George Ford has been working with Jonny Wilkinson to turn the drop-goal into a weapon at the World Cup.

Ford landed three as England opened the tournament with a 27-10 rout of Argentina in Marseille last Saturday and is ready to continue using them if the opportunity arises.

To assist with the tactic, the Sale fly-half has been perfecting his technique with Wilkinson, who famously landed the drop-goal that enabled England to lift the World Cup in 2003.

“Jonny’s big thing is don’t worry about the posts,” said Ford, who continues in the number 10 jersey for Sunday’s showdown with Japan in Nice.

“Obviously you need to know where they are, but the only thing you can control is what you do in terms of how you place the ball and what you do with your body.

“Jonny said you can have the ugliest drop in the world but if you get your body right and the ball is in the slot, and you get the momentum of your body towards the target, you can do it.

“How many drop goals do you see that flap over? A lot of kickers say if you speak to kids growing up they are constantly looking at the posts as if they are going move to make the ball go over.

“The drop-goal has probably been underused. You watch Jonny’s era in 2003 and 2007 and the influence drop-goals had on the game then was enormous.

“Maybe the game has tipped the balance the other side of the spectrum where everyone thinks you need to score tries every two minutes, but you need a variety of ways of scoring.

“We had spoken quite a bit about them in pre-season and how big they can be, especially at World Cups. They can be really effective and hopefully we can show that again.”

In training, Ford competes with fellow playmakers Owen Farrell and Marcus Smith to see how many drop-goals they can kick – under the watchful eye of rugby league great Kevin Sinfield, who is now England’s defence coach.

“It is interesting speaking to Kev because in rugby league you might not see as many drop-goals because it is only worth one point,” Ford said.

“But he said as soon as play-off games came around, how much they practised went through the roof because they knew they would need a couple in a semi or a final, so we are doing this thing at the minute where we kick until we miss.

“Obviously if you don’t kick many before you miss you might go again, but there is a fair bit of competition and pressure between myself, Owen and Marcus when we are doing it.

“We are bringing lads over to come and put pressure on us, because we are not daft, you are not in armchair. You need to make it as realistic as possible.”

Cardiff ended their South Wales derby losing streak with a 2-0 Sky Bet Championship win over Swansea.

Ollie Tanner wrote his name into the history of the fixture just seconds after coming on as a 70th-minute substitute with his first Cardiff goal and then won the penalty which Aaron Ramsey converted.

The 21-year-old winger was signed from Isthmian League side Lewes in July 2022 and spent the second half of last season on loan at York, but it was his name that reverberated around the Cardiff City Stadium as Swansea were finally sunk on derby day.

Swansea had won the four previous meetings between the bitter rivals and completed the first league derby ‘doubles’ into the bargain.

But those victories came under the management of Russell Martin and new boss Michael Duff had blotted his copybook by downplaying the derby before the international break.

Duff had backtracked from those comments two days before the trip east on the M4, but a first win of his reign was necessary to lift Swansea out of the relegation zone.

Cardiff had also made an indifferent start under new manager Erol Bulut with only one win in five matches, but performances on the whole had been encouraging with the Bluebirds punished by their failure to close out games.

Duff handed debuts to deadline-day signings Jamal Lowe – back for a second stint at the club and scorer of a derby double in December 2020 – Josh Tymon and Kristian Pedersen, but suffered a blow when the experienced Joe Allen was injured in the warm-up and withdrew.

Cardiff forced the early pace with a safely-gathered Mark McGuinness header and Carl Rushworth pushing out a vicious Jamilu Collins cross, which Ike Ugbo was unable to profit from at the far post.

The best chance of a frenetic first period high on endeavour but shot on quality came in the third minute of stoppage time.

Ramsey picked out Ugbo, who showed good strength to fend off Nathan Wood. Ugbo’s header fell into the path of Yakou Meite, but his powerful snapshot was well saved by Rushworth.

Meite tested Rushworth again within seconds of the restart with a ferocious 25-yard attempt that swerved in the air, and their personal contest continued as the Swansea goalkeeper clung on to another attempt from the Ivory Coast international.

