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Zion filing vs. ex-agent alleges early recruitment

Published in Basketball

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 16:49

Attorneys for New Orleans Pelicans rookie Zion Williamson filed additional amendments to a lawsuit that is attempting to enforce the termination of a signed agreement with a Florida marketing company.

The amendments, filed in U.S. District Court in North Carolina by Williamson's New York-based lawyer, Jeffrey Klein, on Wednesday, include further details of alleged violations of North Carolina state sports-agent laws by the Florida company, Prime Sports Marketing, and its president, Gina Ford. Prime Sports filed a suit in Florida court in June, shortly after Williamson's filing, that seeks $100 million in damages from Williamson and his current representation, Creative Arts Agency, for "breach of contract."

The amended complaint on Williamson's behalf toward Prime Sports include an allegation that Ford and Prime Sports began recruiting Williamson as early as January 2019, when he was still engaged with his freshman basketball season at Duke. Prime Sports and Ford were not certified by the National Basketball Players Association or registered in the state of North Carolina, which is at the crux of Williamson's case to enforce termination of his agreement with Prime Sports.

Many states, including North Carolina and Florida, require by law that agents are registered to recruit or sign prospective professional athletes.

After breaking with Prime Sports, Williamson signed with CAA for his contractual and marketing representation.

The amended suit also includes claims of fraudulent inducement and violations of the North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Williamson's attorneys are also seeking attorneys fees.

According to the suit filed in federal court in North Carolina on June 18, Williamson signed a marketing deal with Ford and Prime Sports on April 20, five days after he had declared his intention to enter the NBA draft.

That agreement included a clause that it could not be terminated for five years. Williamson's family told Ford and Prime Sports on May 31 that it was ending the agreement. The agency responded by saying that if Williamson terminated the deal, it would sue for damages in excess of $100 million. Williamson had since signed with CAA Sports.

According to the original suit, the agreement was unlawful under North Carolina's Uniform Athlete Agents Act because Prime Sports is not certified by the NBPA or a registered athlete agent in North Carolina or Florida. Additionally, the agreement failed to contain a conspicuous notice in boldface type in capital letters informing the athlete that by signing the agreement he was losing his eligibility to compete as a student-athlete, as required under the UAAA.

Klein, Williamson's attorney, told ESPN in a statement at the time of the June 18 filing: "Prime Sports Marketing's actions towards Mr. Williamson blatantly violated the North Carolina statute specifically designed to protect student athletes. Mr. Williamson properly exercised his rights under the law to void his business dealings with Prime Sports Marketing. Prime Sports Marketing's continued threats against Mr. Williamson made necessary the filing of this lawsuit."

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Mets' Stroman exits with tightness in hamstring

Published in Baseball

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 18:59

New York Mets starter Marcus Stroman left his Wednesday start against the visiting Cleveland Indians after four innings with left hamstring tightness.

Stroman had given up one run with a walk and a strikeout before exiting. He was replaced to start the fifth by Jeurys Familia.

Stroman, who was acquired from the Blue Jays at the trade deadline, came into Wednesday night's game 3-0 with a 5.17 ERA in three starts for the surging Mets.

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O's allow 258th HR of season, tying MLB record

Published in Baseball

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 18:00

The Baltimore Orioles are Major League Baseball's new home run kings. Kind of.

On Wednesday night at Camden Yards, the Orioles surrendered their 258th homer of the season, tying the 2016 Cincinnati Reds for most round-trippers allowed by a team in a single campaign.

The record-tying homer came in the top of the third inning of Baltimore's game against the Kansas City Royals, when Whit Merrifield sent a 1-1 fastball from Aaron Brooks over the left-center-field wall. The solo homer cut the Orioles' lead to 3-1.

Though Tuesday night's games, the Orioles were on pace to yield 330 home runs. With power numbers up across MLB, Baltimore isn't the only team yielding long balls at a record rate. Entering Wednesday's action, the Mariners, Angels, Yankees and Phillies were all on pace to give up more dingers than the 2016 Reds.

Nearly a quarter of Baltimore's historic 2019 total has come against the division-rival Yankees. In 19 games against New York, Birds hurlers surrendered 61 home runs, shattering the mark for most homers allowed to one team in a single season.

This season, 3.7% of all MLB plate appearances have resulted in homers, up from 3.0% in 2018. Compared to 2014, when the leaguewide rate was 2.3%, home runs have increased by roughly 60%. If the current rate holds through the rest of 2019, it would break the single-season record of 3.3%, set during the 2017 campaign.

