Cyriel Dessers believes Rangers’ early performance in the 2-1 Champions League qualifying win over Servette is “only the beginning” for Michael Beale’s new-look side.
The Light Blues boss and his team were widely criticised following the 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock in the cinch Premiership opener at Rugby Park on Saturday.
There was a marked improvement in the first half of the third qualifying round first leg against the Swiss side at Ibrox on Wednesday night, with skipper James Tavernier scoring a penalty in the sixth minute.
Dessers tapped in a second eight minutes later for his first Gers goal since signing from Cremonese to experience an “amazing feeling”, although a handball by the Rangers new boy just before the break allowed Servette attacker Chris Bedia to pull a goal back from the spot.
The Light Blues were less effective after the break despite the visitors being reduced to 10 men in the 59th minute after David Douline picked up a second yellow card.
Speaking about the importance of the quick start and the demands of the Gers supporters, Dessers, 28, said: “That’s what we wanted. Of course after the loss on Saturday we were not a s*** team or anything like that.
“We knew we had to come out strong and show the fans what we can give them and what we can do as a team and especially the first half hour I think we showed that.
“That’s only the beginning. We are going to grow in fitness and relationships and as a team and it looks very promising.
“At Feyenoord, a similar club, the fans can react very emotional. But that’s what you want, you don’t want to be at a club where everybody just shrugs it off after a loss.
“You want an intense club and you get it in a positive way like Wednesday when you play good. That’s what you need after a tough loss and you get a reaction and at a big club like Rangers, that is normal.”
On his own performance, the Nigeria international said: “Of course I came to Rangers later so I still need some time.
“This was the first time I played more than 60 minutes. Overall, I had some really good moments, sometimes sloppy but that is all part of it.
“I am happy with this performance.”
Dessers acknowledged how difficult the return game in Switzerland next Tuesday night will be against a side who knocked Genk out in the previous round but remains confident of progressing through to the play-off where Rangers would face either PSV Eindhoven or Sturm Graz.
He said: “Overall it was a good night for us. Servette is a good team, a tricky team. I saw them over two nights against Genk and Genk are a really good team and they knocked them out.
“We dominated, we could have scored more maybe but this will keep us on your toes for next week.
“Of course if you can choose you want to go with a bigger lead but like I said, this will keep us on our toes.
“You cannot take anything for granted in Europe and we will need to go there strong and need a good performance to hopefully knock out Servette.”
Pep Guardiola claims it is inevitable standards will drop at Manchester City following last season’s treble success.
The City boss accepts it is unlikely his team will be able to match the intensity that saw them pick up the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League trophies last term as a new campaign begins.
The Spaniard wants to make sure City pace their challenge for further silverware and is not even thinking about an end goal yet.
“We are going to drop that’s for sure,” said Guardiola, whose side begin their quest for a sixth domestic title in seven years at Burnley on Friday.
“It’s inevitable a little bit. We’ll try to avoid it as much as possible. Now it’s (about) not dropping too much – staying there, staying there, (being) close to our rivals.
“Then try to, in the last four, five, or six months, try to do what we have done every season. I don’t want to do it now. That is my feeling.
“Now, (it would be a) big mistake thinking about trophies and titles – big mistake.”
Guardiola also does not want to set any targets for Erling Haaland in his second season at the club.
The prolific Norwegian enjoyed an outstanding first year, firing 52 goals in just 53 appearances.
Guardiola said: “I will advise him, don’t put much pressure on the goals. I said to Erling, come back at your best, physically and mentally. If you score, fine. If you don’t score, fine.
“Try to improve in your details, in your quality and skills, and the team will help you as much as possible to score goals. I don’t want (to ask of) Erling to score 50 or 60.
“Try to be happy like he was last season and relax. Afterwards, the goals will come naturally, don’t force it.”
Concerns have been expressed this week about the potential impact on players of the edict for referees to be stricter when adding on added time.
Guardiola himself felt the amount added in the Community Shield against Arsenal last weekend was excessive.
He said: “Why eight minutes, not 12 or four? I don’t know exactly what happened. There was one goal and four or five substitutions but no injuries.
“If you want to control it, do it like basketball – stop the clock.
“If they are going to play the 10 minutes (extra) we are going to do it but, at the end we are going to play 41 games not 38 this season.”