Jay Fulton was booked for a lunge on Manolis Siopis as tempers began to rise and Tymon was also spoken to by referee Sam Barrott after clattering into Ramsey.

Duff replaced Lowe and Yates with Jamie Paterson and Josh Ginnelly after 63 minutes to try and inject some life into the Swansea attack.

The pair instantly combined to good effect as Tymon fired over, but Swansea did not muster a shot on target until the 90th minute.

Cardiff carried the greater threat as Ugbo missed Ramsey’s cross and Fulton cleared Karlan Grant’s effort off the line before Tanner struck.

Tanner took possession with his first touch and then cut inside Tymon to unleash an unstoppable shot into the far corner of Rushworth’s net.

Pedersen then dragged Tanner to the ground four minutes from time and Ramsey, as he had done for Wales on Monday, stroked home the spot-kick to start the Cardiff celebrations.

Fuming Brentford boss Thomas Frank is expecting an apology from referees’ chief Howard Webb after seeing his side slip to a controversial Premier League defeat at Newcastle.

The Bees went down 1-0 at St James’ Park on Saturday evening after Callum Wilson converted a second-half penalty awarded for a foul by keeper Mark Flekken on Anthony Gordon.

Frank said: “It’s so rare that I complain about it because it’s human beings who make mistakes and we all make mistakes so that happens. But it’s extra frustrating when we do so many things right and lose because of that.

“We just got told four weeks ago when Kevin Schade went through against Tottenham, where the keeper took him out, that no, he pulled out before, so it can’t be a penalty. Mark pulled out before, now a penalty.

“It’s not the ref who has given it but the linesman, and he needs to be absolutely bang-on, 100 per cent sure if you want to decide an even game between two teams that gave each other a fantastic game, in fact.

“That means that VAR have checked, but can’t do anything because it’s not a clear and obvious failure. I’m pretty sure that Howard Webb will come back to us and say ‘Sorry, we made a mistake’.”

The penalty – one of two awarded by Craig Pawson, although the second was rescinded after he was advised to review it – came minutes after Wilson had seen a “goal” disallowed for a foul on Flekken.

The England striker dispatched his 64th-minute spot-kick with supreme confidence to claim his 14th goal in his last 17 league appearances in the final game before Newcastle launch their Champions League campaign at AC Milan on Tuesday evening.

Wilson put pen to paper on a one-year contract extension on Friday and Howe, who first signed him for Bournemouth in July 2014, has seen him grow during the intervening period.

He said: “He’s gone from, when I first signed him, a Championship player to now an international, a Premier League player, a Champions League player.

“But his character is still the same. He laughs, he jokes, he’s positive, he’s kind. He’s a really good team-mate, he’s a parent and he’s a really good father to his kids and he’s a husband, so a lot has changed in his life, but I think the general character around the person is exactly the same.”

Howe, who confirmed that Brazilian midfielder Joelinton will miss the trip to San Siro with a recurrence of a knee injury which will keep him out for several weeks, was delighted to see his team end its three-game losing streak.

He said: “It was a massive win for us, we needed it. I don’t think it was us at our free-flowing best, but there was a lot to like about the resilience, the defensive mindset, the work rate, the commitment.

“It’s not always going to be an open, attractive game and today it probably wasn’t. Brentford made it very difficult for us, but we certainly defended very well and it was great to see us keep a clean sheet.”

Wales boss Warren Gatland declared it a case of “job done” by beating Portugal 28-8 at Stade de Nice and taking another step toward the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.

It was not pretty at times, and Wales only claimed the bonus-point try they coveted when number eight Taulupe Faletau scored in the dying seconds, but Gatland’s team now have 10 points from 10 in Pool C.

“If someone said you would have 10 points from the first two games, we would have been pretty happy with that,” Wales head coach Gatland said.

“Look, there were aspects of today where we probably tried to play a little too much rugby early on and didn’t play a bit more territory and be a bit more direct.

“But some of those players haven’t had a lot of rugby. I just said to them in the changing room, ‘job done’. We’ve got the five points.

