Defender Lucy Bronze revealed England would have failed to live up to their own expectations had they not reached the World Cup semi-finals.
Alessia Russo guaranteed the Lionesses would finish no lower than fourth in the 2023 tournament when her second-half goal completed a 2-1 comeback against Colombia in Saturday’s quarter-final to set up Wednesday’s meeting with co-hosts Australia.
Third place would see England equal their best-ever finish from eight years ago in Canada, but Bronze insisted reaching this stage for the third time in the European champions’ history was the bare minimum.
“If we hadn’t have gotten to the semi-final, I would have said that we would have underperformed,” said Bronze.
“A lot of people said that England were the team that were going to flop a little bit. Our performances haven’t been our best, granted, but the results have been there and we’ve got to the semi-final, which is what this England team is known for doing.
“This very much reminds me of 2015, having to fight in every single game.
“I think the difference with this team is we have won trophies, we have won tournaments, so we do know what to do.
“We knew coming into the tournament that it wasn’t going to be easy. There was a lot of outside noise about whether England was going to be able to cope well with everything thrown at us…and the semi-final is what is expected of us as the England team.”
Bronze, alongside Alex Greenwood, is one of just two members of the 2023 squad to have featured in three consecutive World Cups and is second only to Jill Scott in World Cup appearances for the Lionesses, with 18 to the retired midfielder’s 21.
The 31-year-old made history during her first global showpiece in 2015, when her 76th-minute effort made it 2-1 against Norway in their last-16 encounter and secured England Women’s first-ever victory in a World Cup knockout stage.
Four years later, again against Norway, Bronze unleashed another stunning strike, capping off the Lionesses’ 3-0 quarter-final victory in France to book a second trip to the semi-finals.
To say the Matildas have captured Australia’s imagination en route to their first-ever final-four encounter would be selling short the fervour taking hold Down Under.
Saturday’s dramatic penalty shootout victory over France was watched by over 7.2 million people in Australia, over a quarter of the country’s population.
Co-host broadcaster Seven said the audience was the “highest rating TV sport program of the past decade”, while “the 472,000 viewers on 7plus makes the Matildas v France game the biggest streaming event ever seen in Australia”.
England had a taste of the environment they are likely to face on Wednesday when they lined up across from a Colombia side that enjoyed the overwhelming majority in the Stadium Australia stands, a sea of yellow who booed when England touched the ball and unleashed an almighty roar when Leicy Santos scored the opener.
Lauren Hemp cancelled it out by half-time, while Russo provided the lethal blow after the break to eliminate the only side from the Americas left in the tournament.
While being the home side does have its advantages, as Bronze knows from last summer’s Euro 2022 triumph, she was quick to point out the potential pitfalls facing the Matildas come Wednesday night’s historic encounter.
She said: “(There are) positives and negatives for being the home nation and for being the team against.
“It can be a lot of pressure to put on teams. I remember playing Canada in 2015 in that World Cup and there was a lot of pressure put on that team and it gave them a lot of fight.
“It was the same thing for us in the Euros last year. The ’12th man’ as they say, it really helped us.
“It was a key part to us winning and I think that’s been a key part for Australia when their backs have been against the wall this tournament. (For us) it wasn’t hostile but the Colombians were very loud, so that’s something we’re used to now.”
Adrian Lam is convinced the sky is the limit for Leigh’s leopardskin-clad heroes after he watched his son Lachlan kick the golden-point decider to sink Hull KR and end their 52-year-old wait for a Challenge Cup win at Wembley.
Leigh’s 17-16 win sustained an astonishing success story for a club whose announcement last October of a surprise rebrand was met with scorn in some quarters and the expectation of a top-flight return spotted with struggle.
With the world’s oldest rugby trophy in the cabinet and a top-four place in Super League seemingly secure, the Leopards head coach has warned the game had better start getting used to its garish newcomers.
