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Good Week/Bad Week

We pick out the winners and losers from the last seven days in sport

Image: Australia: Have the upper hand in the Ashes after crushing win in first Test

Another week in the world of sport has given us another group of heroes and villains to analyse.

Bad week

Howard Foster
The most highly-anticipated British fight of the year between Carl Froch and George Groves delivered on the hype and then some, but many believed its ending was unsatisfactory. IBF and WBA super-middleweight champion Froch was a big favourite going into the bout but was shockingly floored with a thunderous right hand from the challenger in the opening round. Groves went on to dominate the early stages as he backed up Froch with jabs and more straight rights, but the Nottingham fighter somehow started to come forward and eventually forced his way into the fight. Froch may have been moments away from a heroic, come-from-behind clean knockout win in the ninth round but referee Foster elected to step in a bit prematurely, meaning a boxing classic was brought to an anticlimactic finish.
Lewis Hamilton
A week which began with his comments on team radio being questioned ended with the 2008 world champion falling foul of the stewards. The Mercedes driver appeared to give conflicting instructions to his race engineer Peter Bonnington at the United States Grand Prix, but a frustrated Hamilton insisted the dialogue was misconstrued. Any hopes of putting the issue to bed with a strong performance in the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix were then scuppered when he was given a drive-through penalty for a collision with Valterri Bottas, denying him the chance to fight for a podium place.
Stuart Manley
A hole-in-one does not normally lead to disappointment, but that was certainly the case for Welshman Manley at the World Cup of Golf in Australia. The 34-year-old carded an ace at the third hole on Saturday and quickly began eyeing up a new Mercedes Benz, which he thought would be the reward for his feat. But he was subsequently told that the vehicle was only available for a hole-in-one on Sunday, and to make matters even worse he went on to take 11 (yes, eleven) shots at the next hole to drop out of contention.
England
England were mere seconds away from reaching the Rugby League World Cup final on Saturday when they were denied a shot at the global title in the most agonising of circumstances. Holding an 18-14 lead and with opponents New Zealand at midfield with the hooter approaching, Steve McNamara's side looked like sure winners. But the Kiwis improved their field position after a high tackle from George Burgess and Shaun Johnson then danced over the line before converting his own try with time expired.

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