DOM Young has waited two years to help England to glory, taking in a terrifying health scare.

The 6ft 5ins Sydney Roosters winger flew home for last year’s Test series with Tonga but the closest he got was a ward at Leeds General Infirmary.

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For a sinus infection spread to his brain, with an abscess pushing on its lining, leaving him unable to open his eyes and meaning weeks of recovery.

Now he is here and healthy, he is determined to follow on from his blockbusting displays at the 2022 World Cup.

And avenging the shattering World Cup semi-final loss to tomorrow’s opponents Samoa would go a long way towards easing his frustrations.

Young said: “I was in hospital for a while, it was definitely bad. I came over to play and the closest I got was LGI. It was a nightmare.

“I was in for a few weeks. I don’t remember how many exactly, then I was on IV for another six to eight after that, so it was pretty serious.

“After that it was Christmas. I pretty much started feeling OK before it, then I went out to Oz straight away. It was no fun.

“When I came back to England, I was a little bit shaky. I wasn’t 100 per cent but it picked up when I got back.

“I don’t think the flight helped with all the pressure and that, it wasn’t nice. This time, though, I was definitely feeling a lot better.

“It did feel a bit funny coming back because the last time on the flight, that’s what happened but I’ve been fine. I’ve been back a while now and I’m ready to go.”

On one side of the world he is Dom Young, NRL superstar. Going for a coffee involves posing for fans’ photos as rugby league there has the same billing as Premier League football here.

When he heads back to his native Wakefield, he is just Dom who is asked to chip in with housework.

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Amazingly, he never made it in Super League as Huddersfield wasted the 6ft 6ins starlet’s talents before a gamble to join Newcastle Knights paid off big time.

Now he is starring with the Roosters but once he walks through the door at home, things change.

The 23-year-old added: “It’s good to come back and get in the mix with family and friends but as soon as I got home, my mum and dad were bossing me around, so they definitely bring me back down to being that young kid who’s never done anything.

“I’m still trying to get my mum to do everything for me. She’s retired now, so she’s plenty of time to do it but she’s still always telling me what to do!

“Being able to just go for a coffee is nice but it’s not too bad over there. I do get asked for photos but I’m not like James Tedesco or anyone like that.

“I think I’m all right and when I’m going around my area, everyone knows me anyway.”

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While Samoa are serious about deepening England’s wounds, the message from boss Shaun Wane is simple, ‘Nothing less than 2-0 will do.’

And belief throughout the camp is strong that they are better now than two years ago – that includes Young.

He continued: “It definitely hurt and took a while to get over. All the boys were pretty devastated. We felt like we were in a really good spot and we really wanted to win the World Cup at home.

“But when you do go through those hard moments together, it does bring you a bit closer and you probably saw that last year with the job we did against a really strong Tonga team.

“And it would be nice to get one back for me personally. It would be pretty sweet if we could get the win.”

Raffael Cerqueira considered walking away from the sport after receiving ludicrous offers to compete in his native Brazil.

Cerqueira, who had three different opponents for the Sept. 10 card of Dana White’s Contender Series before being pulled straight to the UFC 308 line-up, said in an interview with MMA Fighting he decided to hang up his gloves after being offered as little as $70 for a fight.

“There’s a promotion out there, I won’t even mention names, that the promoter offered me R$ 400 to fight in Sao Paulo, and he would only pay for the meal, no transportation and hotel,” Cerqueira said. “And I had to sign a contract with him that he would take a portion of my purse if I fought for an international promotion next. My managers were like, ‘Are you insane? We won’t fight for your promotion.’ It’s bizarre. Very bizarre.”

Cerqueira started fighting in 2019 and quickly earned the Demo Fight light heavyweight championship, defending it on three occasions before a couple of short-notice trips to heavyweight earlier this year. He has campaigned for a chance in the UFC since 2023, calling out Dana White and Mick Maynard following wins in Brazil, but was tired of waiting.

“It’s hard to life as an athlete in Brazil because we’re not valued,” Cerqueira said. “I have two kids, and I have to buy them stuff, healthcare and everything else. I fought in December and Mick told [my manager Leonardo] Pateira he wanted me, but I would have to wait a little. In my head it was like, ‘Ok, I’m in the UFC already’. I called my mom and my dad, ‘F*ck, I’m in the UFC, I’ll change our lives now.’ January came and no answer. I had to fight, so my team got me another fight.”