“I had a conversation with (owner) Derek (Beaumont) about it (the rebrand) and how people were going to take it, and it’s snowballed to a point where I was having a coffee this morning and saw men wearing leopardskin tops and shirts,” recalled Lam.
“It helps because we’re winning but it’s just gone viral across the whole town and maybe across the UK. It’s caught on and I think it can go to so many different levels – where does it end?”
Lachlan Lam held his nerve to settle an enthralling if error-strewn affair in the fourth minute of the extra period, after both team-mate Gareth O’Brien and Rovers’ Brad Schneider missed opportunities to seal the victory.
Steeled by the influence of Lam and the constant prompting of Edwin Ipape, Leigh were the better team for long periods and would have been aggrieved to finish the first period only two points to the good as Rovers somehow clung on.
Jez Litten’s converted try cancelled out Ben Reynolds’ early penalty before Lam burst clear to put Leigh in control. Elliot Minchella’s yellow card for going high on Reynolds on the half-hour made Rovers’ task harder but they not only survived, but reduced the deficit through a Schneider penalty.
Schneider levelled at the start of the second half and valiant Rovers defence held Leigh at bay until Mikey Lewis coughed up an error too far on 65 minutes, Leigh capitalising when Tom Briscoe – the scourge of Rovers in their last final appearance in 2015 when he scored five tries in a 50-0 win for Leeds – touched down.
Matt Parcell gave his side hope on the hooter after the video referee took more than five minutes to deem Kane Linnett had not knocked on a crash ball before the Rovers hooker squeezed over, but Schneider’s conversion to drag the game into the extra period for the first time in the tournament’s history proved in vain.
No sooner had Lam’s kick soared between the posts, confirmation of the Leopards’ victory was greeted by a leopard-suited Beaumont leading a victory charge and Lam being engulfed by his team-mates, many of whom had faced uncertain futures before committing to the owner’s unlikely revolution.
“Some of the players we’ve recruited over the last 18 months were down and out in some areas and I’m just so grateful for what they’ve done,” added Adrian Lam.
“Edwin Ipape wasn’t in a team anywhere, no-one knew who Kai O’Donnell was, Josh Charnley couldn’t get in the Warrington team. The way that group has got together has been incredible. This is a magic moment for the club but we feel there is so much more to come.”
While few if any would dare mock Leigh’s pretensions to repeat the feat and go all the way to the season-ending Grand Final, Rovers face the difficult task of recovering and embarking on a run that will secure their own place in the end-of-season play-offs.
Such an eventuality would provide hope of a fitting send-off for captain Shaun Kenny-Dowall, whose hopes of marking his final season as a player by becoming the first KR player to lift the Challenge Cup since 1980 were cruelly dashed.
The veteran New Zealander had been the prime instigator in keeping his side’s feet on the ground after their golden point semi-final win over Wigan, and he will spend this week imparting a message of a different kind ahead of their Super League resumption at St Helens next weekend.
“I’m obviously very disappointed and I really feel for our fans who showed up in numbers like they always do,” said Kenny-Dowall. “But we will dust ourselves off and get back to what we always do, and that is the messaging for this week.
“We will take the learnings as a group and our full focus is on what is ahead. We are sitting nicely and we know if we rally round and put our full energy into the next few games, we will give ourselves the best chance to be playing in another game like that at the end of the year.”
Paris St Germain are ready to integrate Kylian Mbappe back into the first-team squad, according to reports.
The France captain’s future in the capital city has seemed uncertain following links with a move to Real Madrid and reports earlier this week that he was frozen out of senior training.
Mbappe was told to stay away after he refused to activate an option to extend his current contract to 2025, meaning the superstar would be free to negotiate a free transfer to foreign clubs in January.
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He was not involved as PSG began their Ligue 1 campaign in underwhelming fashion with a goalless draw against Lorient, with Neymar also not included in the matchday squad.
But before the game Mbappe and the club are reported to have held positive talks that will see the 24-year-old return to Luis Enrique’s squad.
