Excitement levels for the 2023 Rugby World Cup have ramped up another notch with Thursday marking exactly one year to go until the tournament gets up and running.

For some teams, the next 12 months will present a chance to continue building momentum ahead of the showpiece event. For others, a year of uncertainty awaits.

While it is still too early to pick out a strong favourite to win the event, a handful of teams – major issues or not – stand out among the top candidates to lift the famous trophy.

Here, Stats Perform looks at how the leading lights are shaping up ahead of the quadrennial world championship in France.
 

SOUTH AFRICA

Where better to start than with the reigning world champions? The Springboks triumphed somewhat against the odds in Japan three years ago, becoming the first team to win the title after losing a match in the pool stage.

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, South Africa went 20 months between beating England in the 2019 final and cruising to a 40-9 victory over Georgia in July last year, though series victories over the British and Irish Lions, England and Wales have helped get any rustiness out of the system over the past 12 months or so.

The ongoing Rugby Championship is a better litmus test of what to expect in a year's time, and the Boks find themselves third with four matches played, albeit with only a point separating the four sides. Consistency is proving to be a major issue, having strung together successive wins only twice in their past 14 outings, something that must be put right.

 

NEW ZEALAND

Perennial World Cup favourites New Zealand won back-to-back tournaments prior to South Africa's triumph three years ago. If they are to have any chance of wrestling back the Webb Ellis Cup, then a number of issues must be resolved.

The All Blacks opted to put faith in under-fire boss Ian Foster amid a run of desperately disappointing results, which included three successive home Test losses for the first time in their history, with Ireland winning their maiden Test series in the country.

Defeat against Argentina two weeks ago may well have forced New Zealand chiefs to reconsider their options before it is too late, but Foster's side responded with an emphatic 53-3 victory against the same opponents in Hamilton to move top of the Rugby Championship standings and send out a message to their critics.

Back-to-back fixtures with Australia, followed by Tests with Wales, Scotland and England, will provide a better indication of exactly where this New Zealand side are ahead of the World Cup after a turbulent period.


IRELAND

Ideally for Ireland, the World Cup would start this week rather than in a year's time on the back of what has been a stellar period. Andy Farrell's side closed out the momentous series win in New Zealand in July and have won 13 of their past 16 matches.

Despite that consistent run of results, Ireland have gone four years between Six Nations titles, with their solitary loss to France in this year's competition prolonging their wait for silverware.

Ranked at number one in the world a year out from France 2023, Ireland need to fine tune one or two areas and ensure they keep their star players – Johnny Sexton among them – fit and firing.

 

FRANCE

Having lived up to the hype by ending a 12-year wait for Six Nations success, followed up by their recent series win over Japan, France are now under pressure to win the World Cup for the first time in their history on home soil next year.

Les Bleus have won 10 in a row since their most recent defeat, coming at the hands of Australia in July 2021, and will test themselves against Australia and South Africa prior to their Six Nations title defence getting under way in February.

A fit Antoine Dupont remains crucial to any chance France have of ending their World Cup hoodoo following a record three defeats in finals. Beyond wrapping certain players in cotton wool, Fabien Galthie must ensure the hunger remains and that his men can cope with the pressure that comes with being the host nation.


ENGLAND

If results in both hemispheres over the past few months have taught us anything, it is that any of the major rugby nations can beat any other on their day. Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Argentina have each produced some big victories, for example, while Australia as ever will fancy themselves on the biggest stage of them all.

The same is very much true of England, who earned an impressive series win Down Under to silence Eddie Jones' growing list of critics following yet another underwhelming Six Nations campaign.

And therein lies the problem for England. Jones has constantly said hitting form in time for the World Cup is all that matters, and the Red Rose simply cannot afford for one of their off days to come in a knockout match. 

As runners-up last time around, and as one of only four teams to have ever lifted the trophy, this will be another win-or-bust tournament for England in what will be Jones' final bow before being replaced.

Graham Potter will forego his pre-match media duties with Brighton and Hove Albion on Thursday as he closes on a move to Chelsea.

The Blues surprisingly parted company with Thomas Tuchel on Wednesday, just a day after a shock 1-0 loss at Dinamo Zagreb in their Champions League opener.

It quickly became apparent Brighton boss Potter was a leading candidate to take over at Stamford Bridge, with talks said to have taken place over a switch.

Former Tottenham and Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino had also been linked with the position, but Potter now looks like a clear front runner.

As such, local media reported Potter would not be speaking to the press on Thursday prior to Brighton's trip to Bournemouth, another apparent pointer that he will switch to Stamford Bridge.

Losing Potter will be a huge disappointment for a Brighton side who have taken 13 points from a possible 18 to sit fourth in the infant Premier League table.

