Category Sports News

Wales legend Ieuan Evans has urged his countrymen overlooked for the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia to ensure they are ready for call-ups in the event of injuries to the party.

Andy Farrell named only two Welshmen in his 38-strong squad, Wales captain and flanker Jac Morgan and scrum-half Tomos Williams, the fewest from the nation since the fifth Lions tour in 1903.

Since the end of World War Two the lowest number of Welshmen to tour had been five, to New Zealand in 1993 with Evans, now Lions chairman, among them.

Speaking after announcing the 2025 tour party, Evans said he was “disappointed” for his countrymen, whose 17-match losing run helped ensure far greater representation from Ireland, England and Scotland.

“This is about Andy Farrell and his team selecting the very best players with the very best dynamic to fit going on a British and Irish Lions tour, with all the challenges of playing Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday and having that fit together,” he said.

He added: “Even getting into the mix of selection is challenging to begin with, but then to find your way to actually get on the plane; but things do change, things happen, injuries and so on, so you’ve got to be ready for that.

“Now that challenge for the group of players in Wales to fight for the next tour, but also making sure you perform now because you never know what’s going to happen on that tour [to Australia].

“I’ve been on enough tours to know things change, injuries happen.”

Cardiff veteran Taulupe Faletau, a three-time tourist, Ospreys hooker Dewi Lake, Exeter lock and captain Dafydd Jenkins, Dragons back row Aaron Wainwright and Scarlets back-three star Blair Murray were touted as potential Lions for the coming tour.

But none made the cut, leaving only Wales captain Morgan and Gloucester’s ex-Cardiff half-back Williams to win Farrell’s vote.

Evans says his fellow countrymen have the chance to make their mark and earn Test places.

“It’s a blank sheet of paper and they start from scratch,” said the former Llanelli and Bath wing.

He added: “It’s now about forcing your way into Test selection and that’s by forging combinations, partnerships and impressing the coaches when you’re out there with your performances and your training.

Morgan was on a flight that had landed in South Africa with Ospreys when he discovered he was to become a Lion.

He said after a “tough couple of years” it was a “massive honour” to earn a Lions spot.

He added: “I didn’t really expect anything, really, especially with the competition in the back row… the competition is massive.”

Williams was at home and said: “I have got to admit I did shed a tear.

“The last two days I’ve been an emotional wreck. Grateful for my parents, my partner Laura and everyone who has helped me.

“The top of the mountain. You cannot get much higher than this achievement.

Former Wales centre Jamie Roberts, an impressive Lions tourist in 2009 and 2013. echoed Evans’ thoughts, saying Wales’ low representation was “a reflection” of where Wales are and injuries could yet allow opportunities to arise.

He added: “But for Jac and Tomos, I mean, we’re super proud to have those lads on tour.

“They’ve both been in fine form the last season, and rightly, deservedly, have been selected for their first tours.

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have booked their place in this year’s Europa League final with wins over Athletic Club and Bodo/Glimt respectively.

The winner will claim a place in next season’s Champions League, while the loser will miss out on European football all together.

It will be just the sixth time in history that a European final is contested by two English clubs.

Napoli want to sign Kevin De Bruyne, Italian side also monitoring Jack Grealish, Marcus Rashford eyeing move to Barcelona.

Napoli want to sign 33-year-old Belgium midfielder Kevin De Bruyne on a free transfer when his Manchester City contract expires this summer. (Times – subscription required)

De Bruyne is keen to stay in Europe, and Aston Villa are understood to be among a host of clubs keeping tabs on his situation. (i paper)

Napoli are also monitoring Manchester City’s 29-year-old England midfielder Jack Grealish. (Sun)

Manchester United’s England forward Marcus Rashford, 27, who is on loan at Aston Villa, is eyeing a move to Barcelona this summer. (Mundo Deportivo – in Spanish)

Bayer Leverkusen right-back Jeremie Frimpong has a £29.7m release clause in his contract, providing a major boost to Liverpool who are keen on the 24-year-old Netherlands international. (Talksport)

Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City have all made contact to sign Brazil winger Rodrygo, 24, from Real Madrid. (Tbrfootball)

Crystal Palace are confident of signing 25-year-old English midfielder Joe Willock from Newcastle this summer. (Chronicle Live)

Borussia Dortmund have joined the race for Sunderland’s 19-year-old English midfielder Jobe Bellingham, who has also been scouted by Manchester United. (Talksport)

Aston Villa do not want to lose £90m-rated England midfielder Morgan Rogers, who is attracting the interest of Chelsea, but the 22-year-old would be open to a move if the opportunity presented itself. (Teamtalk)