A club statement on Sunday, reported by French newspaper L’Equipe, read: “After very constructive and positive discussions between Paris St Germain and Kylian Mbappe before the PSG-Lorient match, the player was reinstated in the first training team this morning.”
Boss Enrique had said before the game that he was confident of a positive outcome.
“It is something that has already happened in the past and there was a positive solution before I was here,” he said in his pre-match press conference.
“I hope and wish that, just like in the past, the same thing will happen again and that the club and the player will reach an agreement.”
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe is relishing the dilemma of having to disappoint players as he attempts to negotiate a path through a season which could see his squad stretched to its limits.
The 45-year-old left summer signings Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento, as well as last season’s top scorer Callum Wilson, sitting on the bench for Saturday’s Premier League opener, but saw Wilson and Barnes come on and score in a 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa.
Howe admitted in the run-up to the game that he had “five or six” difficult decisions to make in the light of a fresh £125million spending spree, Anthony Gordon’s pre-season form and the emergence of homegrown midfielder Elliot Anderson, but that is a problem he welcomes with a Champions League campaign looming.
He said: “They’re dilemmas that are needed because we’re going to need the strongest squad possible, and the players who missed out today will play loads of games this season.
“That’s just a fact because we’re in so many different competitions, we’re going to be stretched and we’ll also be needing their quality as well.
“It’s going to be nice to be able to make those decisions. We need the strongest bench we can get this year with the amount of games we’re going to have, the amount of competitions we’re in.
“It was certainly a difficult day yesterday to name the team. They weren’t easy decisions for me to make – decisions I had to make, of course, being in my position – and then you just hope the team performs and you get the benefit of that squad.”
One of those decisions saw Howe hand a debut to £52m former AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali, and it paid off handsomely as the 23-year-old not only opened the scoring within six minutes, but produced a commanding display on his first appearance in England’s top flight.
Villa’s record signing Moussa Diaby cancelled out the Italian’s early strike in short order, but his response was to play a pivotal role as Newcastle overwhelmed the visitors, Alexander Isak helping himself to a double either side of the unfortunate Tyrone Mings’ departure on a stretcher before substitutes Wilson and Barnes added their names to the scoresheet late on.
Howe was understandably delighted, but equally confident there is more to come.
He said: “We didn’t defend perfectly, so there’s stuff for us to improve – but it was a weird situation. I thought they (Villa) played well, but we could have scored more goals.”
Opposite number Unai Emery headed back to the midlands hoping the news on Mings is not as bad as that which saw midfielder Emiliano Buendia ruled out for an extended period with a knee injury last week, but taking comfort from Diaby’s impressive debut on Tyneside.
Emery said: “We haven’t had all bad news and one of the good things was to watch Moussa playing feeling good and adapting to the position we’re trying to get with him. He was good, he scored and he played well.
“We had some good moments in the 90 minutes, but there a lot of things we had to do to control the match that we didn’t do within our system.”
Owen Farrell will learn on Tuesday if he is to miss England’s critical World Cup opener against Argentina after he was sent off for a dangerous tackle against Wales.
Farrell’s shoulder-led challenge to the head of Taine Basham in Saturday’s 19-17 victory at Twickenham was upgraded from a yellow card to red by the ‘Bunker’ review system.
England’s captain must now appear before a video disciplinary hearing that begins on Tuesday morning to find out the length of his suspension.
The mid-range sanction for a dangerous tackle is six games and given he received a three-match ban for the same offence in January, on top of five matches in 2020 and two in 2016, it is doubtful he will be treated leniently by the disciplinary process.
Fixtures against Ireland and Fiji complete England’s warm-up schedule for the World Cup before their group campaign is launched with a pivotal group clash with Argentina in Marseille on September 9.
Steve Borthwick now faces the likely prospect of being without his skipper and talisman for the toughest opponents in Pool D, while his participation against Japan, Chile and Samoa are also in question.
