming World Twenty20 in the Caribbean.

No date has yet been set for a possible playing comeback by Onions but he has a month to prove his fitness as the first Test of the summer against Bangladesh at Lord's does not start until May 27.

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Disgraced England prop Matt Stevens turns gamekeeper as RFU wage war on drugs

Banned England prop Matt Stevenscould be used as anambassador to deterplayers from takingrecreational drugs.

Stevens, who returns from a two yearban for using cocaine nextJanuary, is likely to help promote anew scheme to rid recreationaldrugs from rugby union.

Funded by the Rugby FootballUnion and Guinness Premiership,the

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