The next World Cup will be expanded to 24 teams as part of a new global calendar approved by World Rugby’s council.

The change that will come into effect for Australia 2027 is intended to provide more qualification opportunities for emerging nations as well as regional competitions.

Further details of the revised format for the group stage will be announced at a World Rugby press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

A new bi-annual international competition is also to be launched in 2026, comprising of two divisions of 12 teams with promotion and relegation commencing from 2030.

The matches will take place in the July and November international windows.

Three climate change protesters who were found guilty of aggravated trespass after they ran on to the pitch during the Ashes series at Lord’s have been sentenced.

The Just Stop Oil protest carried out by Judit Murray, 69, Daniel Knorr, 21, and Jacob Bourne, 27, stopped play during the second Test between England and Australia on June 28, as security and ground staff cleaned up orange powder that was thrown on the pitch and ensured the ground was not damaged.

The three, who said they wanted to create headlines for their climate change protest and did not want to cause disruption or damage the pitch, were found guilty after a trial at City of London Magistrates’ Court.

England player Jonny Bairstow carried Knorr off the pitch, champagne corks and fruit were thrown by cricket fans at Bourne as he was led off the field, and Murray was tackled before she could reach the wicket and held down on the grass.

The court heard there is a 3ft-high metallic fence in front of the grandstand at Lord’s, followed by a gap and 3ft-high LED hoardings which loop around the ground, and then a boundary rope which all serve as “markers” – along with many signs and loudspeaker messages which warn ticket-holders they are not allowed to go on to the field of play.

Nick Rowe, security operations manager at Lord’s, said the protesters got “very close” to the wicket and play had to stop for a short period immediately after the incident.

He said he was near the Allen Stand at the ground in St John’s Wood, north-west London, when “an unexpected roar from the crowd, much louder than you would expect from a first over” alerted him that something was wrong.

He previously told the court: “I heard a roar from the crowd. Obviously there were people on the pitch. There was a big cloud of orange powder in the air.”

Mr Rowe said he could see that play had stopped and the stewarding team ran towards the group of people who had been detained.

He told the court one of the men was detained on the ground before being taken away, while another was carried off the grass by Mr Bairstow.

Nick Collins, the head of security at Lord’s, who said the match was “probably the biggest game of our season”, added: “It impacts the rest of the day. The biggest worry for me is whether the ground has been damaged.

“Cricket has wide specifications and a set of rules about the pitch being played on. If the pitch had been damaged in some way, we could not have played.

“We had to check. We had blowers come on. Everyone was trying to blow the powder away and check the ground was not affected.”

Adeela Khan, defending Bourne and Knorr, said the disruption was “minimal” during the offence as there was a delay of four minutes and there was no damage to the pitch.

She said the offence was “carefully planned” in terms of timing to minimise the risk of harm to the defendants, players and security staff.

Katrina Walcott, defending Murray, said the defendants did not touch the wicket, were “quickly removed”, and clean-up lasted “a matter of seconds”.

She added: “She is very remorseful for the actions, she did apologise at the time.”

District Judge Neeta Minhas sentenced Murray, of Plough Road, West Ewell, Surrey; Knorr, of Green Street, Oxford; and Bourne, of Moorland Road, Hyde Park, Leeds, at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to a 12-month community order, 60 hours of unpaid work and made an exclusion requirement from Lord’s cricket ground for 12 months.

Judge Minhas said: “Whilst you may not have intended harm and you say you co-ordinated action to minimise any harm, and I accept there was no harm in terms of damage to the pitch or from yourselves towards security officers or players, it’s such a public location where there were so many people who are very much enjoying the activity, who may have been drinking, your action will have an unknown effect on those in the stands.

“It also causes difficulty for security at that venue who have to control the crowd.

“It also takes security away from doing the job that they’re supposed to be doing, while they are detaining you and ensuring your safety from the crowd.

“I recollect evidence about items being thrown from the crowd which they then had to manage.”