The timing of Tuchel's dismissal came as a surprise, even accounting for the Blues' indifferent start to the campaign, with three wins, two losses and a draw in the league coming before their Zagreb setback.

New owner Todd Boehly bankrolled a spending spree in the transfer window, which saw the likes of Raheem Sterling, Marc Cucurella, Kalidou Koulibaly, Wesley Fofana and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang bolster Chelsea's squad.

Six days on from the window closing, and Champions League winner Tuchel became the second boss to lose his job in the Premier League this season, after Scott Parker departed Bournemouth.

Carlos Alcaraz survived a Jannik Sinner match point before going on to clinch his maiden grand slam semi-final berth with an epic five-set victory in more than five hours at the US Open.

The Spanish third seed triumphed 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-7 (0-7) 7-5 6-3 in the latest-ever finish at the US Open, officially ending at 2:50am Thursday local time.

The match was within nine minutes of being the longest ever in US Open history, the record held by Michael Chang and Stefan Edberg from 1992 of five hours and 26 minutes.

The 19-year-old fought back from a Sinner match point in the fourth set, rallying to force a fifth, where he broke the Italian 11th seed in the eighth game before serving it out for victory.

Alcaraz blew opportunities too, including five set points in the second set, while he failed to serve out the third set before Sinner won the tie-break 7-0 to take all the momentum into the fourth.

But the emerging Alcaraz showcased his doggedness even after falling a break behind in the fourth, to set up a semi-final date against 22nd seed Frances Tiafoe, who has beaten Andrey Rublev and Rafael Nadal in his past two matches.

The win also means Alcaraz is a step closer to claiming the world number one ranking for the first time, which will be achieved if he wins the title, or even if he makes the final and fifth seed Casper Ruud does not.

Data slam: Alcaraz cannot help Nadal comparisons

Alcaraz, 19, is not fond of comparisons to compatriot Rafael Nadal, but his victory means he becomes the youngest grand slam semi-finalist since the 22-time major winner in 2005. 

Little separated Alcaraz and Sinner who will both have won huge admiration, but the Italian's 63 unforced errors compared to the Spaniard's 38 was an outlier.

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS

Alcaraz – 5/5
Sinner – 8/11

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS

Alcaraz – 58/38
Sinner – 61/63

BREAK POINTS WON

Alcaraz – 11/26
Sinner – 7/16

Manchester United don't want to be in the Europa League, though they have become a little more familiar with UEFA's second-tier competition in recent years.

Nevertheless, this is the first time since the 2019-20 season that they've entered the Europa League in the group stage and there were positives to take from that campaign.

Those positives generally revolved around United being able to give young players the chance to impress.

Tahith Chong, Axel Tuanzebe, Angel Gomes, Brandon Williams, James Garner, Largie Ramazani, Ethan Galbraith, D'Mani Mellor, Dylan Levitt, Ethan Laird and Di'Shon Bernard all got opportunities to play in that group stage, with many of them making their debuts.

Granted, a scan of that list doesn't show many players who've gone on to become regulars at United – a few remain at the club but are either down the pecking order or unlikely to have long-term futures, while Garner recently joined Everton and Gomes and Ramazani are impressing elsewhere in Europe.

United allowed a lot of players to leave the club on permanent deals and loans in the most recent transfer window, so there is every reason to expect any youngsters given chances in the group may not be familiar faces.

Ahead of Thursday's group opener against Real Sociedad, Stats Perform takes a look at the young talents who might emerge for United over the next few months.

On the fringes

United fans will hope the Europa League final provides them with an opportunity to see Facundo Pellistri in action. The Uruguayan winger joined the club nearly two years ago but hasn't played a single minute of competitive action, and neither of his loan spells at Deportivo Alaves were particularly impressive.

He caught the eye in pre-season last year but was still shipped out – he made a couple of appearances this time around before suffering an injury, which also ended any plans for another loan spell.

But if there's any South American winger likely to stake his claim for more first-team minutes, it's Alejandro Garnacho. The 18-year-old has already played for the senior side, including once this term, and has been a regular among the substitutes for Erik ten Hag.

An explosive, direct winger, Garnacho appears to be one of the most talented players to come through at United in recent years.

Such statements had been reserved for Shola Shoretire until fairly recently. The gifted – albeit diminutive – forward became United's youngest ever player in European competition (17 years, 23 days) when appearing against Thursday's opposition in February 2021, so he still has time on his side, but he hasn't really kicked on since in terms of collecting first-team minutes.

Having said that, United reportedly shelved plans for him to go on loan just before the transfer window closed, with Ten Hag apparently keen to keep him around until January – perhaps an opportunity or two is around the corner?

