Katie Archibald inspired Great Britain to an emotional women’s team pursuit victory at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow on Saturday night.
Archibald joined up with Elinor Barker, Josie Knight and Anna Morris to beat New Zealand to gold in a time of four minutes 8.771 seconds, four and a half seconds up on their rivals, to give Britain a first world title in this event since 2014.
It was a fifth world title for Archibald, but perhaps the most significant. She has come into these championships, in her home velodrome, still grieving the death of her partner Rab Wardell, who suffered a cardiac arrest as he lay in bed at home a year ago.
Archibald had said she was determined to honour Wardell this week, and she surely did so with a powerful ride that belied a difficult build-up and helped make the difference in the final.
New Zealand were ahead on the time splits for much of the opening 1,500 metres, but a big turn from Knight nudged Britain in front before the midway point.
Archibald then put on the power to open up a two-second advantage before pulling off with a kilometre still to go, the result all but beyond doubt.
Archibald and Barker were both part of the team when Britain last won the women’s team pursuit world title nine years ago. They went on to Olympic glory in Rio before taking silver in Tokyo, but the rainbow jerseys in this flagship event eluded them.
“It is all coming out, this is the event,” Archibald said on BBC Sport. “Someone was talking about imposter syndrome the other day and you almost have it the other way round, we almost see ourselves as the best in the world.
“But we have not been on the top step since 2014, so to have that feeling validated, it feels good!”
Knight, who is Archibald’s housemate in Manchester, called her friend “phenomenal”.
“I see her ups and downs every day,” she said. “She’s had a really tough couple of weeks. I know her prep hasn’t been quite what she would have wanted. Usually she’s the real hero of this team. We’ve had to adapt and I’ve tried to step up, take that role on.
“But she is phenomenal. We all stepped up. And we’re world champions.”
Barker, who has shared so many moments with Archibald including Olympic gold in Rio, added: “Katie’s unbelievable. It’s really hard to summarise the year that she has had, how she feels about it, how we feel about it.
“Just the fact that she is here, it’s insane. I don’t really know how she does it to be honest.”
This is Barker’s first global track event since she became a mother after the last Olympics, and an extra special one as she was able to share the moment with sister Meg – who rode in Saturday morning’s first round – and Morris, who was in the same year as her at Llanishen High School in Cardiff.
Meg Barker had ridden the opening qualifier in place of Archibald, who is saving some of her energies for Sunday’s elimination race and the omnium in the coming days, a change to the original plan – with Elinor Barker now joining Neah Evans in Monday’s Madison.
In the men’s team pursuit, Denmark beat Italy to take the world title in a time of three minutes 45.161 seconds, two years to the day since Italy beat Denmark to gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
There were more gold medals for Britain’s para-cyclists. Sam Ruddock successfully defended his men’s C1 kilo title before Blaine Hunt took the C5 crown, with Jaco van Gass then beating team-mate Fin Graham to win the men’s C3 scratch race and his second rainbow jersey in as many days.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has expressed his concern about the demands on players in light of changes such as an expanded Club World Cup and more time being added on in games.
After winning the Champions League to complete their treble last term, City will compete in December’s Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia – what is planned to be the final edition featuring seven teams, with the next a 32-side competition taking place in the United States in the summer of 2025.
Meanwhile, the significant increase in time added on seen at last year’s World Cup in Qatar, designed to tackle timewasting, is something set to apply to Premier League matches this season.
Speaking ahead of his side opening their 2023-24 campaign with Sunday’s Community Shield clash against Arsenal, Guardiola said: “I know at the end of next season, we are going to make a (Club) World Cup in the United States after finishing the season, two or three more weeks. That means the holidays will be 15 days or maybe three weeks.
“I think it doesn’t exist already, pre-seasons. The problem is here (touching his head) – exhausted. Look already how many players are injured in pre-season, in bad conditions, humidity, hot, the pitches are not really good, especially in the States.
“It is what it is, so we have to adapt, adjust – but it is not normal.
“Now, for example, every game we’re going to play for 100 minutes. Wasting time – from my point of view it is not going to be solved by extending 10 more minutes. It’s more tiring for the players. It’s too much.
“FIFA, UEFA – more competitions. The World Cup – more teams. This (Club) World Cup – I don’t know how many teams.
“I don’t know what (is going to happen) in the future, for the players, even the managers, to prepare. That’s why you have to see exactly how much you demand of the players.
“Every day, season by season, it’s difficult to handle for the players. They love to play but they need also recovery, with the stress and tension they have. They make a show like they do in front of 55-60,000 people – that is a lot of energy, mental energy, and every week, to do it, is a lot.