Al Hilal are showing serious interest in Liverpool’s 25-year-old Uruguay striker Darwin Nunez and 28-year-old Colombia winger Luis Diaz. (Caught Offside)

Chelsea want to sign Dutch striker Emanuel Emegha from Strasbourg, with Newcastle also showing interest in the 22-year-old. (Foot Mercato – in French)

West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers are two of the clubs looking at a potential summer transfer for 24-year-old Genoa and Denmark defensive midfielder Morten Frendrup. (Football Transfers)

Manchester City want to sign 21-year-old Flamengo and Brazil right-back Wesley. (Gianlucadimarzio – in Italian)

Los Angeles will become the first city to incorporate two stadiums into an Olympics opening ceremony when it hosts the Games in 2028.

Both the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the SoFi Stadium will host the event on 14 July 2028, organisers of LA28 have confirmed.

The Coliseum, which was used at the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, also hosts the closing ceremony on 30 July and becomes the first venue to hold events across three Games.

The SoFi Stadium, home to NFL sides the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, will host the Paralympics opening ceremony on 15 August with the event closing at the Coliseum on 27 August.

“The venues selected for the 2028 opening and closing ceremonies will highlight Los Angeles’ rich sporting history and cutting-edge future, showcasing the very best that LA has to offer on the world stage,” LA28 chair Casey Wasserman said.

“These two extraordinary venues will create an unforgettable experience, welcoming fans from across the globe to an Olympic and Paralympic Games like never before and concluding what will go down as one of the most-incredible Games in history.”

Details of the opening ceremony, including how the two stadiums will be used, are yet to be confirmed.

The Coliseum, which is home to Collegiate American football side the USC Trojans, will hold the track and field events during the first week at the Olympics.

The SoFi Stadium is set to host the swimming competitions in week two.

Three games of the season to go and it’s that time of year where some teams become unreliable.

Cases in point being Arsenal, Spurs and Manchester United, who all have a focus on Europe, and Liverpool with the Premier League title wrapped up.

You want to use your precious remaining transfers on teams with something to play for – those chasing European spots.

Kevin de Bruyne (11) and Jamie Vardy (9) led the way to an acceptable 56 points in week 36.

Matz Sels, Nottingham Forest, keeper, £5.2m – Leicester (h)

This is one of the two standout fixtures of the week and hopefully you’ve got a Forest player or two in your side.

No overthinking here – the top-scoring keeper in a defence that has kept 13 clean sheets.

Yes, Leicester have improved in attack since their relegation was confirmed and Forest have also been wobbling recently, but they are the most likely team to keep a clean sheet.

Neco Williams, Nottingham Forest, £4.6m – Leicester (h)

I love a defensive double up and full-back Williams offers an attacking threat too.

Has the most shots (37) and key passes (16) of any Forest defender this season – and he is the cheapest option on top of that.

Josko Gvardiol, Manchester City, £6.4m – Southampton (a)

City are the other side you’d expect to keep a clean sheet this week.

In the spirit of ‘not overthinking things’, Gvardiol is one of the first names on the team sheet. His switch to centre-back recently has had no impact on his ability to earn bonus points and City have four clean sheets in their past six games.

Ryan Sessegnon, Fulham, £4.2m – Everton (h)

Kevin de Bruyne, Manchester City, £9.5m – Southampton (a)

De Bruyne has had two double digit hauls in the past four weeks.

He’s started the past five games, so worries about his fitness should not be an issue and the Belgian only has three league games left in his City career.

If he’s going out with a bang, this game against one of the worst teams in Premier League history is the perfect setting.

Bryan Mbeumo (vice-captain), Brentford, £8.2m – Ipswich (a)

If he is not in your side, I’d highly recommend targeting Mbeumo for the run-in.

Brentford are chasing Europe and have three attractive fixtures against Ipswich, Fulham and Wolves.

Mbeumo has 26 FPL returns this season and six double-digit hauls – so you are buying both the security of a likely return and the potential of a huge points score.

And that is the kind of player you want to propel you up your mini leagues in an end-of-season charge.

Alex Iwobi, Fulham, £5.6m – Everton (h)

Iwobi has been on fire in the past five gameweeks with 30 FPL points (tied with Sessegnon for highest Fulham scorer).

He’s had more shots, goal involvements and big chances created than any other Fulham defender and faces an Everton side with one clean sheet in 10 matches.

Yankuba Minteh, Brighton, £4.8m – Wolves (a)

A bit of a flyer but Minteh is a fine FPL pick when he gets minutes on the pitch.

The Gambian has started four of the past five games for Brighton and his 5.38 points per 90 minutes is the highest of any Seagulls midfielder this season.