The continuing expansion of the football calendar, along with pre-season tours, is also further limiting players’ breaks.
Guardiola said: “Many players asked me, ‘Give me more days off Pep’. I said I can’t.
“It’s a problem. It’s getting worse – more games, more games and more than that. Players need to go to the theatre, cinema, park, the gardens, to do other things that aren’t to do with football.”
Guardiola insists, however, that when it comes to his side’s additional showpiece fixtures this season – next week’s European Super Cup and the Club World Cup in December – he is honoured to be involved.
“I love it,” he said. “I love to play the Super Cup. This club never won the Super Cup and of course to play the Club World Cup you have to win the Champions League. This opportunity is a pleasure.”
Wales & The West and Saffie Osborne lead the way in the William Hill Racing League, after a dramatic evening that saw fire engines called to Chepstow on night two of the competition.
London & The South took maximum points in the first race as Eve Johnson Houghton’s Cabinet Of Clowns (15-2) was steered by Charlie Bishop to a half-length success.
But the action then came to an abrupt halt when an electrical fault caused a fire in a kitchen at the track, with some water also coming through the ceiling in the weighing-room area resulting in the complex having to be evacuated.
A number of fire engines arrived at the scene and the track was eventually deemed safe, creating a near 40-minute delay to the contest scheduled for 6.00pm.
“There’s been an electrical fault upstairs in the weighing-room complex and it’s turned off all the power in the weighing room,” clerk of the course Libby O’Flaherty told Sky Sports Racing during the delay.
“We’re waiting for the fire engine to get here so we can deem it safe to carry on.
“It’s (the water) just by the door when you go in (to the weighing room), the water came through and that’s all been cleaned up.
“We’re just waiting for the fire brigade to tell us everything is fine.”
The delayed race was won by Rod Millman’s Chinese Knot, the 7-4 favourite being steered to victory by last year’s leading rider as Osborne bagged the first leg of a double.
The same jockey then crossed line first in the next, with Executive Decision (5-2 favourite) prevailing after a photo finish to get even more points on the board for the Wales & The West outfit.
Scotland were triumphant in the fourth contest on the card when Totnes (4-1) struck for Paul Mulrennan and Andrew Balding, with Ireland enjoying their first success of the series when Star Harbour (12-1) was a winner for Adrian McGuinness and Dylan Browne McMonagle.
In both of those races Wales & The West had placed runners and when Tim Easterby’s Manila Scouse took the penultimate race as the 8-11 favourite for David Allan and Yorkshire, the third- and fourth-placed horses gained even more points for the leaders.
The final event went the way of the North, with the 9-2 favourite Ramazan winning for Richard Fahey and Oisin Orr in a race worth £100,000.
The evening left Wales & The West with a significant advantage in front on 319 points, whereas Ireland sit in second with 242 and London & The South third on 231.
Osborne is the leading riding so far as she sits at the top of the jockey leader board on 161 points.
Jamie Osborne, trainer of Executive Decision and father of Saffie, said: “We’ve got a good spread of horses, we don’t have the biggest trainers in the world but I think in a way that’s a help.
“Some of the bigger trainers have other fish to fry, this kind of prize-money is very important to our owners.
“We’re well positioned, but we’re not yet a third of the way through the competition so we’re not home and hosed yet. But I’d say it will take a good one to beat Saff!”
Tom Pidcock took cross-country short track bronze on his mountain bike at the UCI Cycling World Championships but then had to defend himself against accusations of bad sportsmanship from German rival Luca Schwarzbauer after a final corner collision.
The reigning Olympic mountain bike champion made a late lunge for the inside line on the sharp final bend of the Glentress Forest course and surprised Schwarzbauer as the pair touched, sending the German to the ground and putting him out of the medals as New Zealand’s Sam Gaze beat Victor Koretzky to gold.
Schwarzbauer then made his feelings clear, claiming the move was deliberate on Pidcock’s part.
“Tom crashed me out, he completely rode into me in that corner,” he said. “I’m super disappointed for sure because a bronze medal would have been pretty safe. He’s Tom Pidcock, but that doesn’t give him the right to do something like that.
“I said a few words to him and said it was a very bad move in my eyes. At first he said, ‘It’s part of the racing,’ but then he realised I had crashed.