“But every year is getting worse and worse, and will be worse. I don’t know how it is going to end, honestly.”
As City prepare to hunt down further silverware, Guardiola has stressed the need for a game-by-game approach in which they “respect incredibly the opponent, do our best to win in the way we believe is better – and after we will see”.
And he added: “I would say honestly we are closer to not repeating the treble than winning it, we are closer to not winning the Premier League than winning it. And no team ever won four in a row.
“Last season – I didn’t start thinking we are going to win the treble. We started, ‘let’s go to try to win (the Community Shield) against Liverpool’ and we lost 3-1.
“And after (that) we won and step by step, good moments. Normally we arrive (in the last few months of the season) in a good mentality and shape, and this is what we are going to try to do again.”
June’s maiden Champions League triumph for City added to five league titles, two FA Cups and four League Cups they have won since Guardiola took charge in 2016.
The Catalan signed a new contract running to 2025 last November, and when asked if he had thought at all about leaving after securing the treble, he said: “I signed a contract because I feel comfortable.
“Nothing changed, for the fact of win or not win. It is how I am happy, and the people is happy, the board especially, the hierarchy, because in the end they decide which manager has to lead this group of players. If they are satisfied, I still am satisfied.
“I want to defend what we won and year by year, maybe at the end of the season I am tired, or I say we will talk with the club, or maybe extend more, I don’t know.”
Caelan Doris shone and Jack Conan suffered an injury scare as Ireland launched their World Cup warm-up fixtures by easing to a 33-17 win over Italy in Dublin.
Back-rower Conan departed the field shortly before half-time and was later pictured in a protective boot on the bench.
Full-back Jimmy O’Brien and scrum-half Craig Casey were also withdrawn for treatment to give head coach Andy Farrell cause for concern ahead of his side’s campaign in France, which kicks off in just five weeks’ time.
An experimental side missing a host of rested stars, in addition to suspended skipper Johnny Sexton, overcame a sloppy beginning to cruise to a 15th successive home victory.
Doris’ two tries, plus scores from Dave Kilcoyne, Stuart McCloskey and Cian Healy, earned victory, while Jack Crowley and debutant Ciaran Frawley kicked six and two points respectively.
Lorenzo Pani and Tommaso Menoncello claimed consolations for Italy but they never threatened to shock the Six Nations champions.
Ireland were back in action for the first time since clinching the Grand Slam against England in March.
Farrell retained only three of the players who began that day as part of an unfamiliar XV, while Italy included England-born debutants Paolo Odogwu and Dino Lamb in a strong selection.
The Aviva Stadium was far from full for the late kick-off and Ireland’s sluggish start, during which Tommaso Allan’s early penalty put the visitors ahead, initially did little to enhance the subdued atmosphere.
Italy lost Saracens prop Marco Riccioni to injury inside 10 minutes and that setback was quickly compounded by Kilcoyne burrowing over at the other end to register his first Test try since November 2014.
The score settled Ireland down to an extent and they capitalised on Italian indiscipline to stretch the scoreboard just before the half-hour mark.
Doris claimed the second try of the evening, crashing over wide on the right, moments after Azzurri loosehead Danilo Fischetti was sin-binned for failing to retreat.
Conan’s 35th-minute departure was an unwelcome sight for Farrell but the hosts’ performance continued to improve, with man-of-the-match Doris proving to be a real menace.
The Leinster man, selected in the unfamiliar position of openside flanker, produced a crushing tackle on Stephen Varney deep inside Italian territory to pave the way for McCloskey to power over.
Crowley landed his third conversion of the evening to make it 21-3 at the interval.
Farrell shuffled his pack slightly for the restart, introducing the uncapped Frawley at fly-half and pushing Crowley to full-back in place of the withdrawn O’Brien, who had received treatment on a shoulder issue.
A further change was required just four minutes later as scrum-half Casey followed Conan and O’Brien into the treatment room.
Italy, whose only Dublin success came in 1997, had struggled for territory in the opening period.
But, on the back of some cheap penalties conceded by Ireland, they reduced their deficit in the 51st minute when Pani was afforded yards of space on the right to charge forward and hold off the attempts of Jacob Stockdale.
Replacement prop Healy then celebrated moving level with Rory Best as Ireland’s third most-capped player on 124 appearances with his 12th international try.
Menoncello again reduced the arrears for Italy 12 minutes from time before the impressive Doris had the final say.
Following a week’s training camp in Portugal, Ireland move to matches against England and Samoa with plenty of positives but some fitness concerns.