The rebuilding Orioles began play Wednesday in last place in the American League East, owners of a 40-86 record that was second-worst in the majors. Their team ERA of 5.94 was the highest in baseball by almost half a run.

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GB drawn against Slovakia in Fed Cup qualifier

Published in Tennis

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 06:47

Great Britain will face Slovakia away from home in a qualifying tie for next year's new Fed Cup Finals.

Anne Keothavong's team will play the five-match tie, for a place in the 12-team Finals, on 7-8 February.

This year's finalists Australia and France, hosts Hungary and wildcards the Czech Republic have already qualified for April's Finals in Budapest.

The new format means Great Britain, for the first time since 1993, will begin a year with a chance to win the trophy.

Previously, only the eight teams in the competition's top tier could lift the trophy. Under the new system, 20 teams start the year with the chance to win.

Britain had been in the third tier of the Fed Cup for 26 years until they secured promotion to the World Group by beating Kazakhstan in London in April.

Their trip to Slovakia was one of eight qualifying ties drawn on Wednesday.

Konta likely to be highest-ranked player in tie

British number one Johanna Konta, who is ranked 16th in the world, is likely to be the highest-ranked player in next February's tie.

However, she is the only Briton in the world's top 100, whereas Slovakia have three - Viktoria Kuzmova (54), Dominika Cibulkova (68) and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (96).

Slovakia were Fed Cup champions in 2002 and have competed at World Group level every year since 2006.

If Britain lose the tie they will compete in a play-off round in the same week as the Finals. Victory there would give them another chance to reach the finals in 2021, while defeat would send them back to the Europe/Africa Zone.

The Finals will be played on clay at Laszlo Papp Budapest Sports Arena from 14-19 April.

There is an $18m (£14.2m) prize fund. Of that, $12m (£9.5m) will go to the players, and the other $6m (£4.75m) to their national associations.

Each team will share $500,000 for reaching the Finals, with the winning team dividing $3.2m (£2.5m) between the players.

The Fed Cup, which was founded in 1963, is the largest annual international team competition in women's sport.

The Davis Cup - the men's equivalent team competition - has already undergone significant reform and in November 18 teams will compete for the title in the inaugural finals in Madrid.

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Speedy sixteen: Harimoto’s time for redemption?

Published in Table Tennis

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 07:34

by Kabir Nagpal

Adaptability is very much a key to success; when only 13 years old, Tomakazu Harimoto underlined that fact. The following is an excerpt from a member at Butterfly’s Research and Development speaking about the Japanese prodigy:

“Tomokazu is only 13 years old but he is very strong. His father, Yu, selects the equipment for him and Tomokazu uses it to good effect. I have the impression that he can adjust not only his techniques but also equipment thanks to Yu.”- Ma Jia

Champion from the start

Since his days at National Championships, completing a clean sweep of the titles in the age groups from under eight years to under 13 years; if there were any doubts, his exploits in Cape Town in 2016 resolved all. Having become the youngest ever World Junior champion, Harimoto had now had every eye on him, with expectations of a nation completely in love with the sport.

This was only a preview of what was to come, as he rose through 2016 into an even bigger year in 2017. He was crowned the youngest ever (again!) singles champion on the ITTF World Tour when he won in the Czech Republic.

Just like every good thriller story, the tale of Tomokazu Harimoto reached a summit. He won big on home soil, the 2018 Japan Open and then shortly again when became the youngest athlete ever to win the men’s singles trophy at the 2018 World Tour Grand Finals in Incheon, making his fans absolutely ecstatic.

Victim of his own success

Now at this juncture, not only had the world spotted the next big thing for Japan, they also wanted to know what kept him going. Every match video of his was the subject of a million views and his opponents quickly – and critically – analysed him, levelling the playing field. Now, while this is standard procedure given the competitive sport of table tennis, it meant that the upcoming teenager from Japan would hit a roadblock.

During the last three years, Harimoto had gone through consistent changes with his equipment involving both the rubbers and the blades. While his techniques and power increased dramatically from 2016 to 2019, not many people know the fact that he had fine-tuned his equipment along with his growth.

