Short Sport, December 13, 2012

British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland has named Rob Howley, Graham Rowntree and Andy Farrell as his assistants for next year's tour of Australia. Both Howley and Rowntree will be undertaking their second Lions tours and Farrell will be on his first. The Lions begin the tour with a match against the Barbarians on June 1 in Hong Kong before travelling to Australia, where they play five warm-up matches ahead of the first of three games against the Wallabies. "I am confident that Rob, Graham, Andy and myself can come together quickly to face one of the hardest rugby challenges," Gatland said. Reuters

Teenage swim sensation Ye Shiwen and fellow London Olympic gold medallist Jiao Liuyang headline China's team for next month's inaugural Aquatic Super Series in Perth, organisers said yesterday. Ye, who scored a medley double at the London Games, will rekindle her rivalry with Australia's Alicia Coutts at the meet on January 18-19 which also features swimmers from South Africa. Coutts, Australia's best performer in the pool in London with five medals, took silver behind Ye in the Olympic 200m individual medley final. Another Olympic gold medallist, London 200m butterfly champion Jiao, is part of the strong mainland team but distance superstar Sun Yang is missing. Chad le Clos spearheads the South African line-up. La Clos shocked the world when he defeated American great Michael Phelps in his pet event, the 200m butterfly in London, as well as winning silver in the 100m butterfly. AFP