AUCKLAND // David Skrela will miss the rest of the Rugby World Cup after sustaining a bad shoulder injury in the opener against Japan, according to the France coach Marc Lievremont.
The fly-half becomes the second high-profile player forced out of the World Cup in New Zealand through a shoulder injury following the announcement that the England Prop, Andrew Sheridan, will not be fit enough the remainder of the tournament
Skrela came on as a 51st minute replacement for Francois Trinh-Duc at No 10, but lasted only 11 minutes before sustaining his injury and had to go off.
"We decided yesterday that David would not be able to be fully fit after his injury on Saturday ... and after consulting French medical experts we got the confirmation that it would take a few weeks to recover," Lievremont said.
Capped 24 times, the 32-year-old, who moved from Toulouse to Clermont this year, will be replaced by the uncapped Jean-Marc Doussain of Toulouse, who will arrive next Tuesday.
France's next Pool A match is against Canada at Napier on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Doussain who can also play scrum-half, captained the French Under 20 team at the last age-group World Cup in Italy in June.
Lievremont said that Doussain had "caught my eye".
"I have full confidence in this player even if he has not played for me before. I look on him as the best replacement in this position," the coach said.
Lievremont said that he had hoped to have Doussain arrive in New Zealand earlier than next Tuesday but his club wanted him to play against Biarritz in a league match at the weekend.
The English Rugby Football Union (RFU) announced earlier today that Sheridan will also be returning home through injury.
The giant loose head prop has had two operations on his left shoulder since dislocating it in October 2009 and had only just returned from surgery on his right shoulder.
"It's really sad for Sheri," the England team manager Martin Johnson said. "He has been unlucky with injuries and we wish him all the best for his recovery. We brought five props so we have options there and we can bring another player out but we will decide what to do about that in due course."
Johnson has Dan Cole, Alex Corbisiero, Matt Stevens and David Wilson available for Saturday's second Pool B match against Georgia in Dunedin.
In today's Pool D match, Alesana Tuilagi scored three tries as Samoa kicked off their World Cup campaign with a 49-12 win over Namibia at Rotorua International Stadium.
Kahn Fotuali'i, the scrum-half, and Paul Williams, the full-back, also scored a try apiece in their bonus point win, while the referee Romain Poite awarded the Pacific islanders a penalty try for repeated scrum infringements by the Namibians close to their line.
Tusi Pisi, the Samoan fly-half, slotted two conversions and a penalty before he went off in the 28th minute with a hamstring injury while Williams, sin-binned in the first half for a shoulder charge on the Namibia fly-half Theuns Kotze, kicked a penalty and added three conversions.
Centre Danie van Wyk and Kotze scored consolation tries for the African nation, while the fly-half converted his effort under the posts.
In the later game, Canada winger Phil McKenzie scooted over in the 73rd minute as the North Americans opened their World Cup campaign with a seesawing 25-20 win over Tonga.
Aided by a strong tailwind, Canada took a 10-0 lead after 26 minutes and seemed to have the measure of the bigger Tongan line-up, but conceded a try on the stroke of half time to surrender the ascendancy.
Siale Piutau, the centre, crossed over twice as Tonga scored 20 of the next 23 points before Canada responded again with two late tries, then defended their five-point lead for the last seven minutes to clinch the vital Pool A win.
Canada have beaten Tonga in all three World Cup head-to-heads, dating back to the inaugural tournament in 1987.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
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Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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