“They had thrown everything at us in those first 20 minutes. They probably didn’t have the same opportunities in the second half in terms of putting us under that sort of pressure.

“When we ran hard and won those collision, that is when we looked dangerous. Probably at times we were a little bit lateral.

“It’s good we have given everyone in the squad an opportunity and some rugby. We have a little bit more time in terms of preparation before Australia and we can start looking forward to that game.”

Gatland confirmed flanker Tommy Reffell was suffering from a tight calf muscle that saw him pulled out of the starting line-up just minutes before kick-off, with Jac Morgan called up.

“Tommy said his calf was a bit tight,” Gatland added.

“I think he was still quite keen to take the field, but if he pulled that calf, that would have been his World Cup over.

“To put Jac in as a straight replacement with very limited preparation, I thought he was good.”

Gatland’s much-changed side struggled throughout for control and fluency in the contest, the highlight of which was Portugal’s attacking flair.

Wing Louis Rees-Zammit, captain Dewi Lake, Morgan and Faletau scored tries, while Leigh Halfpenny kicked three conversions and Sam Costelow landed one, yet a vast improvement will be required against Australia in Lyon next weekend.

Portugal gave as good as they got for large parts of the game and they undoubtedly deserved more than flanker Nicolas Martins’ try and a Samuel Marques penalty.

Their exciting back division stretched Wales’ defence in all directions, although wing Vincent Pinto blotted the copybook when he was red-carded late in the game following a bunker review after his boot caught Josh Adams in the face.

Asked if he was surprised by Portugal’s physicality, Lake said: “No, I don’t think we were surprised as we had done our homework on the team that we were facing.

“We understood what they were going to bring to the table from a physicality standpoint. Gats spoke in the week about them being a mini-Fiji in terms of an off-load game.

“They’ve got players who want to snipe and want to run. In terms of physicality, we won that battle over 80 minutes.”

Portugal lost 102-11 when they last played Wales in 1994, although captain Tomas Appleton struggled to mask his disappointment at the latest outcome.

“We really wanted to win this game. We really worked hard for that,” Appleton said.

“We lost many areas of the game, we didn’t have a solid scrum, we made mistakes in the backs and when we are playing at this level we get penalised and we suffer with those mistakes.

“We couldn’t quite show the rugby that we have, the good level of fast rugby we can play, and at the end of the day we are frustrated.

“We are not here to just be a presence, we are here to compete and win. When you are playing at this level you have to be cool-headed, and I think a lot of times we made bad decisions.”

Callum Wilson sent Newcastle into Champions League action on the back of a first Premier League win since the opening game of the season as they edged past Brentford at St James’ Park.

The England striker’s 64th-minute penalty proved enough to clinch the points for the Magpies, who had not won since they trounced Aston Villa 5-1 on August 12 and had since slipped to back-to-back defeats by Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton.

They will now head for Italy for their Champions League opener against AC Milan on Tuesday evening in positive mood after a victory which was achieved without the rested Sandro Tonali and Alexander Isak as head coach Eddie Howe used the depth of his squad.

The Bees will perhaps feel aggrieved at both the penalty decision and the fact that they gave at least as good as they got for long periods in front of a crowd of 51,670, although ultimately they were unable to trouble keeper Nick Pope often enough.

Brentford started brightly with Aaron Hickey and Mathias Jensen combining well down the right, and it took a good near-post save by Pope to keep out Hickey’s fourth-minute attempt from a tight angle after he had been played in by Jensen.

Newcastle enjoyed an escape when Yoane Wissa was unable to make contact with Jensen’s teasing cross as he slid in, but it was the Magpies who very nearly took the lead with 28 minutes gone.

After Fabian Schar’s long-range attempt had been deflected behind, Sven Botman got his head to Kieran Trippier’s corner and flicked the ball to the back post where Bruno Guimaraes saw his close-range effort repelled by keeper Mark Flekken.

Howe’s men, who had been methodical rather than dynamic to that point, were coming to life and Brentford’s problems increased when Rico Henry limped off with what appeared to be a knee injury and was replaced by Mads Roerslev.

