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Red Roses are reaping rewards of investment with call for others to follow their lead to increase jeopardyA world record winning streak stretched to 36 matches, no defeats in the Six Nations since 2018 and none at all since the 2022 Rugby World Cup final: England’s dominance of women’s rugby is undeniable but is it bad for the game?Before addressing that question as England prepare for their penultimate 2026 Six Nations match against Italy in Parma on Saturday, another needs to be answered – why are the world champions so dominant? The simple answer is the investment made by the Rugby Football Union. Of course the big player pool and talent play a huge part but they have been able to develop professionally since full-time contracts were announced in 2018. Alongside they have invested in marketing, getting sponsorships and gradually building crowds by showcasing the team across the country. Continue reading...

⚽ All the latest news and previews going into a big weekend⚽ Premier League preview | Fixtures | Tables | And mail YaraPremier League: The press conferences from the Premier League managers are coming thick and fast. Before we get to those, here is what can be decided this weekend.European qualification: With Manchester United joining Arsenal and Manchester City in securing Champions League football next season after beating Liverpool last weekend, there are just two guaranteed spots left in Europe’s top-tier club competition. Liverpool and Aston Villa currently sit fourth and fifth respectively, with the Arne Slot’s side hosting Chelsea on Saturday and Villa travelling to Burnley on Sunday. Both sides will confirm Champions League qualification if they win and sixth-placed Bournemouth drop points away to Fulham on Saturday. A draw will also be enough for Liverpool and Villa if Bournemouth lose. However, sixth place could yet earn Champions League qualification. That will be the case if Villa finish fifth in the Premier League and go on to win the Europa League.Relegation: Leeds and Forest both moved a step closer to securing their Premier League status thanks to 3-1 wins last week, beating Burnley at home and Chelsea away respectively. Victory for Leeds at Tottenham on Monday will guarantee their top-flight status for next season regardless of results elsewhere – though they will be safe before a ball has been kicked in north London if West Ham lose at home to Arsenal on Sunday. If West Ham draw with Arsenal, Leeds will be safe with a draw against Spurs. Forest will also be safe if they win at home against Newcastle on Sunday and West Ham fail to do so later in the day against Arsenal. A draw will be enough for Forest if Arsenal go on to beat West Ham. Continue reading...

Arsenal have the advantage in the Premier League title race but will they hold off Manchester City’s challenge?By WhoScoredSeven games remain: three for Arsenal, four for Manchester City. Seven opportunities for more twists and turns in the title race. Just as City appeared to be building their trademark relentless charge at the end of the season, they self-destructed in the space of 13 minutes at Everton. Jérémy Doku’s extraordinary late equaliser has given them a lifeline, but that 3-3 draw has handed the initiative back to Arsenal. Five points separate the sides and the equation is now brutally simple: if Arsenal win their last three games they will be crowned champions for the first time in 22 years, whereas City must be flawless and hope their rivals stumble.Premier League titles turn on moments: Sergio Agüero’s 94th-minute winner in 2012, Steven Gerrard’s slip in 2014, Vincent Kompany’s thunderbolt in 2019, or City’s final-day comeback in 2022. The question now is whether the 2025-26 season has already had its defining moment in that Everton game or whether, with seven games to play, this campaign is yet to deliver the scene for which it will be remembered. Continue reading...

Updates from the latest round of Championship games Sign up for The Spin newsletter | Mail Tanya or post BTLAs some possibly cheap wickets arrive at Hove in the form of Leicestershire, Ali ponders an England return for Ollie Robinson.1 Durham 71 Continue reading...

The new campaign tips off on Friday. Our team of writers look at the rookies to watch, the surprise teams and who will rule the roost at the end of the yearSign up to get WNBA 30 in your inbox every TuesdayA summer of basketball without the specter of CBA uncertainty. There’s no doubt last season had highs – the Aces’ third title, the Liberty’s star power, breakout rookies and the emergence of the Golden State Valkyries – but the possibility of a shortened, delayed or even cancelled 2026 season loomed over so much of 2025. After 17 months of negotiations and hard-earned, deserved wins by the players, here we are. My second answer: getting Jordan Robinson’s WNBA 30 newsletter in my inbox every Tuesday! EB Continue reading...

