Leigh beat Wakefield to set up Wigan semi-final

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Play-off eliminator for Betfred Super League

Leigh (18) 26

Goals: O’Brien 5

Wakefield (0) 10

In their first Super League play-off elimination game, the Leigh Leopards defeated Wakefield Trinity to advance to the semi-finals.

The visitors controlled the first half thanks to tries from Keanan Brand, Isaac Liu, and Josh Charnley, who finished nine points clear of Trinity in the regular season.

Wakefield had hoped in the opening period of the second half thanks to Jayden Myers’ response, but Cameron Scott’s superb solo try was only consolation due to a Gareth O’Brien penalty and Alec Tuitavake’s score.

After a fantastic first season back in the Super League, Leigh and Trinity faced their first play-off appearance in 13 years.

On their final trip to the Leopards Den, Daryl Powell’s team won 40-14, and Josh Griffin almost had a dream start when he scored O’Brien’s first-minute clearance kick but couldn’t gather as a clear run to the line awaited.

The visitors, who had Matty Storton in the second row injured in five minutes, were essentially done with the first half.

Umyla Hanley scored Brand’s seventh try in four games and his 17th Super League try of the season from Leigh who soon made it easy on the front.

As Wakefield were penned deep into their own territory by rampant Leigh, three tacklers combined to stop Hanley’s charge for the line while Frankie Halton was held up a metre short.

Trinity’s goalline defense resisted pressure, but Liu’s powerful run resulted in a battered backline that finally cracked.

With a 40-20 lead, Lachlan Lam kept the fast-forward momentum, and Charnley was instrumental scrum-half-half-frenchly fed Charnley to cross in the left corner a few plays later.

Within four minutes of the restart, the visitors desperately needed the next try. O’Brien quickly reacted with a high kick that Mason Lino had rebounded from, and Myers performed a spectacular diving one-handed kick.

O’Brien received a momentum-stalling penalty right away before Tuitavake crashed over on the hour to put the hosts out of sight with a score of 26-4.

SW Pix

“Hopefully we can reproduce that next week” is the response.

Adrian Lam, head coach of the Leigh Leopards, told BBC Radio Manchester:

When our attitude is right and there is effort to support it, we are capable of doing that. That’s taken a long time, but hopefully we can reproduce that next week.

We were 80 minutes away from Old Trafford last year, and we were in this position, and I’m grateful for that.

Because I knew we needed to do that to advance, “I made a lot of changes.”

We’ll have to wait and see whether this team is prepared for that or not next week, but I’m just grateful that this group of players is beginning to come together as a group.

Daryl Powell, the head coach of Wakefield Trinity, told BBC Radio Leeds:

Leigh exceeded what we’ve seen before, in my opinion, by a few notches. I thought they managed to do a fantastic job.

“We were strong in the second half, but we just didn’t get enough tonight.” Every time we tried to make things difficult, we would put the ball down.

You can’t have that in these games, I don’t think we had many boys who would hold their hands up and say they were at their best tonight.

Hodgson, Brand, Niu, Hanley, Charnley, O’Brien, Lam, Ofahengaue, Ipape, Mulhern, Halton, Trout, Liu, and Brand.

Hughes, Tuitavake, Davis, and Dwyer make changes.

Wakefield includes McMeeken, Hood, Faatili, Griffin, Storton, Pitts, Myers, Scott, Pratt, Johnstone, Trueman, Lino, Myers, Myers, Scott, Myers, Scott, Pratt, and Scott.

Rodwell, Nikotemo, Atoni, and Smith swapped.

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Mo Gilligan’s fiancée feels ‘suffocated’ as she welcomes baby after ‘secret love child’

Taia Tulher, the fiancee of Masks Singer star Mo Gilligan, has come out to express her feelings for the first child after claiming to have a secret love child.

Comedian Mo Gilligan’s fiancée has confirmed they have welcomed their first child together as she shared the ups and downs of motherhood. The Masked Singer judge and his partner Taia Tulher welcomed their baby a few weeks ago, as he faced claims of having another child.

Mo popped the question last month, following claims from his ex Selina Christoforou. She posted an explosive video on TikTok where she claimed he already has a child but is a “deadbeat dad”.

The model claimed she knows how few times the star has met his son Rudi and insisted you “can’t make someone be a dad”. Mo stayed silent on the claims, but he appeared to hit back at Selina by sharing his first post featuring Rudi.

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Now, amid the newborn bubble, Taia has revealed more details of the birth of her child with Mo. She shared a touching montage of clips from throughout her pregnancy and gushed over Mo for being the “kindest and strongest”.

My dearest baby, Taia wrote, “Every night I play you this song I wrote, so you can drift off into the love that I sometimes can’t express in words.” And as I hold you, I hope you experience the same love that you once experienced in your own mother’s arms: a deep, steady state of love that reflects who you are.

“I hope you feel it in every note, how every worry fades when I look at you, how holding you makes me feel like God has taken my hand once again. Whenever I lose my way, it is you who brings me back to the path.” She added: “There are days when the tiredness feels heavy, when the world seems to close in, when harm and pain try to reach me and I feel like I’m slowly suffocating. But then I remember I have you.

You are life loving me back, as I once read, not just the love of my life. She addressed Mo, saying, “Your father is the kindest, strongest soul I know, and I am never endingly grateful for him.”

His constant love has always been my anchor, and I sincerely hope you’ll continue to love him as you mature. This love is ours, it is mine, and it is yours. The melody will always be with you. And it won’t end, “

A source earlier this week confirmed that Mo and Taia are in a “blood of bliss.” She gave birth to her baby a short while ago, and things are now back to normal.

The pair were seen at London Fashion Week together, and there was no sign of Taia’s bump. “They are keeping their baby’s gender and name for just close friends and family but they’ve been sharing the news of the baby’s arrival with people now. Mo and Taia couldn’t be happier,” the source added to The Sun.

Ex-Selina yelled foul at Mo in a viral post, saying, “I just posted on Instagram about my son’s dad. For your information, I don’t blame you. His father is Mo Gilligan, I guess. Quite a lot of quotation marks.

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According to a source at the time, Mo sees the baby “semi-regularly.” She learned she was pregnant in May of this year, according to the insider, and both of them were shocked by their diligence.

Despite the fact that they weren’t actually a couple, she still wanted to have the child. Mo sees their son semi-regularly, and she adores him. He is excited about becoming a father for the second time and is excited about it. He feels comfortable with Taia and has been with her for a while.

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Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson admits he’s ‘not a big therapy guy’ after mental health battle

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has acknowledged that he felt like Mark Kerr in his most vulnerable performance to date after giving his most recent one.

Former WWE star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has admitted that he’s “not a big therapy guy”, despite suffering from several severe bouts of depression. The 53-year-old actor found the pressure of making Hollywood blockbusters particularly difficult to deal with.

But ahead of his upcoming biopic, the wrestler has opened up about the similarities between him and his troubled character Mark Kerr. The Smashing Machine delves into the life of former wrestler and MMA fighter Kerr, who battled addiction problems and experienced multiple overdoses.

The critically acclaimed movie sees Johnson portray Kerr, whose promising career was derailed by his opioid addiction. Kerr, 56, is now in recovery and on a mission to inspire others to fight their demons and free themselves from addiction.

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Johnson himself inducted him in the UFC Hall of Fame in 2025 with a moving performance. However, the actor, who admits he’s always preferred to “bottle s*** up,” discovered that playing the lead character in the new film had old wounds.

Speaking to the Guardian, Johnson revealed: “I’m not a big therapy guy. I’ve had some great conversations with therapists but it’s not the thing I run to. I bottle s*** up inside me, like a lot of guys, which I recognise is not the healthiest thing to do.

Then I said, “Wait, I can still do what I love to do, acting. What if, however, it contains something deeper and more meaningful for me?

Johnson, the wrestler who played Kerr, admitted that he had been wanting to do something more brutal for a while and that the two wrestlers shared traits. He acknowledged that he felt free from the pressure of the box office and that he felt “comfortable with the challenge of having to live up to an image”.

The Smashing Machine was “so liberating” despite his passion for “making the Jumanjis and Moanas”. Johnson was pleased that the “process” was being prioritized over the “money” issue.

Johnson, a Fast & Furious star, previously discussed his mental health issues on The Pivot Podcast. He had his first encounter with depression when he left school, revealing: “At that time… I simply knew I didn’t want to be there because I didn’t know what depression was or what mental health was.

Speaking to former NFL stars Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder, he shared aspects of his mental-health journey and the “three bouts of depression” he has faced. He experienced it again when he divorced his first wife, Dany Garcia in 2008, and then again in 2017.

He explained to the hosts, “Fortunately at that time, I had some friends on whom to lean on and say, “Hey, I’m feeling a little wobbly now, have a little struggle happening, I’m seeing a little gray and not the blue.”

His mother also had her own experiences with depression. In a 2019 interview with the Express, he revealed he had saved his mum from a suicide attempt as she stepped onto a freeway in Nashville when he was just 15.

