SPORT | IN BRIEF
Saints and Sarries stars named
RUGBY UNION: Northampton Saints and Saracens have swept the board in this year’s nominations for the Guinness Premiership Player of the Year award.
Top try-scorer Chris Ashton is joined in the final five by Saints team-mates Phil Dowson and Soane Tonga’uiha, who ironically sparked a war of words between the two clubs after reneging on a deal to sign for Saracens recently.
Sarries duo Schalk Brits and Ernst Joubert make up the nominations.
Leicester’s Richard Cockerill is in line to defend his Director of Rugby Award, with Northampton’s Jim Mallinder and Leeds’s Andy Key also nominated.
Sale’s James Gaskell, Northampton’s Courtney Lawes, Saracens’ Andy Saull, Wasps’ Joe Simpson and Ben Youngs, of Leciester are all Discovery of the Season nominees.
Murray seeks clay-court revival
TENNIS: British No1 Andy Murray insists he is only focusing on one match at a time as he looks to rectify his indifferent start to 2010.
Murray takes on Juan Ignacio Chela in his opening match at the Madrid Open today after recent clay-court disappointments in Monte Carlo and Rome.
“I’ve not made it past the second round in a tournament for the last three or four so it’s totally pointless for me to look any further,” the third seed said.
Brown leaves the Giants
RUGBY LEAGUE: Huddersfield Giants head coach Nathan Brown is to leave the Galpharm Stadium at the end of the season. The 36-year-old joined the Giants at the beginning of 2009 and was named Super League Coach of the Year in his first season in charge.