Sports Digest

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Cueto cited and now faces prospect of lengthy ban

RUGBY: England winger Mark Cueto faces the prospect of a lengthy ban after he was yesterday cited by the Rugby Football Union for “making contact with the eye or eye area” of Northampton’s Christian Day during Sale’s Aviva Premiership match on April 2nd.

The 31-year-old will appear before an RFU Disciplinary Panel on April 11th to answer a charge that carries a minimum ban of 12 weeks.

While that would severely hinder his preparations ahead of the World Cup, the RFU also have scope to ban Cueto for more than 24 weeks if found guilty of a top-end offence.

The World Cup begins in New Zealand on September 9th, meaning a long-term ban could potentially rule him out of the tournament.

Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley missed the previous World Cup in 2007 after he was banned for 26 weeks after being found guilty of a similar offence.

Cueto was cited by the independent citing officer Matt Bayliss and will appear before a RFU Disciplinary Panel that will be chaired by Antony Davies.

Williams set for return to boxing ring

RUGBY: Sonny Bill Williams will return to the boxing ring in June for his fourth professional fight and will soon name an opponent with the skills to punch his lights out, the All Blacks centre said yesterday.

The pay-per-view fight would be held on June 6th in Auckland to coincide with the Canterbury Crusaders’ second bye in the Super rugby season and Williams said he was seeking a step up in class for his next opponent.

“I’m not a world beater at this stage. I will definitely be in the ring with someone who could knock me out,” said Williams, who won his last fight against Australian Scott Lewis in January with an unanimous points decision.

The fight, dubbed the “Clash for Canterbury”, would see rugby league convert Williams donate NZ$100,000 of his purse to helping victims of the Christchurch earthquake which killed at least 166.

BOA shelve court action

OLYMPIC GAMES: The British Olympic Association shelved court action against London 2012 organisers yesterday, a day after the country’s sports minister called their cash dispute an embarrassment.

A BOA spokesman said the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) had been asked to suspend indefinitely a request for it to rule on the division of any surplus from the 2012 Games.

LOCOG chairman Sebastian Coe told the Sportaccord international convention new talks were planned. “It is a distraction but the BOA have suspended their activity with CAS this morning, they will be meeting us at the end of the week with a proposal and our door has always been open,” he said.

The BOA, facing a funding shortfall, want their share of any surplus money to be calculated before the Paralympics are taken into account. “It is an embarrassment and we need to get it sorted out,” Olympics minister Hugh Robertson said on Tuesday.

Wagner takes five wickets in an over

CRICKET: Otago fast bowler Neil Wagner became only the fifth bowler in first-class cricket to take five wickets in an over when he equalled the world record against Wellington yesterday. The South African-born left-armer reduced Wellington from 136 for four to 136 for nine in the final over before lunch.

Wagner joins a select list which includes Bill Copson (Derbyshire v Warwickshire, 1937), William Henderson (Northern Transvaal v Orange Free State 1938), Pat Pocock (Surrey v Sussex, 1972) and Yasir Arafat (Rawalpindi v Faisalabad 2004). Opening batsman Stewart Rhodes was Wagners first victim, caught by Neil Broom in the gully for 77. Justin Austin-Smellie and Jeetan Patel were then bowled to complete the hat-trick and Mal Tugaga followed to make it four wickets in four balls.New Zealand seamer Mark Gillespie successfully defended his first ball but was bowled by the final ball of the over.

Connacht sign Vainikolo 

RUGBY: Connacht have completed the signing of winger Fetu’u Vainikolo from Super 15 franchise The Highlanders. The 26-year-old Tongan-born winger moved to New Zealand when he was 12.

He made his Super Rugby debut for The Highlanders in 2008 against The Reds. Fetu’u scored an impressive 13 tries for the Highlanders between 2008 and 2010 and is known for his explosive ball-carrying and solid defensive ability.