Continue reading the article.

He responded, “I grabbed her and placed her back on the side of the road that was gravel.” We both recovered, but we must always make an effort to watch other people when they are hurt. We must remind them that they are not the only ones who have to face it.

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GB women & men reach European flag football semis

IFAF/Ernesto Campuzano

Women’s Great Britain has advanced to the last four as they fight to defend their European Flag Football Championship title.

In the quarter-finals of Paris on Friday, GB defeated Slovenia 51-14 to claim the top spot in their group after recording a 100% record from four games.

The European champions will now face hosts France on Saturday at 7:00 BST, while Spain, which the GB won in the 2023 final, will face world number two Austria in the other semi-final. At 13:15 BST, the winners will compete in the final.

After placing fifth at their first World Games last month, when only the women’s event was contested, the GB women entered the European Championships in encouraging form.

The GB men’s team will face Italy in the semi-finals on Saturday (8:15 BST). The winner of the other semifinal, which will be contested by France, will face Austria at 14:30 BST.

After defeating Denmark 32-19 in the quarter-finals of their five group games, GB’s men will now improve on their sixth-placed finish in Ireland in 2023.

Each semi-finalist has qualified for the German World Championships in the coming year.

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Chris Robshaw ‘wants fans to think he’s been hit by Strictly curse’ with partner Nadiya

Rugby star Chris Robshaw is welcoming rumors of an affair ahead of his first live performance with stunning Nadiya Bychkova, but the Strictly curse has no mercy when it comes to wrecking relationships.

Rugby ace Chris Robshaw has sensationally admitted that he wants viewers to think his marriage will fall victim to the ‘Strictly curse’. The sportsman, who has been partnered with stunning Ukrainian dancer Nadiya Bychkova, is happily married to opera singer Camilla Kerslake.

In Provence, France, the couple tied the knot in 2012. The couple have since welcomed two sons and are now parents.

Wilding, age 4, was born in May 2021. Hunter, the couple’s youngest son, turned 13 months old when he arrived in August of 2024.

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Chris is not even remotely concerned about the potential danger of his marriage, despite the fact that the curse of Strictly is known to strike indiscriminately. He has since stated that he would be thrilled if Nadiya’s relationship with him sparked rumors of an affair.

In an interview with the Sun, he explained: “Surely if people think there’s something going on between us, we must be doing something right.”

He thinks he and Nadiya have “arrived to create a sense of chemistry for the show” if their routines are sufficiently steamy. Camilla and I are solid, she’s incredibly supportive, and we have a lot of faith in our marriage, he continued. My family is everything.

But he has made an effort to include Camilla in rehearsals, with a video shared on Instagram on Sunday showing Nadiya holding his baby son, Hunter. Nadiya was seen giving Camilla a one-to-one training session, as well as a group rehearsal with the whole family.

Camilla has publicly expressed her full support for her husband’s Strictly debut, posting pictures of how the family managed to survive a terrifying stalking ordeal on Instagram. She thanked the press for “handling a very difficult situation with such sensitivity,” saying that they wouldn’t allow it to “define” them.

She stated, “We won’t be defining ourselves; we’ll be focusing on our family and the exciting journey that Strictly will lead us on.” I’m not sure if you’re into sequins and spray tans, but I’m already very excited about them.

Let’s hope our boy receives more snake hips than he does hip replacement! If you see us having fun on social media, be aware that we want to experience SCD with you in addition to the joy, laughter, and magic of it.

We fully embrace the fact that this is our current happy place right now. From the bottom of our hearts, we once more thank you for uplifting us and entrusting us with love. “Bring on the sequins”!

It seems that thankfully, the famous curse will be kept at bay in this instance, but there is definitive evidence that the intense training and close quarters of the show has left a trail of ruined relationships in its wake. Famous examples include comedian Seann Walsh, who was snapped kissing his partner Katya Jones in 2018, despite both being involved with others at the time.

Katya and Neil Jones, a fellow Strictly professional, were married at the time. Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton confirmed their romance after the series, despite making no mention of any romantic ties while the show was being made available.

After making an appearance on Strictly with Kristina Rihanoff, with whom he now has a daughter, Ben Cohen’s 11-year marriage to Abby came to an end. He also refuted the claims that his marriage was canceled because of his ties to Kristina.

Dianne Buswell and Joe Sugg have revealed that they’re expecting their first child together, after meeting on Strictly back in 2018. Rachel Riley and Pasha Kovalev, who were matched on the programme in 2013, are also now raising two children after her marriage ended shortly after her Strictly stint.

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