His father and coach, Yu Harimoto had always picked his equipment. He spoke about how his son had to consistently adjust with the choices he made:

“Tenergy 05 was fast for me when I tried it but Tomokazu was still small at that time, so I deemed he would not be able to make full use its performance due to a lack of power. Stability is more important than power in equipment. Weight is also one of the points to be taken into account. So I selected Tenergy 64 for his forehand and Tenergy 64 FX 1.9 for his backhand, considering in particular stability and weight. I wanted to make his racket lighter by choosing softer sponge.”- Yu Harimoto

The most important thing while selecting equipment has to be balance and stability.

At the 2019 Japan Open, defending Champion Harimoto faced Chinese Sun Wen in round one of the men’s singles draw; this was a match Harimoto was anticipated to progress from, but the no.4 seed suffered defeat by a crushing 4-0 score-line (11-8, 11-5, 11-7, 11-8).

The defeat hurt the Japanese more because it came after three competitions of “what-ifs” where he had reached the final in Hong Kong, the semi-finals in China and the quarter-finals in Doha. It felt like his opponents had figured him out, as he could not crack his way through to the latter stages of World Tour events in 2019. In Australia – again – he was eliminated in the Round of 32 by Wang Chuqin, the same Chinese athlete who defeated him weeks ago in Korea at the quarter-final stage.

Time for redemption?

The weight of expectation has been a double blow for Harimoto. As a young Asian table tennis athlete, the danger remains that too much is expected of him. Because of his previous successes, having no ITTF World Tour titles in 2019 was something highly unexpected – meaning his world ranking fell from third to fifth.

It is at such a point when one might want to remember that the legendary Ma Long played in four World Championships before he won one – now the Dragon has three. Perhaps the virtue of patience truly imbibed into Tomokazu Harimoto last week, when he proved to be the one player in Bulgaria who could match the speed of China’s Zhao Zihao:

Up until the final, no one had managed to deal with the 22-year-old’s electric speed play. Harimoto showed that he had simply too much in his experience at the top level and matched Zhao shot for shot.

“I feel very strong mentally and, even though I lost a couple of games during the final, I managed to fight and never gave up. I kept going and ended up winning. I’m not going to take things easy now. I’ll keep pushing on to reach new heights.” – Tomokazu Harimoto

This win was the first time Harimoto had spoken of his plans for the future with such confidence. It was admirable to see how much mental growth the 16-year-old had gone through to come out of a rough patch with such a powerful performance.

From the time of his rubber changes, to the variety his style had to take after being extensively analysed, it is safe to say that his strength is his high quality to adapt to the challenges he faces. Technically speaking, Harimoto uses the skill keeping the ball travelling long when needed and the delicate backspin push to keep the ball short against speedy players like Zhao Zihao.

Opportunity knocks in Olomouc

The manner of his victory in Panagyurishte is the measure of the man he is quickly becoming. It displayed patience and grit, something unseen in a lot of 16-year-olds.

Tomokazu Harimoto had changed the backhand rubber in his equipment to TENERGY 05 FX back in September 2015 and soon changed the thickness from 1.9 to 2.1 mm. These changes have taken time for him to adjust to, but now give him superior speed as well as a greater variety of strokes. We only recently saw what he can do when he’s fully adjusted to the situation at hand.

Now the question remains, can the Japanese prodigy maintain his form with another immaculate showing at the 2019 ITTF World Tour Czech Open?

With such targets for the future, we remain deeply interested where the Japanese will head to next. Follow his journey on the World Tour right here with ITTF and watch his matches on itTV!

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Amanda Sobhy and Nour El Tayeb set to renew rivalry in San Francisco

Published in Squash

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 10:11

Amanda Sobhy is seeded to renew her rivalry with Nour El Tayeb

Quarter-final crunch on the cards
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent

The draws for September’s Oracle NetSuite Open, PSA World Tour Gold tournament have been released today, with United States No.1 Amanda Sobhy and World Championship runner-up Nour El Tayeb predicted to reignite their burgeoning rivalry at San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza.

Held on the glass Squash Engine Court in the shadow of San Francisco’s iconic Ferry Building, the Oracle NetSuite Open will be staged between September 24-30, and 2015 champion Sobhy will be the highest ranked US player in action throughout the week.

The 26-year-old from Boston is fresh off the back of a triple gold medal winning campaign at the Pan American Games in Lima and receives a bye in round one, meaning she opens up her tournament against either Egypt’s Mariam Metwally or Milou van der Heijden of the Netherlands in the second round.

