D Tuesday, October 20, 2009 METROSPORT 21 SPORTDigest Big blow: Sheridan is out until the New Year England lose Sheridan for start of Six Nations Rugby: England and Lions prop Andrew Sheridan will miss the start of the 2010 Six Nations after being ruled out for four months with a dislocated shoulder. The loosehead will have a full reconstruction of his left shoulder tomorrow following the injury incurred during a collapsed scrum in Sales Heineken Cup win over Cardiff on Friday night. Its bad news for Andrew, England and Sale, director of rugby Kingsley Jones said. The 29-year-olds absence ensures England will enter a challenging autumn series without two of their first-choice front row after hooker Lee Mears sustained a knee ligament injury on Heineken Cup duty for bath. boss Martin Johnson will now be without at least 11 players for next months Tests with New Zealand, Argentina and Australia. Dusautoir is French skipper RUGBY: Thierry Dusautoir has been handed the France captaincy on a permanent basis to replace veteran Lionel Nallet. The 27-year-old flanker had already stood in for Nallet as skipper while he was injured for Les Bleus winter tour of Australia and New Zealand, leading his side to their first victory over the All Blacks in New Zealand for 15 years. The rise of Dusautoir during the past two years has been fairly consistent, coach Marc Lievremont said. This is a key period. Were going to work step by step towards the World Cup and Thierry has the stature to take the role. Ryder rise is lost on Laird gOLF: Martin Laird, the first Scot to win a uS Tour event in America since Sandy Lyle at the 1988 Masters, is now his countrys highest-ranked player in the world. but a leap from 237 to 108 on the rankings has not taken the 26-year-old any nearer qualifying for the Ryder Cup. Laird would have gone sixth on Europes world points list but is not a European Tour member. However he now has a PgA Tour exemption until 2011 after winning the 505,000 first prize in a play-off at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas. SOCCER (7.45 unless stated) UEFA Champions League Group E Debrecen v Fiorentina ................. Liverpool v Lyon .......................... Group F barcelona v Rubin Kazan ............ Inter Milan v Dynamo Kiev........... Group G Rangers v unirea urziceni........... Vfb Stuttgart v Sevilla.................. Group H AZ v Arsenal ................................ Olympiacos v Standard Liege ..... Coca-Cola Championship blackpool v Sheff utd.................. bristol City v Plymouth................ Cardiff v Coventry........................ Doncaster v Peterborough .......... Ipswich v Watford........................ Leicester v Crystal Palace........... Middlesbrough v Derby........8.00 Nottm Forest v barnsley.............. QPR v Reading.....................8.00 Scunthorpe v Newcastle ............. Sheff Wed v Preston.................... West brom v Swansea ................ League of Ireland Premier Division bohemians v St Patricks ............. bray v Dundalk ............................ Derry City v Sligo......................... Drogheda utd v galway utd ....... Shamrock Rovers v Cork .....8.00 League of Ireland First Division Sporting Fingal v Limerick FC ..... Waterford utd v Mervue utd ....... HORSE RACING Exeter, Lingfield, yarmouth Klitschkos quick defence BOXING: Vitali Klitschko will defend his WBC heavyweight title for the third time this year when he faces unbeaten American Kevin Johnson on December 12 in Switzerland. Ukrainian Klitschko, 38, will face contender Johnson in Berne after successful defences against Juan Carlos Gomez and Chris Arreola. I am in excellent shape and had a perfect preparation and fight in Los Angeles [against Arreola], said Klitschko. I can hardly wait to step into the ring again. Kevin Johnson is very dangerous, he already had 23 fights as a pro and is undefeated. He is technically much better than Arreola. I know I cant underestimate Johnson but I have no doubt I will keep the WBC belt. fixtures OConnor unaware of Kennellys hit planBY PAUL KEANE All-Ireland winning Kerry boss Jack OConnor (left) and former Tipp boss Babs Keating were at Croke Park yesterday as Allianz extended their sponsorship of the National Leagues in football and hurling Picture: Sportsfile JackOcOnnOrhasdistanced himself from Tadhg kennellys startling admission that he pre- planned his all-Ireland final hor- ror hit. kerry manager Oconnor said he was as surprised as anyone at kennellys revelation that he