The Guardian

Meredith dropped from match-day 23 after defeat to England Valetini named in XV with Australia out to avoid fourth straight loss The Wallabies have restored Carter Gordon and Rob Valetini to their starting crew, convinced the pair will be the difference makers as they seek to right their creaking ship in dangerous Scottish waters. Announcing the team to face Scotland on Sunday (Monday AEDT), coac…

Florian Wirtz on target in Germany’s 3-1 win in Serbia Tijjani Reijnders hat-trick as Netherlands hammer Greece Germany cruised to a 3-1 win against Serbia in Belgrade on Friday, setting up a crunch encounter with the Netherlands in Berlin on Monday to decide who tops Group A2. In teeming rain in an almost empty stadium, the Germans forced Serbia’s Srdan Babic into an early own goal with Florian …

France 21-19 South Africa Scrum-half key in thriller full of twists and turns Friday night at the Stade de France may just be the best show in sport. The French had laid on a full Cecil B DeMille production: fireworks, flamethrowers, floodlights, a multicoloured drone show involving a three-storey-tall cockerel that then reassembled itself into a beating red, blue and white heart before transform…

England dismissed for just 131 in opening ODI in Perth McCullum: ‘KP’s message will be measured but firm’ Brendon McCullum has backed Kevin Pietersen to help educate England’s batting lineup before the “­specialist mentor” he hired in the summer leaves the tour of Australia after Sunday’s second one-day ­international in Adelaide. The collapse to 131 all out for a seven-wicket defeat in Perth on …

Steve Borthwick is ringing the changes and George Ford, despite his 108 caps, also knows he needs to perform In Tokyo this week the police have been seeking to help newly arrived visitors from overseas. Several local bar and restaurant managers have been arrested for targeting and ripping off unwary tourists who had walked into their establishments in good faith. Unfortunately for Japan’s rugby p…

Electrifying full-backs take centre stage in men’s final before Australia and New Zealand meet again in the women’s decider In so many ways this has been a Rugby League World Cup of change. New formats, new stories, new nations rising and even a rarity for this tournament: a financial profit. But for all the evolution and growth witnessed in the past month, the final acts arrive with a familiar i…

A special occasion for Andy Robertson saw Scotland flirt with embarrassment. Collection of his 102nd cap moves Robertson level with Kenny Dalglish in the all-time Scottish list. By Monday night, Robertson will be a record holder. This was, however, John McGinn’s night. A double from McGinn, the second a penalty, spared Scottish blushes against a North Macedonia team who threatened to gatecrash Ro…

Americans set tournament record with 85 shots on goal Harvey and Winn score twice each in 14-0 rout Canada edge Czechs 3-2 to set up Sweden semi-final Defending champions the United States marched into the semi-finals of the women’s ice hockey world championship with a crushing 14-0 victory over hosts Denmark on Friday. The Americans stormed out of the blocks, racing into a 5-0 lead inside eight …

FC Andorra goalkeeper collided with De Miguel Owono: ‘I feel immense pain over the loss of Jesús’ The FC Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono was suspended for 12 matches by the Spanish football federation’s disciplinary committee on Friday after his challenge on Jesús de Miguel resulted in the death of the Tenerife striker last week. Owono, an Equatorial Guinea international, was sent off in the secon…

The sandpaper affair is back, and the reason it has hit Australia so hard is because it is sneaky – or basically quite English Any plans for the weekend? Personally I’m all set. I will be watching the full Pat Cummins sandpaper denial press conference , filmed live on location in Sydney on Friday morning, and now preserved uncut and un-redacted on YouTube. I will not speed it up, or flick through…

Manager calls Sunday’s Nations League decider a ‘final’ as preparations for Euro 2028 ratchet up a level Proof of concept. It is Thomas Tuchel’s latest buzz phrase. The England manager has dropped it into the conversation pretty regularly since the Friday of last week when he named his squad for this international window, the one that was always going to decide whether his team finished first or …

England visit Madrid for first time since fan abuse in 2004 ‘We had the same discussion before the Serbia game’ Thomas Tuchel will remind his ­England players of the anti-racism protocols as they prepare to play Spain in Madrid for the first time since the notorious meeting between the countries in 2004. Spain won 1-0 at the Bernabéu but the occasion was ruined by racist abuse directed at England…

Neither side have lost in the league yet but a more competitive division should take title race to the wire There was a time when the games between the top three – traditionally Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal – were title-deciders. Where every point taken off a title rival was key. Such was the gap in investment and quality between those teams and the rest of the Women’s Super League, it wa…

Popular chaser victorious but ground issues, horses slipping and the low sun are all negatives for Cheltenham One of the more remarkable career records in jumping was extended again on Friday as Jonbon, one of the most popular chasers in training, won the Shloer Chase for the third time in the last four seasons and maintained his lifetime streak of never having finished outside the first two in 2…

Coach was ‘transparent’ in dealings with club, federation Pochettino had signed deal to stay with US through 2030 There were always going to be tears at Mauricio Pochettino’s news conference at US Soccer’s national training center on Friday. It was only a matter of when. Pochettino is famously emotional, and nobody in attendance had to wait long for the waterworks – they came during his introduct…