A win there could see her face World No.5 Nour El Tayeb in the quarter-finals in what would be their first meeting of the 2019-20 campaign. They played out a trio of enthralling five-game battles last season – with Sobhy winning two of them – and they are seeded to square off in an enthralling last eight encounter.

The winner of that match is seeded to play World Champion Nour El Sherbini – who makes her Oracle NetSuite Open debut – in the semi-finals, while World No.1 Raneem El Welily is predicted to play defending champion Sarah-Jane Perry in the quarter-finals on the opposite side of the draw.

Meanwhile, wildcard Haley Mendez of the USA takes on Belgium’s Nele Gilis in round one, with the victor set to play El Sherbini.

Men’s top seed Mohamed ElShorbagy

In the men’s draw, 2017 winner Mohamed ElShorbagy is seeded to play Germany’s Simon Rösner in the semi-finals, with World Championship runner-up Tarek Momen and World No.9 Miguel Angel Rodriguez seeded to play in the semi-final fixture on the bottom side of the draw.

Men’s United States No.1 Todd Harrity begins his tournament against Egyptian up-and-comer Mostafa Asal and will look to keep up the form that saw him win two gold medals in Lima.

Stamford, CT-based World No.121 Faraz Khan is the men’s wildcard and he will play Mexico’s Cesar Salazar in round one, with a last 16 berth against Momen up for grabs for the winner.

This year’s Oracle NetSuite Open boasts record prize money, with $242,000 split equally between the men’s and women’s events, while a best-of-three games scoring format will be used up to and including the semi-finals. The final will revert to the traditional best of five scoring used elsewhere on the PSA Tour.

All round one and two matches will be split between the Bay Club San Francisco, SquashZone, the Olympic Club and The University Club. All matches from the quarter-finals onwards will be held on the Squash Engine Court at Embarcadero Plaza.

Tickets start from $25 and are available through the tournament’s official website. Stay up-to-date with news from the Oracle NetSuite Open by following the tournament on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Fixtures from the Squash Engine Court at the Embarcadero Plaza will be broadcast live on SQUASHTV (rest of world), Eurosport Player (Europe only) and the official Facebook page of the PSA World Tour.

2019 Oracle NetSuite Open, San Francisco, USA.
Men’s Draw:
[1] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) [bye]
Ramit Tandon (IND) v [9/16] Mathieu Castagnet (FRA)
[9/16] Cameron Pilley (AUS) v Campbell Grayson (NZL)
[8] Ryan Cuskelly (AUS) [bye]
[5] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) [bye]
Karim Ali Fathi (EGY) v [9/16] Tom Richards (ENG)
[9/16] Raphael Kandra (GER) v Iker Pajares Bernabeu (ESP)
[3] Simon Rösner (GER) [bye]
[4] Miguel Rodriguez (COL) [bye]
Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) v [9/16] Arturo Salazar (MEX)
[9/16] George Parker (ENG) v Alan Clyne (SCO)
[7] Declan James (ENG) [bye]
[6] Joel Makin (WAL) [bye]
Todd Harrity (USA) v [9/16] Mostafa Asal (EGY)
[9/16] Cesar Salazar (MEX) v [WC] Faraz Khan (USA)
[2] Tarek Momen (EGY) [bye]

Women’s Draw:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) [bye]
Lisa Aitken (SCO) v [9/16] Olivia Blatchford Clyne (USA)
[9/16] Emily Whitlock (ENG) v Danielle Letourneau (CAN)
[6] Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG) [bye]
[5] Joelle King (NZL) [bye]
Tinne Gilis (BEL) v [9/16] Millie Tomlinson (ENG)
[9/16] Joshna Chinappa (IND) v Olivia Fiechter (USA)
[3] Camille Serme (FRA) [bye]
[4] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) [bye]
Hollie Naughton (CAN) v [9/16] Rachael Grinham (AUS)
[9/16] Mariam Metwally (EGY) v Milou van der Heijden (NED)
[7] Amanda Sobhy (USA) [bye]
[8] Tesni Evans (WAL) [bye]
Coline Aumard (FRA) v [9/16] Salma Hany (EGY)
[9/16] Nele Gilis (BEL) v [WC] Haley Mendez (USA)
[2] Nour El Sherbini (EGY) [bye]

Article by SEAN REUTHE (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Pictures courtesy of PSA

Posted on August 21, 2019

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Stringing: Malgorzata Cerlich adds another string to her bow

Published in Squash

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 10:28

Malgorzata Cerlich in action with her stringing machine

Polish stringer turns her stencils into works of art
By ROSANNA RADLINSKA-TYMA – Squash Mad Correspondent

There are not many female stringers in squash, and we are delighted to discover a relative newcomer to the ranks in the shape of Małgorzata Cerlich from Poland. Squash Mad’s Rosanna Radlinska-Tyma ramps up the tension, fires some questions for Malgorzata and ties up the loose ends.

