Sport In Brief: England suffer whitewash at hands of Black Ferns

Here’s Jonny: Jonny Brownlee (right) won in Hamburg (Getty Images)

England’s women rugby union side crashed to a 3-0 series whitewash in New Zealand after losing their final tour game in Pukekohe yesterday.

World champions New Zealand, who won the opening matches 29-10 and 14-9, put four tries past England with Claire Richardson, Aroha Savage, Selica Winiata and Kendra Cocksedge going over for the hosts.

Rochelle Clark scored England’s solitary try on her 80th appearance at the start of the second half but it was not enough to deny New Zealand. “This is obviously not the way we wanted to finish the tour but there were still parts of the game that we were pleased with,” said England head coach Gary Street. “We came here to see where we are 12 months away from the World Cup. To come to New Zealand and play the best opposition around gives us a real indicator of what we have to do before August 2014.”

Motorcycling: Sykes crashes in Moscow

Davide Giugliano will start on pole in the World Superbike Championship for the first time in Moscow today, after taking advantage of Briton Tom Sykes’ crash. The 23-year-old Italian managed a lap of 1min 34.676sec to secure first place ahead of Welshman Chaz Davies. Giugliano made the most of championship leader Sykes crashing in the third session, when the Kawasaki rider took a tumble at turn three, putting an end to his pole position streak after six successive wins. The Brit will now start from ninth at Moscow Raceway – his lowest starting position since 2011. “I just lost the front at the very last moment in turn three,” Sykes said. “[But] it is not so bad and it is in the races where you make up points.”

Rugby league: Long leaves Wigan role

Wigan Warriors have confirmed that Sean Long has left his role with immediate effect, less than three months after being appointed assistant coach at the DW Stadium. The former Great Britain international, 36, joined in April after resigning as assistant coach of Salford City Reds. “The parting was mutual and Wigan wish Sean well in his next role,” a statement released by the club said. Scrum-half Long began his playing career with the Warriors, his hometown club, in 1994. He went on to have spells for Widnes, St Helens and Hull.

Triathlon: Brownlees’ Hamburg battle

Jonny Brownlee beat his brother Alistair into second place at the World Triathlon Series in Hamburg. The pair were challenged by Spain’s Javier Gomez but the British brothers kicked for home in the run, with Jonny outsprinting brother Alistair.