Henry Arundell, Freddie Steward and Ellis Genge were shown yellow cards too and at one point England were reduced to 12 men, although that merely inspired an audacious comeback expertly directed by Farrell’s replacement George Ford.
Courtney Lawes, the frontrunner to become captain if Farrell is unavailable, admits that despite an escape act that showed remarkable resilience, the disciplinary implosion must be addressed.
“There aren’t many teams who would win that game, so we can take a lot of positives from it,” Lawes said.
“At the same time it’s not good enough going down to 12 men. If we keep putting ourselves in situations like that, we’re not likely to do as well as we did.
“We’ve got a lot to learn but it’s great to show everyone our strength in character so early and it gives us confidence to push on and get things right so that the next time we’re out there we get one step better.
“Sometimes you’ve got to find a way to win and we certainly did that against Wales. We will do our very best to take it forward and keep on improving.”
Farrell’s looming absence justifies Borthwick’s decision to pick three fly-halves in his World Cup squad and it was Ford who took centre stage in an unlikely comeback, his match-winning penalty only one element of a masterclass in game management.
“This win is going to be big for us. You can’t put a value on stuff like that,” Ford said.
“However you train and whatever scenarios you train, it’s not like it is in the heat of the moment when you have three men in the sin-bin, are points down and under the sticks.
“You can never replicate that and this gives us unbelievable belief, a real solid platform to know what we can do.
“Traditional English rugby is set-piece orientated, so getting on top there to be able to play the game we want to play and we’ll take some real belief from that.”
Ford insists England, who are sweating on the fitness of ankle-injury victim Jack van Poortvliet, will rally around Farrell.
“Owen’s not a player who would intentionally want to do that. We’ll get behind him, he’s our captain and our leader and he’ll be back,” Ford said.
England advanced to the World Cup semi-finals with a 2-1 comeback victory over Colombia, and will play tournament co-hosts Australia in Sydney on Wednesday night.
Here, the PA news agency breaks down some of the key questions ahead of The Lionesses’ meeting with the Matildas.
How did they get here?
England secured victories over Haiti, Denmark and China to reach the knockouts, scoring multiple times in a group stage contest just once with a 6-1 triumph over China.
The Lionesses next faced Nigeria in the last-16, who held them to 120 goalless minutes before England booked their quarter-final place with a 4-2 win on penalties.
England conceded for just the second time this tournament late in the first half of the quarter-final clash with Colombia at Sydney’s sold-out Stadium Australia, but they were level by the break thanks to Lauren Hemp’s alert stoppage-time effort and Alessia Russo completed the comeback after the break.
What is England’s history in World Cup semi-finals?
The Lionesses’ first appearance in the final four, eight years ago in Canada, ended in heartbreak.
England were up against defending champions Japan, who took the lead through captain Aya Miyama’s 32nd-minute opener but saw it cancelled out by Fara Williams after just seven minutes.
The 1-1 draw looked destined for extra time until Laura Bassett directed a clearance into her own net in the first minute of second-half stoppage time and broke down in tears while Japan celebrated their last-gasp luck.
England ultimately beat Germany 1-0 through Williams’ extra-time penalty in the third-place playoff – still their best-ever finish in a global showpiece.
Four years later, the Lionesses beat Norway 3-0 in the last eight in France to set up a semi-final with the United States, who beat England 2-1 en route to defending their 2015 title.
The Lionesses finished fourth overall after losing 2-1 to Sweden in the play-off.
How good are Australia?
The Matildas are 10th in FIFA’s global rankings, six places below England, but can boast they are the only team to have beaten the Lionesses since boss Sarina Wiegman took the helm in September 2021.
That victory came in April, when Sam Kerr and Charlotte Grant both scored at Brentford to snap Wiegman’s 30-game unbeaten streak as England manager with a 2-0 victory.
Captain Kerr was unavailable for her side’s first two World Cup matches with a calf injury, yet the talismanic Chelsea striker’s absence might have actually benefitted the Matildas in the long run as others were asked to step up, with Hayley Raso and Mary Fowler among those who emphatically answered the call for the co-hosts.
