by The Star

Sydney - Former All Blacks coach John Mitchell said yesterday he needed to temper his coaching style at Australian Super 14 team Western Force, following complaints from players and club staff. The Force resumed pre-season training yesterday with Mitchell in charge ahead of next month's kickoff to the southern hemisphere season, but he is currently subject to an independent review initiated by the club. Mitchell (44), who is contracted to the Perth-based Force until the end of 2011, said he needed to curb his approach after the complaints forced the club to put him on restricted duties amid a mediation process.

London - Renault's double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso has had to delay his|return from holidays in Kenya after being involved in a minor plane incident, the team said yesterday. A spokeswoman said the Spaniard and his family were preparing to fly to Nairobi from team boss Flavio Briatore's vacation home in Malindi on Sunday when their private plane touched an airport building and damaged a wing. Briatore was not on board.

Sydney - Germany triumphed in a deciding mixed doubles tiebreaker to defeat Australia 2-1 in their Group A clash at the Hopman Cup in Perth yesterday. Germans Nicolas Kiefer and Sabine Lisicki won the deciding tiebreaker 10-5 to clinch the match 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 after the two singles rubbers had been split. Lisicki gave Germany the lead when she beat Casey Dellacqua 4-6, 6-2, 7-5, but Australia squared the tie when Lleyton Hewitt defeated Kiefer 6-7,|6-3, 6-2. Despite the loss, Hewitt said he was encouraged by his own performance in his first match since undergoing hip surgery in August.

Madrid - A referee in Spain issued 19 red cards as a regional match degenerated into a brawl, a sports newspaper said yesterday. The game involved Recreativo Linense and Saladillo Algesiras in the regional first division of the southern province of Cadiz, Marca said on its website. Linense were leading 1-0 and the referee had already issued one red card when a fight broke out between two players, which escalated into a brawl involving several players and spectators who invaded the pitch. Referee Jos? Manuel Barro Escandon then fled to the locker room and stopped the match. In his post-match report, he wrote that he had sent off 19 players.

Rome - Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon is one of several first team players back to full fitness after being out for three months with a muscle tear in his right leg. "Buffon, (Cristiano) Zanetti, (Christian) Poulsen and Hasan Salihamidzic are fully recovered. Tiago is on the way to being fit, while (David) Trezeguet is ahead of schedule, but will return to the group only when the surgeon gives the okay," coach Claudio Ranieri told reporters. Trezeguet, who had knee surgery in September, will therefore miss today's friendly with Monaco in Messina and Sunday's Serie A home league game with Siena.

London - Peter Moores is set to find out later this week whether he will still be England's coach,|according to reports in the British press here yesterday. Moores' relationship with England captain Kevin Pietersen has broken down to the point where it now seems all but impossible it can be|repaired before the squad depart for the tour of the West Indies on January 21. - Sapa-AP/AFP/Reuters

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