Heineken Cup hopes hanging in the balance for off-colour Sarries January 12, 2014 SARACENS director of rugby Mark McCall is eyeing victory against Connacht next weekend in order to restore his side’s reputation among Europe’s elite following yesterday’s 21-11 Heineken Cup defeat to Toulouse. The Aviva Premiership leaders trailed 12-8 at the break as Chris Ashton’s unconverted try and an Owen Farrell penalty was trumped by four Jean-Marc [...]
Goode calls on Sarries to clear mental hurdle January 9, 2014 SARACENS full-back Alex Goode insists his team-mates must overcome a mental barrier to beat Toulouse in Sunday’s crucial Heineken Cup clash. The French side, four-times champions of Europe, emerged with a narrow 17-16 win when the top two teams in Pool 3 met at Wembley in October. And Goode feels a full 80-minute performance from [...]
City Moves for 8 January 2014 | Who’s switching jobs January 7, 2014 Markel The insurance company has announced the appointment of Maren Modena as a senior risk analyst in its trade credit division. She was most recently at Euler Hermes UK, where she worked for nine years as a senior risk underwriter. Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management The asset and wealth management business has recruited Michael Lee as [...]
The Queen’s list honours the City January 5, 2014 THE NEW Year’s Honours List of OBEs, CBEs, Knighthoods and everything in-between contains more decorations than Claridge’s Christmas Tree, and this year the City had a number of notable inclusions. Former Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker got a knighthood, as did former Lord Mayor Roger Gifford, while chair of Land Securities, Alison Carnwath, [...]
Smith hopeful O’Connor will stay with Irish January 5, 2014 LONDON Irish director of rugby Brian Smith intends to pull out all the stops to keep hold of full-back James O’Connor after the Australian’s latest masterclass. O’Connor scored his first Exiles try and kicked 17 points in Saturday’s 22-9 triumph over Worcester Warriors. The 23-year-old joined the club in October and while he is already [...]
Aviva pledges £500m towards infrastructure projects in the UK December 19, 2013 AVIVA has committed £500m to invest in UK infrastructure projects in sectors including transport, hospitals and utilities. The insurance group said yesterday that its commitment follows a deal on new European capital requirements for insurers – known as Solvency II – which had proved less burdensome than initially feared, freeing up more money to invest. [...]
Complaints fall at most of UK’s train operators December 19, 2013 COMPLAINTS about Britain’s trains fell sharply in the three months to the end of September, which the regulator hailed yesterday as part of a long-term decline in passenger grievances. Train operators got 26 complaints for every 100,000 customers in the quarter, down 19 per cent on a year ago, the Office of Rail Regulation said. [...]
Tomkins eyes extended Test run December 19, 2013 HE WAS described during the autumn internationals as simply keeping the England No13 shirt warm for the injured Manu Tuilagi, but Saracens centre Joel Tomkins has very different ideas. With Lions duo Brad Barritt and Tuilagi injured, head coach Stuart Lancaster turned to the inexperienced pair of Tomkins and Gloucester’s Billy Twelvetrees to fire England’s [...]
City Moves for 16 December 2013 | Who’s switching jobs December 15, 2013 Fladgate The law firm has made two appointments. Ian Brent (right) joins as a corporate partner. He was previously head of corporate at Davies Arnold Cooper and head of London corporate at Halliwells. Melissa Needham joins as a corporate associate from DAC Beachcroft. BDO The accountancy firm has recruited Neil Williams as a director in [...]
Quins and Wasps triumph to boost Euro prospects December 15, 2013 HARLEQUINS continued their Heineken Cup resurgence with a 17-3 win over Racing Metro yesterday and director of rugby Conor O’Shea insists his side are right back in the hunt for a quarter-final berth. Fly-half Nick Evans kicked three penalties before suffering a shoulder injury, while wing Charlie Walker crossed just seconds before the break to [...]