Kerr returned as a late second-half substitute in her side’s 2-0 victory over Denmark in the last 16, five days before the Matildas sealed their first-ever trip to a semi-final by beating France in the longest penalty shootout in Women’s World Cup history.
Long gone are the days Australians feared their side could be knocked out at the group stage. Momentum – and an increasingly enraptured nation – are firmly on their side.
What is the biggest challenge facing England?
England will have to cope without star forward Lauren James as she serves the final game of a two-match suspension for stepping on the back of Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie.
She was replaced by Ella Toone against Colombia, who after the match said: “She’s been amazing for us, but I’ve got to believe in myself and I’ve got to have that confidence going onto the pitch. I don’t let anything get me down, I don’t put that pressure on myself and I know my team-mates don’t either.”
How will England cope with the crowd?
Stadium Australia boasts more than 75,000 seats, most of which will be occupied by the home support.
That does not faze England captain Millie Bright, who said: “For me, no matter who the fans are, you’re actually quite proud of it as well, we want that in a World Cup, we want it to be people turning on the TV and saying ‘god, look at the crowd, it’s incredible’.
“As a player you feel that and you use it to your advantage as well, it’s not a disadvantage that there might be a lot of Australia fans there. “
Everton manager Sean Dyche is confident the goalscoring problem which has affected the team for a year will be solved soon.
Despite creating 19 chances against Fulham, the Toffees slipped to an opening game defeat at home – where the top-flight’s lowest scorers lost a record 10 league matches last season.
Central to the issue is the continuing unavailability of injury-plagued Dominic Calvert-Lewin, whose lack of minutes in pre-season means he is still possibly a couple of weeks short of being ready.
However, the arrivals of on-loan Arnaut Danjuma – who made his debut as a late substitute – and young Sporting striker Youssef Chermiti, watching from the stands, will hopefully help to ease the burden as current deputy Neal Maupay wasted a host of chances as he extended his woeful record to one goal in 30 appearances for the club.
“Dominic will get some football this week, amongst others,” said Dyche, who is still looking for reinforcements but knows he must get more out of the limited resources he has.
“He is at the end of his rehab period, so, in the next week or two, we’re going to be stronger, just by our own group and let’s see if we can get something in to help us as well.
“Arnie (Danjuma) is getting fit, properly fit – he knows he’s a bit behind the curve.
“I am confident we have to rely (on players) within the squad because this is what we are at the moment. If we can affect it, we will do.”
Everton had only 41 percent possession but made the most of it and with better finishing could have had the game won by half-time.
While the outcome was disappointing, the manner of the performance was more encouraging than the majority of the relegation scraps they had when Dyche took over in January and guided them to safety on the final day.
“Some of the breakaways, some of the moments, some of the quality of chances were excellent,” the Toffees boss added.
“One of our analysts said about xG, which I’m not that big a believer in but it’s still a reference point, was around three, which is high in the Premier League.
“Inevitably, it’s only a measure but we’ve got to look at where we were and where we are now – and that, I thought, was a big shift.
“Now we’ve got to find those moments to go and score goals.
“But there’s a real strong sign there today, a strong sign of a good outfit there that is creating lots of chances and a lot of good things, so we’ve got to maintain the belief in that.”
Fulham were fortunate to leave Goodison Park with a third successive win and boss Marco Silva admits there is plenty of improvements to be made.
“We need more time to work, our pre-season was not at the level that it should be so we missed a bit of energy,” he said.
“But we were able to win a football match and that shows we have the quality to work.”
Ryan Mountcastle drove in the game’s only run and the Baltimore Orioles pulled out a 1-0 victory to end the Seattle Mariners’ eight-game winning streak on Saturday night.
George Kirby took a no-decision in a masterful start for Seattle, allowing three singles over nine scoreless innings with no walks and seven strikeouts.
