D Thursday, January 14, 2010 SPORT 21 SNOOKER: World champion John Higgins was woeful in losing 6-3 to Mark Allen at the Masters yesterday. The Scot, 34, is the provisional world No.1 but failed to overcome Allen despite numerous mistakes from the Northern Irishman. Allen, 23, now faces Mark Selby and admitted: It wasnt very good. I missed too many balls. It was an unusual John Higgins out there. Everyone has off-days, its just unexpected. RUGBY: Martin Johnson has defended his decision to pick ex- New Zealand rugby league international Shontayne Hape for Englands Six Nations campaign. The 28-year- old qualified to play for England on residency grounds this month and the Bath centre has been chosen ahead of Shane Geraghty. England boss Johnson said: Ive played with guys who are born overseas throughout my career. You could never doubt Mike Catts commitment to the England cause. OLYMPICS: A bid is being made by Barcelona to become the first city to hold the summer and winter Games after announcing plans to stage the 2022 winter Olympics. The event would coincide with the 30th anniversary of Barcelonas 1992 summer Games. Mayor Jordi Hereu, who revealed plans to stage events in the Pyrenees to the north as well as in the city, said: Barcelona is ready and has the experience. sportdigest Poor show: Higgins FORMULA ONE: Ferrari chief Stefano Domenicali admits Michael Schumachers return to the sport will give the Scuderia added motivation this year. The German, who won five world titles with Ferrari, has come out of retirement to drive for Mercedes, while his old team will partner Fernando Alonso with Felipe Massa . Michaels return is inner motivation to our team, Domenicali said. We have to show Michael this is a strong team. We want to win. Young talent: Sean OBrien DArcy: Success is all academic Gordon dArcy has credited the provincial system in Irish rugby for developing the players that have driven the sport to new heights in this country. In an interview with Hot Press magazine, dArcy praised the work of the academies in bringing through the next generation of Irish superstars like Leinster team-mates Jamie Heaslip, Sean oBrien and Luke Fitzgerald. Ahead of this Saturdays Heineken cup game against Brive, centre dArcy said: Irish rugby has done really well because the provinces academies are developing players successfully. Every year we have another crop of players coming through. If youre not in the Irish team, but youre a regular for your province, the standard youre playing at isnt that far below international. [Sean oBrien] got a few chances with Leinster and he was playing very, very well. Then he got to play against Fiji and then South Africa, but because he had that experience with Leinster at the Heineken cup level, he was able to make that jump up and that makes the adjustment a lot easier. If you look at the Leinster- Munster match in croke Park last year, that might as well have been an international. dArcy also joked about the differences between rugby and soccer players, in particular the round ball codes propensity for overacting when it comes to injury. Some of the tackles I take and the lads take are really rough but we bounce up straight away, he said. you look at some of the stuff footballers do, rolling around in agony and 20 seconds later theyre up. If you see a rugby player rolling round in agony, hell generally leave on a stretcher. The full, in-depth interview with Gordon DArcy can be found in the new issue of Hot Press. RUGBY Jackman issues word of warning Bernard Jackman has warned any Leinster fans expecting a repeat of Octobers convincing Heineken cup victory over Brive that the French side will be a much different proposition when they visit the rdS this weekend, writes Gareth Makim. a midseason coaching change has inspired Brive to wins over Perpignan and Toulouse and seen them charge up the French Top 14 table. and hooker Jackman said: against Perpignan and Toulouse they seemed real eager to get involved in scraps, to physically bring it to you. [riki] Flutey wasnt playing us the last time, [Viliame] Waqaseduadua on the wing is dangerous and [Jamie] noon is a good player. They definitely have the potential and with so many foreigners in the squad means they will probably play rather than come over here and sulk. Ulster extend four ULSTEr have confirmed new contracts for four senior members of their squad ahead of this weekends Heineken cup clash with Edinburgh in Belfast. no.8 chris Henry, who has captained the side in the absence of injured hooker rory Best, has penned a new three-year deal, while forwards nigel Brady and Willie Faloon and centre Ian Whitten have all signed on for another two years at ravenhill. Fitz fires back over managers under fire WATErFord boss davy Fit- zgerald says he has come to hate the huge pressure that in- ter-county managers are now subjected to. The former clare star looked on over winter as Mike Mcna- mara was ousted as boss of his native county while Justin Mc- carthy may yet suffer the same fate in neighbouring Limerick. Just 12 months ago the cork strike forced Gerald Mccarthy to step down while Fitzgerald himself only got the Waterford job in 2008 because the players hounded Justin Mccarthy out. Fitzgerald said it has come to the stage where only Brian cody, manager of four-in-a-row win- ning Mccarthy cup champions Kilkenny, is able to actually en- joy his job. Trust me, any management youre in now, unless youre Bri- an cody, youre on a loser full stop, said Fitzgerald at the launch of mobile phone compa- nys 3s new two-year sponsor- ship deal with Waterford GAA. There are a lot of different as- pects to management now but the number one target straight away is always the manager, thats the way it has gone and I just hate it. With regard to clare, Fitzger- ald begged everyone to work to- gether now to make new boss Ger oLoughlins rein a success- ful one. And he suggested Limerick should try mediation to break the impasse between Mccarthy and his players, many of whom are refusing to play for him. Its important to have dialogue and to thrash things out, he add- ed. There are always two points of view and I think that we have to find a happy medium and stop the nonsense. Deise dames: Models Sarah Kavanagh, left, and Nadia Forde at the launch of 3s sponsorship of Waterford Picture: Sportsfile anTHOny daLy plans to build his dublin hurling team around allStar nominee Stephen Hiney whom he has retained as captain for 2010. Hiney excelled last season as dublin broke through to reach the Leinster final and the all-Ireland quarter-final. Stephens a good, solid fella and we need to build around him, said daly. Hes a natural leader. Having been captain of clare myself for a good few years, its easier when everybody assumes responsibility for themselves. meanwhile, conal keaney has reportedly been offered the captaincy of the dublin footballers in an effort to stop him returning to hurling. By Paul Keane GAA BOXING rIcky HaTTOn admits his determination to finish at the top convinced him to return to the ring following his two- round destruction by manny Pacquiao last year. The Hitman confirmed yesterday he will have at least one more bout before calling it a day. The 31-year-old has not boxed since the Pacquiao loss in Las Vegas last may but insists he will fight a top-ten ranked pound-for-pound fighter or a world champion of some sort this summer. The two-weight world champion said: Ive decided to make a comeback and have another fight this year probably round about the summer. Possible opponents for the bout, which is likely to be staged in england, include Juan manuel marquez and amir khan but Hatton himself suggested a rematch with colombian IBF light-welterweight champion Juan Urango whom he beat in 2007 is a consideration. Hatton added: Im going to have one more fight, maybe two more fights it all depends on the performance of the first fight. Its very nice to hear people say you dont need to fight again, ricky youve proved yourself and I suppose they are right, but as a fighter you dont want your last fight to be like that. I want to finish at the top. Hatton announces ring return Hatton: Wants big finish index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html