Out to make a name

It's fair to say United have a lot of promising talent coming through at the moment. Among those yet to play for the senior side, Kobbie Mainoo looks the biggest prospect of them all.

Only 17, Mainoo is an elegant playmaker who possesses exceptional technical attributes – he ran the show as United's Under-21s beat Carlisle United's first-team 2-1 in the EFL Trophy last week and has been training with Ten Hag's main squad ahead of Thursday's match.

Mainoo's by no means the only midfielder exciting people at Old Trafford, though. Isak Hansen-Aaroen courted attention in pre-season when a pre-match photo showing his impressive tattoo collection went viral on social media – at the time he was 17, though there is no 18-plus restriction on body art in his native Norway.

Unbeknownst to many of those sharing the photo, Hansen-Aaroen is an extremely gifted and versatile player capable of featuring in midfield and attack. He's quick, a wonderful dribbler, creative and difficult to knock off the ball. He's clearly already got Ten Hag's attention as he featured briefly against Rayo Vallecano in pre-season – a competitive debut certainly isn't out of the question this season.

Former Manchester City youngster Charlie McNeill is another who has been training with the seniors this week. Something of a goal machine at youth level, the 18-year-old is a well-rounded striker who works hard and possesses strong associative attributes. Given Anthony Martial's continued absence, McNeill could be an understudy to Cristiano Ronaldo in Europe over the next few weeks.

Charlie Savage, son of former Wales international Robbie Savage, made his first-team debut under Ralf Rangnick last season – as did Zidane Iqbal. The two midfielders both have plenty of potential, with the former possessing some of the bite his dad was renowned for, and each will be hopeful of kicking on after a brief introduction to senior football in 2021-22.

Iga Swiatek may be the world number one and have had a 37-match winning streak this year but says she is surprised to reach this week's US Open semi-finals.

Swiatek qualified for her third grand slam semi-final for the season with a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) victory over American eighth seed Jessica Pegula in one hour and 53 minutes on Wednesday.

The 2022 French Open champion and 2022 Australian Open semi-finalist became the first women's top seed to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows since Serena Williams in 2016.

The victory comes after Swiatek's 37-match winning streak was ended in the third round at Wimbledon in June by Alize Cornet, winning four out of seven matches at three tournaments following that as the WTA Tour moved to hard courts in the lead-up to the US Open.

Swiatek expressed her surprise at making the last four during her on-court interview after the match and explained that, following early losses in the lead-up tournaments in Cincinnati and Toronto.

"Looking logically at the last tournaments, I just didn't know if this one is going to be possible for me to be consistent and to win so many matches in a row," Swiatek told reporters.

"I feel like I've been playing better and better every week since the start of this swing. So it surprised me because after the losses that I had in Toronto and Cincinnati, I just wasn't expecting to play so well here.

"It gave me actually a lot because I could be kind of an underdog again, not maybe fully, but just not expect from myself that I'm going to win everything right now."

The Pole said her game "clicked" against Pegula, hitting 22 winners compared to the American's 14, winning 43-of-71 points on return.

"I'm pretty proud of it because I feel like I'm playing better and better every match," she said.

"Jessie was a tough opponent today, for sure. Second set was really tight. We both were fighting till the last point. I'm proud of myself that I could be the one to win the last one."

Swiatek will take on Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals, while Pegula bows out having reached the quarter-finals at three of the four majors this year.

"I go back and forth, I should be positive," Pegula said. "At the same time I'm like, three quarterfinals. Sorry, but it sucks. It sucks.

"I wish I could have done it here at my home slam, but I guess not. I wish I didn't have to play Iga every quarter-final or Ash Barty, which seem to be the two people that don't really lose that often. So it just sucks.

"I had a great year at the slams. I know there's still some tournaments left. I'm a little deflated right now. I'm not real happy. It just sucks to lose. I just wish it would have been different tonight."

Aaron Judge's history-making season continued after hitting his 55th home run in the New York Yankees' 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins in 12 innings on Wednesday.

With the Yankees trailing 3-0 at the bottom of the fourth inning, Judged lined a drive over left field to cut the deficit with a solo blast.

The drive meant Judge has the most home runs in a single season in Yankees' history for a right-hander, breaking a tie with Alex Rodriguez.

Judge homered for a fourth straight game, keeping him on track to surpass Roger Maris' Yankees record of 61 blasts in a single season set in 1961, exceeding Babe Ruth's 60 in 1927.

In the sixth inning, the Yankees leveled the game before two runs in the 12th capped by Oswaldo Cabrera's game-ending single.

The Yankees also won 7-1 in the second game of the double-header to improve their record to 83-54, sitting five games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East.

