WELLINGTON // A highly charged annual derby between the New South Wales Waratahs and Queensland Reds today may provide the highlight of the Super 14 round and shape the remaining season for both teams.
The fourth-round match draws on the rivalry between the Australian states and is expected to be close and hard fought, though seven places separate the unbeaten Waratahs and one-win Reds on the championship table.
Queensland have never finished higher than 12th in the Super 14 or higher than 10th in the last five years of Super rugby but have always played above their standing in the annual derby.
The Reds won all but one of the first nine meetings between the teams from 1996 - when they finished the regular season at No 1 - to 2004 - the other in 1998 was drawn 17-17. New South Wales have won the last four, but seldom by wide margins.
Michael Foley, the Waratahs forwards coach, played as a hooker for the Reds and understands the intensity of feeling between the teams. "The good thing about our [Waratahs] boys is that they are approaching this game knowing that no matter where Queensland are placed on the ladder, that the Reds treat it as a special match," Foley said.
"And the Waratahs also treat it as a special game. Both teams take nothing for granted. There's every bit of detail done in preparation that you would expect for a very important game. It's one of those games where it is important to get all the little things right because it will basically take your best performance to win the match."
* AP
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
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Transmission: eight-speed automatic
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Price: Dh649,000
On sale: now
ENGLAND SQUAD
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
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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