Category Sports News

Scottish Rugby’s Alex Williamson anticipates having “really positive” discussions with Gregor Townsend about his future and would be surprised if the Scotland head coach refused to compete in a third World Cup.

Williamson stated in an interview with BBC Scotland that he was interested in keeping the services of Townsend, Franco Smith, of Glasgow Warriors, and Sean Everett, one of his Edinburgh counterparts, as their top coaches currently working in men’s rugby in Scotland. Deals between all three companies are currently in place until 2026.

Although Townsend has been in charge of Scotland since 2017, he has failed to pose a significant threat to silverware despite undoubtedly raising the standard of the national team during his tenure and producing a number of impressive results against some of the world’s best sides.

At the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, the Scots have never finished above third in the Six Nations under Townsend’s watch and have experienced group stage exits.

Townsend, however, believes that he is interested in a third World Cup and that Williamson would be happy to see the former Glasgow coach play for the Australian competition in 2027.

“We will have plenty of time to talk during our summer tour, and it’s common that we value continuity,” said the tour director.

“I thought the Six Nations and the fall saw a lot,” I thought. If we turn our attention to Australia and South Africa, and particularly to England and France, I believe we were only a few points away from winning very big games, and that should give us a lot of excitement.

“The players’ feedback on the quality of the camp and the coaching is still very positive, and I think we should be optimistic about how the men’s national team will fare in this extremely difficult summer tour and then in the fall.”

Since taking over in 2022, Smith has been a resounding success.

In spite of the negative effects of injuries from last year, Warriors still advanced to the Champions Cup quarter-finals and the final four of the URC. He led the club to the European Challenge Cup final in his first season and won the extraordinary United Rugby Championship title in his second.

Smith has been linked to a number of positions throughout the season, most recently the vacant position as Wales’ head coach, but he has not been successful in stifling speculation that he is seeking a new challenge.

We really like all three men’s coaches, according to Williamson, and we want to keep them.

I’m having those conversations right now and will continue them in the coming weeks. But he is a fantastic coach more for Franco than just that. I sincerely hope he will remain because of how amazing he has been working.

We want the best coaches in Scotland, and it would be disappointing if no one was talking about someone of such high caliber as him, and I am actually pleased that he is being approached and that people are talking about him as being a coach for others.

I believe we provide a consistent and precise plan that he will be extremely helpful, and I have great faith in him.

Many people think that Smith will make a good Townsend replacement, but Williamson insists that there hasn’t been any discussion of succession planning.

If you want to fill any gaps when they arise at any level, he said, “I don’t think we need to be looking at our coaching group and saying that we are creating the bench.”

We simply want to make sure that we choose the ideal candidate for that position at the time.

We absolutely have to nail that in terms of continuity around our coaching when we are thinking about how to create a path that will lead to our players being highly competitive in 2031 and 2035, or 2029 and 2033 for the ladies, because that is what will inspire confidence in them.

After having had a lot of success in a similar capacity in Ireland, Nucifora was hired last year to overhaul Scottish Rugby’s performance department and pathway structures.

Williamson doesn’t anticipate that contract being extended even though he thinks Nucifora may still have some influence given that the Australian’s deal runs until 2026.

“David was appointed with a very specific remit to establish a structure that would enable us to be highly competitive in those World Cups that have already been mentioned,” he said.

He and the rest of the senior team have been putting in a lot of effort to deliver that structure, and David isn’t going to be the guy who breathes life into that structure every day. That is unquestionably someone else.

As he tries to force a move, Chelsea eye Morgan Rogers, and Leeds target a Premier League striker, Viktor Gyokeres rejects the talks with Sporting.

