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️ Qualifying updates from 3pm BST/4pm CEST️ Russell ready to keep chasing down Antonelli at Spa️ You can email Philip | Sign up for The RecapQ1 here we go. David Croft and Martin Brundle discussing Red Bull tactics: can Hadjar, on a bottomless penalty, give Verstappen a helping hand in Q3?After the heat of the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone, temperatures are barely above 20C in Belgium this weekend. Continue reading...

️Updates from the third round at Royal Birkdale️Official leaderboard | Mail Scott with your thoughtsIt’s the same old story for Rory McIlroy: he just can’t keep any momentum going this week. He follows that chip-in eagle on 9 with bogey at 11. Back to -1, and a second Claret Jug continues to hover out of reach. At least he’s got one. Jon Rahm has a strangely underwhelming record at the Open: a couple of high finishes in 2019 and 2023 without ever really looking likely to win. And it’s threatening to happen again. He carves his opening drive over the bushes to the right and out of bounds, and starts with a double-bogey six. His fume is internal, but it is real, registering eight-and-a-half out of ten on Bryson DeChambeau’s patented R&A-o-meter™.Ryan Fox speaks to Sky. “The game plan was to be aggressive … I hit driver a lot … your strategy changes with the wind around here … I had a couple of interesting shots on the back nine and kinda got away with them … pretty happy with 62 in the end, that’s for sure … had a lot of fun with [Xander Schauffele] … he played really well too and we kind of fed off each other … was pretty happy to make par [on 18] from that fairway trap … I haven’t really put four rounds together [at the Open] … hopefully this is a sign … I’m in a pretty good place to give myself a chance so we’ll see what happens!” Continue reading...

Cycling updates from 12.10pm BST/1.10pm CET As it happened: Relive stage 13 to Belfort You can email Tanya | Sign up for The RecapThey are mulling over the possibilities in the studio. “I like to see Jonus go for a stage win, be nice to see the underdog get one.” says Robbie McEwen. The panel think he should keep on riding for first place.Meanwhile the battle for that third podium place is wide open. Continue reading...

⚽ World Cup latest on final weekend of tournament⚽ England’s exit was not just about Tuchel⚽ Email us | Archive: Argentina v Spain in 1966I’m still getting my head around the 2007 photo of Lionel Messi, 19, bathing Lamine Yamal, four months, for a Unicef calendar shoot.Sid Lowe has done some digging to find out how it all came out …The photograph was taken around Christmas 2007. Sport newspaper was putting together a charity calendar on behalf of Barcelona and Unicef, a studio set up in the away dressing room at the Camp Nou. Each player had a month and appeared with a child. Ronaldinho, the star, was July. Messi was January. Lamine Yamal was four months old. His mum, Sheila, had put him into a draw to take part. Monfort got the idea the night before when bathing his daughter, taking a plastic tub and a rubber duck with him. Although the baby was tiny and Messi was timid, with Sheila’s help he got a shot he was happy with. Continue reading...

Australia’s lack of forwards remains a problem but the departing coach raised the ceiling with some big scalpsAustralia ended the Joe Schmidt era like a struggling restaurant producing one of its finest meals on the night the head chef handed back his keys. Everything came together: the service was sharp, the ingredients were handled with care, but loyal patrons left wondering why the place could not function like this every week.Italy were swept aside 57-10 in Perth. Josh Canham completed a hat-trick as the home side delivered the sort of precise, powerful performance that offered a tribute to their departing coach and a reminder of why his spell has been so difficult to judge. Continue reading...

Australia 57-10 ItalyHosts kickstart Nations Championship campaign with first winThe Wallabies have ended the Joe Schmidt era in style, blitzing Italy 57-10 in Perth to end their six-game losing streak in emphatic fashion and give longsuffering fans a glimpse of the riches new coach Les Kiss inherits in the bid for the 2027 World Cup.Despite Italy coach Gonzalo Quesada being suspended by World Rugby for labelling French referee Luc Ramos as “super poor” in the Azzurri’s 47-17 loss to the All Blacks last week, the world No 10 side were expected to trouble the Wallabies, as they had in their shock victories in 2022 and 2025. Instead they walked into an ambush. Continue reading...

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now!Saturday’s rebranded “bronze final” between France and England in Miami might feel like a modern, Gianni-coded exercise in squeezing the product dry, but the third-place playoff is a staple of World Cup history, even if it remains the game nobody wants to play in. The very first TPPO came in 1934, Germany defeating Austria 3-2 in a match engulfed in murky, menacing geopolitics. Thankfully, the fixture quickly became a more knockabout affair – Brazil swaggered on to the world stage by beating Sweden 4-2 in 1938, and France put six past West Germany in a nine-goal feast of football 20 years later. Just Fontaine scored four that day, later to be joined by Thomas Müller, Davor Suker and Toto Schillaci in using the fixture to pad their Golden Boot stats – a tactic Kylian Mbappé might want to try against a punch-drunk England side and pip Lionel Messi to another personal accolade as a result.I seem to recall that the GWC has been hosted by three countries, who advanced to the same stage of the competition, making them at least equal as far as ability to compete is concerned. So, surely, any presentations at the final should be represented and handed over by Canada, Mexico and USA USA USA, on behalf of Fifa, and not only by Donald Trump?” – Dave Butler.So Donald Trump will be attending the GWC final … what further imaginary award will Infantino pull out of the hat for him at the end? The Ballon d’Orange perhaps?” – Phil TavernerRe: naming the 2030 World Cup (Football Daily letters passim): split across three global power zones, it sounds like an Aldous Huxley dystopian vision. How about Brave New World Cup?” – Daniel SolomonsThis is an extract from our daily football email … Football Daily. To get the full version, just visit this page and follow the instructions. Continue reading...

Donald Trump spoke to Fifa president before ban liftedHuman rights body FairSquare sent complaint to IOCGianni Infantino is poised to escape without sanction after complaints he breached rules on political neutrality in his dealings with Donald Trump over the Folarin Balogun affair.The International Olympic Committee this week received a formal complaint from the human rights organisation FairSquare regarding Infantino’s conduct after Trump revealed he had called the Fifa president asking him to review Balogun’s ban from the USA’s last-16 tie against Belgium. The ban was subsequently suspended for 12 months after an unprecedented ruling from Fifa’s disciplinary committee. Continue reading...

Pundits set out on the New York river to fulfil forfeit after Wayne’s errant prediction about Norway at the World Cup The BBC punditry trio Wayne Rooney, Micah Richards and Joe Hart are fresh off a boat on New York’s Hudson River after an attempt to honour Rooney’s declaration that he would “row the River Mersey” if Norway reached the World Cup quarter-final. They did, prompting Erling Haaland to tease Rooney, saying: “I’m looking forward to seeing you, Wayney boy.”How was it? Continue reading...

New Zealand 40-21 IrelandHosts unbeaten in 32 years at Auckland venueAndy Farrell rued an error-strewn display after Ireland suffered a 40-21 defeat to New Zealand in round three of the Nations Championship.The All Blacks scored four first-half tries through Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea, Will Jordan and Asafo Aumua en route to stretching their remarkable unbeaten run at Eden Park to 53 Tests. Jack Conan crossed for Ireland in a punishing first half before Joe McCarthy and Hugo Keenan went over in an improved second period, with Sam Prendergast slotting all three conversions. Continue reading...