SM: Hi Małgorzata.
MC: Hi Rosanna.

SM: How long have you been stringing?
MC: I’ve been stringing rackets since 2017.

SM: Which club are you based at?
MC: At the best one, Squashfit in Katowice ?

SM: Was it a natural transition to stringing or were you always interested?
MC: Not everyone who plays squash takes up a stringing services… ? From the very beginning of my squash adventure (as a receptionist of Squash4You in Cracow) I have been interested in squash equipment. My, then, boss (Maciej Maciantowicz) has been organising all sort of workshops and I have been asking coaches what it is all about. I had not started stringing then as it appeared “cosmically complicated” to me!

SM: Why stringing? What is so fascinating about it?
MC: Stringing requires some great deal of focusing (it’s easy to make mistakes), but despite that, it makes me feel relaxed. It was also a challenge for me because I didn’t know any woman stringer.

SM: Have you taken any course? Do you have a mentor and what is his/her name?
MC: My first stringing guru was Michal Szostek, who knew exactly how to string the rackets for squash players and each of them was happy with his work! It’s easy to guess that only he was stringing my first racket!

My first knowledge, though, I gained from Darek Kwosek and Maciek Stolecki in the Squashfit club. Darek showed me how to do it, Maciek advised me on many occasions, also disclosed a few solutions and after 18 months we challenged each other who was the first to string the racket! I need to boast a bit that it was me who was faster by a few seconds ? Marcin Kozik is also a good stringer and I also ask him for a piece of advice if needed. I haven’t taken any courses. I simply learned from others.

SM: Do you know that you can gain an official stringing qualification called Master Professional Stringer?
MC: Yes, I do and I know it from you Rosanna!

SM: If you could go to such a course, would you do it?
MC: Yes, of course !!!

SM: If there is a problem with stringing, do you solve it yourself or do you seek help and support?
MC: First of all I try to solve myself because if I do it myself, then I won’t forget it, ha ha! If that doesn’t work, I look up in the internet (usually “uncle Google”), then I ask Maciek Stolecki or Marcin Kozik ?

SM: Do you have your little stringing secrets and do you share them with others?
MC: I don’t have any secrets, but I share with others my little tricks which I learned from different sources. One of my friends bought a stringing machine and I taught him what I knew. I am happy that I could influence his development! I am also supported by the “old” specialists after all ?

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SM: You have produced some beautiful designs of your own. Where did you take the idea of different stencils on the rackets you string from?
MC: I started with my own racket when I found a marker in the club! I wanted to have an original and unique racket where I could put a symbol which means a lot to me. Then, there were different stencils and finally the players started asking where these beauties come from and who does them. I was adding different stencils as bonuses after restringing for regular clients. Then somebody advised to create a fan page on Facebook ?

SM: What is the model of the stringing machine you use?
MC: GAMMA 5800 ELS

SM: Have you used others?
MC: No, I haven’t.

SM: Do you have favourite rackets and strings?
MC: My favourite strings are Ashaway Ultranick 17 and favourite rackets are HEAD rackets.

SM: Which racket, in your opinion, is the most complex/difficult to string and why?
MC: All fan stringing pattern rackets eg. Dunlop Blackstorm Titanium – more focus is required ? but generally, the worst rackets to string are TENNIS rackets! I really dislike stringing them. Their strings are very stiff and they hurt my fingers (having female fingers is not a bonus in this case).

SM: Which strings are the best in your view and why?
MC: I have two favourite and well-tested strings: Ashaway and Tecnifibre.

SM: Do you have devoted clients who can’t live without your stringing service?
MC: There are a few … ?

SM: The biggest dream related to stringing?
MC: To develop the best stringing service in Silesia and, thanks to you, to obtain a Master Professional Stringer qualification.

SM: The biggest dream related to squash?
MC: Once, I would have said ‘to meet Ramy Ashour’, hahah! But really, right now, to run my own squash club! Who knows, perhaps soon I’ll be on my way to the latter… ? Stay tuned!