Viktor Gyokeres, 27, has threatened to go on strike as he tries to compel a move from the Portuguese club and has refused to hold clear-the-air talks with Sporting. (Mirror)

Brazilian international Rodrigo Muniz, 24, has received a £26 million offer from newly promoted Leeds, with an additional £6 million in add-ons. (Standard)

However, several Spanish and Italian clubs are also considering moving for PSV Eindhoven and American striker Ricardo Pepi, 22. (Romano-Fabrizio)

Myles Lewis-Skelly, an England international, is about to sign a new deal that will make him one of the highest-paid young players in the world. (Athletic – A subscription required)

However, Parma‘s assistant manager Carlos Cuesta will depart from Arsenal to take over as their new head coach. (Guardian)

Should Aston Villa be interested in making a sale, Chelsea will still have an interest in England international Morgan Rogers, 22. (Mail+-subscription required)

If Aston Villa receive a bid greater than £20 million for the Argentine international, Aston Villa will be willing to sell the 28-year-old midfielder. (Caught Offside)

Joao Pedro, 23, a Brazilian striker, is also wanted by Newcastle, and Chelsea have made contact with Brighton. (Romano-Fabrizio)

Yoane Wissa, a 28-year-old DR Congo international, is wanted by Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Arsenal, Fenerbahce, and Galatasaray for a £50 million fee from Brentford. (Teamtalk)

Tottenham and Leeds both contacted the player’s representatives after Nice and Ivory Coast forward Evann Guessand, 23, is attracting interest. (TBR Football)

Scotland vs. the Netherlands in the Men’s Twenty20 at Clydesdale

Netherlands 198-7 (20 overs): Levitt 90, Davidson 2-29

Scotland 181-9 (20 overs): McMullen 51, Nidamanuru 3-30

By 17 runs, the Netherlands won.

Scotland lost to the Netherlands by 17 runs in Glasgow as a result of back-to-back defeats in their T20 Tri-Series.

Michael Levitt, the opener in the Netherlands, outlasted the restraints with a score of 90 off 57 deliveries for an impressive total of 198-7.

Despite some solid fielding from the Scots, including a fine boundary catch from George Munsey to dismiss Vikramjit Singh, the visitors’ score was greatly increased by Max O’Dowd (21) and Scott Edwards (31).

Before makeshift opener Mark Watt ran himself out in the third over, the Scots started slowly.

The Dutch were unbeaten after Richie Berrington was dismissed for just two after a controversial catch at backward square-leg, which caused the ball to appear to bounce before it reached fielder Aryan Dutt.

Scotland’s chase was together, but they still needed more than 100 runs when he also fell for Teja Nidamanuru’s 51-run part-time spin.

Michael Leask scored five impressive sixes to resurrect Scottish hopes on a surface better suited for quick scoring than Nepal’s low-scoring loss on Tuesday.

To the delight of the men in orange, he was caught by Max O’Dowd off Roelof van der Merwe’s long-on bowling.

Dutt limited the Scots to just 10, leaving them with only 27 remaining after the final over, earning a comfortable victory.

Before heading to the Netherlands for the T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier next month, Berrington’s team travels to Nepal on Friday.

After the first innings, Berrington said, “We felt like we were playing with the one short side.”

“Our execution was good at times, but not for long enough throughout the game,” we thought.

You always have a chance when Michael Leask is in the middle, but one of us couldn’t stay there long enough.

With Surrey winning by 53 runs and moving seven points clear of the Women’s T20 Blast table, Ryana MacDonald-Gay’s career-best 4-14 T20 figures sparked a spectacular Lancashire Thunder batting collapse.

In scorching conditions at the Oval, Grace Harris scored 57 to help the home side come back from 17-3 and win 172 games. However, some bad batting from the visitors led to a 118-run record.

Essex fell to the second-placed Bears at Edgbaston on the final ball before falling to two-wicket short.

Before Charis Pavely blasted her first tournament half-century past the Bears, it appeared as though a 94-run stand between Cordelia Griffith and Maddie Penna and some deft bowling from the visitors would give Essex their first away victory and a double.

Match results are displayed on the cards.

When Sophie Morris bowled home captain Bryony Smith for four, Lancashire were on the verge of a third successive victory after winning the toss and choosing to bowl first.

When England’s Sophia Dunkley was bowled by Tara Norris for 10 and Kira Chathli was sent out two balls later, leaving the visitors with a 17-3 record, things got better for the visitors.

Grace Harris and Paige Scholfield were tasked with fixing the damage when Danni Wyatt-Hodge (12) became Morris’ second victim with a score of 50).

In her 31-ball 57, Harris hit two sixes and eight fours, while Scholfield’s 37, which included five boundaries, including a six, did not.