Steve Borthwick said he would reflect ahead of his World Cup squad announcement following England’s lacklustre performance in their 20-9 defeat to Wales.
England withered after leading 9-8 at the interval in Cardiff, making over 20 handling errors in total and being outshone after the break as head coach Borthwick was given plenty to ponder less than 48 hours before naming his World Cup squad.
“I will give a period of reflection,” Borthwick said. “I will reflect where I am in terms of the squad selection and whether this game changes anything or clarifies anything regarding that.
“It is another piece of information in terms of the full picture, which is what I was always after on each and every one of the players to make the best informed decision.
“This game informs many different elements and it is another step as we build forward through these four games.
“I’m looking forward to announcing the squad on Monday and the Test match against Wales at Twickenham next Saturday.”
England will also travel to Ireland and host Fiji before heading to the World Cup in France next month.
Borthwick will be able to reintegrate players who were absent at the Principality Stadium but who are expected to start England’s World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9.
On England’s underwhelming display, Borthwick said: “We created a load of opportunities, but in Test rugby you have got to score when you are down there.
“Instead, we came away with three penalties. So, we created no scoreboard pressure.
“Our line-out and scrum went well in the first half, but at the mid-point in the second half, in both of those areas of the set piece we faltered.
“We also made a large number of handling errors and errors in contact against a team that jackal hard for the ball. We couldn’t sustain pressure because we turned the ball over.
“The turnover count I saw was 21 to nine and it’s very difficult to win Test matches with that. We created opportunities in the opposition 22 and we’ve got to take them.
“We’re still in quite a big training phase and we will sharpen up over the next three games together.”
England second row Dave Ribbans will be assessed after leaving the field with a HIA in the second half.
Second-half tries from Gareth Davies and George North rewarded Wales’ dominant second-half show, although injuries to Ryan Elias and Dafydd Jenkins threatened to take the gloss of their victory.
Hooker Elias left the field as early as the sixth minute while second row Jenkins suffered a knee injury in the second half.
Head coach Warren Gatland said: “They’ll be scanned on Monday. Ryan looks like a slight hamstring tear but it’s not too bad.
“I thought the two second-rows were great, so with Daf we are hoping it isn’t too serious a knee injury.”
Wales had won only two of their previous 10 games but Gatland, who took over before the 2023 Six Nations Championship, believes his squad have benefited from pre-World Cup camps in Switzerland and Turkey.
He said: “I think we’ve done a lot of work as a group in the last eight weeks. The line-out defence was excellent and we competed well.
“Despite the scrum penalties, I thought we dominated there. I need some clarity from the referee in terms of the decisions.
“We were winning the collisions and the hit. It’s a good start.
“The pleasing thing is there’s a group of players who will get an opportunity next week who are desperate to perform.”
Hard-hitting Guyanese left-hander, Sherfane Rutherford, played a starring role to lead the Montreal Tigers to a one-wicket win over Vancouver Knights in Qualifier 2 of the Global T20 Canada at the CAA Canter in Brampton on Saturday.
After winning the toss and electing to field first, the Tigers restricted the Knights to 137-6 off their 20 overs.
Pakistani opener Mohammad Rizwan led the way for the Knights with 39 off 33 balls while South African Corbin Bosch hit a 28-ball 36 including one four and three sixes.
Abbas Afridi was the main destroyer for the Tigers with 5-29 from his four overs.
Montreal’s chase did not get off to a good start at all as they lost their first four wickets for just 29 runs within the first five overs. A 43-run fifth wicket stand between Rutherford and Dipendra Singh Airee provided some stability before the latter fell in the 13th over.
Another hard-hitting West Indian, Andre Russell, joined Rutherford at the crease and the pair added just 18 before Russell fell in the 15th over for an 11-ball 17 including one four and two sixes.
Carlos Brathwaite then joined Rutherford at the crease but didn’t last long, facing only two balls and making one to leave the Tigers 97-7 in the middle of the 16th over.
17-year-old Aayan Afzal Khan then joined Rutherford and the two formed what eventually became a match-winning 26-run eighth wicket partnership before Khan was the first of consecutive wickets in the 19th over bowled by Junaid Siddique leaving the Tigers needing 15 off the last over with Rutherford on strike facing Rayyan Pathan’s medium pace.
The pressure did not phase Rutherford at all as he deposited the first three balls of the over into the crowd to book the Tigers spot in the final set for Sunday against the Surrey Jaguars at the same venue.
Rutherford finished 48* off 34 balls including two fours and three sixes.