The defendants will each also have to pay £330 in costs.

Poptronic is likely to bow out at the top following her thrilling success in the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot.

Karl Burke’s four-year-old was sent off at a rather unfancied 22-1, but produced a career-best effort in the hands of Sam James, showing real bravery as she made every yard for a first success at the highest level.

It was a welcome return to form for the Lancashire Oaks scorer, who had disappointed in her two previous starts and Burke believes the switch to the inner track allowed her stamina to come to the fore in testing conditions on British Champions Day.

“She was brilliant and did very well,” said Burke.

“She has always been a very good filly and was given a great ride by Sam James.

“I think the switch to the inner track was to her advantage. It was half a furlong shorter and the way the race was run we got our own way in front. It all worked out brilliantly well.

“She’s a strong stayer over a mile and a half and over one-three and a bit we could make more use of her. She’s a galloper, but a high-class galloper.”

Poptronic’s Ascot success means she now has victories in every season she has been in training at Spigot Lodge, with the final act of her on-track career seeing her add a Group One triumph to her enviable CV.

Owned and bred by David and Yvonne Blunt, the daughter of Nathaniel is catalogued to be sold at Tattersalls later in the year where she will be one of the features in the Sceptre Sessions during the December Mare Sale.

“She’s got a date at the sales and as far as I know she will be going there at the beginning of December,” continued Burke.

“The owners were on a high on Saturday and thinking that over, but I think it is probably the right thing to do with her.

“She’s a winner at two, three and four with a couple of Group races in there and we’ve been very happy with her.”

Newcastle midfielder Sandro Tonali trained with his team-mates on Tuesday morning amid speculation that an investigation into breaches of betting rules was close to reaching a conclusion.

Reports from Italy have suggested the 23-year-old former AC Milan player could learn his fate before Wednesday night’s Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund at St James’ Park, with some predicting a lengthy ban.

However, the Italy international was among the group which trained at the club’s Darsley Park training headquarters as they completed their preparations for the Group F fixture under grey skies and incessant rain.

Tonali’s representatives reportedly spent Monday in discussions with prosecutors, who launched an investigation while he was away on international duty earlier this month.

He and compatriot Nicolo Zaniolo, currently on loan at Aston Villa from Galatasaray, are subject to a probe by the Italian Prosecutor’s Office and Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in relation to illegal betting activity.

Tonali’s agent Giuseppe Riso had claimed the player was living with a “gambling addiction” and if breaches were found to have taken place, he could face many months on the sidelines.

The midfielder, who joined the Magpies in a £55million summer move from Milan, is accused of placing bets on the Rossoneri and former club Brescia during his time with them.

He has made 11 appearances to date for Newcastle, including a start in the 4-1 Champions League victory over Paris St Germain earlier this month.

Jerome Reynier was delighted with Facteur Cheval after his tenacious second-placed performance in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes on Qipco British Champions Day at Ascot.

The bay travelled over from France for the mile showpiece to round off a consistent season in which he had never been out of the top three.

In five Group-level starts prior to Ascot, the gelding had not been beaten more than a length and a half, finishing third to Anmaat in the Prix d’Ispahan, second to Paddington in the Sussex Stakes and third to Sauterne in the Prix du Moulin.

Big Rock was the runner-up on the latter occasion and on soft ground in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes it was the same horse who flew home to secure a six-length success.

His compatriot ensured the race was a French-dominated affair, however, with Facteur Cheval giving chase to make up a huge amount of ground from last place when finishing second ahead of a group of quality horses.

Reynier was thrilled with his horse, who was a 14-1 chance under Mickael Barzalona and did the stable proud on his final run as a four-year-old.

“It was great,” said the trainer. “He didn’t get the best run, as he was in a good position early on but he had to go behind Paddington and he ended up going backwards, unfortunately.

