midway through the first half when the 7-foot Lual-Acuil blocked a sh

Steffon Armitages prospects of making an England comeback look slim after head coach Eddie Jones denied speaking with the Toulon flanker. The French clubs owner Mourad Boudjellal, who publishes comic books, claimed Armitage told him Jones had been in contact to clear the way to an international return.Former London Irish back row Armitage has spent six years in exile due to Twickenhams ruling that overseas players can only be selected in exceptional circumstances. Armitage, who was named 2014 European Player of the Year, has one year left on his contract and his availability has been made known to Aviva Premiership clubs, with Wasps and Bath his likely destinations if a move materialises.But Jones was quick to play down speculation he has been in touch with Armitage, whose brother Delon plays alongside him at Toulon and also represented England before his move to the Top 14.Youve got to remember the bloke who makes the comments writes comic books. I will leave it at that, said Jones.I dont know whether he writes them or sells them but he has made plenty of money out of them. Batman and Robin wont be in the team.When asked if there had been any contact with Armitage, Jones added: Not that I know of.People have false Facebook posts and false Twitter accounts, so I suppose you can have a false phone call. Watch our exclusive interview with England head coach Eddie Jones. I dont control him. Its got nothing to do with me. He is not eligible to play for England.Jones England squad have gathered in Brighton to prepare for their Sky Live game against Wales at Twickenham on May 29, a match that that will serve as the warm-up to their series against Australia in June.But he refuses to subscribe to the traditional explanation for a poor end-of-season tour being that it bookends an arduous campaign. People have false Facebook posts and false Twitter accounts, so I suppose you can have a false phone call. Eddie Jones I remember one of the first staff meetings we had after the Six Nations when the staff started saying theyve had a long, hard season, Jones said.As soon as you talk like that, youre saying you dont want to win. Every team in the world has got this same issue.The southern hemisphere come here in November - do the All Blacks ever complain about a long, hard season? They enjoy it and they play super rugby.Theres no reason why we cant go to Australia and play super rugby.Watch England v Wales on Sky Sports 3 HD. Coverage begins on May 29 at 2:30pm. Also See: Wasps target big-name signings Itoje lands European award Tuilagi fit for semi-final Wasps close in on Le Roux Boston Red Sox Shirts . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. Red Sox Jerseys 2019 . Two pressure cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the April 15 race in an area packed with fans cheering the passing runners. Three people were killed and more than 260 injured, including at least 16 who lost limbs. https://www.cheapredsox.com/ . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. Cheap Red Sox Jerseys .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. Wholesale Red Sox Jerseys . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. WACO, Texas -- Johnathan Motley and the Baylor Bears got quite an early-season confidence boost -- their first-ever non-conference home win over a top-five opponent.And it counts even though fourth-ranked Oregon was without preseason All-America forward Dillon Brooks, their 6-foot-7 junior who was their leading scorer last season but is still recovering from offseason foot surgery.An eager Motley, who was suspended for the opener, scored 17 points in his season debut as Baylor beat the Ducks 66-49 on Tuesday.It gives us confidence knowing we can go out there and beat a good team like Oregon and maybe keep things going, Motley said. I was pretty fired up. Its really hard watching your teammates play.Motley missed the season opener for Baylor (2-0) after violating an NCAA rule by playing in an improper summer league game.Trailing by 10 at the break, Oregon (1-1) got within 33-32 on Chris Bouchers dunk to cap a second half-opening 9-0 run. The Ducks had the ball again with the chance to go ahead after Dylan Ennis steal, but then turned it over.That led to Ishmail Wainrights layup from Matt Lecomtes ally-oop pass, and Baylor started to stretch the lead again.Lecomte had 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting that included four 3-pointers. Jo Lual-Acuil grabbed 14 rebounds and had seven blocked shots for Baylor.Ennis led Oregon with 16 points, and Boucher finished with 12. Jordan Bell had 11 rebounds.The Ducks quickly led 3-0 when Boucher hit from long range on the games first shot, before they then missed six in a row. Motley made his first shot of the season and Manu Lecomte a buzzer-beating 3-pointer, and Baylor never trailed again.Didnt play very well, and didnt make plays for each other, so weve got a tremendous amount of work to do, Oregon coach Dana Altman said. Its difficult (without Brooks), but thats the way it goes. ... Theres no doubt hes a good player, but weve got some other good players that didnt play very well.BIG PICTUREOregon: While the Ducks were able to get past Army in their opener without Brooks, they clearly couuld have used their standout forward against the Bears, who dominated inside.ddddddddddddOregon struggled shooting at 33 percent (19 of 58) from the field and got outrebounded 41-30. Dillons a good rebounder but hes not going to make that difference up, said Altman, who wouldnt say when Brooks might return.Baylor: The Bears are 4-7 in their last 11 games against top-five teams. Maybe this will get the notice of poll voters. The Bears, picked to finish in the middle of the tough Big 12, havent been getting any votes so far this season.ZONE FACTORAsked about the difficulty of facing Baylors zone defense, Altman responded, Well, we did pretty good last year, we just didnt do good this year. Oregon beat Baylor 74-67 at home last November.BIG FACTORBaylors lead was only one midway through the first half when the 7-foot Lual-Acuil blocked a shot and was pumping his arms near midcourt after making a pass to Wendell Mitchell for a layup. Lual-Acuil made the next basket when he posted right under the goal, and got an inbound pass from Lecomte. I was trying to be a factor somehow, Lual-Acuil said. I knew my shots werent falling so I just tried to figure out different way of helping the team.HE SAID ITA lot of times, you play in big games and you play out of character, youre too nervous, youre too excited, Drew said. Weve played against a lot of good Big 12 teams in the top five that have beaten us. And I think we did a good job of staying poisedUP NEXTOregon played the first of five games in nine days. The Ducks are home Thursday night to play Valparaiso, where Drew was previously a head coach -- after his father and before his brother.Baylor is home for its third consecutive game to start the season, against Florida Gulf Coast on Friday night. Florida Gulf Coasts run to the NCAA Sweet 16 was in 2013, the season that Baylor was NIT champion.---More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '