Category Sports News

Holders Bordeaux-Begles and last season’s finalists Northampton Saints have been drawn in Pool 4 for the 2025-26 Investec Champions Cup.

In May, Bordeaux defeated Saints 28-20 in Cardiff to lift their first Champions Cup title.

Premiership semi-finalists Bristol Bears, Scarlets, Top 14 side Pau and United Rugby Championship (URC) runners-up Bulls are also in Pool 4.

Three-time winners Saracens are in Pool 1 alongside record six-time champions Toulouse.

They are joined by Glasgow Warriors, Sale Sharks, Clermont Auvergne and South African side Sharks.

Premiership champions Bath, who won last year’s Challenge Cup, are in Pool 2 with Munster, Gloucester, Edinburgh, Castres and three-time winners Toulon.

In Pool 3, Leinster, who lost to Northampton in last year’s semi final, again are drawn in the same pool as Ronan O’Gara’s La Rochelle, who defeated the Irish province in back-to-back finals in 2022 and 2023.

Leo Cullen’s team squeezed past the Top 14 side 16-14 in last year’s pool stage.

Leicester Tigers and Harlequins are also in Pool 3, with Bayonne and South African side Stormers.

Each team will play four different opponents in the pool stage, but not teams from their own league, with fixtures still to be announced.

In the Challenge Cup, Ulster, who finished 14th in last season’s URC have been drawn in the same pool as Parisian rivals Racing 92 and Stade Francais in Pool 3.

Pool 1: Toulouse, Clermont, Sharks, Saracens, Glasgow Warriors, Sale Sharks

Pool 2: Bath, Toulon, Munster, Castres, Edinburgh, Gloucester

Pool 3: Leinster, Leicester Tigers, Harlequins, La Rochelle, Bayonne, Stormers

Pool 1: Ospreys, Connacht, Zebre, Montpellier, US Montauban, Black Lion

Pool 2: Newcastle, Dragons, Benetton, Lions, Lyon, USAP

Round two: 12-14 December

Round three: 9-11 January

Round four: 16-18 January

Last 16: 3-5 April

Quarter-finals: 10-12 April 2026

Semi-finals: 1-3 May

Challenge Cup final: Friday, 22 May

Champions Cup final: Saturday, 23 May

Canada international Ashley Lawrence has left Chelsea to join Lyon after two years at the club.

The 30-year-old won four trophies during her time at Chelsea, including the Women’s Super League title in both seasons.

She made 60 appearances, scoring three goals and picking up eight assists as an attacking full-back.

Last season she featured 30 times for Chelsea and helped them win an unbeaten domestic Treble in manager Sonia Bompastor’s first season.

Prior to joining Chelsea, Lawrence played for Paris St-Germain, ending Lyon’s run of 14 successive French titles in 2021.

Jake Paul has been placed at 14 by the WBA in its latest cruiserweight rankings, a move that edges the American closer to a controversial world title shot.

The YouTuber-turned-boxer outpointed former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in a 10-round contest in Kansas on Saturday, securing the 12th victory of his professional career.

A top-15 ranking makes the 28-year-old boxing novice now eligible to challenge unified world champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez, who holds both the WBA and WBO titles.

Paul has become a polarising presence in boxing, gaining fame through social media and largely facing former MMA fighters in a boxing ring.

Paul cruised past Chavez Jr, once a WBC middleweight champion but now far removed from his prime after years of struggles with weight, discipline, and motivation.

But his ranking is likely to frustrate many within the sport, with traditionalists critical of a fighter with limited experience leapfrogging more established contenders.

After his win, Paul called out British heavyweight Anthony Joshua, lightweight world champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis. He later posed in a face-off with Mexican Ramirez backstage.

Ramirez, 33, extended his record to 48 wins with one defeat after defending his WBA title on the Paul-Chavez card by outpointing Yuniel Dorticos. He also holds a win over Britain’s former world champion Chris Billam-Smith.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman said prior to the bout that Paul could also be considered for a ranking with their organisation if he defeated Chavez Jr.

England retained Jofra Archer in their squad for the second Test because it is “very important” for him to become acquainted with the squad, captain Ben Stokes says.

Archer, 30, was called into England’s Test squad for the first time in four years after a series of injuries but left out of the final XI for the match, which starts on Wednesday.

The fast bowler has played only one red-ball match since May 2021 and could have been released to play for Sussex in the County Championship this week but will instead stay with England’s squad.

“When someone has been out of the environment for so long – and the last time they were in that environment it was so completely different – for me personally and Baz [England coach Brendon McCullum] as well, we felt if he didn’t play it was important to have Jof around the group, around the people,” Stokes told the BBC.

Since taking over in 2022, Stokes and McCullum have revolutionised England’s Test cricket with a positive, sometimes relaxed, approach.

Archer – one of England’s most exciting debutants in a generation in 2019 – last played a Test in February 2021, when Joe Root was captain and Chris Silverwood coach.

That Test was the last time Archer bowled in two innings of a red-ball match.

He played for Sussex against Durham last week and took 1-32 in 18 overs in the first innings but Durham did not bat a second time as the match ended in a draw.

“You can’t really control how a first-class game will go,” Stokes said.

“Here he can come and bowl. He can help out the lads. He can get used to the environment again and when the opportunity does come he is comfortable in it.

“There are benefits to both situations and at the end of the day me and Baz decided one what we thought was best for Jof. “

Having missed England’s training on Monday because of a “family emergency”, Archer had a lengthy bowl in the nets on Tuesday.

He bowled a long spell at Stokes, challenged the England captain on a number of occasions and with only three days between this Test and the third at Lord’s could make his Test return next week.

While England’s decision to hold back Archer means they have an unchanged XI from their win in the first Test at Headingley, India’s side remains uncertain.

Captain Shubman Gill said star bowler Jasprit Bumrah is “available” but a decision on whether he will play will be made on Tuesday evening as he manages his return from a back injury.

The questions do not end there.

Gill appeared to suggest the tourists will bring in a second spinner, off-spinner Washington Sundar or wrist-spinner Kuldeep Yadav, but the decision is complicated by their weak lower-order after their final four wickets added only 29 runs across two innings combined in Leeds.

Kuldeep would provide a greater wicket-taking threat but Washington greater batting depth.

“If we are able to go with four or five premier bowlers with a sixth bowling option and have batting to seven or eight, that would be a good combination,” Gill said.