Former All Black and Crusader first five Tom Taylor has been sacked by his French club Pau (poor).
Tom Taylor Photo: Photosport
The club said they released the 31 year old for leaving France without authorisation during the covid-19 crisis.
"On March 17, 2020, the club noted that Mr. Tom Taylor had left the national territory without any prior authorization from his employer even though all players were asked to remain at the disposal of the club and to respect government measures in as part of the fight against Covid-19," reads Pau's statement.
"This personal decision, contrary to all the instructions which had been given by the club since March 13, was not justified.
The French Top 14 season has since been cancelled.
Taylor played 3 tests for New Zealand in 2013 and moved to France in 2015.
Titans break drought
A 78th minute try to Phillip Sami secured a thrilling 28-23 win for the Titans over Wests Tigers, the first win for the NRL club in a remarkable 364 days.
Justin Holbrook Titans coach Photo: PHOTOSPORT
The Titans last tasted victory at Suncorp Stadium on June 9 last year when they defeated the Brisbane Broncos.
It ended a 14-game losing streak.
A 76th-minute field goal by Benji Marshall appeared to have secured the win for the Tigers but the Titans regained possession from a short kick-off.
Meanwhile Newcastle upset Canberra 34-18 at Campbelltown.
Unbeaten Parramatta top the table from the Knights and Panthers, with the final round four game tonight between the Bulldogs and the Dragons.
The Warriors, who are 13th with one win, play North Queensland next weekend.
-NRL
McGregor retires again
Conor McGregor says he has retired from fighting - for the third time in four years.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Ireland's former two-weight UFC champion, 31, has a record of 22 wins and four defeats.
In his last fight, in January 2020, he beat American fan favourite Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in just 40 seconds in Las Vegas.
He has previously announced his retirement in 2016 and 2019 before twice returning to the octagon.
McGregor also tried boxing, losing to former five-weight world champion Floyd Mayweather in August 2017.
"Hey guys I've decided to retire from fighting," he said on Twitter
He later told ESPN
he was "bored of the game".
McGregor added: "The game just does not excite me, and that's that. All this waiting around. There's nothing happening.
Meanwhile UFC featherweight champion Amanda Nunes dominated Felicia Spencer and scored a comprehensive decision victory in retaining her crown, becoming the first two-weight UFC champ to successfully defend both belts.
The Canadian challenger went the distance at the UFC 250 event in Las Vegas, but she was completely outclassed, as Nunes won every one of the five rounds on the judges' scorecards.
-BBC
RFU wants distancing laws changed
England's Rugby Union is seeking clarity on whether the physical distancing rule can be reduced from two metres to one so they can admit 40,000 fans into Twickenham Stadium for the November internationals, chief executive Bill Sweeney said.
Elite sport in England was given the green light to return this month but without spectators in attendance amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the RFU believes fans will be allowed to attend matches by November.
England are scheduled to host the All Blacks, Argentina, Tonga and Australia in November at Twickenham Stadium, which has a capacity of 82,000.
Sweeney said the RFU stands to lose around $6 million per game under the two-metre guidelines but will not increase capacity unless they receive government approval.
-Reuters
NRL clarifies temperature testing
A minimum of three players would need to fail the National Rugby League's pre-match Covid-19 temperature screening tests before officials make a decision on whether to cancel a game.
The NRL became the first professional team sport in Australia to resume competition last week and introduced strict health monitoring, which includes temperature checks for players before games.
Six players from the Cronulla Sharks failed their initial temperature check before their match against North Queensland in Townsville on Saturday, but all were cleared to play following a second check 15 minutes later.
Three other players failed initial checks ahead of Thursday's game between the Sydney Roosters and Brisbane Broncos.
Any player registering a temperature above 37.2 Celsius is deemed to have failed the test.
A faulty device was believed to have caused so many failures on Saturday.
-Reuters
Bahraini runner suspended
World 400 metres champion Salwa Eid Naser has been provisionally suspended for registering four "whereabouts failures".
The Bahrain athlete, who won gold at the World Championships in Doha last year, pleaded her innocence despite being suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit over the weekend for failing to make herself available for anti-doping tests.
In an Instagram video, Naser had said she had "only missed three drug tests" and that the missed tests came before the September event in Doha.
According to World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, any combination of three whereabouts failures -- filing failures or missed tests -- within a 12-month period by an athlete constitutes an anti-doping violation.
Athletes guilty of whereabouts failures could face two-year bans or a minimum of one year depending on the degree of fault.
-Reuters
Teenager wins squash League
Teenager Temwa Chileshe has won the Premier Squash League beating training partner and fellow pro, Joel Arscott in five games in the final in Auckland.
Ranked 337 in the world the 19-year-old showed mental strength to hold on for the victory over Arscott who is just under a year his senior and is 102 places better on the PSA ranking.
The first game was won by Arscott 11-7, while Chileshe struggled but won the second 11-9. It was only the third where Chileshe looked out of the match on the scoreboard as Arscott scored an 11-2 win. Into the fourth Chileshe cut his errors and worked his way back in to the match as Arscott appeared to feel the pressure.
Chileshe won the fourth 11-5 and then raced out to a 6-0 lead in the fifth with solid play. It was only at match point at 10-2 that Arscott was able to collect three points to start putting some real pressure on his opponent.
However Chileshe then took the match on a disputed call 11-5 in 53 minutes overall.
Prior to lockdown Chileshe had won his first PSA Satellite title with success at the Eden Epsom Open as he and Arscott looked to push their professional claims. However with no tournaments containing world ranking points around the world they are now resigned to only playing local tournaments such as the Northland Open next weekend in Whangarei.
"We're really hoping for the Australian Open 10k tournament in late August to be on and to have a PSA tournament to play in. We've got to try and keep track and try and keep playing, just like a normal squash pro really."