the times | Tuesday October 20 2020 2GM 61
Sport
final, have to forfeit their place in the
Twickenham final.
Premiership Rugby (PRL) decided
when the season resumed in August
that if any team could not participate in
the final because of a coronavirus out-
break, the next-highest ranked team
would take their place. PRL has refused
to countenance moving the final.
Bristol and Exeter, who both won
European trophies over the weekend,
will also be tested today. After a week-
end of celebration thinking there was
Bristol forced to delay Hawaiian bash
only a “1 per cent chance” of this hap-
pening, the Bears had to postpone their
end-of-season barbecue yesterday. The
club’s international players who were
due to link up with England and Wales,
such as Kyle Sinckler, Ben Earl and Cal-
lum Sheedy, have also been kept back in
case they are needed to play in the final.
Pat Lam, Bristol’s director of rugby,
said his team would rather not be in this
position but would be ready if called
upon. “We absolutely believe that
Wasps and Exeter should be contesting
this final. They thoroughly deserve it,”
Lam said. “We signed off the season,then we were going to have a big barbe-
cue and team social, then go off on holi-
day. We have a players’ room all decked
out in Hawaiian gear. It got to midday
and we were told that there wouldn’t be
a decision [until tomorrow], so we had
to stop everything. At lunchtime there
was a stop on drinking alcohol.”
PRL’s decision to contemplate stag-
ing a final with Bristol as a replacement
team has been widely condemned. Lam
conceded that the prospect of winning
the title having lost a semi-final was not
ideal and meant that the season would
have an “asterisk on it and rightly so”.understands that two turned out to be
negative. The final decision on how
many more positive tests would force
them to forfeit would rest with PHE.
Premiership Rugby has had prob-
lems with the accuracy of the tests
being conducted by Randox since the
season resumed. Sale Sharks suggested
their outbreak, which eventually forced
the club to forfeit their last league game
and denied them a shot at qualifying for
the semi-finals, began with a false nega-
tive. The RFU is also using Randox to
test the England players and is happy
with the system.Lam and his coaches held a selection
meeting last night for a game they may
not play. The squad will be in today to
talk through a game plan. If required,
they will train tomorrow and have a
“fast session” on Thursday before
travelling to London on Friday.
Wasps cancelled their traditional
pre-final media day, which was due to
be held today, although sources indi-
cate the club are still confident of being
given the green light to play in the final.
Although they were informed of four
positives from the round of testing that
was conducted on Saturday, The Timescontinued from back
Cycling
John WesterbyChris Froome will tomorrow begin his
final race for Ineos Grenadiers with the
aim of supporting Richard Carapaz at
La Vuelta rather than expecting to push
for the win himself.
Froome, 35, who has been with Ineos
(previously Team Sky) for 11 years, will
move teams next year. He is competing
in his first grand tour for more than two
years and, after an uncertain comeback
from a horrendous crash last year, the
British rider remains uncertain of his
condition for an 18-day race.
“We’ve got a great team here to
support Richard as much as possible.
I’m going to take it one day at a time and
hopefully finish on a high note,”
Froome said. “It’s quite hard to say
where I am at the moment given that I
haven’t done many stage races recently.
I’m going to take these first few days to
see where I am in the bunch.”
Froome is to join Israel Start-Up
Nation next year, bringing an end to his
hugely successful spell working for Sir
Dave Brailsford’s team during which he
has won seven grand tours. But the seri-
ous injuries he suffered in a crash in
June last year forced him to miss the
2019 Tour, a race won by Egan Bernal,
now established as Ineos’s team leader.
Froome was left out of Ineos’s line-up
for the Tour this year and was not
offered a new contract by Brailsford,
forcing him to look for a new employer.
He will join the ambitious Israeli team
with an expectation of being a protect-Froome hoping to bow out of
Ineos on a high at La Vuelta
ed rider in grand tours. But Froome’s
immediate aim is to improve on the
form he showed earlier this year. Since
making a steady comeback at the UAE
Tour in February, prior to the cycling
calendar going on lockdown, he strug-
gled at the Critérium du Dauphiné in
August and, more recently, did not
finish the Liège–Bastogne–Liège one-
day race on October 4.
“The signs in training have got better
and better, and I am feeling more like
myself again,” Froome said. “After the
first few stages I will be able to have a
more clear plan for the rest of the race.A big part of this process is just getting
back up to speed, and getting used to
that race rhythm.”
In a race trimmed to 18 stages
because of coronavirus restrictions —
three stages had initially been sched-
uled to take place in the Netherlands —
Froome will now bow out of Brailsford’s
team on the roads of northern Spain.
Today’s first stage, covering 107 miles,
runs from Irun, near San Sebastián, to
Arrate.
“It’s a bag of mixed emotions,”
Froome said. “I’m looking forward to
racing, and looking for finishing my
time at Ineos on a high, hopefully.”Froome won the
Tour de France four
times at Team SkyO 2 levels playing field with
its new England shirt deal
Rugby union A renewed deal with the
RFU’s shirt sponsors will mean the
men’s and women’s games are given
equal funding for the first time (John
Westerby writes).
A five-year deal with O 2 is
understood to be worth about
£7.5 million a year, a welcome boost
for the RFU when the governing body
has forecasted a reduction in revenue
of £138 million and losses of
£60 million because of the impact of
the pandemic. Bill Sweeney, the RFU
chief executive, had indicated that the
women’s elite game could be one of
the principal areas affected by the
losses, which prompted it to ask for a
government bailout.
“O 2 ’s commitment to equally
support both our elite teams is
commendable,” Sweeney said. “It’s
great to collaborate with a partner
that truly shares our same passion to
see the women’s game flourish and
continue to grow for future
generations to enjoy.”
O 2 picks Red Roses once again, page 37Judge to face questions
over phone allegations
Boxing A boxing judge will appear
before British Boxing Board of Control
stewards after allegations that he was
looking at his phone when he should
have been watching a fight between
Lewis Ritson and Miguel Vázquez.
Ritson won by a controversial split
decision in Peterborough, with one
judge giving it to Ritson 115-113, one to
Vázquez 116-113 and Terry O’Connor
scoring it a generous 117-11 in favour
of the Newcastle fighter.
Although Eddie Hearn is Ritson’s
promoter, he still called O’Connor’s
card “a disgrace”. He was most
incensed, however, about a video clip
that was said to show O’Connor
looking at his phone at ringside.
Closer examination appeared to
show it was actually a scorecard, but
Hearn was unrepentant. He wrote on
Twitter: “As I said IF it’s a phone he
should be removed and if not he
should be accountable for the
scorecard. The BBBofC have called a
hearing and we will see, it’s over to
them.”