Siddique took 4-22 from his four overs for the Knights. Fabian Allen gave the Knights a good start with 2-15 from his two overs.
Katie Archibald and Great Britain celebrated an emotional women’s team pursuit win in Glasgow at the UCI Cycling World Championships on Saturday night.
Archibald joined up with Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, and Anna Morris to beat New Zealand to gold in a time of four minutes 8.771 seconds, more than four seconds up on their rivals, to give Britain a first world title in this event since 2014.
It was a fifth world title for Archibald, and a hugely poignant one as she races at these championships in her native Scotland to honour her late partner Rab Wardell, who tragically died of a cardiac arrest as he lay in bed last August.
New Zealand were ahead on the time splits for much of the opening 1,500 metres, but a big turn from Knight nudged Britain in front before the midway point.
Archibald then put on the power to open up a two-second advantage before pulling off with a kilometre still to go, the result all but beyond doubt.
Archibald and Barker were both part of the team when Britain last won the women’s team pursuit world title nine years ago, going on to enjoy Olympic glory in Rio before taking silver in Tokyo.
This is Barker’s first global track event since she became a mother after the last Olympics.
Britain had topped the time sheets in all three rounds of this event, having subbed in Elinor’s sister Meg Barker in place of Archibald for Saturday morning’s first round.
Archibald is saving herself for the elimination race and omnium in the coming days, a change to the original plan with Elinor Barker now joining Neah Evans in Monday’s Madison.
In the men’s team pursuit, Denmark beat Italy to take the world title in a time of three minutes 45.161 seconds, two years to the day since Italy beat Denmark to gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
There were more gold medals for Britain’s para-cyclists. Sam Ruddock successfully defended his men’s C1 kilo title before Blaine Hunt took the C5 crown, with Jaco van Gass then beating team-mate Fin Graham to win the men’s C3 scratch race and his second rainbow jersey in as many days.
Although Ruddock went in as defending champion, the 33-year-old called his title a surprise given his recent focus on the individual pursuit, in which he finished fourth on Thursday.
“Madness,” Ruddock said. “I didn’t expect it at all. We’ve done a lot of work around pursuits in the previous year so the target was to get a bronze medal ride off and we achieved that.
“The kilo was the secondary event so to go faster in the kilo and defend the title was a massive surprise.”
Michael Beale spoke about a “bit of realism in the air” after new-look Rangers’ cinch Premiership title challenge got off to the worst possible start with a 1-0 defeat at Kilmarnock.
Brad Lyons’ strike after 65 minutes gave the home side a shock victory and put an early dent in the Light Blues hopes of wrestling the title back from Celtic, who began the defence of their title with a 4-2 win over Ross County earlier in the day.
It was the Light Blues’ first opening-day defeat in the top flight for 25 years.
The Gers boss has signed nine new players so far and he knows he has to get it right for the first leg of their Champions League qualifier against Servette at Ibrox on Wednesday night.
Beale said: “Not the start we wanted at all. We had good control of the game, we had the lion’s share of possession. Kilmarnock defended extremely well throughout, getting lots of people in and around their box.
“We had a couple of minutes towards the end of the first half that should’ve resulted in a goal. We had 18 attempts at goal, but I can’t remember the Kilmarnock goalkeeper being troubled enough.
“In a game like that when it’s stuffy, when we’re struggling to create clear-cut chances, you can’t concede a goal like we did. It’s a poor one.
“It’s bitterly disappointing for the players and staff but ultimately for the fans who have been excited in the summer, so there’s a bit of realism in the air with that result.
“There’s a lot of work to do moving forward but we’ll bounce back on Wednesday.”
Of Beale’s new boys, Jack Butland, Kieran Dowell, Sam Lammers, Abdallah Sima and Cyriel Dessers made their competitive debuts and Brazilian striker Danilo came on later, but the former QPR boss did not want to use that as excuse.
He said: “I don’t want to go down that road because it seems like a cop-out. I thought Kilmarnock played well and we looked stuffy at times.
“We’ve had five weeks together, they’re quality players, we had enough players on the pitch today who know what this is about.
“We had enough of the game in terms of possession and set-plays, we had more than Kilmarnock but we couldn’t find the answer and if you can’t find the answer you cannot concede a goal like the one we did.”
For Killie boss Derek McInnes, he was pleased to meet one of this season’s targets in the first game.
The former Rangers midfielder said: “It was one of the many things we wanted to improve on.
“We spoke with the team about targets and challenges and one of the first things we had to demonstrate was an ability, personality and confidence to beat Rangers and Celtic this season because we beat every other team in the league last season except them.
