Today's sports news: What you need to know

Latest - The Warriors have received a boost on the back of their first win of the NRL season.

Expected to be out for three to four weeks with a pectoral strain he picked up in the first-round, playmaker Shaun Johnson has been named on the side's extended bench for Saturday's match against Brisbane.

Johnson had returned returning to team training this week, although head coach Nathan Brown had still named Kodi Nikorima and Chanel Harris-Tavita as the starting halves.

There was, though, only one change to the 17 who held on for a 16-12 win over the Wests Tigers in round three.

With second rower Bayley Sironen ruled out, Jack Murchie had been promoted from 18th man.

WARRIORS: Reece Walsh, Adam Pompey, Jesse Arthars, Rocco Berry, Marcelo Montoya, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Kodi Nikorima, Addin Fonua-Blake, Wayde Egan, Matt Lodge, Euan Aitken, Eliesa Katoa, Josh Curran. Interchange: Jazz Tevaga, Bunty Afoa, Aaron Pene, Jack Murchie. Reserves: Taniela Otukolo, Ben Murdoch-Masila, Pride Petterson-Robati, Peesi Kepu, Junior Ratuva, Shaun Johnson, Edward Kosi.

Stars succumb to Covid

The Stars next two ANZ premiership netball matches have been postponed with several players coming down with COVID-19.

The Stars were due to play the Tactix on Saturday and the Southern Steel on Monday but both games will now be rescheduled.

The other matches this round - Mystics against Steel, Mystics against the Tactix and the Magic against the Pulse are still all on.

Chelsea owner suffers suspected poisoning

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning at talks in Kyiv earlier this month, sources close to him say.

The Chelsea FC owner - who has now recovered - reportedly suffered sore eyes and skin peeling.

Two Ukrainian peace negotiators were also said to have been affected.

The Wall Street Journal reported claims the alleged poisoning was orchestrated by hardliners in Russia who wanted to sabotage the talks.

The conditions of Mr Abramovich and the Ukrainian negotiators, who include Ukrainian MP Rustem Umerov, have improved since the incident on 3 March, the paper quoted sources as saying.

A source close to Mr Abramovich told the BBC he had suffered symptoms of suspected poisoning. They said he had now recovered and was continuing with negotiations to try and end the war in Ukraine.

The incident casts light on Mr Abramovich's reported role as a broker in talks between Ukraine and Russia. The exact nature of his position is unclear, but a spokesperson for the oligarch has previously said his influence is "limited".

Mr Abramovich was sanctioned by the EU and UK earlier this month over his alleged links to Russia's President Putin, which he denies.

-BBC

Van Gaal warns Ten Hag about joing Manchester United

Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal has warned Ajax Amsterdam's Erik ten Hag against taking up the manager's role at Manchester United, urging him to choose a football club over a "commercial" one.

Van Gaal managed United between 2014 and 2016, leading them to FA Cup success in his final season before being sacked and replaced by Jose Mourinho.

Ten Hag, 52, is among a handful of names linked to the top job at United, with interim manager Ralf Rangnick's tenure set to end after the current season.

"Erik ten Hag is a great coach and that is always good for Manchester United," Van Gaal said.

"But Manchester United are a commercial club, so it's a difficult choice for a coach ... he would be better going to a football club. I'm not going to advise him, he'll call me himself. But he must choose a football club and not a commercial club."

The 52-year-old Ten Hag was appointed by Ajax during the 2017-18 campaign and led them to the Dutch league title in 2019 and 2021, as well as the Champions League semi-finals in 2019.

-Reuters

World Rugby to investigate player eligibility

World Rugby is set to convene an independent judicial committee to determine whether Spain breached player eligibility rules during the 2021-22 Rugby Europe Championship that gave them a World Cup spot.

Spain secured a World Cup berth for the first time since 1999 with a 33-28 win over Portugal earlier this month to finish second in the Rugby Europe Championship.

A source close to the Spanish team told Reuters that Romania, who missed out on automatic qualification for the World Cup by finishing third behind Spain, had filed the complaint.

The source added that the player in question was Gavin van den Berg, who is of South African origin and made his debut for Spain against the Netherlands in December.

Romania could still qualify for the World Cup by winning the final qualification tournament being held in November 2022.

Spain were docked points for repeatedly fielding ineligible players in the qualifying tournament for the 2019 World Cup.

