The Super Rugby champions Hurricanes have been rewarded in the All Blacks team named to play Australia in the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup opener on Saturday.Beauden Barrett has rightly been named the starting fly-half. What more could he do? Hes starred in winning a Super Rugby Championship, hes in the best form of his life, and he signed off last year in the Rugby World Cup with a fantastic try -- just one of several quality tries he has scored in his career. Hes just been sublime.Aaron Cruden has been Cruden. Hes safe but theres just that much more x-factor about Barrett. Crudens 25 and he was the incumbent after he started the third Test against Wales, and its tough on him to be named on the bench; but it was going a tougher call not to select Barrett.Thats the cut-throat environment were in, and it comes down to that fine line about who is that little bit better; and form is an important part of that.The choice at flanker was another tough call, especially with Sam Cane having suffered concussion issues, but I trust the judgement of medical staff. They know better than anyone that concussion is a medical issue in the spotlight and the eyes of the nation, and the world will analyse everything that is being done.There were other interesting selections, especially in the midfield now that Sonny Bill Williams is out for the year. They have stuck with Ryan Crotty and Malakai Fekitoa, but you cant say those positions were in any way locked down. It was interesting that Anton Lienert-Brown had been brought in, and Seta Tamanivalu will have been made aware that it is all about keeping performing and staying in that environment.The All Blacks have struggled to be consistent winners in Sydney over the past few years. In fact, it is probably the world venue where it is hardest for them to win now. And thats because Sydney is the home of Australian rugby; whichever ground they use in Sydney, its their Eden Park. Its always a tough place to go, and Australia at home has always been hard.So it will be a good way to kick off what is looking like an exciting Rugby Championship.In some ways, there are other things hanging on the game: It is going to be a test of Australias policy vs. New Zealands regarding the selection of players from overseas.It is tough for players when they are coming back from overseas contracts for periodic Test duty. Its a hard ask. Theyre coming from different environments. When you go overseas and play, you immerse yourself in that teams environment and you get used to what that team needs and what their requirements are.Southern hemisphere rugby is a different style, and to go back to what you were probably raised playing is not easy. And I imagine it is a lot harder for backs than it is for forwards. The game is faster down here and what can be seen as form in the northern hemisphere is one heartbeat or a hairs breadth off the sort of reaction times in New Zealand, Australian or South African sides.In that regard, I think New Zealand has got the policy right; it works for us and it keeps us strong. If we are going to have a global season that is one of the compromises we will have to look at, but it doesnt look like that is going to happen.The scrum is an area that will be interesting in Sydney. The Australian sides looked to have improved in Super Rugby, but I dont think the scrum is as important now as it had been previously; you can still get a penalty when youre getting pushed backwards at scrum time.The scrum has become a liability about who is going to be penalised, and thats a blight on our game. When youre supposed to have a re-start you have no idea what the outcome is going to be. You could be twice as dominant as your opposition but it doesnt always go your way.I hope there are reviews, test cases or people analysing how to improve the scrum, and coming up with different ideas, but it just seems that for the past 15 years we havent got it right.I noted that former England coach Stuart Lancaster was out at Pukekohe for the All Blacks warm-up run against Counties Manukau and Northland last Friday. I think it is great that a coach like him, who went through what he did at the Rugby World Cup last year, is still prepared to learn.Fair play to him. Hes come to the right country to learn, and you never, ever, stop learning when youre coaching. Its like the game; its always evolving and youve just got to try to keep bettering yourself. You ask if the Rugby World Cup in 2015 will make Stuart Lancaster a better coach, and you have to say, absolutely. Cheap NHL Jerseys Authentic . Hargreaves began his career in 2008 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has played with the Edmonton Eskimos and last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Wholesale NHL Jerseys . Booth picked up 65 caps after making her national team debut in 2002 at the age of 17. She most recently played for Sky Blue FC of the National Womens Soccer League. "It just felt like it was my time to move on," she said in a phone interview from her hometown of Burlington, Ont. http://www.cheapnhljerseys.info/ . Aaron Harrison scored a 22 points for Kentucky (6-1), which has won four in a row following a Nov. 12 loss to current No. 1 Michigan State. Julius Randle overcame a scoreless first half and added his sixth double-double in as many games with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Cheap Adidas Hockey Jerseys . The Vancouver coach and an announced sellout crowd of 18,910 watched in dismay as the Canucks lost 7-4 to the New York Islanders on Monday night by squandering a 3-0 lead in the third period. Stitched Hockey Jerseys . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. COLLEGE FOOTBALLSOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Brian Kellys worst season at Notre Dame took an embarrassing turn as the NCAA announced that academic misconduct orchestrated by a student athletic trainer will cost the storied program all 21 victories from the 2012-13 seasons, including the 12-0 run that vaulted the Fighting Irish into the national championship game against Alabama.It marked just the fourth time the NCAA has cited Notre Dame for a major rules violation. The vacated games include Notre Dames 12 victories in 2012, their best regular season since winning their last national championship in 1988. The season finished with an embarrassing 42-14 loss to the Crimson Tide in the title game and the revelation that linebacker Manti Teo had been the victim of a fake girlfriend hoax.The school ripped the NCAA for its decision to vacate the wins and immediately said it would appeal. The Rev. John Jenkins, the university president, said the NCAA has never before vacated records in such a case.UNDATED -- Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan and Clemson held the top four spots in the College Football Playoff rankings for the second straight week and Washington moved up a spot to fifth this week.Wisconsin is sixth in the selection committee rankings. Louisville was the team that took a big drop. The Cardinals fell from fifth to 11th after losing at Houston.Ohio State and Michigan play Saturday in Columbus, Ohio, and the loser is likely to be out of the playoff race. The Wolverines would move on the Big Ten championship game by beating the Buckeyes. The Buckeyes, though, need help to reach the conference title game.Unbeaten Alabama meets Auburn on Saturday, but the Crimson Tide has already clinched a spot in the SEC title game.SOCCERNEW YORK -- Bruce Arena was a decade removed from the U.S. national team when he received a telephone call from U.S. Soccer Federation Secretary General Dan Flynn on Sunday asking him to meet with USSF President Sunil Gulati the following day.By midday Tuesday, the winningest coach in the teams history regained the job he had not wanted to give up.A day after Jurgen Klinsmann was fired following two losses that began the final round of World Cup qualifying, Arena agreed to a contract running through the 2018 tournament in Russia.With the Americans 0-2 at this stage for the first time, the USSF wants to spark a turnaround when competition resumes March 24 with a home game against Honduras followed four days later with a match at Panama. The 65-year-old Arena, inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2010, starts work Dec. 1.Arena first took over as national team coach after the 1998 World Cup and led the U.S. to a 71-30-29 record. Gulati fired him, failed to reach a deal with Klinsmann and then brought in Bob Bradley.PRO HOCKEYLAS VEGAS -- The NHLs newest team is named the Vegas Golden Knights.Owner Bill Foley and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman announced the Las Vegas expansion franchises official name and revealed its logo and colors at a ggala ceremony for about 5,000 fans outside T-Mobile Arena, where the Golden Knights will begin play next season.ddddddddddddThe Golden Knights logo is a simple front view of a fighting helmet with a conspicuous V in the middle. Their colors are steel grey, gold, red and black.The franchise made its name announcement near an outdoor rink where young hockey players braved the 58-degree nighttime temperatures in Vegas desert basin. The ceremony endured technical difficulties when a video presentation refused to run, prompting Foley and Bettman to kill time.PRO BASKETBALLDETROIT -- The Detroit Pistons have officially announced their move downtown, with owner Tom Gores appearing at a news conference with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Ilitch Holdings President and CEO Christopher Ilitch and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.The Pistons plan to start playing at Little Caesars Arena next season, which would put all four of Detroits major pro teams within a few blocks of each other. The new arena, which is still under construction, was already being built to house the NHLs Red Wings, who are owned by Mike and Marian Ilitch.The Pistons move is still subject to approval by the NBA, and formal legal agreements must be finalized. The team has played at The Palace of Auburn Hills, about 30 miles from downtown Detroit, since 1988.OTHERWASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama awarded the nations highest civilian honor to 21 groundbreaking actors, musicians, athletes and innovators who inspired him over the years and helped make me who I am.The Presidential Medal of Freedom recognizes especially meritorious contributions to the national interests of the United States, its security and its culture. Obama called the 2016 group a particularly impressive class.Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, two of the greatest basketball players ever, were also among the honorees. Obama noted how Jordans name is synonymous with excellence.Longtime Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully was also honored.GYMNASTICSMASON, Mich. -- A former USA Gymnastics doctor pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in his home with a girl under 13, charges that Michigans attorney general said are the tip of the iceberg as authorities investigate roughly 50 complaints.Larry Nassar, who was arrested Monday while running an errand at a Lansing-area tire store, was arraigned by video from jail. He was released after 10 percent of a $1 million bond was paid, more than two months after two gymnasts -- including a member of the 2000 U.S. womens Olympic team -- accused him of sexual abuse during medical treatments.A Detroit attorney also said he filed a civil lawsuit against Nassar on behalf of a Los Angeles woman who says she was sexually abused about 20 years ago during treatments when she was a 14-year-old gymnast.Its at least the third civil suit filed against Nassar. 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