Newcastle Knights star Fletcher Sharpe hospitalised with lacerated kidney following concussion
Newcastle star Fletcher Sharpe has been diagnosed with a lacerated kidney after being admitted to hospital in Perth.
Sharpe reported abdominal soreness after suffering a concussion in the Knights' 26-20 win over the Dolphins in Perth on Saturday.
It is understood he suffered the damage in the same tackle as the concussion, when his body hit the ground hard when brought down from behind.
The five-eighth has since been taken to hospital, and is set to remain in Western Australia for several days as he deals with the issue.
Sharpe would already have missed Friday night's clash with Canberra due to concussion issues. The Knights have a bye the following week.
Newcastle do not yet have a timeline on how much longer they expect the 21-year-old to miss.
Sharpe has been one of Newcastle's best threats this year, scoring 11 tries and setting up another three in a side that has the worst attacking record in the NRL.
Newcastle have several back-up options in the halves, with Tyson Gamble available again and Jackson Hastings having returned to the NRL against Manly this month.
Elsewhere, there are fears Dolphins winger Jack Bostock suffered a dreaded ACL rupture in the Perth match.
The potentially season-ending injury comes just a week after the flyer scored four tries against North Queensland last Saturday.
The Warriors are also waiting on scans on halfback Luke Metcalf's quad and winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak's ankle after their loss to Penrith.
Watene-Zelezniak is expected to be sidelined for some time with a syndesmosis injury, but the fourth-placed club hold some hope that Metcalf's is not serious.
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Daily Mirror
32 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
'Messi of rugby' looks to settle score after Joe Marler refusal & 2021 Lions woe
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At 32, and at the peak of his considerable powers, the stars seem to be aligning for this prodigious talent to deliver a career-defining summer of rugby. Though he faces stiff competition from Fin Smith and Marcus Smith, Russell is the early favourite for the starting No.10 jersey and, with it, the responsibility of leading an attack that will need to score a significant haul of points. Add in a personal legacy that needs furnishing with medals – to go alongside the dozens of YouTube highlights reels that show off his arsenal of dummies, passes and offloads, – in order to cement his status as a modern great, and it's a challenge – and tour – made for a talent like his, even if he's keen to play it cool. 'It will be hard but I definitely think we have the players who can get a series win,' he said. ' Australia are a good team, they're getting stronger, have some really good players and are very strong. We played them in November, as did England, Ireland and Wales, so we will understand them as a team but it will be very tough over there.' Part of his drive is the sense he has a score to settle with the Lions, even if he is a three-time tourist. In 2017 he was part of the 'geography six' alongside Allan Dell, Tomas Francis, Kristian Dacey, Corey Hill and Gareth Davies. They were parachuted in halfway through the tour to New Zealand to effectively make up the numbers for midweek matches against the Chiefs in Hamilton and the Hurricanes in Wellington, and protect the Test team from unnecessary minutes. Head coach Warren Gatland admitted he drafted them in because they were close by – Francis, Dacey, Hill and Davies were with the Wales team, also in New Zealand, while Dell and Russell were in Australia with Scotland. English players, touring Argentina, were overlooked. Not everyone was happy and the reception. Prop Joe Marler even refused to be replaced in one to match, thus denying Dell an appearance. Ironically, Dell – and Russell – were the two players who did make it onto the pitch, with Dell called upon when Marler was sin-binned against the Chiefs. Four years on and Russell was on the full tour to South Africa, but he picked up an Achilles injury and played only in the third Test, with a brilliant cameo performance off the bench in the deciding defeat, while every match was behind closed doors due the Covid-19 pandemic. He hopes that 2025 makes up for those experiences – and is keen to hit the ground running. 'We need to get everyone on the same page, being able to do that quickly will allow us to construct a gameplan and implement that at the weekends,' said the father-of-two, who will be joined on tour by wife Emma, daughters Charlie and Skye and mum Sally. 'We need that gel to win the series, we will connect off the pitch but on it as well. We need a tight-knit group to go out and perform well at the weekends but also the confidence the other guys have your back. That is built through the relationships you develop.' Russell is fortunate that he has so many familiar faces around him. Indeed, there is a possibility that an entire try could be created by Scottish backs. Scotland captain Sione Tuipolotu is odds-on to start at inside centre, Huw Jones, who dovetails so brilliantly with Tuipolotu for the national side and Glasgow Warriors, has a strong claim for the No.13 spot, while lurking on the wing could well be Duhan van der Merwe – Scotland's record try-scorer. Add in full-back Blair Kinghorn and it's a party. 'There are a lot of Irish and English players as well,' Russell pointed out. 'But we have confidence as Scots because we know each other so well and how we play the game. With the Lions, you take your national top off and develop the same cohesion with everyone. We need to forget where we are from.' 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Times
34 minutes ago
- Times
It's so much harder for Lions to win — so why don't they prepare properly?
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BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Lee takes PGA Championship lead as Thitikul falters
Women's PGA Championship third-round leaderboard-6 M Lee (Aus); -2 J Thitikul (Tha); +1 HJ Choi (Kor), L Thompson (US), M YamashitaSelected others: +2 N Korda (US), L Maguire (Ire); +4 C Hull (Eng)Leaderboard Australian Minjee Lee opened up a four-shot lead at the "brutal" Women's PGA Championship with a third-round 69 as overnight leader Jeeno Thitikul faltered in Frisco, was three shots behind Thitikul at the start of day three but produced an impressive bogey-free round, which included three birdies, to move to six under as windy conditions again made it difficult at the Fields Ranch East Thitikul, chasing her first victory at a major, led after the first two days of the tournament but shot a four-over 76, which included two birdies and six bogeys, and is on two under Charley Hull shot the lowest score of the second round with a 69 and followed that up with a 73 as she goes into the final day on four over have only been five rounds in the 60s at the tournament and Lee has carded two of them with 69s on days one and three."I just try to stay patient out there," said two-time major winner Lee. "You can't get ahead of yourself, especially in these conditions. "It's only getting harder and harder just with I think pressure of a major championship, and also the course just demands so much from you."Lee's previous major wins came at the 2021 Evian Championship and 2022 US Women's added: "I know what it takes to win and I know just kind of what to feel and what to expect now that I have two under my belt."I just think the experience that I've had is really going to help me hopefully get over the line."Lee and Thitikul are the only players under par for the third of this year's five LPGA Lexi Thompson is on one over par after a 75 that began with a triple bogey and bogey, while compatriot Nelly Korda (72) and Ireland's Leona Maguire (72) are one shot further back."Definitely proud of how I stayed strong," Thompson said. "It was kind of a nightmare of a start, but I knew coming into the day it was going to play very difficult. "I don't know really what happened on my first hole, but [I'm] happy I got it out of the way and stayed positive out there and just made pars and a few birdies here and there."World number one Korda added: "It's brutal out there when it comes to the set-up of the golf course, wind conditions, everything. I'm very happy with even par."You're just happy to get 18 under your belt on a day like this."