Schar had to block a stoppage-time Wissa shot after he had been played in down the left by Vitaly Janelt, but there was nothing to choose between the sides when the half-time whistle sounded.

The second half unfolded much as the first had ended, with Newcastle enjoying the greater share of possession but unable to move the ball quickly or decisively enough to pierce the massed ranks of blue shirts. Brentford were playing on the counter but lacking precision when it mattered.

Schar and Harvey Barnes delivered menacing crosses in quick succession, but neither was able to pick out a team-mate, and although the Magpies did have the ball in the net with 57 minutes gone, referee Craig Pawson disallowed Wilson’s close-range finish for a foul on Flekken during the build-up.

However, they finally forced their way in front seven minutes later with Flekken and Wilson once again the central characters in the drama.

The Netherlands international keeper’s clumsy challenge on Anthony Gordon as full-back Hickey attempted to shield the ball back to him was adjudged by Pawson to be worthy of a penalty.

Wilson, who was made to wait before taking the spot-kick, did not waver as he blasted it high to Flekken’s left to open the scoring.

He thought he had been handed a chance to repeat the dose with 11 minutes remaining when Pawson pointed to the spot for a second time after Barnes’ header had hit the unwitting Bryan Mbeumo’s arm but after being asked to review his decision, the official changed his mind – although Newcastle eased across the finishing line with few real scares.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s double ensured Inter Milan continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 5-1 drubbing against bitter rivals AC Milan.

Inter got off to a perfect start in the Milan derby with two goals from Mkhitaryan and Marcus Thuram, before Rafael Leao gave Milan some hope with a quick finish after the break.

Mkhitaryan earned his brace before Hakan Calhanoglu’s penalty and Davide Frattesi’s goal ensured there was no way back for Milan, who now face Newcastle in the Champions League on Tuesday.

Three points means Inter have now won all four of their games in Serie A this season and remain top of the table by two points.

Mkhitaryan set the tone in the fifth minute with a clean first-time effort from close range, which found the bottom corner and the goal stood despite a VAR check for a foul in the build-up.

The former Manchester United and Arsenal midfielder came close to a second with his header flashing wide of goal and Federico Dimarco then fired a free-kick over the crossbar before Theo Hernandez tried his luck for Milan, but his effort rolled past the post.

Thuram struck to double Inter’s advantage in the 38th minute with a stunning strike across the face of goal and into the top corner.

Milan had a chance after being awarded a free-kick outside the box just before the break, but Olivier Giroud blasted the ball over the bar.

Despite a bright start from Inter in the second half, it was Milan who pulled one back in the 58th minute after a superb through-ball from Giroud found Leao and his deflected shot landed in the net.

Milan goalkeeper Mike Maignan made a good dive to his right to deny Carlos Augusto, who smashed the ball from outside the box, as Inter ramped up the pressure.

Nerazzurri struck again in the 68th minute after a great team move saw Lautaro Martinez lay the ball off to Mkhitaryan before the midfielder found the bottom corner, helped by a deflection, to earn his brace.

Milan’s misery continued when Hernandez conceded a penalty after catching Martinez in the box and Calhanoglu made no mistake from the spot in the 79th minute, blasting the ball low underneath Maignan.

Frattesi capped off a dominant evening for Inter after bursting through the Milan defence to latch onto the end of Mkhitaryan’s well-timed pass and tucked the ball home.

Great Britain will have to beat France in Sunday’s Davis Cup clash if they are to qualify for the quarter-finals of the competition.

Australia’s 3-0 success against Switzerland on Sunday sent them through to the final eight week in Malaga in November, and the winner of the final group clash at Manchester’s AO Arena will join them.

Britain have performed excellently so far, beating Australia and Switzerland 2-1, but the nature of the other results means only another win will be enough.

Captain Leon Smith has used all four of his singles players across the two ties so far and now faces a tricky decision about who to field on Sunday.

