Sports quiz of the week: animals, animosity and a new world record

1. Andy Farrell asked a couple of famous Irishmen to talk to his players before their big match against England in the Six Nations on Sunday. Paul O’Connell, who won 108 caps for Ireland, spent a few days with the team. Who else did the Ireland coach call upon for a motivational speech?

   1. Liam Neeson

   2. Graham Norton

   3. Bono

   4. Conor McGregor

2. The match at Twickenham will pit Andy Farrell against his son, Owen, who is now the England captain. The pair played together briefly for Saracens in 2008. Who was their manager at the time?

   1. Andy’s father

   2. Andy’s brother

   3. Andy’s father-in-law

   4. Eddie Jones

3. Manchester City have been banned from European competitions for two years. City have a pretty dire record in Europe anyway. They have only one won European trophy in their history: the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1970. In the final, they beat a team from which country?

   1. Scotland

   2. Switzerland

   3. Hungary

   4. Poland

4. Leonardo Pavoletti is having a rough time at the minute. The Cagliari striker injured his knee in the first game of the season and then, just as he was about to make a comeback, he injured it again and is now facing another six months on the sidelines. How did he injure his knee second time around?

   1. He fell off a ladder while fixing a hole in his ceiling

   2. He was playing football in his garden with his six-year-old son

   3. He injured it while on a night out with teammates

   4. He tripped over a chair while at the hairdressers

5. Srinivas Gowda, a 28-year-old sprinter from India, ran 100 metres in 9.55 seconds this week. Why is Usain Bolt’s record of 9.58 seconds safe?

   1. He was wearing Nike’s new trainers, which are not allowed in record attempts

   2. He was running on a treadmill

   3. The track slopes downhill too much to be considered for world records

   4. He was being pulled along by two buffalos

6. Why has a footballer in the French lower leagues been banned from playing for five years?

   1. He locked a referee in the changing room after the game and he was stuck in the stadium overnight

   2. He was caught peeing (and worse) on the referee’s car before the game

   3. He took off the referee’s glasses and stood on them

   4. He bit an opponent on the penis

7. Liverpool have lost one game in the Premier League in the last two seasons. How many have they lost in the Champions League in the same time period?

   1. Two

   2. Four

   3. Six

   4. Eight

8. Mondo Duplantis set a new pole vault world record on Saturday, breaking the world record he set the Saturday before. What is the new record?

   1. 5.09 metres

   2. 6.18 metres

   3. 7.27 metres

   4. 8.36 metres

9. On the subject of new world records, Joshua Cheptegei ran the fastest ever 5K road race this week. What was his time?

   1. 10 minutes, 44 seconds

   2. 12 minutes, 51 seconds

   3. 14 minutes, 15 seconds

   4. 16 minutes, 11 seconds

10. Which team played in the Champions League this week with a front three made up of players born in Leeds, London and Sunderland?

    1. Liverpool

    2. Tottenham

    3. Borussia Dortmund

    4. Atalanta

Solutions

1:C - "We were blown away that he gave his time up to come over and see us," said Farrell. "We invited him in. He was top of the wish list. He put a lot of time and effort into it as well. He is obviously a proud Irishman, so he talked a bit about Irishness. He loves his rugby, he’s a big fan. We wanted to ask him to sing, but nobody had the nerve to do it. We had the guitar around the corner hiding!", 2:D - Who will be Owen’s manager and Andy’s adversary on Sunday., 3:D - City beat Górnik Zabrze in the final. Neither team has reached a European final since., 4:C - Pavoletti denies he was in a fight. "We came out of the restaurant, start joking around and pushing each other. I felt my knee give way and found myself on the ground without really knowing why. It was just bad luck.", 5:D - Yes, really. Gowda can run 100m in less than 11 seconds, but he only hits world record pace with the help of a herd., 6:D - Hostilities between Terville and Soetrich continued after the match, spilling into the dressing room and then the car park. When a Terville player stepped in to calm things down, an opponent bit his member. The victim needed 12 stitches and had to take four days off work to recover. The teams are playing again in May, which should be fun., 7:C - They lost games to Napoli, Red Star Belgrade, PSG and Barcelona last season and have lost to Napoli and Atlético Madrid this season., 8:B - The record was 6.16 metres before Duplantis came along. He set a new record of 6.17m a fortnight ago and then broke it last Saturday. The 20-year-old was born in the US but represents Sweden, where his mother was born., 9:B - The record for the track race is even quicker at 12 minutes, 37 seconds., 10:C - Erling Braut Haaland was born in Leeds; Jadon Sancho was born in London; and Giovanni Reyna was born in Sunderland. The three players did not start the game – and Sancho is the only one who represents England – but they were on the field together in the second half when Dortmund scored their two goals.

Scores

1. 1 and above.

   Ah well. Have a good weekend

2. 2 and above.

   Ah well. Have a good weekend

3. 3 and above.

   Ah well. Have a good weekend

4. 4 and above.

   A fine score. Have a good weekend

5. 5 and above.

   A fine score. Have a good weekend

6. 6 and above.

   A fine score. Have a good weekend

7. 7 and above.

   A fine score. Have a good weekend

8. 8 and above.

   A fantastic score. Have a great weekend

9. 9 and above.

   A fantastic score. Have a great weekend

10. 0 and above.

    Ah well. Have a good weekend

11. 10 and above.

    A fantastic score. Have a great weekend