Many of us struggle to not get sucked into the content machine, even if we simply say: ‘This doesn’t matter’Last week a video did the rounds of Diego Simeone getting annoyed with Ben White for walking over an enormous Atlético Madrid crest-doormat placed literally in the middle of the tunnel entrance which Ben White had to walk into to get to the room Atlético Madrid had themselves selected for Ben White to get changed in.Then on Tuesday night, Diego Simeone walked over an enormous Arsenal crest-doormat situated in the middle of the tunnel at the Emirates Stadium to get to the room Arsenal had themselves selected for Diego Simeone and the rest of his Atlético Madrid side to get changed in. Continue reading...

The world No 1 lost to Jorden van Foreest, but squeezed into a tie for first and won the blitz playoffThe world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, making a rare return to classical chess this week at the annual TePe Sigeman tournament in Malmö, Sweden, squeezed through to a blitz ­playoff in Thursday’s final round after ­Turkey’s 14-year-old ­talent Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus ­blundered fatally in the late stages after reaching a drawn position.Carlsen tied on 5/7 with India’s Arjun Erigaisi and won the blitz playoff 2-1. This was the final sudden death game. Continue reading...

Archives reveal how a format that even one winning manager wanted abolished four decades ago came to beAs the playoffs begin for the 40th time, it is easy to forget there was once a world without them. But where did they come from? Whose idea were they? And how did they take root in English football? The EFL granted access to its archives containing the documents and meeting minutes charting how an idea, conceived to help lower-league clubs financially and add late-season spice, evolved into one of the most cherished fixtures in the English football calendar and gave birth the “richest game in football”, as the Championship final is known.It is hard to comprehend quite how broken English football was in the mid-1980s. In the 1988 book League Football and the Men Who Made it, Simon Inglis writes: “The year 1985 was the most devastating in the hundred years of the Football League.” Hooligans attracted headlines, fans were killed in riots and clashes with police drew the attention of the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, who told football to get its house in order. Continue reading...

A game to suit departing Stones, West Ham’s Pablo under scrutiny against Arsenal and Maddison can rouse SpursLiverpool have eased one self-inflicted headache by listening to their fans and scrapping plans to raise some ticket prices for the next three seasons. Anfield’s attention can now focus squarely on eradicating another as Arne Slot’s side seek to salvage a desperately poor season with Champions League qualification. Liverpool will secure a top-five finish should they beat Chelsea and Bournemouth fail to win at Fulham. Slot could not have hand-picked a better opponent to potentially complete the job than the shambles that is this Chelsea team, even taking into account his frontline injury list. The visitors are a collection of individual egos who turn up when they feel like it, which is Wembley and the FA Cup on current evidence. Chelsea have lost seven successive league games only once in their history – from November to December 1952 – but would equal that unwanted record with defeat at Anfield. They have lost their last two away matches by a three-goal margin, conceded at least three times in four of their last five league games, and it would surprise no one if they decide to save themselves for the FA Cup final. Andy HunterLiverpool v Chelsea, Saturday 12.30pm (all times BST)Brighton v Wolves, Saturday 3pmFulham v Bournemouth, Saturday 3pmSunderland v Manchester United, Saturday 3pm Continue reading...

Valverde accused Frenchman of leaking earlier argumentReal play Barcelona on Sunday with title on the lineReal Madrid’s Fede Valverde was taken to hospital to have stitches after a second confrontation with teammate Aurélien Tchouaméni in two days, as the club’s collapse into chaos continues.Players held an emergency meeting and Real have opened disciplinary proceedings after a physical fight, with blood being spilled and Valverde being taken for treatment. Continue reading...