The British & Irish Lions are set to face a number of former All Blacks with Rugby Australia’s chief executive, Phil Waugh, confident players based in Japan can be recruited for the Anzac fixture in July. Waugh also confirmed that players who have represented Australia and New Zealand but subsequently switched nationality will not be … Read more
Emma Raducanu has pulled out of Great Britain’s squad for next week’s Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers against Germany and the Netherlands. The British No 2 reached the quarter-finals of the Miami Open last week, her deepest run at a WTA 1000 event and best tournament performance since her stunning US Open triumph in 2021. … Read more
A few months ago I was assaulted on an overground train by a Brentford fan after a home win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The British Transport Police were rapid in their response, unsuccessfully but immediately halting a Victoria line train to find him, before arresting him the next week on his own way to … Read more
For a man who is still most familiar to many fans as the most fearless gambler of recent decades, JP McManus does not seem to be leaving a great deal to chance before Saturday’s Grand National at Aintree. Three of the top six in the betting for the world’s most famous steeplechase – Iroko, Perceval … Read more
Smirnova now often looks to pare movement back, she said, praising “the power of stillness” onstage. James Bonas, a British stage director who adapted “Macbeth” with Pickett, compared Smirnova’s “clarity and simplicity” to that of great theater performers. “In ballet, acting can have a painted-on quality, but she understands the idea of inhabiting a character … Read more
Who would win in a fight between LeBron James and Stephen A Smith is a question only Stephen A Smith would think to ask. There has been little avoiding the question since the Los Angeles Lakers superstar confronted ESPN’s No 1 personality during a recent game against the New York Knicks. The player was venting … Read more
The referees’ body, PGMOL, has acknowledged that Everton’s James Tarkowski should have been sent off in defeat at Liverpool on Wednesday. The defender was only cautioned for an early reckless challenge on Alexis Mac Allister, described as a “Merseyside derby tackle of old”. The referee, Sam Barrott, gave Tarkowski a yellow card and David Moyes … Read more
The United Kingdom looks almost certain to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup after Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, described its interest as the “one valid bid” for those finals. The football associations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales announced last month they would submit a joint expression of interest in hosting the finals in … Read more
Jon Pullin, the acting clerk of the course at Aintree, said on Wednesday that he will do whatever it takes to ensure the Grand National meeting opens ton Thursday on good-to-soft groundThis will be despite unusually low levels of rainfall in the weeks running up to one of jump racing’s showpiece events. March was one … Read more
Enzo Maresca could see why it happened. It was last Wednesday, most of his Chelsea players were away with their national teams and the manager had only seven or eight to work with in Cobham. There was no club game on the immediate horizon. And so the level of the training was poor. It was … Read more