SYDNEY, Australia -- Fiji-born winger Henry Speight was picked by Australia for the Rugby Championship next month even though h

SYDNEY, Australia -- Fiji-born winger Henry Speight was picked by Australia for the Rugby Championship next month even though hes available for only the last three of their six matches. Al-Farouq Aminu Jersey . Speight wont be eligible to play for the Wallabies until Sept. 11, the end of his 36-month wait to play test rugby. The winger made his debut for the ACT Brumbies in 2011, but a short stint playing for Waikato in the New Zealand provincial championship delayed his eligibility for the Wallabies, who arent wasting any time to include him. The first match hes available for will be against Argentina on Sept. 13 on the Gold Coast. Luke Burgess was in the 32-man squad named on Wednesday in place of scrumhalf Will Genia, who may still be recalled in the series if he recovers from an ankle injury. Genias Queensland teammate, flyhalf Quade Cooper, was also omitted as he recuperates from hip and shoulder surgeries, while winger Joe Tomane replaces Nick Cummins, who has left to play in Japan. The squad, captained by Michael Hooper, includes 25 players who featured in the 3-0 sweep of France last month. "Weve come a long way as a group over the past 12 months and the consistency were now applying across selections, high-performance behaviours, and our playing style is a positive sign that we are heading in the right direction," coach Ewen McKenzie said. "The challenge for us now is to continue this consistency." There are 11 players each from New South Wales and ACT, who meet in the Super Rugby semifinals on Saturday in Sydney. The Rugby Championship, from Aug. 16 to Oct. 4, opens with the Wallabies hosting the All Blacks in Sydney. ------ Australia:: Forwards: Ben Alexander, Pek Cowan, James Slipper, Sekope Kepu, Scott Sio, Tatafu Polota-Nau, James Hanson, Nathan Charles, James Horwill, Rob Simmons, Will Skelton, Sam Carter, Scott Fardy, Scott Higginbotham, Michael Hooper (captain), Matt Hodgson, Wycliff Palu, Ben McCalman. Backs: Nic White, Nick Phipps, Luke Burgess, Bernard Foley, Kurtley Beale, Matt Toomua, Christian Lealiifano, Tevita Kuridrani, Rob Horne, Joe Tomane, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Henry Speight, Pat McCabe, Israel Folau. DeMarcus Cousins Jersey . The defeat leaves the 41-year-old Nestor to concentrate on the mixed-doubles event after winning 12 straight matches and winning Australian titles in Brisbane and Sydney with two different partners. "This was a little bit of a let down, but all credit to them," said Nestor. Kenrich Williams Jersey . The Nuggets leading scorer, Lawson is characterized as day to day by the team. Hes averaging 17.9 points and 8.9 assists. Lawson suffered the injury late in Denvers win Sunday at Sacramento. https://www.cheappelicans.com/ . - The Pittsburgh Pirates plan on keeping promising left fielder Starling Marte playing alongside National League MVP Andrew McCutchen for years to come.A breakout game for the Kings’ top line, continued production from Nick Foligno, lots of lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Kings top line – Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar ignited the comeback against St. Louis, leading to a 6-4 win over the Blues. Carter had a goal and three assists, Gaborik had two goals and an assist, and Kopitar racked up a five-points (1 G, 4 A) game. Even with that game, Carter has all of seven points – one goal – in the past 14 games. Gaborik is on a three-game goal-scoring streak, during which he’s scored five goals; he had four goals in his first 18 games of the season. Kopitar, who is playing almost two minutes less per game this season (a career-low 18:54 per game) had four points (1 G, 3 A) in the previous 13 games before breaking out for his career-best five-point game against St. Louis. Nick Foligno – The Blue Jackets’ winger continued his remarkable start to the season with two goals and an assist in a 5-4 overtime loss to Washington. Foligno is the leading scorer among players slated to be unrestricted free agents next summer. On this list, I’ve also included each player’s on-ice shooting percentage, to indicate which players may be primed for regression. TOP-SCORING UFAs PLAYER TEAM POS GP G A PTS ON-ICE SH% Nick Foligno CBJ LW 30 16 14 30 10.8% Mike Ribeiro NSH C 30 9 17 26 10.6% Martin St. Louis NYR RW 29 10 13 23 10.7% Mike Santorelli TOR RW 32 6 16 22 12.8% Antoine Vermette ARI C 31 8 13 21 7.2% Carl Soderberg BOS C 32 6 15 21 9.1% Curtis Glencross CGY LW 33 6 15 21 9.4% Cody Franson TOR D 60 5 15 20 11.7% Jaromir Jagr NJ RW 32 5 15 20 7.4% Blake Comeau PIT RW 30 11 8 19 8.7% Calvin Pickard – Stopped 47 of 48 shots in a 1-0 loss at Pittsburgh. The 2010 second-round pick has been good (.934 SV%) in 11 games with the Avalanche this year and has a .920 save percentage in 13 AHL games this season. ZEROES Matt Duchene – Playing primarily against Sidney Crosby at even strength, the Avalanche centre was held without a shot attempt in 20:31 and had 40.6% possession (13 shot attempts for, 19 against) in a 1-0 overtime loss against Pittsburgh. Daniel Winnik – The reliable Maple Leafs winger did not have a shot attempt and was crushed in possession (3 shot attempts for, 16 against, 15.8%) in a 4-1 loss at Carolina. Martin Brodeur – After being staked to a 3-0 lead at Los Angeles, the Blues goaltender allowed six goals on 37 shots in a 6-4 loss at Los Angeles. Through four games with St. Louis, Brodeur has an .882 save percentage. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Sidney Crosby – Pittsburgh’s superstar was back in the lineup after a few games off with mumps. He played 20:19 in his first game in 10 days. Christian Ehrhoff – Left Thursday’s game against Colorado with an undisclosed injury. If Ehrhoff is out, and with Olli Maatta now dealing with mumps, Brian Dumoulin would figure to get back into the Pittsburgh lineup. Max Pacioretty – The Canadiens left winger was crushed by Ducks D Clayton Stoner and left Thursday’s game. Vincent Lecavalier – Playing in his first game since November 29, the Flyers centre finished with their worst possession stats (7 shot attempts for, 18 against, 28.0%) against Florida. Emerson Etem – Played 12:50 for Ducks at Montreal, his first NHL game since November 20. He had three goals in five AHL games and missed some time with the mumps. Tyson Barrie – Played 16:51 vs. Pitsburgh, his third-lowest total of the season and was crushed (6 shot attempts, 20 against, 23.1%) in terms of puck possession. Nick Holden – The Avalanche blueliner played a season-low 4:26 against Pittsburgh, the third time in the past six games that he’s skated fewer than 10 minutes. Brad Stuart – Returned to Colorado lineup after missing six weeks with a hamstring injury. Thursday’s loss to Pittsburgh marked Stuart’s 1000th career game. Robyn Regehr – The veteran Kings defenceman played 6:27 before leaving with an upper-body injury. With Regehr gone early, Drew Douughty played a career-high 34:21. ETwaun Moore Jersey. Tyler Toffoli – The Kings winger played a season-low 8:29 against St. Louis, being sent a message by head coach Darryl Sutter (more on Toffoli in Short Shifts). Dmitrij Jaskin – Played for St. Louis, his first NHL game in nearly six weeks, and scored a goal in a 6-4 loss at Los Angeles. He had 15 points (4 G, 11 A) in 18 AHL games. Melker Karlsson – The 24-year-old undrafted free agent from Sweden picked up a couple assists in the 4-3 win over Edmonton. SHORT SHIFTS Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 29 shots he faced against Colorado, giving him a league-leading six shutouts…Ducks G Frederik Andersen stopped 23 of 24 shots in a 2-1 win at Montreal…Hurricanes G Cam Ward turned aside 25 of 26 Maple Leafs shots in a 4-1 win…Panthers G Roberto Luongo stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 2-1 shootout win at Philadelphia…Flyers G Steve Mason saved 31 of 32 shots in the loss. Hurricanes D Justin Faulk recorded a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over Toronto; it’s been a breakout offensive campaign for Faulk…Hurricanes D Andrej Sekera picked up a goal and an assist as well, giving him four points (1 G, 3 A) in the past four games…Hurricanes C Eric Staal had a pair of assists in Carolina’s win, which fits with expectations I wrote about earlier in the week…Capitals RW Eric Fehr had the overtime winning goal and an assist in a 5-4 win at Columbus; he has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the past eight games…Panthers RW Scottie Upshall scored a goal, had 10 shot attempts (6 SOG) and 79.2% Corsi in 10:23 of ice time at Philadelphia…Penguins RW Steve Downie (14 for, 3 against, 82.4%) and RW Craig Adams (13 for, 2 against. 86.7%) were both plus-11 in shot attempts against Colorado…Hurricanes C Jay McClement had excellent possession (14 shot attempts for, 3 against, 82.4%) against Toronto. Seriously. Blue Jackets C Boone Jenner had 36.0% possession (9 for, 16 against) and was on for three goals against, none for, in a 5-4 overtime loss to Washington…The Kings line of Tanner Pearson, Trevor Lewis and Tyler Toffoli all had better than 80% possession against St. Louis…Sharks C Joe Thornton had the club’s best possession stats (17 for, 5 against, 77.3%) in a 4-3 win over Edmonton…As Travis Yost pointed out on Twitter, among skaters with at least 400 minutes at 5-on-5 this season, Thornton leads the league with 58.8% Corsi. CORSI% LEADERS - MINIMUM 400 MINUTES PLAYER TEAM POS. CORSI% Joe Thornton San Jose C 58.8% Nick Leddy N.Y. Islanders D 58.5% Tomas Hertl San Jose LW 58.4% Patrice Bergeron Boston C 58.4% Anton Stralman Tampa Bay D 58.1% Jonas Brodin Minnesota D 58.1% Marian Hossa Chicago RW 58.0% Duncan Keith Chicago D 57.5% Jake Muzzin Los Angeles D 57.4% Blake Wheeler Winnipeg RW 57.2% FIRSTS Matt Tennyson – The 24-year-old Sharks defenceman registered his first NHL goal, in his eighth career game, during the Sharks’ 4-3 win over Edmonton. Scott Harrington – A second-round pick in 2011, Harrington played his first NHL game for Pittsburgh, skating 13:33 at Colorado. FANTASY FOCUS Five games tonight, five players to consider for your lineup: Evgeni Nabokov – He has an .893 save percentage and is not Tampa Bay’s best option with Ben Bishop out, but the Lightning are facing the Devils and goals have not come easily in New Jersey. Mika Zibanejad – I’m still pumping these tires. He’s the Senators’ leading scorer in December with nine points (5 G, 4 A) in eight games and, aside from last game, has recently been playing more minutes than earlier in the season. Thomas Hickey – As long as Johnny Boychuk and Travis Hamonic are out, there are more minutes available on the Islanders blueline and Hickey is one of the prime beneficiaries. Mathieu Perreault – After a slow start to the year, Perreault has started to pick up the pace, with seven points (2 G, 5 A) in the past seven games. Cody Eakin – He has a modest 11 point in 27 games this year, with one point in the past six, but Eakin has been moved to the Stars’ first power play unit. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '