Category Sports News

Edinburgh (7) 24

Tries: Vellacott 2, Bradbury, Paterson Cons: Thompson 2

Scarlets (14) 19

Edinburgh battled past a spirited Scarlets side to secure a crucial bonus-point win in their bid to reach the United Rugby Championship play-offs.

Joe Roberts and Sam Lousi crossed to give Scarlets an early 14-point lead, with Ben Vellacott halving the deficit with a try before half-time.

A try from Magnus Bradbury and another from Vellacott swung the momentum in Edinburgh’s favour after the break and, although Roberts’ second try drew Scarlets level, Harry Paterson’s try for the hosts proved decisive.

Sitting 13th and 15th respectively in the table coming into the match, both sides knew the importance of a win if they are to mount a realistic bid to reach the top eight.

The visitors started the brighter and camped themselves in the Edinburgh half for the opening quarter without finding a way through.

That was until Roberts sold a dummy and ghosted through all too easily to run it in from halfway.

Things got better for the Welsh side when Lousi burrowed over in the corner to round off a period of pressure and establish a 14-point lead.

Edinburgh needed a response and they got it when Wes Goosen jinked his way through the Scarlets defence and put Vellacott away to score.

Trailing by seven at the break, Edinburgh came out firing early in the second half and struck with two quick tries.

Paterson launched a counter-attack from deep and a succession of offloads and carries took Edinburgh into the red zone. The ball was spun wide to Bradbury and the big number eight did well to collect the pass and power his way through to the line.

Ross Thompson converted to level things up and Edinburgh were soon in the lead for the first time.

Goosen did brilliantly to ride a couple of tackles and link up with Lang, who sent Vellacott scampering away for his second try of the evening.

Edinburgh were on top, but their momentum was checked when Paterson was sent to the sin-bin for a deliberate knock-on.

Scarlets wasted little time in making their numerical advantage count, slinging the ball wide for Roberts to force himself over for his second try to level things up again at 19-19.

Paterson had barely returned to the action when he came up with Edinburgh’s fourth try.

The full-back launched a bomb downfield, Leggatt-Jones made a mess of his return kick to allow Paterson to charge down, gather and go over for the try that sealed the win for Edinburgh.

London Pulse showed a “no-mercy mindset” as they got their Netball Super League title defence off to a winning start with a 56-51 victory over Manchester Thunder at the Copper Box Arena.

Having been edged out in last week’s season-opening Netball Super Cup final by Loughborough Lightning, a dominant third and fourth-quarter showing enabled the home side to stretch out what had been a two-point lead at the halfway point.

Player of the match Halimat Adio hailed Pulse’s “slick” display.

“It’s crazy to say it, but we had a no-mercy mentality today,” she said. “We want to finish off where we finished off last season.

“We want to win and we have to start that from the get-go. I think everyone did that.

“Obviously last week was really disappointing for us, but there are building blocks.

Pulse coach Sam Bird said the game had “ebbed and flowed” with Thunder scores in the last two minutes narrowing the gap to grab a league table point for finishing within five points of their opponents.

BBC Sport will show one game per week during the regular season.

These are the games you can watch live on the BBC Sport website and iPlayer:

28 February: London Mavericks v Nottingham Forest (14:00 GMT)

7 March: Manchester Thunder v London Mavericks (17:00 GMT)

15 March: Nottingham Forest v Leeds Rhinos (16:00 GMT)

22 March: London Pulse v Nottingham Forest (18:00 GMT)

28 March: Loughborough Lightning v Birmingham Panthers (18:30 GMT)

4 April: London Pulse v Birmingham Panthers (17:00 BST)

11 April: Dragons v Birmingham Panthers (16:00 BST)

18 April: Loughborough Lightning v London Mavericks (18:00 BST)

Manchester City and Manchester United want Nottingham Forest‘s Elliot Anderson, Inter Milan could revisit interest in Liverpool‘s Curtis Jones and Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone unsure about Antoine Griezmann future.