“But I think he knew already. When he rides like this I’m going to crash because he was straight into me and he used me as a barrier. Already before the corner actually – he ran full gas into it and I think no mountain biker would do this at all, like a pure mountain biker, the community of us.
“I know he’s Tom Pidcock and he’s a superstar, but this doesn’t give him the right to do that…He’s so aggressive, you can really see he’s the most aggressive rider, no one else rides like this. You can do this but in my eyes it’s not really sportsman (like).”
Pidcock played down the incident immediately after the race but, told of Schwarzbauer’s comments, he told the PA news agency: “What’s that famous saying? If you no longer go for a gap then you’re no longer a racing driver. Of course I did not mean to cause him to crash and I’m sorry for that.”
That incident aside, Pidcock was happy with his performance in a race where he came from well down the pack to put himself in contention, at one point making up nine places in a single lap as he rose from 18th to third.
Although he could not respond when Gaze made a big move on the final lap, Pidcock will take confidence going into Saturday’s cross-country Olympic race, his big target at these worlds.
“I’m pretty happy,” he said. “I only did this to prepare for Saturday but this morning I was pretty up for it and it’s nice to have a medal.
“This is not really my sort of race so it’s good for Saturday I think. My legs were not super but come the weekend I think it will be OK.”
Evie Richards then delivered a second bronze for Great Britain in the women’s race as France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot – Pidcock’s Ineos Grenadiers team-mate – successfully defended her title ahead of Puck Pieterse.
Richards, the 2021 cross-country Olympic world champion, admitted the excitement of racing at home played a part as she put herself on the front in the early laps before dropping back, and she was then unable to respond to Ferrand-Prevot’s winning attack on the final lap.
“I think it’s always a bit stupid when you go off the front but I always do it, don’t I?” she said. “I tried to calm down, it’s very easy to get carried away when everyone is cheering your name…
“It’s been a real hard few years since winning the world championships so to be back here is really amazing, and to win a medal is even better.”
Sports stars and clubs across the world continue to provide an insight into their lives on social media.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the best examples from August 10.
FootballManchester City launched their away kit…
…while Roy Keane modelled United’s at the perfect time.
City have certainly come a long way since this moment!
Harry Kane’s potential move had both fans and Fantasy Premier League managers on tenterhooks.
…with differing opinions from former England star.
Southampton paid tribute.
Chasing the World Cup Golden Boot and pulling out a nutmeg – just a reminder that Amanda Ilestedt is a defender.
The quarter-finalists were ready.
Happy birthdays.
CricketSpencer Johnson had quite the debut for Oval Invincibles.
Shabnim Ismail’s hat-trick secured victory for Welsh Fire.
Henry Arundell has been urged to “trust his instincts” against Wales as Steve Borthwick backs England’s rising star to become a gamebreaker at the World Cup.
Arundell makes only his second start in eight Tests when Warren Gatland’s men visit Twickenham on Saturday, lining up on the right wing of a team that is close to Borthwick’s strongest.
Owen Farrell is present as captain and is joined by fellow big guns Maro Itoje, Billy Vunipola and Jamie George, while Saracens openside Ben Earl makes his long-awaited full debut and Elliot Daly returns after 18 months in international exile.
A tame defeat 20-9 by Wales launched the World Cup warm-up schedule in disheartening fashion and it is hoped the inclusion of try-scoring Racing 92 sensation Arundell will address some of the finishing deficiencies evident in Cardiff.
The 20-year-old is the most exciting talent in English rugby and has electric running skills, but Borthwick insists he must not overthink his game.
“Henry is in great physical shape and he’s got such incredible natural talents that you want to ensure are always going to be there. We want him to trust his instincts,” Borthwick said.
“We want to give him the ball and I’m sure the opposition will know that and try to shut down the space, which may open up opportunities elsewhere.
“We’re aware of that but everyone is looking forward to seeing him. He’s a young man with a big future in front of him.
“When you look around world rugby right now you see teams who have players that can break the game up in different ways.
View this post on Instagram
“One of those ways is pace and Henry has pace. If we can get him the ball in space, and he in particular doesn’t need a huge amount of space, then he can make things happen.
“We’ve already seen him do that in an England shirt and we’re looking forward to seeing him do it more.”
Providing firepower on the opposite wing is Daly, the 30-year Saracen whose last England outing came in the 2022 Six Nations, after he which he was frozen out by Eddie Jones.
One of Borthwick’s priorities upon replacing Jones as head coach in December was to re-establish the versatile back with a booming left boot, only for a hamstring injury to rule him out of the entire Six Nations.
“Elliot was one of the first players I rang when I was appointed. He hadn’t been in the environment, hadn’t played an awful lot in recent times,” Borthwick said.
“He has been looking really good in training, he has multiple dimensions to his game and I’m looking forward to seeing that on Saturday.”
A starting XV populated with six Saracens produces a special moment for 2022 Premiership player of the season Earl, who after 15 caps as a replacement is finally thrust on to the main stage.
Earl was unable to convince Jones, despite his dynamic club form, and was even sent back to his club by Borthwick after two appearances off the bench in the most recent Six Nations but he has impressed during the World Cup training camp.
“What Ben Earl has, which I don’t see too many opensides possess, is the ability to link with the backs in attacking play and to keep the ball moving. That’s a rare talent,” Borthwick said.
“He has the pace to operate with the quickest guys. He is up there with the quickest guys in our squad. He is not quite Henry Arundell but not too many people are.”
Midfielder Alex Scott has completed his move to Bournemouth from Bristol City but a knee injury will delay his Premier League debut.
Robins boss Nigel Pearson confirmed on Wednesday evening that Scott had been given permission to talk to the Premier League side and both clubs announced on Thursday that the transfer was complete.
The 19-year-old, who was named the Sky Bet Championship’s young player of the season for 2022-23, had attracted plenty of attention from Premier League clubs for his standout performances.
Scott, whose move to the Cherries is believed to be worth in excess of £20million, missed Bristol City’s opening two matches of the new season because of a swollen knee.
In announcing the move, Bournemouth confirmed scans on Scott’s knee problem revealed the injury to be “more significant than was initially reported” and the midfielder was now set for a “period of rehabilitation” before he will join up with his new team-mates.
Bournemouth chief executive Neill Blake feels the club have landed “one of the most exciting young players in Europe”.
Blake said on the Bournemouth club website: “He’s a player that has vast experience at such a young age with strong technical ability and a really good footballing brain.
“Alex will be an excellent fit in our system, and we’re excited to see him continue to develop under Andoni’s (Iraola) management.”
Guernsey-born Scott made his senior debut in April 2021 and scored five Championship goals in 83 appearances during his time at Ashton Gate.
Scott has also represented England at youth level, including making three appearances at this year’s Under-20 World Cup.
Bournemouth – who appointed Spaniard Iraola as manager in June after sacking Gary O’Neil – will start the new Premier League season at home against West Ham on Saturday.
The Cherries are also understood to be closing in on a £7million deal for Norwich right-back Max Aarons.
The World Cup quarter-finals get under way in the early hours of Friday morning, with Spain and the Netherlands looking to lead the way to the last four.
England have an extra day to prepare for their Saturday clash against Colombia, while Japan take on Sweden and co-hosts Australia tackle France.
The pressure is mounting as the tournament builds towards its crescendo and here the PA news agency looks at all the latest news from the rival camps.
England in a jam over James
Lauren James’ stamp on Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie in the previous round continues to cause headaches for England, with confirmation that FIFA’s disciplinary committee had issued a two-game ban. That means the Chelsea forward will also be absent if Sarina Wiegman’s side reach the semi-finals. More immediately there is a decision to make over James’ replacement. Ella Toone stands by as a like-for-like deputy, but Wiegman may also consider a formation change to four at the back.
Post of the day
Sour send off for USA
Netherlands forward Lineth Beerensteyn had some strong words for the departed United States side, whose hopes of a third straight title disappeared in a penalty shoot-out defeat by Sweden. Asked for her reaction to the exit of the favourites, Beerensteyn admitted she was happy to see them on their way.
“The first moment when I heard that they were out, I was just thinking: ‘Yes! Bye!’” she said.
“From the start of this tournament, they had a really big mouth – they were talking already about the final and stuff. I was just thinking: ‘You first have to show it on the pitch before you are talking.’”
Race for the Golden Boot
Kerr ready to return?
Matildas captain Sam Kerr has been struggling with a calf injury but returned from the bench in the victory over Norway and could now make her comeback in the starting XI. That could nudge Emily van Egmond out of the side after she stood in up front but she is happy to do whatever is best for the team.