“He had to come back from behind and go around all the horses, it was almost impossible to make the second place but he was very courageous to give his all and go and beat the Aga Khan filly (Tahiyra) – it was just unbelievable.

“I thought he was going to struggle to finish but he is a swimmer, he loves that kind of ground.

“It feels like a win because Big Rock was unstoppable, we did what we could and finishing second was the maximum of his ability on the day.

“We weren’t too far from Big Rock on quick ground, so maybe one day we will be able to compete with him.”

Facteur Cheval will be given a break over the winter and could then be on his travels again in 2024, with Dubai and Newbury both mentioned as possible targets.

“It’s an amazing four-year-old campaign that he’s had, he’s been very consistent, even though he didn’t win a race this year,” Reynier added.

“He’s been second in the QEII, second in the Sussex, third in the Ispahan, third in the Moulin, they have been amazing achievements and we can’t wait for him to have a bit of a holiday and start off next year in good shape.

“He deserves a break, we could go to Dubai with him for the Dubai Turf for his reappearance.

“We’ll maybe come back to England for the Lockinge, he likes races with a lot of pace and sometimes in France he doesn’t get the pace he likes, we’ll see – we’ll talk to connections and we’ll decide together which is the best route to take.”

Dejan Kulusevski has acknowledged Tottenham have an advantage over their rivals with no European football this year and feels it could make the difference come the end of the season.

Spurs returned to the Premier League summit on Monday night with a 2-0 win over Fulham courtesy of goals from Son Heung-min and James Maddison.

Ange Postecoglou’s resurgent side are next in action on Friday at Crystal Palace, where they could go five points clear at the top with a victory and while Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool have European fixtures to contend with this week, Tottenham can focus purely on league action.

“Honestly, it helps a lot. Physically, I remember last season was very hard playing three games a week,” Kulusevski said.

“You feel very tired in the warm-ups. Also, mentally not having to travel to Spain or Italy to play games helps. You are at home, with your family. You have a good rest mentally, so it is a huge thing that we have and we have to take advantage of that this year.

“You can feel the difference and hopefully you will see even more at the end of the season.

“It is early because we will see what happens. Everything can change every day so we don’t need to talk about (title), but we must live for the day with a smile, train hard and not forget who we are. We must try to get better every day.

“It is not important what people say. The important thing is to work hard, be humble, listen to the coach and keep the smiles on faces. Then at the end of the season we will see where we are.”

Tottenham’s young side produced a mature display against Fulham, creating early chances before Son broke the deadlock in the 36th minute.

Calvin Bassey’s misplaced pass under pressure from Spurs’ press was latched onto by Micky van de Ven, touched into Richarlison where he recycled the ball for Son, who dribbled past Tim Ream and curled superbly into the top corner for his seventh goal of the campaign.

Son turned provider nine minutes after half-time when Bassey again gave away the ball and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg fizzed possession into Son, who played in Maddison for his first home goal as a Tottenham player.

The hosts took their foot off the gas during the final exchanges with Fulham wasteful late on, which led to Postecoglou lambasting his team for taking “liberties” post-match.

Kulusevski added: “Number one, we have to keep playing football and that is why we are winning. We have to get back to playing the way we can and be ready for Friday.”

Spurs were without the suspended Yves Bissouma for the visit of Fulham, but Hojbjerg slotted in to good effect on his first league start of the season.

The Danish midfielder expressed his delight at starting and urged his team-mates to “live with the pressure” amid talk of a potential title challenge.

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“Honestly it felt amazing to play. It was really nice to play. It felt really good,” Hojbjerg said.

“First half I thought we played some good football. I think we had to score more than the one and second half we lost a bit of intensity. We let Fulham back into it but especially first half I thought was strong.

“It is up to the coach to analyse (second half) now and to show us a bit what we needed. Personally, I felt the quality on the ball dropped a bit, but again we always know the first game back from the internationals is always a challenge.