Manchester City and Manchester United will battle it out to sign England midfielder Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest as both clubs have made the 23-year-old one of their main summer transfer targets. (Mirror)

Inter Milan showed an interest in Liverpool midfielder Curtis Jones, 25, in January and, with the England international close to entering the final year of his Reds deal, the Italian club could try to make a move for him in the summer. (Corriere dello Sport – in Italian)

Aston Villa are leading the chase for Manchester City goalkeeper James Trafford, with Leeds United, Newcastle United, Tottenham and West Ham also monitoring the 23-year-old England stopper’s situation. (Teamtalk)

Manchester United interim manager Michael Carrick has hinted that 32-year-old England defender Harry Maguire, whose contract runs out in the summer, will be offered a new deal. (Guardian)

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone says he does not “know what’s going to happen” with France forward Antoine Griezmann’s future, with the 34-year-old being linked with a move to Orlando City. (ESPN)

Barcelona sporting director Deco says no talks over a move have taken place with 26-year-old Atletico Madrid and Argentina striker Julian Alvarez, who has also been linked with Arsenal. (Mirror)

Liverpool do not intend to sell Brazil keeper Alisson in the summer, despite Italian club Juventus said to be keen on the 33-year-old. (Football Insider)

Norwich City defender Kellen Fisher, 21, is on the radar of a host of Premier League clubs with Everton among the Englishman’s leading suitors. (Teamtalk)

Newcastle United defender Tino Livramento could be interested in a summer move if a top club come in for him. The 23-year-old, who has also played for England, has been linked with Manchester City. (Telegraph – subscription required)

Argentina captain Lionel Messi was hauled to the ground by a pitch invader during Inter Miami’s friendly win against Independiente del Valle in Puerto Rico.

Messi, who was brought on as a half-time substitute, was wrestled to the turf by a spectator with two minutes remaining of normal time.

Several fans had already invaded the pitch in order to get close to Messi, who was taking a selfie with one when another grabbed the former Barcelona playmaker around his waist.

Security were quickly on the scene, with Messi, the fan and one security guard hitting the ground in a clinch.

He netted from the penalty spot in the 2-1 win, with Santiago Morales scoring Miami’s other goal.

The match had originally been scheduled for 13 February but was cancelled because Messi was struggling with a hamstring injury.

Miami, who are co-owned by David Beckham, started their Major League Soccer (MLS) season with a 3-0 defeat by LAFC last weekend.

United Rugby Championship

Cardiff (3) 8

Try: A Davies Pen: Sheedy

Leinster (0) 7

Cardiff took a huge step towards making the United Rugby Championship play-offs by ending Leinster’s winning streak at a rain-lashed Arms Park.

The Blue and Blacks climbed to third in the table by recording their first win against the Irish province since January 2022.

The hosts led 3-0 at the break in horrendous conditions and went into the final quarter 8-0 to the good thanks to scrum-half Aled Davies’ counter-attack try.

Leinster struck with a converted try by their scrum-half Luke McGrath in the 68th minute and suddenly Cardiff, down to 14 men after a yellow card for Jacob Beetham, were creaking.

Cardiff are level on points with second-placed Leinster and crucially have a 15-point lead over those aiming to break into the top eight.

Testing conditions meant the only score of the first half came through the boot of Callum Sheedy, with the Cardiff fly-half knocking over a 19th-minute penalty.

The Blue and Blacks were left to rue the lack of a cutting edge in the 22, especially when Leinster had a spell down to 14 men courtesy of a yellow card for Charlie Tector for a high and late hit on Ben Thomas.

Tector had been introduced after just three minutes when the Irish province lost fly-half Harry Byrne, their only player released from Six Nations duty, to a head injury.

Cardiff continued to have the territorial edge at the start of the second half, despite playing into the wind, and Davies came up with a key score in the 54th minute.

Jimmy O’Brien failed to find touch with a clearance and the scrum-half ran a good supporting line to finish off the counter-attack, sparked by Cam Winnett and Mason Grady, from flanker Dan Thomas’ pass.

Leinster trailed 8-0 and needed to respond, with their hopes boosted by a yellow card for Cardiff wing Beetham on 65 minutes after he was tempted into a deliberate knock-on.

Two minutes later the visitors were over when scrum-half McGrath finished off after a line break and neat offload by replacement full-back Andrew Osborne.

Cardiff coach Corniel van Zyl said: “We adapted well to the conditions because it was easier to play without the ball, so the kicking came into play.

“Leinster are a quality outfit with what they have done over the years and it was good chance for us to measure ourselves. I was pleased with the game plan and how things unfolded.”

Leinster head coach Leo Cullen said: “I thought that Cardiff deserved the win.

Cardiff: Winnett; Beetham, Millard, B Thomas, Grady; Sheedy, A Davies; Barratt, Belcher (capt), Sebastian, McNally, Nott, Lawrence, D Thomas, Basham.

Replacements: D Hughes, Southworth, Assiratti, Thornton, E Rees, Mulder, I Lloyd, Bowen.

