Paul Wins Reprieve
Illawarra Mercury
Thursday April 24, 2003
* SUPER 12 - BRUMBIES
RECALLED ACT Brumbies hooker Jeremy Paul will be given an early Bledisloe Cup-style workout against the Highlanders in their vital Super 12 match tomorrow night in Dunedin.
Wallaby Paul was yesterday reinstated into the ACT starting line-up where he will resume his rivalry with Highlanders hooker Anton Oliver, the All Blacks captain until rupturing his Achilles tendon playing against Queensland last May.
Paul's barnstorming performance in the second half against NSW last Friday in Canberra was enough to warrant a recall to the starting side at the expense of Digby Beaumont.
* SUPER 12 - REDS
Slack wants Tuqiri
QUEENSLAND coach Andrew Slack will personally put out the Ballymore welcome mat if NSW Waratahs star Lote Tuqiri opts to swap Super 12 camps next season.
Slack has remained composed despite a rugged initiation to coaching with the Reds second-bottom on the Super 12 table, plus the knowledge he could lose a host of star players next season.
Toutai Kefu is heading to Japan at the end of the Super 12 competition while Chris Latham will reportedly swap his Queensland jumper for the red of Irish club Munster.
The big Fijian flyer has an ``out" clause written into his NSW contract, meaning he can leave at the end of his first season.
* AFL - DEMONS
Yze cleared to play
MELBOURNE midfielder Adem Yze was last night cleared of rough play at the AFL Tribunal.
Yze was cleared of engaging in rough play against Geelong's Will Slade at Skilled Stadium last Saturday.
The verdict means Yze can play against Sydney at the SCG tomorrow night, his 138th game in succession.
After the hearing Yze said he felt he had cleared his name and believed the report was a slur on his character.
* AFL - BOMBERS
Player payment probe
THE AFL announced last night it was launching an official investigation into possible breaches of the total player payments by Essendon.
The probe is understood to involve the deals the club signed with stars Matthew Lloyd and James Hird in 2001 to buy out their personal Internet site rights.
The deals were not included in the Bombers' total player payments. The AFL said it would not comment further until investigations manager Ken Wood had completed his findings.
* TENNIS
Dokic return shocks
REPORTS that tennis exile Jelena Dokic wants to embrace Australia again have sent ripples through the Fed Cup team preparing to face Spain this week.
But Australian captain Evonne Cawley said rumours the World No 11 wanted to represent Australia in next year's Olympic Games would not disrupt the side.
Cawley said yesterday the players were ``fit and raring to go" in the World Group Round 1 match in Tarragona.
Neither Cawley nor team members would comment on reports that Yugoslav-born Dokic, who has been confused about her nationality since turning her back on Australia, wanted to return.
``Once they work out the rumours and speculation we may have more to say about that," Cawley said.
© 2003 Illawarra Mercury
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