内容摘要：The 10-match British and Irish Lions tour — a once-every-12-year occasion for Australia — kicks off next month and local organizers are already primed for the influx of rugby-loving visitors from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The 10-match British and Irish Lions tour — a once-every-12-year occasion for Australia — kicks off next month and local organizers are already primed for the influx of rugby-loving visitors from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Despite all the pre-match hype over the world’s most-famous rugby player, Ilona Maher wasn’t able to help her American team beat Australia on Saturday in a Pacific Four match.Australia led 19-14 at halftime and went on to beat the U.S. 27-19 in the match at Canberra stadium.

was by far the most popular player on either side in the game which preceded a men’s Super Rugby match between the ACT Brumbies and Queensland Reds as part of a doubleheader.If anyone needed persuading about the popularity angle, Australian backrower Tabua Tuinakauvadra provided it.“I’ve been talking to my friends about this,” Tuinakauvadra said ahead of the match. “This is the first game they’re coming to watch me play rugby, but they’re coming to watch Ilona first.”

Maher played recently onIt was the second loss in a row for the Americans in the tournament and the first win for Australia. In opening matches, New Zealand beat Australia 38-12 in Newcastle north of Sydney, while Canada defeated the U.S. 26-14 in Kansas City.

The 28-year-old Maher helped lead the U.S. to the

at the Paris Olympics. But the Vermont native has returned to the 15-a-side game in hopes of boosting her chances of making the U.S. team for thein November 2020, Piercey led them on a car chase before dumping his vehicle and fleeing into frigid Lake Shasta with what was later identified as a Yamaha 350LI underwater submersible device.

“Piercey spent some time out of sight underwater where law enforcement could only see bubbles,” federal prosecutors wrote in court documents calling him a flight risk.He emerged from the lake after about 20 minutes and was arrested. The underwater device was a sea scooter, or a motorized device that pulls users underwater at speeds of about 4 mph (6.4 kph).

Piercey tried to dissuade investors and witnesses from responding to grand jury subpoenas and after his arrest used coded communications from jail to direct two individuals to dispose of a U-Haul storage locker he had rented, according to the Justice Department statement.An FBI search of the locker turned up a wig and 31,000 Swiss francs, or roughly $37,000.