“Sam’s the best striker in the world,” Van Egmond said. “For us, it’s a huge boost. There’s no other way to look at it other than it’s a massive positive going into this big game. For any player in any situation, whenever called upon or whatever role they have to play, everyone’s ready.”
Quote of the day
What’s next
Quarter-final: Spain v Netherlands, Wellington, Friday 2am.
Quarter-final: Japan v Sweden, Auckland, Friday 8.30am.
All times BST
Veteran prop Cian Healy revealed Ireland’s players were not treated to a motivational speech from former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane during his visit to their training base in Portugal.
Ex-Ireland captain Keane was one of three high-profile visitors to watch Andy Farrell’s men train on Wednesday, alongside One Direction singer Niall Horan and major golf champion Padraig Harrington.
The 52-year-old pundit, who has previously been a guest speaker for his country’s rugby stars, was pictured chatting with Ireland skipper Johnny Sexton in the Algarve.
However, on this occasion, he did not address the full squad.
“I have no idea what he was doing there, to be honest,” said Healy.
“He wasn’t in camp, he was at the side of the pitch watching training. I didn’t get to chat to him, I was training.
“Some of the lads that already had done their part of the session would have said hello or whatever.
“But I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a scheduled thing and he was just on holiday here or whatever and showed up for a look.”
Head coach Farrell is putting his preliminary 42-man World Cup squad, which is missing only the injured Jack Conan, through their paces ahead of cutting it down to a final 33 following warm-up clashes with England and Samoa.
Healy warned peripheral players they will not secure a seat on the plane to France by trying to be “the hero”.
“There’s going to be a lot of players looking to put their hand up,” he said.
“How to do that is to play our game and play how we play to the best of your ability.
“You don’t get picked by being the hero and going out and trying to do something fantastic because the percentage of that coming off is pretty low.
“I’m just looking forward to seeing everyone getting their chance and I suppose how they buy into what we’re doing and what stamp they can put on it themselves.”
Healy moved level with Rory Best as Ireland’s third most capped player during a try-scoring cameo in Saturday’s 33-17 win over Italy in Dublin.
The 35-year-old, who has played 124 Test matches, is preparing for his fourth and potentially final World Cup.
He is almost certain to be in Farrell’s final selection as loosehead back-up to Leinster team-mate Andrew Porter and is enjoying the build up to this year’s tournament, with players not “dying” to escape camp.
“It’s a great buzz, a really good camp to be in,” he said. “A lot of fun, a lot of time together on and off the pitch, especially over here (in Portugal).
“We’ve got nice time in the afternoon to spend a bit of time with the group and break off to spend a bit of time with families as well.
“We have had it before where you do the six-week block and people are dying to get out of camp for a couple of days or dying to go for a pint or something. You’re living in a hotel and that’s how life is.
“This has been managed really well in the sense that no one feels overloaded by time away.”
Hukum appears increasingly likely to head straight for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe following his heroic success in last month’s King George VI And Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
The six-year-old edged out Westover in an epic renewal of Ascot’s midsummer showpiece, his second win at Group One level having landed last year’s Coronation Cup at Epsom before suffering an injury.
Having proved his ability remains very much intact, connections are happy to keep their powder dry for Europe’s premier middle-distance contest on October 1.
“Touch wood he’s in good shape and he seemed to come out of it well,” said Angus Gold, racing manager for owners Shadwell.
“I haven’t spoken to Owen (Burrows, trainer) particularly about it, but from what I saw quoted I think he’s happy to go straight to the Arc unless something else presented itself.
“He’s a dual Group One winner, so we don’t have to run him just for the sake of it, and I think if we got him to Longchamp in good shape, he’d have a decent chance.
“That’s our job now, to get him there in the best possible shape.”
The Shadwell team enjoyed further Group One success at Goodwood last week, with the Roger Varian-trained Al Husn springing a minor upset in the Nassau Stakes.
She holds entries in the Prix Jean Romanet at Deauville and the Yorkshire Oaks at York before the end of this month, while a trip to the Breeders’ Cup could be on her agenda later in the year.
Gold added: “She’s in the Romanet and she’s in the Yorkshire Oaks. I was just speaking to Roger this morning and if we want to go further he’s always said he’d love to end up in America with her, possibly with the Prix de l’Opera at Longchamp as a race before then.