“You have to do so much right to beat them.
“I couldn’t single anybody out, it was a proper team performance, a squad performance to win the game.
“Rangers are littered with good players but our performances was good.
“So the fact that we have managed to beat Rangers is one of those boxes ticked and it is an encouraging start, but it is only a start.
“We go in to next week’s game (Hearts) with another thing to address our away form, we won two out of our last three away games last season, but we clearly need to improve our away form and next Sunday gives us an opportunity to address that.”
Spain made a statement of intent as they stormed into the Women’s World Cup quarter-finals by brushing aside Switzerland in Auckland.
Jorge Vilda’s side rebounded in excellent fashion from a heavy defeat to Japan, who joined Spain in the last eight after seeing off Norway in Wellington.
Here, the PA news agency takes a look at all of Saturday’s World Cup action.
Five-alive Spain hammer Switzerland
Spain limped into the knockout rounds after being humbled by Japan in their final group game but they showed they remain a threat as they reached the quarter-finals for the first time in their history with a 5-1 win over Switzerland. A brace from Aitana Bonmati alongside goals from Alba Redondo and Laia Codina, who had earlier sent a back pass into her own net to briefly bring Switzerland level, had Spain in control at half-time. Spain eased off the pedal in the second half but still dominated proceedings and made it five through Jenny Hermoso to set up a quarter-final with either Netherlands or South Africa.
Japan saunter into quarters
Norway were able to breach a miserly defence as Japan conceded in the tournament after three clean sheets but Futoshi Ikeda’s side claimed a relatively comfortable 3-1 win. Ingrid Engen’s own goal opened the scoring for Japan but Norway responded with their first meaningful attack of the game through Guro Reiten. Risa Shimizu restored Japan’s lead before Hinata Miyazawa scored her fifth goal of the tournament to seal victory, and her side will next face either Sweden or the United States.
Post of the dayQuote of the dayWhat’s next?
Quarter-final: Netherlands v South Africa, Sydney, 3am.
Quarter-final: Sweden v USA, Melbourne, 10am.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend is braced for the possibility of losing Zander Fagerson for at least a portion of the World Cup after his red card in Saturday’s exhilarating 25-21 warm-up victory over France.
The Scots produced a magnificent second-half fightback to overturn a 21-3 deficit at the break and record a morale-boosting 25-21 victory despite having the Glasgow prop sent off following a high challenge on Les Bleus hooker Pierre Bourgarit in the 50th minute.
Fagerson was initially yellow carded before having his punishment upgraded to a red a few minutes later after a review via the newly-implemented bunker system.
With just two warm-up matches remaining – away to France and at home to Georgia – the Scots fear any suspension for Fagerson could carry over into the World Cup.
“Yes, of course there’s concern when someone picks up a red card,” said Townsend. “It’s a difficult one. The contact area is so fiercely competitive.
“France are a team that like to jackal and the hooker that Zander collided with is one of the best jackalers in world rugby.
“If it’s a timing issue or a height issue, yes, we have to make sure that we don’t get those head knocks, head collisions but there was no malice or foul play. It’s more from the rugby incident of mistiming on a ruck clear so we just have to hope that the judiciary see it the same as what we see.”
Fagerson was handed a four-game ban after being sent off following a similar incident against Wales in the 2021 Six Nations, but Townsend does not believe this offence was as severe.
“I’ve seen the incident again and he does adjust his feet,” said the head coach. “The one from the Wales game he comes in very quickly and at the time it was very understandable because someone else hadn’t gone to the ruck clearance so he knew if he didn’t come in quickly, Wyn Jones would have got the jackal.
“On this occasion he did adjust his feet so there’s nothing reckless in wasn’t as much speed, it wasn’t reckless, he just didn’t get underneath the French hooker’s chest area which can happen in all the 200 ruck clears there are in a game.
“What I hope for Zander and for us as a team is that they see there is nothing reckless in there, nothing was out of control, it’s just a timing issue that he couldn’t get underneath the jackaller.”
Townsend expects to find out Fagerson’s fate before their rematch against the French in Saint-Etienne next Saturday.
“Automatically any red card would go to a hearing and we’d expect that to be done by Tuesday or Wednesday,” he said. “It would affect our plans for next weekend and our World Cup squad is announced a week on Wednesday so we’ll need to know before then.”
Scotland lost another key man in the shape of Ben White, who limped off in the first half with an ankle injury, but Townsend is hopeful that it will not cause the scrum-half to miss the World Cup.