Eve Jones (5), Seren Smale (5), and Fi Morris (2) early in the sixth over, but hopes were boosted by Emma Lamb (64) and Ellie Threlkeld (32), who scored a 70-run fourth-wicket stand.

Only for MacDonald-Gay and Phoebe Franklin (3-19) to take the game’s thrilling climax and take six wickets in 3.4 overs to help Surrey win its fourth game without a run out, led by Franklin and Ailsa Lister, who also contributed with a run out, with Franklin scoring twice.

When I went in, Franklin said, “We probably thought 171 was under par because we believed we could defend it because 180-200 was the goal.”

After the visitors had won the toss and chosen to bat at Edgbaston, an unbroken 94-run fourth-wicket stand between Griffith (47) and Penna (41) secured the Essex total of 150-3.

As the home bowlers struggled in the Birmingham heat, Lauren Winfield-Hill (30) and Grace Scrivens (15) led the visitors to a strong start.

Winfield-Hill’s run out when she resisted Griffith’s call for a sharp single left Essex wriggling at 56-3 in the eighth over, only for Penna to join Griffith, steady the ship, and give the Bears a challenging total.

When Davina Perrin (3) and Meg Austin (3) were dismissed by the tournament’s top wicket-taker, Esmae MacGregor (2) in three balls, leaving the home side 11-2, that target appeared far off.

The Bears were kept on the lookout by Issy Wong’s 25-ball 33, but Pavely (68*) had to take the lead when she gambled on a second run and was out.

The England under-19 international led the home side to victory after surviving an early scare when a lofted shot went through the hands of Sophia Smale at long-on for six. She added two more maximums and five fours.

It either came off or didn’t, Pavely said, and luckily it did for me today.

Somerset vs. Hampshire Hawks match at Taunton (14:30 BST)

A significant portion of the abuse that tennis players receive comes from gamblers who have lost bets, according to Signify, which has collaborated with tennis authorities to identify abuse through an artificial intelligence-led detection system called Threat Matrix.

40% of all reported abuse was sent by a group called “angry gamblers,” with messages that were obviously related to betting activity because of the abuse’s timing or content.

A spokesperson for the Betting and Gaming Council responded when asked for a response. “We do not tolerate abuse on social media, which has no place in sports or betting,” the spokesperson said.

It added that “social media companies must immediately remove offensive content and take immediate action against users.”

Most of the year, tennis tournaments are held all over the world, making it one of the most well-liked sports for regular gamblers.

More than £100m is bet on tennis matches every day, according to a source at one of the biggest multi-platform gambling companies in the world.

The spread of bets is roughly equal between men’s and women’s tennis, with this source claiming that more matches take place on the Challenger Tour than men’s tennis.

In the United Kingdom, 13% of all sports-related gamblers in the UK chose tennis in 2023, placing it fifth place behind horse racing, football, golf, and boxing, according to a YouGov survey.

However, according to the data, 34% of tennis gamblers use websites that reward regular customers with loyalty schemes and spend over £200 each month on wagers. Some UK tennis players spend a lot and frequently, which means the stakes are higher if they lose.

That might give some insight into why Boulter and other players are so frequently abused because of their gambling behavior.

The connection between tennis and gambling has long been a source of controversy, just like it has been with other sports.

Forming official partnerships has historically been frowned upon due to concerns about potential match-fixing and ethics.

However, with the expansion of gambling online, sponsorships have become extremely lucrative. Tennis has begun to show a greater willingness to work with gambling sponsors in a time when famous players have fought for more prize money and a larger share of sponsor revenues.

Novak Djokovic, a 24-time Grand Slam champion, said players should receive a greater share of the money made from sponsorships for sports in 2023.

The International Tennis Federation (ITF) extended its agreement with Stake, a Curacao-based gambling company that also sponsors sports teams like Everton and the Sauber Formula 1 team, in February, making it the official betting partner of the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup.

Stake was later found to have violated UK Gambling Commission regulations by using pornographic content to promote gambling to young people, and it had withdrawn its license to operate there.

The Stakes ITF agreement is still in place, and the BBC has reached out to the body for comment.

South African-based Betway is now sponsoring the Madrid Open, Miami Open, and Swedish Open.