Cerqueira replaced a teammate in a heavyweight bout in late January, and won by first-round knockout. He called out Maynard again inside the cage, but no deal was offered.

“I reached a point I thought about quitting fighting,” Cerqueira said. “It’s hard for us financially speaking, right? ‘I can’t take it no more, I’ll quit everything and go back to school and focus on getting a job’. I started sending my resume to people who I have worked with in the past.”

Cerqueira’s coaches at Galpão da Luta insisted that he should give it another try, and if one more win didn’t earn a deal in the UFC, so be it. Cerqueira’s mother was hospitalized, and he needed money to put food on the table at home, so he took another last-minute heavyweight fight in Salvador.

“I remember warming up in the locker room, feeling completely demotivated and sad,” Cerqueira said. “I think I trained two weeks for that fight, tops. I was so tired that things would happen. I told my cousin 10 minutes before the fight, warming up, ‘If I get nothing out of this fight, I’m done. To me, this is my last fight.’”

Cerqueira recalls fighting poorly, considering he barely trained for that match, but still doing enough to put away Rodrigo Araujo in the opening round. He drove back home and told his mother he had won, now 11-0 as a professional, and she smiled back. “Good, let’s wait now,” she told her son.

“A week went by. Two, three, four weeks, and still no answer [from the UFC],” Cerqueira said. “I went back to the gym and told Mario Piazzon I’ve had enough. Mario told me, ‘Brother, remember when you told me that when life is hard at you, it’s because something good is about to happen?’ And the news literally came on the next day that I had been signed to the Contender Series. I started crying man, thanking God for everything.”

Cerqueira never had to fight on DWCS, with the matchmakers shifting him to UFC 308 instead, joining teammates Jailton Almeida and Eduarda Moura on the UFC roster. He feels the pressure of fighting for a deal would be as hard as “a job interview” with Dana White, but feels as motivated for the UFC. Aslan is 13-1 as a professional with five straight finishes going into UFC 308, but Cerqueira is confident.

“When this season of the Contender Series started,” Cerqueira said, “Dana White came out and said he’s not looking for guys over 30, and I’m like, ‘Damn, I’m 34 and the boss says that? I have to put on a show and knock this guy out or have a there-round bloody war.’ Being in the UFC doesn’t take any pressure away from me, because the card is a lot bigger now. I have to put on a great fight to show why I was signed.”

Becoming Homestead-Miami Speedway Track President in July of this year, Guillermo Santa Cruz will oversee his first NASCAR Cup, Xfinity, and Craftsman Truck weekend when Homestead hosts the midpoint of the Round of 8. But many — Santa Cruz included — would love to see the track return to its old position as NASCAR’s season finale.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Motorsport.com, Santa Cruz expressed respect for NASCAR’s scheduling decisions, but still spoke on a desire to return the track to its former role.

“We would love to have the championship back,” Santa Cruz told Motorsport.com. “We make no bones about it. I’m very open about it and it takes a lot to bring a championship to any city. The fact that it was here for 18 years was obviously a plus because we have that tradition. We have the incredible weather that we typically have this time of year. We have the Florida Keys [a] 20 minute drive away. There’s a lot to offer here — not only for the drivers, but for the spectators and everybody who loves motorsports.

“Ideally in a perfect world, one day the championship will come back. And I’ll tell you, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t working on that and wasn’t trying to make that happen. Yes, we want the championship to come back. That’s not a secret,” says Santa Cruz.

The last champion to be crowned at Homestead-Miami Speedway: Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry in 2019

Photo by: Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images

Guillermo is new to the NASCAR world, but he brings with him an impressive resume in the sports media world. He’s worked in sports media for more than three years and has produced two FIFA World Cups on Univision, as well as the Olympics after moving to Telemundo. The bulk of his career was spent at IMG — a global sports and culture company company — spending 11 years there, where he even did some consulting for NASCAR. Motorsport.com was curious to learn why he chose to make this career change less than four months ago.

