Category News

London Pulse moved back to the top of the Netball Super League with a 63-53 derby win against the London Mavericks at Wembley Arena.

Loughborough Lightning had gone top with a 71-59 win over the Leeds Rhinos but Pulse responded by getting back to winning ways following a defeat by Nottingham Forest last time out.

They led 35-22 at half-time and, despite the Mavericks reducing the deficit to four points with nearly 12 minutes left, Pulse finished strongly to go two points clear at the top of the Netball Super League table.

Lightning had put some pressure on Pulse with an assured display at home to see off second-bottom Leeds Rhinos a day earlier.

Vic Burgess’ side are aiming to clinch a third consecutive title and looked to be warming to the task in this fifth straight victory.

Just one point separated the two sides going into the final five minutes of the second quarter before Lightning turned the screw in the ‘super shot’ period, outscoring Rhinos by nine points to two.

They moved further ahead after the break, ending the third quarter leading 54-39 at the Sir David Wallace Arena.

And while the visitors worked hard to reduce that deficit in the closing stages, Lightning always looked capable of capitalising on their greater shooting accuracy.

They finished with an 86% success rate, compared with Rhinos’ 82%, landing six more goals (46-43) and three more in the ‘super shot’ period (11-8).

The top two will meet when Pulse host Lightning at the Copper Box Arena in their next match on Sunday, 18 May.

On Friday, Cardiff Dragons claimed their first win of the Netball Super League season as they beat Birmingham Panthers on Friday.

Having started the campaign with seven consecutive losses, the Dragons overcame a narrow half-time deficit to secure a 61-57 victory at the Skydome Arena.

The Panthers led 34-32 at midway point and were still a point up at the end of the third quarter.

It was level at 57-57 with five minutes remaining but the Dragons edged ahead through goal attack Phillipa Yarranton and she added a super shot to extend the lead.

Goal shooter Georgia Rowe, who top-scored for the Dragons with 39 goals, wrapped up the win for the Super League’s last-place side.

The Panthers had a marginally better shooting success rate, 86% to the Dragons’ 85%, with Sigi Burger scoring 46 goals, but were outshot 67 to 55 by the visitors.

Friday, 9 May

Birmingham Panthers 57-61 Cardiff Dragons

Saturday, 10 May

Loughborough Lightning 71-59 Leeds Rhinos – watch the full match back on BBC iPlayer

Sunday, 11 May

Nottingham Forest 58-72 Manchester Thunder

Olympic gold medallist Ros Canter won the Badminton Horse Trials for the second time in her career on Lordships Graffalo.

The pair, who claimed the title in 2023, regained it following a clear round in the showjumping.

Britain’s Canter was second after the dressage and cross country elements behind compatriot Oliver Townend, who won the 2009 event.

But Townend, last out on board Cooley Rosalent, knocked down a rail in the showjumping finale to slip to second overall.

Canter, who was part of the British eventing team to win gold in the Paris Olympics last summer, dedicated her victory to her coach and mentor Caroline Moore, who died two months ago.

“This was for Caroline Moore, she was by my side my whole career,” Canter told Horse and Hound.

Ruben Amorim has conceded he should step aside as manager if Manchester United take their poor league form from the end of this season into the next campaign.

United’s appalling finish hit another low note at Old Trafford as they lost 2-0 to a West Ham side that had failed to win any of their previous eight games.

Amorim’s side have only beaten relegated duo Ipswich and Leicester in the league since 26 January and are on their joint worst winless run in the Premier League of seven games.

“Everybody here has to think seriously about a lot of things,” said Amorim.

“Everybody is thinking about the [Europa League] final. The final is not the issue. We have bigger things to think about.

“I’m talking about myself and the culture in the club and the culture in the team. We need to change that.

“It’s a decisive moment in the history of the club.

“We need to be really strong in the summer and to be brave because we will not have a next season like this.

“If we start like this, if the feeling is still here, we should give the space to different people.”

On a three points for a win basis, United are heading for their worst tally since their 1930-31 relegation campaign, when they would have collected 29 points in a 42-game campaign.

United are on 39 points and 16th in the table, with only Europa League final opponents Tottenham and the three relegated teams below them.

Asked what he thought when he looked at the Premier League table, Amorim replied: “How is a manager of Manchester United supposed to feel in that position? Embarrassed.”

If United beat Tottenham in the Europa League final, they will qualify for next season’s Champions League.

Conservative estimates suggest it could be worth around £100m to the club, even if they were to get knocked out in the play-offs given they would have had five home games and generated crucial revenue through prize money.

While owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family might view that as an imperative given they are addressing losses in excess of £370m over the past five years with a second round of redundancies, and limits on perks like free tickets and travel to Bilbao for staff members, for Amorim, the prospect of competing on the highest European stage is a dubious one.

“The final is by far the smallest problem in our club,” he said.

“We need to change something that is deeper than this. Playing in the Premier League and Champions League for us is the moon. We need to know that.

The damning allegation United’s players pick and choose their games has lingered for some considerable time, dating back to Jose Mourinho’s time as manager at the club, which began in 2016.

Players have come and gone and successive managers have been sacked but the issue remains, albeit never with consequences in terms of results as acute as this season’s have been.

“In the Europa League, we don’t play quite well but we have a little bit of that urgency in having to win games,” he said. “We manage to find a way to win. We are so focused.

“In these games in the Premier League, sometimes we are not focused. It’s hard to explain that. There is a lack of urgency in everything we do. It’s a big concern.”

The concern is so big, according to Amorim, it is eating away at United’s status.

What used to be known as a ‘big club mentality’ is disappearing.

“There’s a lack of urgency when we’re defending our box and there’s a lack of urgency when we are near the box,” he said.

“We need to be more aggressive and feel that it is the end of the world when we are not winning a game.

“There is a feeling that it’s OK because we cannot change our position so much. We are losing the feeling that we are a massive club and it’s the end of the world to lose a game at home.

“If we are not scared of losing a game as Manchester United and don’t have that fear anymore, it is the most dangerous thing a big club can have.