“We’re in the lucky position now where we’re not trying to make a Group One winner, she has achieved that, so we can just wait and see.
“She must have had a relatively hard race last week, although she’s a tough as nails, and now she’s a Group One winner we want to do the right thing by her.
“The options are the Romanet and the Yorkshire Oaks, or neither and just concentrate on the Opera and then maybe go to America.
“I was speaking to Roger this morning and we said Sheikha Hissa might be able to come to York and she might like to see her run. There’s lots of things to work out, so we’ll have a good think about it early next week and see what everyone thinks is the right course of action.”
Deepone will put his unbeaten record on the line when he lines up in the Coolmore Stud Churchill Stakes at Tipperary on Friday.
Paddy Twomey’s youngster has created a deep impression in his two outings so far, excelling at Leopardstown on debut, before further enhancing his reputation with a comfortable success over a mile at Killarney.
The son of Study Of Man will now make his first foray into Pattern company with his handler unable to fault what he has seen from the colt in his short career so far.
“He’s a nice horse and he’s answered every question we’ve asked of him to date,” said Twomey.
“Tomorrow is the next step of his education and hopefully he can continue in the same sort of form.
“He’s been an uncomplicated horse and everything we have asked he has done it. We think he will make a nice three-year-old and we’re just taking the steps and educating him at the minute.”
The O’Brien family is well represented in the Listed contest and Donnacha O’Brien’s Bremen is another to impress when winning over a mile at Killarney, while Joseph O’Brien will rely on Warnie who looked equally as talented when breaking his maiden at Bellewstown.
The Highland Reel colt was beaten only three lengths when making his debut in the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Owning Hill handler believes his charge is more than capable of playing a part in this company.
He said: “He won nicely at Bellewstown and the race has worked out well. We think he is a smart enough colt and he can be competitive in this grade.
“The owners are Australian-based so it was nice they could be there to watch him make his debut at Ascot which was lovely and he came back and won well next time.”
Aidan O’Brien has a good record in this event and has won it with the likes of St Leger hero Capri in the past.
This time he saddles both Leopardstown scorer Brilliant and Democracy, while Dermot Weld’s Captain Maverick was behind Warnie at Bellewstown on debut before getting off the mark at Galway and is an interesting contender for the Rosewell House handler.
Adrian Murray’s Courageous Strike completes the select group of seven that will head to post.
Wales boss Warren Gatland says he is “pretty confident” that star back-row forward Taulupe Faletau will be available for World Cup selection.
The Cardiff number eight, who has won 100 caps, will play no part in Wales’ tournament warm-up schedule as he continues his recovery from a calf muscle injury.
He is not involved against England at Twickenham on Saturday, and has also been ruled out of contention to face world champions South Africa in Cardiff on Saturday week.
Gatland said: “Taulupe won’t be available next week.
“He trained pretty well today, he is not feeling anything in his calf, so we are pretty confident he is available for selection.”
Centre Johnny Williams and wing Alex Cuthbert, though, are on course to be available for South Africa’s visit, with fly-half Gareth Anscombe ruled out as a precautionary measure after taking a knock to his thumb during Wales’ training camp in Turkey.
Gatland is set to name his final 33-strong World Cup squad within the next fortnight as the clock continues ticking on players’ selection hopes.
“I am expecting a group of players who are desperate to perform. It is a good situation to be in,” Gatland added, ahead of Saturday’s clash.
“England have picked their (World Cup) squad, so they will want to go out there and perform.
“But sometimes, it is almost the relief of being selected in the squad, and whether you are quite there emotionally. That’s the challenge for them to get up.
“I know we have a group of players that are in the right head-space because that team went out last week (Wales beat England 20-9 in Cardiff) they weren’t perfect, but they showed some great signs of what we are looking for as a group.
“There is a lot at stake, and players are well aware of that. We are not highlighting that or trying to put extra pressure on them.”
Asked about players’ World Cup selection prospects who have yet to feature in the summer Tests, Gatland said: “It is going to be tougher for them isn’t?
“If they haven’t trained a lot and they haven’t played, you might get an opportunity next week and you have probably got to have a pretty special game.
“Some of those players might get that chance next week. We will see how Saturday goes. It is always a challenge for players who have had injuries and haven’t taken a full part.”