“He’s much more positive now,” said the head coach. “He got his foot trapped under him when they kicked through, he got high tackled and got his foot trapped under him.
“It was an area where he had an issue at the beginning of our World Cup camp but he’s been training fully now for the last six weeks and in initial testing (after the game) it seems OK.
“He’s off to hospital just to make sure there’s nothing in the scan so fingers crossed that he’s OK. It might be that he struggles to train this week but hopefully he’ll be available for the World Cup.”
Townsend was proud of the way his 14-man team recovered to win the second half 22-0 after being outclassed by a second-string French side in the first half.
“Even though these are not Six Nations or World Cup games, it is a Test match in front of almost 60,000 people, so we know our job is to win,” he said.
“And when you are defending your line at the end, thoughts go through your head about whether we are going to hold out for the win.
“It was such an encouraging second-half performance and victory that it would have been a big blow if we hadn’t got that win.
“We showed much more of who we are in that second half, both in attack and defence. To do it with one less player for the majority of the second half is going to be really positive for the players’ level of belief.”
England’s began their final phase of World Cup preparation in horribly underwhelming fashion as Wales sent them spinning to a 20-9 defeat in Cardiff.
Second-half tries from Gareth Davies and George North staved off a fifth successive home loss for Wales as England boss Steve Borthwick was given plenty to ponder less than 48 hours before he names his World Cup squad.
Few players left lasting impressions, although there were some impressive moments from fly-half Marcus Smith and number eight Alex Dombrandt, with Wales responding superbly to a three-point interval deficit.
England were abysmal with their ball-retention, conceding a colossal 22 turnovers, and Wales did not require a second invitation to capitalise.
Full-back Leigh Halfpenny marked his 100th cap by converting both tries and kicking two penalties, with Smith kicking England’s points through three first-half penalties.
England’s opening World Cup game against Argentina is just five weeks away, yet Borthwick will not be reaching for any panic button with three warm-up fixtures still to come on the August schedule.
For Wales, it was a significant confidence-booster following a fifth-placed finish in last season’s Six Nations as they recorded just a third win from the last 11 Tests.
Halfpenny led out the Wales players, who wore black armbands in memory of former Wales captain and coach Clive Rowlands following his death last weekend at the age of 85.
Wales suffered an early injury blow when hooker Ryan Elias was forced off after taking a blow to his right leg, with Dragons forward Elliot Dee replacing him.
A long-range Smith penalty nudged England ahead, rewarding initial dominance as the visitors monopolised possession and territory, putting Wales firmly in back-foot mode.
Smith soon doubled the advantage when Wales were guilty of a scrummaging infringement, but a Halfpenny strike made it 6-3 towards the end of an opening quarter high on intent, yet littered with errors.
Wales fly-half Sam Costelow created the game’s first clear-cut chance 15 minutes before half-tine when his inside pass freed wing Louis Rees-Zammit, but he slipped with England’s line at his mercy.
It was much better from Warren Gatland’s team and Halfpenny deservedly drew them level through a 26th-minute penalty.
England responded through some clever work from Smith that created space for centre Joe Marchant, before wing Joe Cokanasiga was tackled into touch near the corner-flag.
Despite conceding 12 turnovers during the first 35 minutes, England remained on top, while there were also scrummaging issues for Wales as debutant props Corey Domachowski and Keiron Assiratti had a testing opening half.
Smith completed his penalty hat-trick to make it 9-6 at the interval, yet England knew they needed to sharpen their attacking edge in the second period.
The game required a spark and Wales duly found one just eight minutes into the second period.
Costelow’s kick found number eight Aaron Wainwright and his one-handed pass was collected by captain Jac Morgan, who brushed off challenges from Cokanasiga and replacement Jonny Hill before a supporting Davies touched down.
It was a try of outstanding quality and Halfpenny’s conversion opened up a four-point lead before Gatland made four changes.
The new arrivals included debutants Taine Plumtree and former England prop Henry Thomas, who qualifies for Wales through his father.
Thomas was able to switch countries under new World Rugby regulations which mean players can feature for their country of birth – or their parents’ or grandparents’ birth – provided a minimum period of three years has elapsed since they were last selected for an adopted country.
Borthwick also rang changes midway through the third quarter, introducing international newcomers Theo Dan and Tom Willis as England looked to reassert themselves in the contest.
But Wales were a team transformed after the break and when North crossed for his 45th try in the red shirt England entered the final quarter 11 points adrift.
Wales were within inches of adding a third try during the closing minutes, but Rees-Zammit knocked on behind the line under pressure from England full-back Freddie Steward.