Jack Draper and Dan Evans both claimed strong wins against Australia while Andy Murray ground out an epic win against young Swiss Leandro Riedi before Cameron Norrie was beaten by Stan Wawrinka.

“Everyone’s played now,” said Smith. “We’ve got a full deck of cards to play with on Sunday. Ultimately we’ll go with what we think’s the best option for Sunday but everyone’s available, everybody’s ready to go.

“You’re not always going to get the decisions right, and there’s not a right answer most of the time. You can look at match-ups as much as you want but there’s other equations in there.

“Genuinely this time round it feels like everyone’s in it together in the right way, everyone’s been totally accepting of any decisions that I’ve made. There’s not been any ill feeling towards it at all.

“There’s always going to be disappointment because these guys are great players, they all want to play.”

Draper and Evans, who will also play in the doubles rubber with Neal Skupski, are perhaps the front runners, although Murray famously has a great record against both French players and left-handers and has won all three of his previous meetings with number two Adrian Mannarino.

A crowd of more than 13,000, a record for a single day of Davis Cup action in the UK, is expected.

Ludvig Aberg’s meteoric rise shows no signs of slowing down after the Ryder Cup rookie cruised into a two-shot lead in the BMW PGA Championship.

Playing just his 10th event since turning professional, Aberg carded a third round of 66 at Wentworth to reach 16 under par in pursuit of back-to-back victories on the DP World Tour.

England’s Tommy Fleetwood delighted the large crowds with a 67 to share second place on 14 under with Scotland’s Connor Syme, who covered the back nine in 31 in a superb 65.

Masters champion Jon Rahm, who was two over par for the tournament after 21 holes, is four shots off the pace following a 66 which included vital birdies on the 17th and 18th.

Aberg, whose victory in the European Masters earlier this month earned him a Ryder Cup wild card from Europe captain Luke Donald hours later, admitted winning the BMW PGA Championship was “very, very high” on his bucket list.

“It is one of the biggest events on the DP World Tour, it’s been like that for a long time,” the 23-year-old said.

“I’ve got memories of Alex (Noren) winning here when he hit an unbelievable shot into 18. It’s really cool to see myself up there, I have to pinch myself in the arm every now and then but it’s quite cool.

“I think expectations just changed after Switzerland in terms of knowing I can do it. Even though I’ve won in college quite a bit it is different, whether you like it or not, to win on the pro stage and it was pretty cool to do that.

“I could tell myself that I could do it and was good enough and hopefully I’ll be able to do that tomorrow too.”

Fleetwood is also targeting a significant victory in front of a home crowd which roared him on every step of the way, the 32-year-old kickstarting his recovery from a slow start with an eagle on the fourth courtesy of a lesson from Rory McIlroy.

“I had a lesson out of the rough from Rory on Monday when the Ryder Cup team were in Rome,” Fleetwood said.

“I always struggle to get steep on it and I am always chopping out of the rough so he just helped me with a couple of things on how better to do it really.

“It worked a couple of times today. The one with an eight iron on number four was good, it came out perfect and it is a new shot in my locker.”

Fleetwood has endured several near-misses this season, including losing a play-off in the Canadian Open when Nick Taylor holed from 70 feet for a winning eagle, but would love to taste victory in front of a “biased” home crowd.

“This event means a lot to pretty much all of us on the Tour and I have not had much joy here to be honest,” Fleetwood added.

“But the crowds this week have been amazing, very biased in my direction which is great, and this event is one that everyone would love to tick off in their career.”

Syme will play alongside Fleetwood and Aberg in the final group on Sunday and will have plenty of family support after revealing his father Stuart, who is also his coach, had missed a wedding to remain at Wentworth this weekend.

“He made the decision when I was making a few birdies yesterday (Friday) afternoon,” Syme said.

“It’s my mum’s best friend’s daughter’s wedding. They spoke and my mum was happy to go on her own. My mum said that if my dad could help me even a little bit by staying down, that would be fine with her.

“I actually didn’t make that decision, by the way, so I don’t feel any pressure at all! I was expecting him to be heading home when I came off the course on Friday, but there he was.”