“I think one of the principle reasons why I took it is because I believe Homestead is really the future of south Florida,” explained Santa Cruz, a Miami native. “There’s so much happening here. There’s so much going on. The time was right to make a change. I’ve had a long career in sports and this was a new challenge. The direction NASCAR is going was another appealing factor about it.

“More than anything: One, the challenge and two, I knew it would be fun. And fun it has been.”

While he admits he is still learning the ropes of the stock car racing world, he is well aware of the fact that this is a track beloved by drivers and fans. It’s often celebrated as one of the best for passing on the entire schedule, and that’s a huge argument for why people want to see it take its place back as the finale, which has been held at Phoenix Raceway since 2020.

“From a marketing and product perspective, that took care of a lot of questions,” said Santa Cruz when asked about the track’s popularity. “The drivers like it and that means the product is good, the racing is good, so we don’t have to worry about that,” said Santa Cruz. “And to be fair to NASCAR and to me, that wouldn’t be my expertise. I wouldn’t know how to fix the track if that was an issue — if the competition wasn’t good. But the competition is good. The drivers love it. So in that regard, we’re great.”

Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro, Daniel Suarez, Trackhouse Racing, Freeway.com Chevrolet Camaro

Photo by: Jared East / NKP / Motorsport Images

Despite losing its place as the finale, Homestead still plays a pivotal role in deciding the 2024 champion. As one of three races in the Round of 8, a win at the 1.5-mile speedway means an automatic entry for any of the eight remaining title combatants. 

“Homestead is wonderful test of skill and ability and strategy,” he said of its current role in the playoffs. “It has done that throughout its history and we can expect that here on Sunday. Only three spots are left so if you’re gonna make it move, you gotta make it now.”

Another schedule move

Unfortunately, the Homestead date will move yet again in 2025. The track will be out of the playoffs completely, moved to an early season date similar to its placement as the third round of 2021.

When asked about discussions regarding the race’s future and the possibility of moving it back into the playoffs in any way for 2026 or beyond, Santa Cruz provided a diplomatic answer. 

“Were excited to have a race any time and we’re ready to go a moment’s notice,” he told Motorsport.com. “We take a lot of pride in that here. This track is always ready to go.”

He went on the praise the spring date while also looking towards the future, saying: “March is a great date … we welcome that and we’re happy to race in March. As far as the future after that, whether it’s another playoff race or something else, we’re open to that.

“There’s a lot of decision-making that goes into those things. The weather has a lot to do with it, not only here, but in other parts of the country so it’s a little bit of a chess move with how you do the schedule. We’ll be ready to go whenever they [NASCAR] want us to race. We’re good, but yes, we would love to have the championship back.”

On the other side of the draw from Trump and Slesser, world champion Wilson made light work of Welshman Mark Williams to book his own semi-final spot.

The Englishman would triumph 5-1, including a break of 135 in the fourth frame.

“I worked really hard before going out for the match, I had about an hour and a half solid, solo practice and did a lot of long potting with my brother,” he told Eurosport.

“They’ve got to go in against these top players, that’s how you get in and, yeah, it kind of puts them on edge a little bit and you have to do that or they’ll walk all over you.”

He will face Pang Junxu in the last four after the Chinese player won the final two frames to beat Neil Robertson despite trailing three times.

Australian Robertson had led 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3 but a break of 129 in the decider was enough to secure a second victory over a former world champion this week for Junxu who also knocked out Luca Brecel.

The featherweight title is on the line Saturday in the UFC 308 main event when Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) puts his belt up for the first time when he takes on former champ Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC).

Take a look at a chronological history of the UFC’s 145-pound title, which migrated over from the WEC in 2010 when the promotions merged.

Jose Aldo

Jose Aldo

Date: Nov. 20, 2010
Event: UFC 123
Opponent: N/A
Total reign: 1.848 days
Title defenses: Mark Hominick, Kenny Florian, Chad Mendes, Frankie Edgar, Chan Sung Jung, Ricardo Lamas, Chad Mendes

Conor McGregor (interim)

Jul 11, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Conor McGregor (blue gloves) celebrates after defeating Chad Mendes (not pictured) in their interim featherweight title bout during UFC 189 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. McGregor won via second round TKO. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Date: July 11, 2015
Event: UFC 189
Opponent: Chad Mendes
Total reign: N/A
Title defenses: None

Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor after knocking out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds at UFC 194.