The damage, though, had long been done ahead of next Saturday’s return fixture at Twickenham.
Portsmouth manager John Mousinho was relieved to see his side snatch a 1-1 draw at home to Bristol Rovers.
Debutant Kusini Yengi scored a stoppage-time goal to salvage a point after Luke Thomas had given Rovers a first-half lead.
“There are mixed emotions in the dressing room at the moment,” Mousinho said.
“If you had offered me a point with five minutes to go, I would have been happy to take it.
“We need to get a lot more shots on target and take advantage of some of the areas we get into.
“The goal came from probably the best cross we made all game.
“We will look back and reflect on not getting all three points.
“I felt that Rovers were a decent side. For their goal, we gave the ball away in the middle of the park. They broke quickly off of that and capitalised. They showed what they are capable of if they get a sniff of a chance.”
“They defended their box very well in the second half, but I was very pleased for Kusini with his goal.”
Constant heavy showers made playing football difficult, but Rovers forced the early pressure and took the lead in the 24th minute.
Pompey lost the ball in midfield and a quick break and a cross from Jevani Brown saw Thomas sweep the ball home.
His strike looked like it would be the winner but substitute Yengi saved the day for Pompey two minutes into added time.
Bristol Rovers coach Andy Mangan felt that a draw was probably a fair result.
He said: “Ours was a fantastic goal. We’d already had a couple of counters before that.
“We’ve kept them out whilst under a lot of pressure, especially in the second half, until the 92nd minute.
“On another day we would have taken all three points, and the lads are devastated to have conceded that late on.
“The lads should take a lot of confidence from their performance today. To come to Fratton Park and play the way we did at times, there are a lot of positives.
“We have to be deadly on the counter. I felt it let us down a bit today, and that’s something we need to work on.
“Pompey are favourites to go up, so to defend and play like we have is something the lads should be proud of.”
Rangers’ cinch Premiership title challenge suffered the earliest of blows with a shock 1-0 defeat by Kilmarnock in the opening day of the season.
Michael Beale’s disjointed side had laboured in the first half at Rugby Park and there was no improvement after the break before they were stunned by Brad Lyons’ counter after 65 minutes.
The 26-year-old Northern Irishman pounced inside the box to fire the home side ahead and in the end it was enough to keep the three points in Ayrshire.
The defeat was a huge setback for Light Blues boss who has signed nine new players so far.
Beale knows the margin for error over 38 games in the traditional two-horse title race in Scotland is slim and there is little time for ironing things out on the training ground – the first leg of their Champions League qualifier against Servette is at Ibrox on Wednesday night.
Champions Celtic began their campaign earlier in the day with a 4-2 win over Ross County at Parkhead so there was immediate pressure on the visitors to get the win, but there was a lack of cohesion in both teams, perhaps understandably.
Derek McInnes’ side had only four players from last season in the starting line-up – stand-in captain Lyons, Danny Armstrong, David Watson and Lewis Mayo, who was signed on a permanent deal from Rangers after a loan spell.
Of Beale’s new boys; Jack Butland, Kieran Dowell, Sam Lammers, Abdallah Sima and Cyriel Dessers made their competitive debuts and Brazilian striker Danilo would come on later.
Killie, with four ViaPlay Cup games under their belt already, made it difficult for the Govan side, nullifying most of the threat.
In the 28th minute, backtracking Mayo brilliantly took the ball off Dessers’ toe as the former Cremonese striker raced through from a Sima pass but the offside flag was up.
Killie keeper Will Dennis, on loan from Bournemouth, dived bravely inside his busy six-yard box to gather a loose ball from a James Tavernier corner before he saved a decent low drive from Dessers.
The 23-year-old then tipped a powerful John Lundstram drive over the crossbar for a corner which he comfortably clutched out of the air, but it was a relatively quiet 45 minutes for him and the Killie defence.
Rangers tried to press with more vigour after the break but the home side remained resolute in defence and increasingly confident when they broke.
On the hour mark, seconds after Dowell headed wide following a corner, he was replaced along with Dessers.
Todd Cantwell, a surprise omission, and Danilo came on for Rangers while for Killie, Marley Watkins made way for club captain Kyle Vassell.
And then Killie took the lead. Rangers defender John Souttar failed to deal with a long throw-in from Watson and Lyons swept the ball past Butland from six yards.
Minutes later, with the Light Blues in disarray, Butland did well to save a ferocious drive from Kyle Magennis before Armstrong curled a shot just wide.
