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General Sports News

O'Connell to captain Lions

Author: Craig Williams
Date: 21/04/2009

British and Irish Lions head coach Ian McGeechan has named Ireland's Paul O'Connell as his captain for the three-Test summer tour to South Africa.

McGeechan has opted to include 14 Ireland players in his 37-man squad with 13 Welsh stars being included and eight from England.

There are only two representatives from Scotland - prop Euan Murray and lock Nathan Hines.

England's veteran forward Simon Shaw is a surprise inclusion in the squad but there is no place for Wales captain Ryan Jones or team-mates Gavin Henson and James Hook.

Tom Croft has surprisingly been left out but Munster duo Keith Earls and Alan Quinlan are shock inclusions to face the online betting favourites.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire's director of cricket Martyn Moxon believes there is a good chance of Michael Vaughan earning a recall to the England squad.

Vaughan has not been part of the national team set-up since resigning as captain more than eight months ago but Moxon thinks he will return to the squad when it is named next Monday.

Darren Gough has no intention of reversing his decision to come out of retirement. There had been talk last week of the Yorkshireman making a U-turn and playing in this season's Twenty20 Cup but he insists that is extremely unlikely.

Matthew Hoggard does not think he will play for his country again after being snubbed by England's management.

The 32-year-old Yorkshire star has not featured for England since the first Test defeat against New Zealand in Hamilton more than 12 months ago.

In football, Sir Alex Ferguson has backed Dimitar Berbatov to bounce back from the disappointment of missing a penalty in Manchester United's FA Cup semi-final shoot-out defeat to Everton.

The Bulgaria international has been severely criticised after his weak spot-kick was easily saved by Toffees keeper Tim Howard but Ferguson has asked the striker's critics to lay off him.

Paraguay international Roque Santa Cruz is determined to leave Blackburn Rovers at the end of the season.

The 27-year-old, who has endured an injury-ravaged campaign, was reportedly on the verge of signing for Manchester City in the January transfer window and has now reiterated his desire to leave Ewood Park.

Liverpool's assistant boss Sammy Lee insists Rafa Benitez's gestures during the recent victory against Blackburn Rovers were not aimed at Sam Allardyce.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson claimed last week that Benitez had showed contempt to Allardyce after the Reds had scored their second goal in the 4-0 win but Lee says that was not the case.

Finally, Ashley Cole is the latest Chelsea players to say he would like Guus Hiddink to stay at Stamford Bridge beyond the end of this season.

The Dutchman has said on several occasions that he is only on a short-term contract with the Blues and will revert to coaching the Russia national side full-time at the end of the season.

Since replacing Luiz Felipe Scolari, Hiddink has guided Chelsea to the FA Cup Final and the last four of the Champions League as well as improving their Premier League form.

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