“I think it is game by game and it is important to try to improve. Improve every single week and try to see where we can take it. I think you have to live with the pressure, assume the pressure but again it is about improving and looking at yourself week in, week out.”

Richard Kingscote has paid a heartfelt tribute to Desert Crown after last year’s Derby winner was put down on Monday.

Kingscote had not long since ended his lengthy association with Tom Dascombe to ride for Sir Michael Stoute whenever Ryan Moore was unavailable in August 2021 when he partnered Desert Crown to a debut victory at Nottingham three months later.

The Nathaniel colt was not seen again until the following May in the Dante Stakes at York, where he impressed and then headed to the Derby as the favourite.

He cruised around Epsom, running out one of the most impressive winners in recent years, but sadly only made it to the track once more and eventually his injuries caught up with him.

Kingscote took to social media to say: “I have been asked about my thoughts on Desert Crown a few times.

“Firstly I’m most sorry for the staff at Sir Michael’s who adored him and who are all heartbroken.

“Secondly I’m sorry to racing fans in that we will never get to see how brilliant he could have been. And that I don’t have the vocabulary to explain how amazing he was.

“I will always be grateful to him for looking after me on those two big days last summer, he was a gentleman and an awesome racehorse.

“I feel blessed and somewhat embarrassed that it was me who got to feel his brilliance. RIP DC.”

Storm Babet continues to affect racing in Britain and Ireland, with this afternoon’s meeting at Yarmouth and tomorrow’s card at the Curragh the latest casualties.

There are also now inspections planned at Fontwell ahead of tomorrow’s fixture and at Clonmel for Thursday.

Yarmouth were forced to abandon their seven-race Flat card after an early-morning inspection, as “considerable rainfall overnight” left the track waterlogged.

Officials at the Curragh have cancelled Wednesday’s meeting following 21mm of rain last night, with the course currently unfit for racing and facing an unfavourable weather forecast.

Clerk of the course Brendan Sheridan said: “The forecast is for a further 5mm of rain today with the possibility of more rain moving in tomorrow, so there was no prospect of the situation improving here prior to racing.

“We’ve had a total of 77mm in the last week and the ground has been heavy since entries closed last Thursday.”

Fontwell have called a precautionary inspection for tomorrow morning at 7.30am.

The going is currently described as soft, good to soft in places, but “further significant rain” is expected this evening and early on Wednesday.

At Clonmel, the ground is heavy but currently fit for action ahead of racing on Thursday.

However, clerk of the course Lorcan Wyer reported: “Having spoken with Met Eireann, there is the possibility of a further 5-10mm of rain and some spot flooding tomorrow afternoon which will be on top of the 54mm of rain the track has had in the last week.

“With that additional rain forecast for tomorrow, we felt it was prudent to let people know as early as possible that we will need to have a precautionary inspection at 7.30am on Thursday morning.”

Last Saturday’s scheduled meetings at Stratford and Market Rasen were lost to the weather, along with Wednesday’s Worcester card and four upcoming fixtures at Southwell.

Emma Finucane is trying to ignore her new status as sprint world champion as she sets her sights on achieving Olympic glory in Paris next summer.

The 20-year-old Welshwoman shocked herself when she took the women’s individual sprint title in Glasgow in August, beating Germany’s favoured Lea Friedrich in the final.

Finucane donned the rainbow jersey for the first time in competition at the UCI Track Champions League opening round in Mallorca this weekend, but while the distinctive striped jersey means she can no longer keep herself inconspicuous, she does not want it to change her approach.

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“People will look at me now,” Finucane told the PA news agency. “Last year I was kind of the underdog and I just came through so now I am wearing the stripes. I hope that doesn’t really change anything.

“I’m just trying to ignore it and just race my bike, but there is some external pressure. I’m not just Emma at the back of the field anymore.”

The rainbow jersey can do different things for different riders. While many take it as a confidence boost, for others the stripes have worn heavily. Finucane said she had spoken to several Great Britain team-mates about how to deal with it.