Ryan Jack came on for Lundstram and Kemar Roofe replaced Lammers as Rangers, in some desperation, tried everything to rescue a point at least but Dennis was well-protected for the 90 minutes and the six minutes of added time.
Carlisle manager Paul Simpson believes his side could have come away with more after they started life back in Sky Bet League One with a 1-1 draw against Fleetwood.
Owen Moxon opened the scoring for the Cumbrians with a 30-yard free-kick, but it was cancelled out by Brendan Wiredu’s strike just before half-time.
Both teams had chances to score the winner and Simpson was left to rue missed opportunities.
“I’m reasonably happy with a point out of it, but on reflection – and this is a real early reflection – we’ve had the chances to win the game today,” he said.
“We’ve had two really good chances in the second half, well created chances, but overall I’m really pleased to get our first point and it’s given us something to take confidence from and build for the next one.”
Moxon put the home side ahead in the 36th minute with a beautifully curled free-kick into the top left corner after he had been fouled by Scott Robertson.
Fleetwood equalised, though, in the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time as Wiredu’s first-time volley flew into the bottom left corner after Huntington had headed clear Phoenix Patterson’s cross.
Jordan Gibson had a great chance to restore Carlisle’s lead just after half-time, but he miscued a shot from Fin Back’s cross with the goal gaping.
At the other end, Promise Omochere should have scored after Josh Vela’s cross broke his way, but he pulled his effort across goal and wide.
Substitute Joe Garner, formerly of Fleetwood, saw his late header saved by visiting goalkeeper Jay Lynch as the spoils were shared.
Carlisle are competing at League One level for the first time in nine years and Simpson is anticipating a tough campaign.
“We’re going to have to be fitter,” he added. “We’re going to have to be resilient.
“We’re going to have use the squad wisely and it’s going to be a real test for us.”
Fleetwood boss Scott Brown was also left disappointed by his team’s lack of cutting edge.
“They scored a fantastic free-kick and we had to dig deep to try and get ourselves back into the game, but these things are going to happen now and then,” the Scot said.
“Teams are going to score fantastic free-kicks like that, but we showed heart.
“We showed desire to get back into the game and I thought for long periods of the game we controlled the game.
“And, especially the longer the game went on, I thought we looked the fitter team.
“For myself, we’ve got to be proud of the lads on that, but we have to be a little bit more ruthless in the final third and have that little bit more quality as well because we got into some great areas.
“So it’s those small details we need to try and work on as much as we possibly can over the next couple of weeks.”
Wigan manager Shaun Maloney described Charlie Wyke as “special” after his double clinched a 2-1 League One win at Derby .
Wyke suffered a cardiac arrest during training in November 2021 and now plays with a defibrillator fitted in his chest.
Maloney was delighted with his team but acknowledged the significance of Wyke’s contribution.
“Charlie Wyke is a special case,” he said. “Any recognition he gets he deserves every single bit of it.
“What he and his family have been through I can’t put words to that really. It’s taken time for him to get in the mental condition and then physically, he’s come back in incredible shape this summer.
“From the very first days of pre-season, he felt like a different player.
“We’ve been really patient with him and I’m very, very happy for Charlie today.”
Wyke’s goals plus resolute defending and quality goalkeeping were enough to give Wigan victory against one of the promotion favourites.
Wyke seized on a poor back pass from Sonny Bradley to give Wigan the lead in the 38th minute but Derby levelled just before the hour minute through Craig Forsyth’s superb volley.
Sam Tickle denied Forsyth a second just before before Wyke headed in a cross from Tom Pearce after 72 minutes.
Derby piled on the pressure but Wigan stood firm and held on through nine minutes of added time to celebrate a win that cuts their points deduction to minus five.
Maloney was also happy with his side’s character, adding ““I couldn’t have asked for anything better really, the performance had everything.
“At times we were very good first half and then we had to suffer without the ball and had to defend in the last 20 minutes.
“I loved the heart my team showed and I know it’s the first game of the season but this one means a lot.
“The way we defended in the last 20 minutes, there’s a real satisfaction when you see your team defending with every single player putting their body on the line, they’ve got a bit of character about them.”
Derby head coach Paul Warne voiced his frustration, saying: “It’s always frustrating when you lose at home and I can’t say we played at our best today.
“There were some parts of our play that were really good and some parts which were a little bit frustrating but over the whole 99 minutes, I didn’t think we deserved to lose
“It was a pretty even game between two pretty good sides and it just came down to a couple of errors we got punished on.
“Wigan are a good side and if you give them an opportunity they are going to take it and they did.”
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