Gatland was linked with the England head coach’s job following Eddie Jones’ sacking last year, before Steve Borthwick was appointed as the Australian’s successor.
Asked if he looked back and wished he was in the England camp, Gatland added: “Not really. I’m happy that I’m here.”
He was more forthcoming on England fly-half Marcus Smith, though, a player who Gatland believes is a potential world superstar.
“I just think he is an incredibly talented player. I like him as a person, I like him as a rugby player,” he said.
“There has been so much negativity around rugby the last couple of years.
“We need to be positive about the game, and how do we create superstars in the game where kids want to look up to people and wear their jersey and play in their back yard and call themselves Marcus Smith. Potentially, he can be that superstar.”
Wales, meanwhile, will lock horns with Jones’ Australia team at the World Cup, facing them in a potentially pivotal pool clash on September 24.
Australia did not win a game in this summer’s Rugby Championship, while Jones’ World Cup squad announced on Thursday features a solitary recognised fly-half and no place for former captain Michael Hooper.
“He (Jones) seems comfortable with throwing a few curve-balls in there. He has spoken really positively about what they are capable of doing,” Gatland added.
“Eddie talked about smash and grab in the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe (Cup). Maybe part two of that will work, but part one hasn’t come off.”
Purosangue will head to York following his near miss in the Molecomb Stakes, with connections confident they have a high-class two-year-old on their hands.
Owned by Opulence Thoroughbreds and Teme Valley and trained by Andrew Balding, the son of Aclaim made a winning debut at Haydock in June before taking an encouraging step up to Group Two company at Newmarket’s July Festival when fourth to Jasour in the July Stakes.
Dropped back both in trip to five furlongs and slightly in grade to Group Three level at Goodwood, he produced a fine display to be beaten only a neck by Mick Appleby’s Windsor Castle scorer Big Evs and his owners now believe they have a top sprinting prospect to enjoy.
“He’s a proper horse definitely and he’s just going to go and get better and better as well,” said George Gill, director of Opulence Thoroughbreds.
“He’s not your typical breeze-up horse who can regress mentally after their first run, he’s actually mentally and physically improved from Haydock to Newmarket and then to Goodwood.
“I definitely think he’s a five-furlong horse for now. He’s sort of one you can imagine in the King’s Stand next year at Royal Ascot and I think if we come up against Big Evs again, I reckon we can beat him.”
Purosangue will continue campaigning in Pattern company, with Gill outlining an ambitious programme for the second half of the season.
The next stop for the talented youngster will be the Julia Graves Roses Stakes at York on the Saturday of the Ebor meeting, while there is the prospect Purosangue will end his season in Paris with a tilt at the Prix de l’Abbaye.
“It’s exciting and we’ll now head to York on August 26 for the Listed race which is valuable and is worth £100,000, and then there is the Flying Childers over five furlongs at Doncaster in September,” added Gill.
“There’s also a nice race at Newmarket in October but depending on how much he progresses, you also have the option of going for the Prix de l’Abbaye on Arc weekend.
“There’s plenty of options and he’s one of the soundest horses I’ve ever seen and bought at the breeze-up sales. His vetting was impeccable. He’s all speed in his dam line and has the speed from Aclaim and he’s a gorgeous looking horse as well.
“It’s very exciting and he’s with the right man to take him to the top as well.”
Lauren James has been handed a two-match ban following her red card in England’s World Cup win over Nigeria.
The Chelsea star was dismissed late in the second half for stamping on Nigeria forward Michelle Alozie following an altercation.
FIFA said in a statement: “The FIFA Disciplinary Committee has imposed a two-match suspension on England’s player Lauren James following a violation of article 14 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code at the FIFA Women’s World Cup match England v Nigeria.
“The suspension will be served for the Women’s World Cup quarter-final and the next international fixture following that.”
It means James will be available for the tournament final should England progress that far.
James already knew she would miss Saturday’s quarter-final against Colombia following her red card in the game, which England won on penalties.
But fears she could be automatically ruled out for the rest of the tournament could prove unfounded if Sarina Wiegman’s side make it all the way to the final.
Conceivably James, who apologised in the wake of the incident and has been publicly backed by Wiegman, would be available to return in the prospective August 20 showpiece in Sydney.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
