Pool 3: Harlequins 61-10 Stormers Quins score nine tries against much-changed opponents Harlequins back? Or is this latest outrageous twist in the story of their inconsistency a case of same old, same old? First, it needs to be acknowledged that this was a comprehensive dismantling of a side who had...
Gabriel Martinelli hat-trick guides Arsenal to win at stubborn Portsmouth
Gabriel Martinelli ended Arsenal’s last game as public enemy No 1 with Liverpool fans and Gary Neville after his clash with Conor Bradley on Thursday. But the Brazilian was his team’s saviour against Portsmouth, after the Championship side had threatened briefly to record their first win against the Premier League...
Ashes calamity has trashed McCullum’s credibility. It’s time to call on Alec Stewart | Mark Ramprakash
England’s best performances came when the players didn’t follow the coach’s rhetoric and that highlights the problem with his one-dimensional approach The curtain came down on the Ashes in Sydney with England again being outplayed in the basics of the game. But it is one thing to have a weak...
Guard at Winter Olympic construction site dies in freezing conditions
55-year-old worker died during overnight shift Temperatures plunged to -12C in Cortina d’Ampezzo A guard at a construction site near a 2026 Winter Olympic venue in the mountain resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo died during a freezing overnight shift, authorities have confirmed. Italy’s infrastructure minister, Matteo Salvini, called for a full...
Trick play helps 49ers eliminate Super Bowl champion Eagles from NFL playoffs
San Francisco 49ers 23-19 Philadelphia Eagles Niners will play Seahawks in divisional round AFC wildcard: Allen shines as Bills beat Jags Brock Purdy threw a go-ahead touchdown pass to Christian McCaffrey late in the fourth quarter, San Francisco used a trick play on a TD toss from wide receiver Jauan...
Shaun Murphy crashes out of Masters on opening day of title defence
Murphy defeated 6-2 by China’s Wu Yize UK champion Mark Selby also knocked out The defending champion Shaun Murphy is out of the Masters after a shock 6-2 defeat against China’s Wu Yize on the opening day of the 2026 tournament at Alexandra Palace. Wu, the world No 13, dominated...
Tom Willis wins family affair to help Saracens topple Toulouse in Champions Cup
Pool 1: Saracens 20-14 Toulouse Rotimi Segun also scores twice for Prem side Even for the world’s best rugby player it is not all glamour. As he sniffed the damp air on a blustery, cheerless Sunday night in north London, Antoine Dupont must privately have been wondering if this was...
FA Cup third round: 10 talking points from the weekend’s football
Crystal Palace’s stars wilt, Manchester City’s youngsters shine, and Liam Rosenior starts in stylish fashion Playing against lower-league opposition as a top-flight side in the FA Cup is like batting on the first morning of a Test match – you cannot really win and failure can prompt humiliation and reputational...
Michael Carrick emerges as favourite to be Manchester United interim manager
Former midfielder ahead of Solskjær after interviews Darren Fletcher admits he is in the dark over his position Michael Carrick has emerged as the favourite candidate to be Manchester United’s interim manager for the rest of the season ahead of Ole Gunnar Solskjær after the interview process, with the club’s...
England’s Ashes has been a disaster but touring Australia with a disability has been ‘too easy’
Going to Australia as a freelance journalist with a form of muscular dystrophy was not without trepidation but an away Ashes was too good to pass up “Australia is not for weak men.” Had I heard Ben Stokes’s words in Brisbane earlier perhaps I wouldn’t have decided to cover the...