SM: Thank you Malgorzata and all the best with your future plans.

Pictures courtesy of Malgorzata Cerlich

Posted on August 21, 2019

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Scotland need to 'lay down marker' against France

Published in Rugby

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 11:19

Scotland need to "lay down a marker" for the Rugby World Cup in their rematch with France on Saturday, says Rory Lawson.

Gregor Townsend's side were humbled 32-3 in Nice last week in their opening warm-up match.

Ahead of the return at Murrayfield, former national team scrum-half Lawson says Scotland need to reassert themselves.

"The focus has to now shift to win at Murrayfield," he told BBC Scotland.

"Lay down a marker on Saturday to say 'this is what Scotland are going to be about heading in to the World Cup'."

Townsend has made 14 changes to his starting side for the match, with only Stuart Hogg retaining his place.

The defeat in France was the latest inflicted on Scotland away from home, their last victory on the road coming against Argentina in 2018. In their past three away games Scotland have conceded a total of 86 points.

"The travel sickness thing is something that needs to be addressed by Gregor, his coaches and the players," Lawson said.

"The players have to take accountability for that. Why is it that at Murrayfield the players can get themselves to the level they need to be at, yet away from home they've shown that they drop off?"

As well as France on Saturday, Scotland play Georgia home and away before opening their Rugby World Cup campaign against Ireland on 22 September.

Townsend's team will also face Samoa, Russia and hosts Japan in their pool, and Lawson, who represented Scotland at two World Cups, believes there is still plenty of time for Scotland to hit the ground running in Japan.

"No need for panic buttons just yet. The World Cup preparation games are very unique. You go through a pre-season at an intensity that you've not experienced at your club, then you go into games," he added.

"The key is not for Scotland to peak now, the key is to peak in round one of the Rugby World Cup in almost exactly a month's time, and that is where Scotland will be truly measured."

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Tuilagi 'feeling good' ahead of Rugby World Cup

Published in Rugby

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 08:34

England's Manu Tuilagi believes his run of injuries is behind him as he zeros in on next month's Rugby World Cup and Saturday's warm-up against Ireland.

The 28-year-old went without an international start for more than four-and-a-half years but has played in all seven of England's Tests in 2019.

"I'm feeling good. Having injuries, you get to know your body and what it needs," he told BBC Sport.

Tuilagi is considering losing weight to suit the game he expects at Japan 2019.

"Condition-wise I am the same as in the autumn and the Six Nations which is 111-112kg," he added.

"But maybe as we get closer to Japan I will probably want to be a bit lighter. The games are going to be quick and fast out there.

"When you are lighter you are using less energy and you can repeatedly do the things that you want for the whole game."

A series of chest, knee and hip problems checked Tuilagi's progress since he made his debut as a 20-year-old, directly before the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

He made only two replacement appearances for England between June 2014 and the start of 2019.

However he scored six tries in 17 appearances for Leicester this season as well as starting all five of England's Six Nations fixtures.

"As you get older you know exactly what you need; what you have worked on with the Tigers medics and here with England," he added.

"We have a tight relationship and you have to be honest with them and they will be honest with you."

Tuilagi played at 12, inside Exeter's Henry Slade, for all but one of England's Six Nations matches, but says he is adaptable enough to play in either midfield role.

"There is not that much difference really," he said.

"It is good to know both so if, for whatever reason, something happened we are ready."

Along with Tuilagi and Slade, Jonathan Joseph and Piers Francis are the other specialist centres in Eddie Jones' 31-man Rugby World Cup squad.

Fly-half Owen Farrell could also be deployed in midfield, with wing Jack Nowell, who played outside centre in the autumn win over Japan, a possible, if unlikely, option.

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Te'o's England career over with move to France

Published in Rugby

Wednesday, 21 August 2019 12:00

Ben Te'o's England career is over after he signed a short-term deal with French Top 14 side Toulon.

The centre, who has 18 caps, was left out of Eddie Jones' World Cup squad last week, but will now be ineligible for a call-up if there was an injury.

The Rugby Football Union has reiterated its selection policy with regards to foreign-based players.

It is understood he was involved in an off-field altercation during England's summer training camp in Italy.

Te'o, 32, has signed a contract with the French side until November to provide cover for World Cup absentees.

He left Premiership side Worcester at the end of last season after just 33 games for the Sixways outfit over three years following his arrival from Leinster.

The Rugby World Cup starts next month in Japan.

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