Cedric Mullins was placed at second base to start the top of the 10th and stole third. After Anthony Santander grounded out, Mountcastle grounded a pitch from Andres Munoz up the middle to give Baltimore its lone run.
Felix Bautista struck out four in two scoreless innings for the win as the All-Star closer bounced back from his last two appearances, when he gave up five runs in 1 2/3 innings.
The win kept the AL East-leading Orioles two games ahead of Tampa Bay, which rallied to beat Cleveland earlier in the day.
Baltimore starter Cole Irvin worked the first five innings with six strikeouts and four relievers pitched three more scoreless innings before Bautista took over.
The Mariners went 0 for 10 with runners in scoring position and remained one-half game behind Toronto for the third and final AL wild-card spot.
Dodgers win 7th straight
Tony Gonsolin pitched six strong innings and was backed by three home runs as the Los Angeles Dodgers won their season-high seventh in a row, 4-1 over the Colorado Rockies.
Gonsolin allowed a home run to Ezequiel Tovar on the first pitch of the game but kept the Rockies scoreless the rest of the way with only two hits.
He did not walk a batter and struck out six to win his third consecutive start.
Will Smith answered Tovar’s homer with one of his own in the bottom of the first and James Outman and Amed Rosario also went deep for the Dodgers, who have won 11 of 12.
Seager, Garver power red-hot Rangers
Mitch Garver drove in three runs and Corey Seager homered to lead the Texas Rangers to their 10th win in 11 games, 9-3 over the slumping San Francisco Giants.
Garver had a go-ahead single in Texas’ three-run fourth inning and added a two-run single in the ninth.
Seager hit his 20th home run in the first inning and Ezequiel Duran had three hits and a pair of RBIs to help the Rangers improve to 10-1 following a 2-7 stretch.
Michael Conforto and Heliot Ramos homered, but the Giants lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Sir Mo Farah became the first British track and field athlete to win three Olympic gold medals by retaining his 10,000 metres title in Rio on this day in 2016.
Farah continued his unprecedented spell of long-distance domination by landing his eighth straight global gold, but he did it the hard way after falling to the track following a trip from training partner Galen Rupp.
He recovered to respond to the challenge laid down by Kenya’s Paul Tanui, bursting past him down the home straight and crossing the line in 27 minutes and 5.17 seconds.
Victory saw Farah eclipse the Olympic achievements of the likes of double champions Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson and Kelly Holmes.
With 300 metres to go Tanui pressed the accelerator in a bid to neutralise Farah’s renowned finishing speed, but the British star was not done and powered past the Kenyan before holding on to win by 0.47secs.
Farah broke down in tears as he was interviewed by broadcasters after the race.
“When I fell down for one moment I was thinking, ‘oh my race is over, my dream is over’. But then I managed to dig deep,” he said.
“Galen is a good sportsman and things happen sometimes and it’s so easy to blame people, but I’ve got such a long stride I don’t blame him for anything.
“I’m a guy who wins medals rather than runs fast times, so for me what keeps me going is winning medals for my country and making my nation proud.”
Anthony Joshua is confident a potential fight with Deontay Wilder will happen soon and insists he continues to carry the heavyweight division.
Joshua claimed the 26th victory of his professional career on Saturday with a thunderous seventh-round stoppage of last-minute opponent Robert Helenius at London’s O2 Arena.
While it was a spectacular finish, Joshua faced boos during the third round before jeers returned by the halfway mark following another pedestrian round.
The sold-out crowd were up on their feet after one minute and 27 seconds of round seven, but this contest was always a stepping stone to an eagerly-anticipated clash with ex-WBC belt-holder Wilder.
Discussions between the camps of Joshua and Wilder continue to take place with Saudi Arabia’s promotional company Skills Challenge looking to host the bout between former champions in January or February.
“Any time is a good time to fight. It could have been Wilder eight years ago or Wilder now. It don’t matter,” Joshua insisted.