-Reuters

Positive signs fo Beauden Barrett

All Blacks first five Beauden Barrett is showing positive signs in his recovery from his latest head knock over the weekend, with no ongoing symptoms of concussion, Blues head coach Leon MacDonald said.

Barrett was forced off in the Blues' Super Rugby victory over the Highlanders in Dunedin on Saturday, weeks after saying he feared his career was over due to concussion symptoms.

The 30-year-old, who recently returned to action following a concussion suffered against Ireland in November, was taken off in the 41st minute after a collision with Highlanders centre Fetuli Paea and is currently in recovery protocols.

"There is a mandatory (10-day) stand-down period when you get a bang to the head which he's going to sit out. The early signs are positive -- other than a mangled up face, he's come out pretty well," MacDonald said.

"He's got a sore neck and he's not too happy about that, but he's looking pretty good at the moment, which is promising."

MacDonald said the Blues had played it safe with twice World Player of the Year Barrett.

"We were extra cautious in the way we brought Beauden back (earlier this season). We didn't push him in early, we gave him extra time to make sure he was really comfortable, that it was completely gone and he felt good," MacDonald said.

The Blues play Moana Pasifika tonight.

-Reuters

Time for Root to give up captaincy

Former England cricket captain Michael Atherton says current skipper Joe Root should step down following their 10-wicket defeat by the West Indies in the deciding third test.

England have won just one of their previous 17 tests and the pressure had been mounting on Root even before their 1-0 series defeat in the Caribbean, which followed a 4-0 thrashing by Australia in the Ashes series.

"As was obvious to anyone who was in Australia, and should have been obvious to anyone who wasn't, Root has reached the end of the road as captain," Atherton wrote in The Times.

"A change will not cure all ills -- this is a poor team and England are paying the price for the neglect of the first-class game -- but there simply comes a time when a captain has nothing new to say, no new methods of motivating his players and a different voice or different style is required.

Root wants to continue in the role but another former skipper, Nasser Hussain, said it was time for a change.

"The England captaincy was the best job in the world and it is not one you keep doing simply because there is a perception no one else is capable of taking over," Hussain wrote in the Daily Mail.

"We're talking about the England captaincy. It is too important for that."

Michael Vaughan said England would lose nothing by replacing Root as captain.

"What are we going to miss? We are not going to miss his runs because he will keep scoring those," the former skipper wrote in The Telegraph.

-Reuters

Canadian gymnasts want investigation into their sport

A group of more than 70 current and former Canadian gymnasts have called for an independent investigation into what they described as a "toxic culture and abusive practices" within their sport in the country.

The gymnasts, who are and have been members of the Olympic team and national team, said in a letter sent to Sport Canada's director general Vicki Walker that for nearly a decade the fear of retribution prevented them from speaking out.

"We can no longer sit in silence," the letter said. "We are coming forward with our experiences of abuse, neglect, and discrimination in hopes of forcing change.

"We ask Sport Canada to take action to ensure the next generation of Canadian gymnasts is not subject to the physical and psychological trauma that we have had to endure."

According to the letter, there have been multiple complaints and arrests for various forms of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse and that the subject of the complaints have been Canadian coaches, many of whom the athletes were exposed to as minors.

Gymnastics New Zealand has gone through a review and is still implementing change to the culture within their sport.

-Reuters

AFL star gets his record ball back

Sydney Swans forward Lance "Buddy" Franklin has been reunited with the ball he used to kick his 1,000th career goal in the Australian Rules top flight after a supporter who caught it returned it to him.

Thousands of Swans fans swamped the Sydney Cricket Ground in celebration on Friday when the 35-year-old became the first player in 26 years -- and the sixth overall -- to reach the landmark figure.

Alex Wheeler, a Swans fan in the crowd on Friday, said that he sustained bruises as he caught the ball before rushing out of the SCG and heading home to keep the it safe.

"I had a few stubbies that night and went to the pub after, but got paranoid that someone would get it from my house so went home pretty early. It was always my intention to get it back to the Swans and Buddy," Wheeler said.

A delighted Franklin reflected on his landmark goal, which came after a run of injuries over the years.

"It was just a special moment to have those people who have been through everything with me for the last 18 years," Franklin said. "It meant the world to me to have them there.

Wheeler received a pair of boots, a Swans jersey and another ball, all signed by Franklin, in return for the ball.

-Reuters