pri- vately planned to lay down a marker on a cork player. Just seconds into kerrys four- point win over cork, kennelly executed his plan, in his own words perfectly, by landing a shuddering shoulder on the chin of midfielder nicholas Murphy. Former aussie rules star ken- nelly somehow escaped unpun- ished on the day itself and also after a disciplinary review. But Gaa president christy cooney confirmed yesterday that a fresh investigation may very well be launched following ken- nellys surprising comments. It appears any suspension would only apply to the player himself, however, and that kerry as a team knew nothing of his plans. Oconnor said kerrys plan go- ing into the final was, ironically, to avoid corks physicality. Oconnor condemned the chal- lenge, which did not actually lay down the marker kennelly intend- ed as cork surged 1-3 to 0-1 in the early stages of the game before being pinned back later on. If you are going to pick a cork man to hit, it isnt going to be ni- cholas Murphy, the biggest and strongest man on the field, said Oconnor. I just think Tadhg was hyped up and tore into the first red jersey he saw. It was his first all-Ireland final so he was obviously hyped up but at the same time you have to play with controlled aggression. If you are out of control its a dangerous situation. I had been under the impression that it was an accidental clash. Its a bit dis- appointing the way its come out. GAA president Christy Cooney maintains Croke Park will easily accommodate the double header of international events scheduled for November 14 and 15. Irelands rugby team are pencilled in to play Australia on Sunday, November 15, while yesterdays draw for the World Cup soccer play-offs means the venue will now be needed the previous evening when Ireland face France. Stadium chiefs will have to work quickly to prepare the pitch for rugby immediately after the soccer international. If we can get a new pitch laid in three days, like we did this year, I think we can manage two different codes in the one weekend, said Cooney. The challenge is putting in the goal posts and relining the pitch for the different codes, but were well capable of managing that type of situation. I dont see any difficulty. Cooney Croker can handle double header Dual star Shane Durkin is lining up a dream double of Dublin club titles with Ballyboden St Endas. The wing-back helped the southsiders to their first county football success since 1995 on Sunday when they overcame St Judes. But, like fellow dual players conal keaney and Simon lambert, he has little time to celebrate as the club hurlers face OTooles in the county semi-final this weekend. From the outset holders Boden were tipped to push hard to retain their hurling crown so he now has a great chance of remarkably winning in both codes. Hopefully we can make it a double, said Durkin. Hopefully we can on to greater things in the hurling now. Thankfully, the hurling and football managers are very accommodating. Myself and the dual lads will be back training with the hurlers this week trying to make it three in a row. Bodens Durkin eyes dual county success gaa formula one Brawn GP chief nick Fry is confident new world champion Jenson Button will be with the team next season. Button, who wrapped up the title with a fifth- place finish in Brazil on Sunday, has yet to sign a new deal for 2010 as it is understood he and the team are at odds over how much he should now earn. In an effort to keep racing after the demise of Honda, and for the sake of his new team, Button took a 5million pay-cut down to 3m. now, with the championship in the bag and the teams own future in the sport secure, it is believed he is looking for a return to his previous salary. after taking the title, the 29-year-old said: I want to be here next year and I want to be with a team that can challenge for victories. I think Brawn can do that. These guys are not one- hit wonders. But I havent talked to the team seriously about next year as we wanted to get this out of the way. I will sit down and discuss it when I have got over my hangover in the morning. Buttons words were welcomed by Fry, who said: He wants to be with us and wed like him to stay with us, so that is a good starting point. From that position then usually compromises can be found. I wouldnt like to say how far apart we are in money terms, but its a bridge that can be crossed. Brawn hopeful for Button deal Salary demands? Button index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html