Yoane Wissa, Brentford, £6.7m – Ipswich (a)

Wissa is having an elite season that is going slightly under the radar.

His 18 league goals have put him joint fifth in the scoring charts and he has four and one assist in his past four games.

As mentioned with Mbeumo, Brentford have great fixtures too before the end of the campaign.

Form plus fixtures = a strong FPL pick.

Chris Wood, Nottingham Forest, £7.1m – Leicester (h)

One goal in seven games might put you off Wood but, unlike Wissa, fixture wins over form here.

Leicester have conceded 76 goals this season at an average of more than two per game.

Wood has been involved in 42% of Forest’s goals this season so if they score a couple he will likely return.

Erling Haaland (captain), Manchester City, £14.8m – Southampton (a)

If you are trying to make up points in FPL then why not take the ultimate gamble and captain Haaland?

Will he start? That’s not even guaranteed with the Norwegian returning from injury, but Pep Guardiola will want him match fit in time for the FA Cup final on 17 May. This is the last game before that.

And if – IF – he does start then this is instantly a match with haul potential. Southampton’s defence is the worst in the league, their season is over.

Alisson, Liverpool, keeper, £5.1m – Arsenal (h)

Amad Diallo, Manchester United, midfielder, £5.1m – West Ham (h)

Rayan Ait-Nouri, Wolves, defender £5.1m – Brighton (h)

Calvin Bassey, Fulham, defender, £4.5m – Everton (h)

Team total cost: £96.9m

Michael Dunlop secured a win double in the Supersport and Superstock classes in Thursday night’s racing at the North West 200.

The victories were the Northern Ireland rider’s first at the event since 2016 and took his overall career tally of North West successes to seven.

Dunlop clinched a dramatic win in the opening Supersport race by blasting past eventual runner-up Richard Cooper on the run to Mather’s Cross on the final lap and went on to win by a margin of just 0.378 seconds.

For the 36-year-old, it was only his second victory in the class at the North West, although he has dominated the middleweight category at the Isle of Man TT, where he has won a record 13 Supersport races.

The Northern Ireland rider was having his first outing at an international road race on a V2 Ducati, having previously campaigned Yamaha machinery in the category.

Dunlop set a new lap record on his final circuit at 118.65mph, with Davey Todd taking third behind Cooper, and Dean Harrison, Peter Hickman and Jamie Coward making up the top six leaderboard.

The top five had been involved in a thrilling battle throughout, with just tenths of a second separating them during the four-lap race.

Dunlop was fifth after lap one, fourth after the second lap and third after lap three, before making up ground and executing his decisive move.

“It’s nice to win back in Northern Ireland, especially at international level,” a delighted Dunlop told BBC Sport NI after the race.

“I got myself into the right place at the right time and thought that it was time to get my finger out.

“I really enjoyed it and knew I always had it in me to ride well here.”

The Ballymoney man made light of suffering the after-effects of a spill in Superstock qualifying earlier on Thursday by occupying the top spot on the podium.

Dunlop claimed his second win of the night by sealing his second NW200 Superstock triumph of his career.

The county Antrim man was back in fourth after the opening circuit, with polesitter Todd establishing a substantial advantage of 2.1 seconds over Ian Hutchinson and Harrison.

A second-lap charge by Dunlop moved him up to second, within 0.58 seconds of the leader, and by the end of lap three he led Harrison by 0.8 seconds.

The BMW rider had hit the front on the fast run to University as his rival Todd lost significant ground when he went straight on at the same section of the course.

Dunlop put in the fastest lap of the race on his final circuit for good measure, his speed of 124.392mph marginally outside Hickman’s two-year-old Supersport benchmark.

“I’ve proved I’m still fast. I knew the Superstock race was going to be hot and heavy,” Dunlop told BBC Sport NI afterwards.

“It’s been a long time since I came here fully fit and after my spill earlier on Thursday I thought ‘here we go again’ but I’ve overcome it and won two races.”

1 Michael Dunlop (NI, Ducati)

2 Richard Cooper (Eng, Yamaha)

3 Davey Todd (Eng, Honda)

4 Dean Harrison (Eng, Honda)

5 Peter Hickman (Eng, Triumph)

6 Jamie Coward (Eng, Triumph)

7 Mike Browne (RoI, Yamaha)

8 Adam McLean (NI, Yamaha)

1 Michael Dunlop (NI, BMW)

2 Dean Harrison (Eng, Honda)

3 Ian Hutchinson (Eng, BMW)

4 Davey Todd (Eng, BMW)

5 Peter Hickman (Eng, BMW)

6 Josh Brookes (Aus, BMW)

7 Conor Cummins (IOM, BMW)