Sports

Jack van Poortvliet: Leicester Tigers and England scrum-half more ‘hungry’ after lay-off

Published

2 months ago

March 28, 2024

Leicester Tigers' Jack van Poortvliet in action on his return from injury — Jack van Poortvliet has earned 14 England caps

Leicester Tigers and England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet says he has returned from his eight-month injury lay-off more “grateful and hungry”.

He recovered from that injury in four months, but a run of hamstring problems doubled his time on the sidelines.

“It has definitely tested me, this injury,” he told BBC Radio Leicester. “I learned a lot about myself.”

Norwich-born Van Poortvliet, who has come through the Tigers academy and quickly established himself as one of the nation’s brightest talents, came off the bench for Leicester against Gloucester last week to the rapturous applause from many at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

While Tigers suffered a costly late defeat, the return of the playmaker was a highlight.

“I’ve never been out for that long in my career, so to come back on to the field was unbelievable,” he said. “To hear the ovation and crowd get behind you was amazing.”

When Van Poortvliet first went down injured in the pre-World Cup warm-up match he said he only thought “positively”, as he refused to immediately concede his hopes of playing at last year’s tournament in France had been dashed.

That all changed a day later, when England’s physiotherapist outlined the full extent of the injury.

“I definitely won’t forget that moment,” he said. “But I can’t remember what he said after ‘you are out for four months and you won’t be going to the World Cup’. After hearing that I didn’t listen to anything more he said. I just broke down in tears.”

Those emotions remained raw as he left his World Cup-bound team-mates at their Pennyhill Park training base.

“I remember my mum came to pick me up and I went around to see the boys, and Freddie [Steward] and Chez [Ollie Chessum] were at the exit with my mum.

“We all ended up crying, it was horrible.”

‘Toughest moments of career’

Van Poortvliet says he had “mixed feelings” when watching England at the World Cup, but “enjoyed” seeing them go on to finish with a bronze medal.

All the while, he was working on his rehabilitation.

And when it all looked to be on track, and he was 10 days from a potential return after four months out, he was hit by the first of two hamstring problems.

Both were muscle tears, the second of which was worse and took its greatest toll on Van Poortvliet’s morale.

“That was the lowest I’d been in the rehab – getting to a week before your comeback only to be told you will be out for another eight weeks was pretty demoralising,” he said.

“While the World Cup was going on, and my second hamstring injury, were without a doubt the two toughest moments of my career.”

But he insists the time and career milestones that the injury cost him have only made him “more resilient”.

“It has just helped me become a lot more grateful to be back and a lot more hungry, now that I’m working even harder to get back to performing well,” he said.

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Pakistan beat Ireland to level T20 series in Dublin

Published

4 hours ago

May 12, 2024

worlddailyinfo

Pakistan bounced back from Friday’s shock defeat by Ireland by easing to a seven-wicket win in the second T20 at Clontarf on Sunday.

Lorcan Tucker (51) and Harry Tector (32) put on 62 for the third wicket to help Ireland to 193-7 from their 20 overs.

Pakistan were struggling at 13-2 before a partnership of 140 between Fakhar Zaman (78) and Muhammad Rizwan (75 not out) guided the tourists to a comfortable victory.

Fakhar was in top form, hitting six sixes with his 78 coming off just 40 balls.

Ireland secured just a second win over Pakistan with their five-wicket success in the opener.

They batted solidly to set a competitive target with Gareth Delany left unbeaten on 28 from 14 balls.

Shaheen Afridi was the pick of the Pakistan attack as he finished with 3-49.

The early wickets of Saim Ayub and captain Babar Azam gave Ireland hope of upsetting the odds again but Fakhar and Rizwan ensured the series would be decided in Tuesday’s final game.

Rizwan was still at the crease as Pakistan secured victory with 19 balls to spare.

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Novak Djokovic out of Italian open after defeat by Alejandro Tabilo

Published

8 hours ago

May 12, 2024

worlddailyinfo

Tabilo is the first Chilean to beat a world number one since Fernando Gonzalez beat Roger Federer at the ATP Finals in 2007.

He will play Karen Khachanov in the next round after the Russian 16th seed beat Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 6-2 6-4

It means six-time champion Djokovic will fail to reach at least the quarter-finals in Rome for the first time since 2006.

The 36-year-old, who is yet to reach a final in 2024, has played just six matches on clay this year as he prepares for the defence of his French Open title.

The tournament at Roland Garros begins on 26 May.

Elsewhere, Aryna Sabalenka eased through to the last 16 in Rome with a comfortable straight-set win over Dayana Yastremska.

The Belarusian Australian Open champion did not drop a single service game as she beat Ukrainian Yastremska 6-4 6-2 in one hour 28 minutes.

She will play Ukraine’s two-time winner Elina Svitolina or Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya in the next round.

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Como: How a Welshman helped end 21-year Serie A absence

Published

13 hours ago

May 12, 2024

Owain Llyr

It is unknown whether or not Roberts will continue as manager next season.

When he was appointed in December he was also given the position of Como’s head of development, with the intention that he would focus exclusively on that role from the start of the 2024-25 season.

“So the job is done in terms of what I was asked to do for the first few months,” he explained.

“It’s been all hands on deck in terms of this challenge we’ve had over the last few months.

“Now we’ll have time to talk about how we structure in terms of moving forward. The main thing is that the club is in Serie A.

“The city, the community, the fans, as well as the football club are in a good place, and I’m very fortunate and very proud to be in the middle of that.”

Roberts has been assisted by former Arsenal, Barcelona and Chelsea midfielder Cesc Fabregas, who like Henry, is a shareholder at the club.

And even though Fabregas had a brief stint as interim boss last year, the Spaniard had not obtained the necessary Uefa coaching licence at the time.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with Cesc. He’s an intelligent young man who was a top player. But more importantly he’s made a seamless transition into becoming a coach,” said Roberts.

“His ideas have been very good and I’m sure he’s going to be a very successful coach.

“A great personality, and I know there’s more to come from him in the future.”

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