Date: Dec. 12, 2015
Event: UFC 194
Opponent: Joe Aldo
Total reign: 350 days
Title defenses: None (stripped of title)

Jose Aldo (interim)

Jose Aldo

Date: July 9, 2016
Event: UFC 200
Opponent: Frankie Edgar
Total reign: N/A
Title defenses: None

Jose Aldo

May 11, 2019; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Jose Aldo (red gloves) reacts to fight against Alexander Volkanovski (blue gloves) during UFC 237 at Jeunesse Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Silva-USA TODAY Sports

Date: Nov. 26, 2016
Event: N/A
Opponent: N/A
Total reign: 189 days
Title defenses: None

Max Holloway (interim)

Max Holloway

Date: Dec. 10, 2016
Event: UFC 206
Opponent: Anthony Pettis
Total reign: N/A
Title defenses: None

Max Holloway

Max Holloway

Date: June 3, 2017
Event: UFC 212
Opponent: Jose Aldo
Total reign: 925 days
Title defenses: Jose Aldo, Brian Ortega, Frankie Edgar

Alexander Volkanovski

Alexander Volkanovski, UFC 245

Date: Dec. 14, 2019
Event: UFC 245
Opponent: Max Holloway
Total reign: 1,526 days
Title defenses: Max Holloway, Brian Ortega, Chan Sung Jung, Max Holloway, Yair Rodriguez

Yair Rodriguez (interim)

Feb 12, 2023; Perth, WA, AUSTRALIA; Yair Rodriguez (red gloves) is interviewed after defeating Josh Emmett (not pictured) during UFC 284 at RAC Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jasmin Frank-USA TODAY Sports

Date: Feb. 12, 2023
Event: UFC 284
Opponent: Josh Emmett
Total reign: N/A
Title defenses: None

Ilia Topuria

Feb 17, 2024; Anaheim, California, USA; Ilia Topuria celebrates his championship victory against Alexander Volkanovski during UFC 298 at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Date: Feb. 17, 2024
Event: UFC 298
Opponent: Yair Rodriguez
Total reign: Incumbent
Title defenses: None

The British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) are collaborating with English Heritage site, Bolsover castle, to host yoga sessions within its ancient walls, starting Saturday 14 September 2024. In line with BWY’s vision to make yoga accessible to all, they’re inviting people of all ages and abilities to experience the transformative power of yoga in a historical setting.

The two-hour yoga sessions will be led by Sally Kennedy, Midlands Regional Officer for BWY. To promote inclusivity, BWY are funding five spaces, to be allocated through recommendations from local support services for vulnerable members of the community. There is also a sliding payment scale, starting at £15.

Each yoga ticket also includes entry to the castle (normally £12.70), offering an opportunity to make a day of it and explore Bolsover’s rich history as well. The yoga sessions are part of a wider community outreach programme at Bolsover Castle and complement creative writing workshops aiming to support the mental health of young people.

“Partnering with an English Heritage site is a great opportunity for BWY, and we’re excited to bring yoga to such a stunning place,” said BWY Chair Diana O’Reilly. “These sessions reflect our strong commitment to making yoga more accessible and inclusive for everyone. Not only will participants gain from the wellbeing benefits yoga offers, but they’ll also forge a deeper connection to the castle and its rich history.”

Joel Wileman, Bolsover Castle Supervisor at English Heritage said: “Our partnership with BWY supports our mission to reimagine this historic site not just as a place to preserve and share its remarkable story, but as a vibrant, communal space for all to enjoy. These yoga sessions invite new audiences to experience the castle in a fresh, engaging way, while offering regular visitors a unique perspective on this iconic landmark.”

For more information and to book your place, visit:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/yoga-at-bolsover-castle-tickets-949264213817?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

About BWY

The British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) is committed to sharing yoga’s transformative power and rich heritage through events and education. Guided by yoga’s principles and traditions, BWY’s mission is to enrich lives through yoga, increasing accessibility and inclusivity. Established as a registered charity in 1965 and recognised as the National Governing Body for Yoga by Sport England and Sport Wales, BWY serves more than 5000 members and is supported by a 100-strong local volunteer network and a small central team.