“I don’t want to look at it (as giving me a psychological edge) because if I lose, then what?” she said. “And I will get beaten, and that’s fine. I just need to take it as it comes.

“Half of it is the mental battle of putting it on and people looking at you and having that pressure, but I’m trying to embrace it and enjoy it because you don’t know if it will happen again.

“Beth Shriever is a really good friend of mine and she’s been the BMX world and Olympic champion. She said she didn’t have the best year in the rainbow jersey because she put too much pressure on herself and she overthought it.

“I’ve spoken to Evie (Richards, 2021 mountain bike world champion) and Katie Archibald (a five-time world champion on the track) and I’m lucky we have so many inspiring women in the Great Britain team. It’s great I can learn from them but ultimately I will only learn from myself and how I deal with it.”

And Finucane believes the Champions League – the made-for-TV track cycling series which is in its third season – is the ideal place to do much of that learning, providing some top-level competition without the stresses and pressures that come elsewhere.

“The next event I’ll do in the rainbows is the Euros (in January) which is when everything is serious,” she said. “I’m not saying this isn’t serious, but it’s a nice place to be free to fail. You can try new things.”

Saturday’s racing in Palma saw Finucane finish second in the sprint, beaten by Germany’s Alessa-Catriona Propster, before failing to make the keirin final through some tired legs. But it was just the sort of experience she was looking for when it came to dealing with her new status.

Finucane will wear the stripes into an Olympic year but despite her status is taking nothing, not even squad selection, for granted.

“Nothing is guaranteed,” she said. “I’d love to go and I’m really pushing myself but I need to take each race as it comes. If I just think about Paris and everything else goes wrong I’ll not be going.

“But it’s in the back of my mind because since I was 10 years old I’ve wanted to ride the Olympics.

“As the GB sprint team we’ll not just be going there to ride but we’re looking for medals and I fully believe we have the potential to win. It’s super exciting but also super scary.”

The Texas Rangers are through to their first World Series since 2011 with an 11-4 victory over the Houston Astros in game seven of the American League Championship Series.

The Rangers will come up against either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Arizona Diamondbacks, who face off for a place in the final in their deciding game seven on Tuesday.

Corey Seager’s early home run helped Texas grab the initiative straight away as they raced into a commanding lead.

Rangers led 4-2 in the third innings and they hammered in four more runs in the top of the fourth to secure a comfortable triumph as Houston were denied a third-successive World Series appearance.

Texas are the oldest club in Major League Baseball to not have a World Series to their name but will have the opportunity to get their first by playing four of the seven games at their home stadium in Arlington.

Former England winger Christian Wade announced his retirement from rugby union at the age of 27 on this day in 2018 as he looked to launch an American football career.

Wade, the fourth highest tryscorer in English club rugby on 82, was granted early release from his Wasps contract after nine years at the club to join NFL team the Buffalo Bills.

In doing so he halved his salary from the £250,000 a year he was earning in the Gallagher Premiership. The move never took off on the field either as he failed to make the Bills’ roster.

Slough-born Wade, who won his only England cap in 2013 against Argentina, described the decision to leave rugby as the hardest in his life.

He said: “After playing nine years of professional sport for Wasps, I’ve decided to leave for personal reasons.

“I would like to thank Wasps chairman Derek Richardson and Dai (Young, director of rugby) for their support, consideration and understanding in what is the most difficult decision of my life.

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“Rugby has privileged and honoured me with so many wonderful memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”

Wasps were third in the Gallagher Premiership and bottom of their Heineken Champions Cup group when Wade, who as well as winning one England cap also represented the 2013 British and Irish Lions on their tour of Australia, announced he was leaving.

“It’s very disappointing to lose a player of Wadey’s quality at this stage of the season,” Young said.

“The club held numerous discussions with him to try and convince him to keep pushing forward with Wasps but in the end it was clear this is the path he wished to go down. The club nevertheless wants to wish him all the best with his future career path.”

Using the NFL’s international player pathway program to facilitate the switch, Wade made waves by scoring a 65-yard touchdown as a running back in pre-season, but a regular season game eluded him.

The experiment lasted three years and in September 2022 he returned to rugby after agreeing a deal to join French side Racing 92.

Adolis Garcia homered twice and drove in five runs to set an MLB post-season record for RBIs in a series, and the Texas Rangers rolled to an 11-4 victory over the rival Houston Astros in Monday's Game 7 of the American League Championship Series to secure their first World Series appearance since 2011.

Garcia went 4 for 5 to cap a sensational ALCS in which he amassed 15 RBIs, the most by any player in a play-off series in MLB history. The Cuban slugger homered in each of the final four games and was an obvious choice for series MVP.

Corey Seager and Nathaniel Lowe also homered and rookie Evan Carter had a two-run double for Texas, which won Games 6 and 7 in Houston to improve to 8-0 on the road in these playoffs, tying an MLB record for consecutive away wins to begin a single post-season set by the 1996 New York Yankees.

Rangers skipper Bruce Bochy made history as well by becoming the first manager to win a League Championship Series with three different teams. The 68-year-old previously guided the San Francisco Giants to World Series titles in 2010, 2012 and 2014 and led the San Diego Padres to the 1998 Fall Classic.

He'll now try to end the Rangers' 61-year drought without a World Series title, the longest of the six current MLB franchises that have never won one. Texas lost to Bochy's Giants in the 2010 World Series and to the St. Louis Cardinals the following year in their lone other previous appearance.

The defending World Series champion Astros were bidding to become the first team to win three consecutive league pennants since the Yankees did so in four straight seasons from 1998-2001.

They fell behind early, however, as Texas scored three times off Cristian Javier in the first inning.

Seager started the scoring with a one-out homer and Carter singled and stole second before coming home on Garcia's base hit for a quick 2-0 lead. Garcia then stole second and came around on a single by Mitch Garver.

Javier was pulled after recording just one out and allowing three runs on four hits. The right-hander entered Game 7 with a 1.69 ERA while winning both of his two previous starts in this post-season.

The Astros got a run back in the bottom of the first when Jose Altuve doubled off Max Scherzer and later scored on Jose Abreu's single, but Garcia's first homer of the night restored Texas' three-run advantage in the third.

Alex Bregman got Houston back within two with a solo homer off Scherzer in the bottom of the third, but the Rangers scored four times off J.P. France in the fourth to break the game open.

After loading the bases with one out on two singles and a walk, Carter doubled to right to bring in two runs and Garcia drove in two more with a single that pushed the lead to 8-2.

Scherzer permitted two runs in 2 2/3 innings before being removed in favour of Jordan Montgomery, who tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings to earn his second win of the ALCS.

Lowe's two-run homer in the sixth stretched Texas' lead to 10-2. The Astros got a run back on Yordan Alvarez's RBI single in the seventh before Garcia went deep again in the eighth for the Rangers' final run.

Jake Allen made 36 saves and the Montreal Canadiens scored twice in the third period to earn a 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.

Brendan Gallagher recorded the tie-breaking goal and Tanner Pearson scored on the power play in the third period to help the Canadiens to a second straight win and third in four games. Both also had an assist.

Gallagher gave Montreal a 2-1 lead by poking a loose puck past Buffalo goaltender Eric Comrie 3:31 into the third period, and Pearson made it a two-goal advantage with 3:07 remaining with his third tally in four games.

Justin Barron put the Canadiens ahead 2:56 into the contest, but the Sabres drew even on Jeff Skinner's power-play goal with 7:13 elapsed in the first period.

Allen was impenetrable from there, however, making 17 saves in the second period and 13 more in the third.

Comrie finished with 24 saves for Buffalo, which finished 2-2-0 on a four-game home-stand.