Yellow card: Beetham 65

Leinster: O’Brien; Kenny, Ioane, Henshaw, Moloney, Byrne; Gunne, Cahir, McKee, Sparrow, Spicer, Deeny, Deegan (capt), Penny, Culhane.

Replacements: McCarthy, Usanov, Slimani, Snyman, Ericson, McGrath, Tector, Osborne.

Yellow card: Tector 12

Referee: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales) & Carwyn Sion (Wales)

How long is it since England made you feel like that?

A win against one of the world’s best teams. A win dragged back from the brink.

Will Jacks and Rehan Ahmed, two 20-somethings bursting with talent, arm in arm in the middle of the pitch as smiles beamed from the sidelines.

Jacks and Ahmed were two of the first kids of Bazball.

Both made their Test debuts on the 2022 tour of Pakistan, when Ben Stokes’ side were riding the crest of a wave.

Jacks took six wickets in his first match, Ahmed five as he became the youngest man to play Test cricket for England.

Three and a half years on in Colombo, the same pair crashed England to a T20 World Cup win over New Zealand that gives them a similar feeling of momentum.

Back then, Ahmed pipped Harry Brook to win a six-hitting contest among the Test squad in Pakistan and was England’s first nighthawk during his debut in Karachi.

Here he emerged to bat with England needing 43 runs from 19 balls and hit his second ball high over long-on for six to reignite a chase.

Jacks struck Glenn Phillips for a six of his own and followed with two fours, before Ahmed effectively sealed the deal by hitting Mitchell Santner over the rope at long-off.

From staring at a momentum-busting defeat, England had a fifth successive win to take with them going forward.

“Baz actually sent one of the walkie talkie messages downstairs, saying ‘tell Reh to bat like Sehwag’,” Ahmed explained – a reference to India’s aggressive former opener Virender Sehwag.

The excitable spark Ahmed and Jacks provided has been lost by England at some point over recent months.

“Weak men” in Australia. Noosa. A team’s entire identity being pulled apart.

Something here at the World Cup feels more like a flashback to the times of old.

McCullum appears suited to helping build something with a talented, sometimes inspirational, captain. That is a place England have certainly been in before.

“This group is the era of Harry Brook as white-ball captain,” Jacks said.

“He has got us to play a certain way and the environment around the group is absolutely brilliant.

“Hopefully everyone can see we are having fun and are approaching the game in the right way.”

This was England’s best win since the third Test against India last summer – the week of Jofra Archer’s return in whites, Rishabh Pant’s cartwheeling off stump, and Shoaib Bashir’s charging towards the Lord’s grandstand with a bandaged finger. How long ago does that feel?

Most significantly, England are finding ways to win here after their winter of discontent – a hallmark of McCullum’s first year in charge.

In those early days, they shipped 553 runs but still beat New Zealand in a whirlwind of Jonny Bairstow.

At this World Cup, they have scrambled an escape against Nepal, scraped past Scotland and Italy when the walls threatened to crumble in, and beat Sri Lanka with one of the great one-man shows.

It is a welcome change for a side that squandered any chances they did create in Australia.

“If you can get yourself out of some tricky positions and end up winning games it does wonders for your confidence,” Jacks said.

“There’s no better team than one that fights and finds a way of winning.”

This is not to say England have been perfect by any means – nor that everything that has come this winter is forgotten.

There remains no certainty that McCullum will be in charge come the summer, even after this run to the last four.

The Test victory in Hyderabad last year, which was followed by four heavy defeats, also shows one should never get too carried away.

And Harry Brook’s men now leave Sri Lanka – a country that has provided a sanctuary for over the past weeks and returned six T20 wins from six – for India and the semi-finals.

There they could meet the co-hosts or West Indies or South Africa – this tournament’s three most-feared teams. There are only so many times you can go back to the well.

“Everyone knows about India and the storyline that brings,” Jacks said.

“It could also be West Indies and they have beaten us in Mumbai.

“We know how tricky that will be. We will watching that game on Sunday. We will be prepared. We go in with optimism.”

It is that optimism that has been drained over the recent months. For many it will, quite rightly, take months to come back.

Jacks, though, spoke with a glint in his eye – the look of a side starting to believe in themselves again – and dismissed concerns over the lack of straightforward wins.

“We’ve won six out of seven games and we’ve qualified for a semi-final,” he said.

“At the end of the day, no-one really cares. We obviously want to play well in them but we’re not gutted we haven’t played a perfect game.

“That’s T20 cricket.

“What we’ve done well is the key moments – we’ve kept a calm and clear head and we’ve managed to get those rewards.”