“It is only a fight and boxing wins so roll on really. There is no worry to me when it is.
“I am just happy we can get the fight going and I think people appreciate that I am doing my best to keep heavyweight boxing on the map.
“Yeah, we’re carrying heavyweight boxing. I have believed that for years I have played my part in bringing entertainment to heavyweight boxing.
“That is why you are asking about the Wilder fight. I am not comparing what it could have been, I’m just happy that we’re getting this fight under way potentially soon because it does great for boxing I think.
“We’ll look back in years to come and think, ‘look at that era, that guy fought everyone,’ and that’s what is important. Not protecting you zero. It is about fighting the best and giving your best.”
There is no guessing who Joshua’s final sentence was aimed at with fellow Briton Tyson Fury set to take on UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in Riyadh on October 28.
Joshua would have celebrated a decade in the pro ranks that month and despite not holding any belts for nearly two years, he is confident his team can strike a deal with Wilder’s camp.
He said: “I don’t feel pressure any more. Remember I am not a heavyweight champion, I leave that to the other guys. I am just a contender trying to make my way.
“It is not easy to get these fights over the line, he (Wilder) didn’t fight Andy Ruiz Jr. It is not easy to get these fights over but I have got full trust in my team.
“They’ve taken me a long way to become unified two-time heavyweight champion of the world. We collected belt after belt. Four of the five major belts. IBO, IBF, WBO, WBA.
“We collected all them belts, defended them multiply times, done great business, stadium fights, fought in American, Saudi.
“My team are amazing so I put all my faith in them to deliver. We’ve just got to hope the other team play ball.”
Joshua was quick to credit trainer Derrick James for his first knock-out victory in three years.
In only their second fight together and after dealing with Dillian Whyte’s late withdrawal, James reiterated to his tutelage to keep “shooting the right” and it helped to produce the money shot before midnight in England’s capital.
While frustration had started to grow over Joshua failing to consistently engage with Helenius, who had suffered a vicious first-round loss to Wilder in New York last October, the Finchley boxer was comfortable with his tactics.
He questioned: “Are they booing me or booing Helenius? That is the question.
“I think they don’t understand it is competitive boxing. We are trying to shut each others passes down.
“It is a game of chest. When you are playing, it is the most interesting and thinking man’s sport but from the outside chest is a boring game.
“Why am I going to go in there and trade from round one?
“We are building confidence in myself, which is important and I have confidence in my team.
“It was a late replacement and Helenius’ reputation was damaged due to the fact he was knocked out in a round, but he’s a very good operator.
“He was presenting certain obstacles for me to get over and Derrick guided me to that knock-out.
“I am just happy to get the win because I always know after one win it can lead onto something spectacular and I believe we’re onto something big.”
American Lucas Glover continued his strong form in Memphis, finishing the third day on top of the leaderboard with England’s Tommy Fleetwood just two strokes behind in third.
Glover shot a four-under par 66 with five birdies and a bogey to keep his lead in the FedEx Cup, with American Taylor Moore just one stroke behind in second after hitting 65.
The 43-year-old said it was a scrappy day but he got “a lot out of what I had”.
“Three months ago if I’d have been mad at 66, or if you told me I’d be mad at 66, I’d say you were crazy,” Glover said.
“Just iron a few things out and wake up tomorrow a little more confident than I am right now and see where we are.”
Fleetwood held on to his spot in outright third with seven birdies and three bogeys as he searches for his first win in America.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy moved up two places into equal sixth, five strokes off the lead, after he hit a two-under par 68 with six birdies and four bogeys.
McIlroy said he has been stuck in “neutral” but hopes to move into contention on the tournament’s final day.
“Five back going into tomorrow, I feel like I could catch fire and hopefully make a run,” he said.
Anthony Joshua was able to block out jeers and boos from the O2 Arena crowd to produce a thunderous seventh-round stoppage against Robert Helenius and stay on track for a future bout with Deontay Wilder.
