
Hooker Jamie George to join Lions after Luke Cowan-Dickie suffers a concussion
Cowan-Dickie was knocked out after attempting a tackle in the first half of the Lions' 48-0 win over an Australia and New Zealand Invitational side in Adelaide on Saturday.
Lions coach Andy Farrell said after the match that Cowan-Dickie was feeling 'good' but suffered a concussion, a week out from the first test against the Wallabies.
England announced hours later that George was being drafted into the Lions squad, so would miss Saturday's test match against Argentina in San Juan. He was set to start and will instead watch the match before departing for Brisbane on Sunday, England said.
Theo Dan came into the England team as George's replacement.
'We're absolutely delighted for Jamie's selection,' England coach Steve Borthwick said.
Aside from the three tests against the Wallabies on consecutive Saturdays, the Lions have just one remaining midweek assignment — against a First Nations and Pasifika XV in Melbourne on July 22. That could be George's only game on this tour, though he did go on the 2017 and 2021 tours.
___

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
17 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Baseball players' union head hopeful of major leaguers participating in 2028 Olympics
New York Yankees, right fielder Aaron Judge of the American League, signs autographs during batting practice the MLB baseball All-Star game, Monday, July 14, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) ATLANTA (AP) — Baseball players' union head Tony Clark says plans are moving ahead exploring the possibility of using major leaguers in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. 'There's a lot of work that need to be done,' he told the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Tuesday. 'We're hopeful that we can figure our way through it.' Advertisement The World Baseball Softball Confederation said Monday the baseball tournament will be played from July 15-20 at Dodger Stadium. MLB is considering whether it can interrupt its 2028 season to allow major leaguers to participate, which could necessitate changes to the sport's national television contracts. Clark said among the issues are insurance and 'what does it mean for those players that aren't participating?' ___ AP MLB:

17 minutes ago
Argument over 'valid business purpose' for NIL collectives threatens college sports settlement
Less than two weeks after terms of a multibillion-dollar college sports settlement went into effect, friction erupted over the definition of a 'valid business purpose' that collectives making name, image and likeness payments to players are supposed to have. The new College Sports Commission sent a letter to athletic directors last week saying it was rejecting deals in which players were receiving money from collectives that were created solely to pay them and don't provide goods or services to the general public for profit. A lead attorney for the players responded by saying those instructions went against settlement terms and asking the CSC to rescind the guidance. 'This process is undermined when the CSC goes off the reservation and issues directions to the schools that are not consistent with the Settlement Agreement terms,' attorney Jeffrey Kessler wrote to NCAA outside counsel Rakesh Kilaru in a letter obtained by The Associated Press. Yahoo Sports first reported details of the letter, in which Kessler threatens to take the issue to a judge assigned with resolving disputes involved in the settlement. Kessler told the AP that his firm was not commenting on the contents of the letter, and Kilaru did not immediately respond to the AP's request for comment. Yahoo quoted a CSC spokesman as saying the parties are working to resolve differences and that "the guidance issued by the College Sports Commission ... is entirely consistent with the House settlement and the rules that have been agreed upon with class counsel.' When NIL payments became allowed in 2021, boosters formed so-called collectives that were closely tied to universities to work out contracts with the players, who still weren't allowed to be paid directly by the schools. Terms of the House settlement allow schools to make the payments now but keep the idea of outside payments from collectives, which have to be approved by the CSC if they are worth $600 or more. The CSC, in its letter last week, explained that if a collective reaches a deal, for instance, for an athlete to appear on behalf of the collective, which charges an admission fee, that collective does not have a 'valid business purpose' because the purpose of the event is to raise money to pay athletes, not to provide goods or services available to the general public for profit. Another example of a disallowed deal was one an athlete makes to sell merchandise to raise money to pay that player because, the CSC guidance said, the purpose of 'selling merchandise is to raise money to pay that student-athlete and potentially other student-athletes at a particular school or schools, which is not a valid business purpose." Kessler's letter notes that the 'valid business purpose' rule was designed to ensure athletes were not simply being paid to play, and did not prohibit NIL collectives from paying athletes for the type of deals described above. To prevent those payments 'would be to create a new prohibition on payments by a NIL collective that is not provided for or contemplated by the Settlement Agreement, causing injury to the class members who should be free to receive those payments," Kessler wrote.


San Francisco Chronicle
21 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
WNBA players and the league are far apart on new CBA talks ahead of in-person discussions
NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA players union and league officials have much to discuss when they sit down this week for their first in-person talks as a group since December about the new collective bargaining agreement. After sharing initial proposals, the two sides apparently are far apart in the early negotiations as they prepare for their first face-to-face meeting that includes the players executive council in Indianapolis on Thursday heading into All-Star weekend. 'We got a proposal from the league, which was honestly a slap in the face,' Phoenix Mercury forward and union rep Satou Sabally said. Increased salaries, revenue sharing and roster size are three areas where the union expect to see major changes from the current CBA that will expire at the end of this season after the players decided to opt out last year. Nearly all the players who aren't on rookie scale contracts right now will be free agents after this season and looking for big salary increases. Union president Nneka Ogwumike, who has now been a part of three CBA negotiations, is optimistic that Thursday's meeting could be beneficial for both sides since it's in-person. The two sides have had meetings over the last few months, but this will be the first time that all the players on the executive council will be there. Ogwumike said 'when you're doing things via documents, when you're doing things via proxy, whether it's ... our union staff and league staff," it's different. But "when you're sitting at the table, things a lot of times, in my experience, you get done a little bit more efficiently.' The WNBA is experiencing unprecedented growth across nearly every business metric from attendance and viewership. There's also the new $2.2 billion media rights deal that will start next season and the league plans to expand to 18 teams by 2030 with each of the three new teams paying $250 million expansion fee. 'It's interesting that there's a $250 million expansion fee, and there's no openness to have that be reflected in revenue share that goes to the players, especially as we're experiencing growth,' Ogwumike said. 'It doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but we're hoping we can get some clarity on that in Indiana.' Ogwumike said the players had submitted a proposal back in February that the league finally responded to last month. She was surprised it took so long for the league to respond with its proposal, saying that it seemed that the league misunderstood the union's initial offer. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said at the draft in April that the union's initial proposal wasn't comprehensive, but that she also is optimistic that a deal would get done. 'We'll get something done and it'll be transformational," she said. 'These things take time.' The key thing for the commissioner is that the new CBA protects the sustainability of the league going forward. 'We want to have a fair deal for all, but it has to be within the confines of a sustainable economic model that goes on for 10 years,' she said. 'We've had a few years of great growth … but we need to continue to make sure that we can fund the things that the players are asking for, that we want for them, too.' If a deal isn't done by the end of October, some players, including Napheesa Collier and Angel Reese, have mentioned the potential of a walkout. 'From the players' perspective, it's hard to be able to navigate this during the middle of the season, but also we know how important it is and really getting it done before the end of October and we're making that effort to be able to do both,' union vice president Breanna Stewart said. 'The fact that it's been a little bit slow to start is tough, but hopeful things will ramp up now after getting their proposal back. We have a big meeting in Indy at All-Star and it's going to be spicy.'