The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and online gaming provider FanDuel Group signed a multi-year agreement in 2023, inviting applicants to the Tour in North, South, and Central America.

Additionally, the WTA gives its data to Sportradar and Stats Perform, which are both licensed betting companies.

In the UK, male gamblers have traditionally made up the majority of the population, but research indicates that this proportion is growing.

According to data from the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) from 2022, 42% of women had previously gambled and were most likely to do so between the ages of 35 and 54.

These figures also include non-sports gambling like casinos, slot machines, and online bingo, but also women are targeted by sports betting sites.

44% of betting establishments said they want to increase the number of female customers, according to a survey conducted by Stats Perform in 2024.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley estimates that 32% of sports betters are now women in the USA.

Gaming companies generated £15.6 billion in revenue between April 2023 and March 2024, an increase of £0.5 billion from the previous year, according to the most recent figures from the UKGC.

That means that the UK gambling industry is more than twice as lucrative as the UK music (valued at £7.6 billion in UK music) and the video game sector (valued at £7 billion in equity, trade union for performing arts and entertainment) industries.

In recent years, gambling companies in the UK have spent more than £1.5 billion on marketing, with the majority of that spending television ads. When sponsorships are taken into account, this increases to closer to £2 billion.

In recent years, the laws have become more stringent regarding gambling’s sponsorship and marketing. Among them are:

New plans were made public late last year, including a levy to raise £100 million for gambling-related research, prevention, and treatment, as well as online slot stake limits of £5 for over 25s and £2 for young adults between the ages of 18 and 24.

The Health and Social Care Committee requested additional measures from the UK government in May to better guard against potential harm from gambling.

Ombudsman won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot where Wednesday’s racing was overshadowed by a fatal injury for filly Harry’s Girl in the opening contest.

William Buick sent the 7-1 winner Ombudsman clear of runner-up Anmaat in the final furlong, with See The Fire third.

The two-length victory was the second of the day for trainers John and Thady Gosden.

Favourite Los Angeles was back in fifth and appeared to pay the price of a pace topping 40mph in the second furlong set by stablemate Continuous.

“It was a case of waiting for the gap and this horse has an extraordinary turn of foot,” said John Gosden of Ombudsman.

Earlier, Harry’s Girl was injured while racing in the day’s first race, the Queen Mary Stakes, which was won by favourite True Love.

The Gosdens also won the Duke Of Cambridge Stakes with Crimson Advocate after jockey James McDonald swooped down the outside.

The Australia-based Kiwi rider timed his run to perfection on the 13-2 chance, who won the King Charles III Stakes at the meeting last year.

But the Gosdens were unable to give King Charles and Queen Camilla a winner as their horse Rainbows Edge finished seventh behind 11-1 victor Miss Information in the Kensington Palace Stakes.

The first race of the 2025 meeting’s second day was overshadowed by the death of Harry’s Girl.

Harry’s Girl, trained by Richard Hannon, was pulled up with a serious leg injury by jockey Sean Levey during the Queen Mary Stakes.

The filly broke down midway through the five-furlong sprint for two-year-old horses.

“Unfortunately, Harry’s Girl suffered a fatal injury during the Queen Mary Stakes,” a statement said.

“Our thoughts go out to all connections at this time.”

Harry’s Girl, ridden by Sean Levey, was running in her third race, having previously finished first and second.

The race was won by 9-4 favourite True Love, under Ryan Moore for trainer Aidan O’Brien, from 100-1 shot Flowerhead.

Meanwhile My Cloud, the 3-1 favourite ridden by Silvestre de Sousa for trainer Roger Varian, was the shortest-priced winner in the history of the Royal Hunt Cup.

Irish trainer Paddy Twomey celebrated his first Royal Ascot winner as unbeaten Carmers won the Queen’s Vase for a third success on the trot.

The Princess of Wales pulled out of a planned appearance at the course on Wednesday.

Catherine, who is making a gradual return to public life after her cancer diagnosis last year, is trying to find the right balance as she fully returns to public engagements, according to royal sources.

King Charles and Queen Camilla had hoped for a winner with Rainbows Edge, but despite being sent off favourite, he could not match Miss Information.

Winning jockey Oisin Murphy punched the air before hitting the finishing line on Andrew Balding’s runner.