Joshua had been set to face fellow British heavyweight Dillian Whyte until his rival had to be pulled from the show last weekend when “adverse analytical findings” were detected in his doping test.
Helenius stepped in as a last-minute opponent, but the pre-match focus was on what next for Joshua with talks taking place with Wilder’s camp over a fight in the new year.
It would only happen if Joshua could navigate the Finnish veteran and a slow start to proceedings in London saw whistles followed by boos in round three and further jeers occurred at the end of round six.
Joshua was able to provide the crowd with a speculator finish, unleashing a huge right hand to knock Helenius off his feet after one minute and 27 seconds of round seven.
There was brief concern over Helenius, who remained motionless, and it saw Joshua leave the ring to celebrate with the fans, but his opponent was able to get back up to his feet before the two fighters touched gloves.
While Joshua was coy over what next, promotor Eddie Hearn revealed plans to fight Wilder next and current world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury later in 2024.
Hearn said: “It is the fight we want. We have a three-fight plan.
“It was Helenius, first Dillian Whyte and then Helenius, and now Wilder and then Tyson Fury. That is the ambition.”
Meanwhile, Joshua responded to his critics during a short interview in the ring.
“I just want to give a big round of applause for Robert Helenius for taking this fight,” Joshua started off.
“People need to leave me alone. This is my time in the ring. Let me breath. The guy has got talent, I had to figure him out because he was a late replacement and I want to thank him for saving the show.
“I don’t want to say too much. But my back hurts from carrying the heavyweight division.”
Gregor Townsend was proud of his Scotland side after they went agonisingly close to pulling off a second comeback win over France in the space of a week.
The Scots – who beat Les Bleus from 21-3 behind at Murrayfield last weekend – roared back from 27-10 down in balmy Saint-Etienne on Saturday night to level the match at 27-27 before a 78th-minute penalty from Thomas Ramos secured a 30-27 victory for the World Cup hosts.
The visitors outscored the French by four tries to three and Townsend was buoyed by the way his team stood up to their formidable opponents in front of a partisan home crowd just four weeks before their opening match of the tournament against world champions South Africa in Marseille.
“It showed a lot for the character and the competitiveness of the group,” he said. “They wanted to win that one, they did all they could to win it. Obviously we’re a bit disappointed that we didn’t do that.
“Even a draw would have been something that we could have taken a lot more positives out of, because we’re here to win. But there’s so much more to come from this team.
“We showed in the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes that we can win ball, our set-piece can be strong, and also we can attack and score great tries. So our job is to put that together for more than 20-30 minutes when we’re playing at our best, but also to do that for much longer.”
The Scots made a strong start and led 10-6 at the half-hour mark, with Ali Price’s 29th-minute yellow card paving the way for the French to seize command in the game’s mid-section.
Townsend rued the concession of two tries in the first four minutes of the second half, but was encouraged by the way his players rallied in the final 20 minutes to give themselves a real chance of only a second away win over France this century.
“I’m really proud of the effort and also how we started the game,” he said. “We were ambitious, accurate and very physical in our contacts. We had to soak up a lot of pressure in that first half when we were a man down.
“But we just missed the first five minutes of the second half. A couple of uncharacteristic mistakes and France got opportunities. I was so proud of the togetherness, the effort, the skill that was on show, and we’re gutted we didn’t get anything out of that. Really disappointed.”
Townsend names his final 33-man World Cup squad on Wednesday, meaning four players will be cut from his current pool. Asked if anything from the gallant defeat at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard had changed his thinking with regard to selection, the head coach said: “No. I’ve not had much time to think about it. I was really proud of the 23 tonight and how they went about taking on a top side. Their focus was on winning the game, not on the World Cup.
“They put their bodies on the line. The effort that the players have put in over the last two months was transferred on to the field. We’re fit enough to have a real crack at this World Cup and we’ll have a lot of players that will be putting their hands up for selection over the next few days.”
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