Soto injured as Padres win

Juan Soto's struggles since his move to the San Diego Padres got worse after exiting their 6-3 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks with a right shoulder contusion.

Soto was struck and floored by a wild 91 mph fastball from Diamondbacks pitcher Tommy Henry at the bottom of the third inning. He walked to first base, fielded in the fourth inning but eventually was taken out of the game in the fifth.

The prize trade deadline signing had only two hits from his past eight games entering Thursday, with Yu Darvish leading the Padres to victory with Jurickson Profar hitting a two-run homer.

Cards rally in walk-off win

The St Louis Cardinals rallied with five ninth-inning runs to storm home and claim a thrilling 6-5 walk-off win over the Washington Nationals.

Trailing 5-1 entering the bottom of the ninth, Tommy Edman was the hero after each of Nolan Arenado, Corey Dickerson and Yadier Molina drove in a run.

With runners on first and second base, Edman drove to left field, resulting in a walk-off two-run double.

Despite having a history of holding football grudges, Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield took the high road when addressing Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns, his former team.

Mayfield left the Browns in the offseason, following their move for DeShaun Watson, to join the Panthers, with the two sides to meet in Week 1.

"It's a great storyline," Mayfield said on Wednesday. "Obviously, there's history leading up to this week. [But] there's other games in the NFL that guys are playing their former team. It's just the excitement of leading up to Week 1 that is building that anticipation up. It's the familiarity."

The Browns drafted Mayfield first overall in 2018 but chose to replace him this offseason by acquiring Watson.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mayfield acknowledged that a game against so many former teammates can be a bit different, but he denied having any resentment towards the Browns organization.

"Any time you're playing guys you know, it makes it just more interesting, more fun," Mayfield said. "You get to smack talk with your buddies that you've been with for a little bit. You know how to poke and prod and get the best out of them.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity.

"I'm grateful for the time I had in Cleveland," he said. "I started my career there. The fans there, it's a football town. As I mentioned multiple times it ended abruptly and unexpectedly, but we're here now.

"Everything happens for a reason. I'm rolling with the punches. I'm happy to be a Panther."

Mayfield won the job as the Panthers’ top quarterback over last year’s starter, Sam Darnold.

Mayfield was 30-30 starting under center for the Browns and helped give the franchise its first playoff win since the 1994 season.

Flamengo qualified for the Copa Libertadores final for the third time in four years with a 2-1 win over Velez Sarsfield on Wednesday rounding out a comfortable 6-1 aggregate semi-final victory.

The Brazilian giants had won the first leg in Buenos Aires 4-0 to have complete control of the tie coming in, but Lucas Pratto created some doubt with the opener in the 21st minute at Estadio do Maracana.

Pedro, who netted a hat-trick in the first leg, settled any nerves with an expert header from Everton Ribeiro's cross shortly prior to half-time to square the match up.

As the game opened up, Marinho thumped in a left-foot winner in the 68th minute, with Pedro's skill setting up the opportunity.

The Brazilians were denied a third goal in stoppage time after a VAR review, with Pablo's header from Marinho's cross deemed offside.

Flamengo will take on fellow Brazilian club Athletico Paranaense in the decider on October 29 in Guayaquil. 

Athletico got past Palmeiras 3-2 on aggregate, after a 2-2 second-leg draw in Sao Paulo on Tuesday.

Flamengo will be chasing their third Copa, while Athletico are after their first, having been runners-up in 2005.

Caribbean women dominate the field for the women’s 400m at Thursday’s Diamond League final in Zurich.

Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, silver medallist at the World Championships behind Bahamian superstar Shaunae Miller-Uibo, will be present having won at the Doha, Rabat and Lausanne legs of the Diamond League circuit.

Her countrywoman Fiordaliza Cofil will also be in the field. The 21-year-old finished third at the Lausanne event before running a big personal best of 49.80 to win in Brussels.

Bajan World Championships silver and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Sada Williams will also be looking to add to her stellar season that has seen her lower her country’s national record to 49.75. She finished second in Rabat, Lausanne and Brussels and third in Monaco.

Jamaican World Championship finalists Stephenie Ann McPherson and Candice McLeod are the other Caribbean women in the field while it is rounded out by Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek, Anna Kielbasinska and The Netherlands’ Lieke Klaver.

In other events, Trinidadian Commonwealth Champion Jereem Richards as well as the Dominican Republic’s Alexander Ogando will go in the men’s 200m while Jamaican World Championship finalist Natoya Goule will contest the women’s 800m.

Jamaica’s Janieve Russell, Rushell Clayton and Panama’s Gianna Woodruff will contest the women’s 400m hurdles at the Diamond League final in Zurich on Thursday.

Russell, who won gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August, has a season’s best of 53.63 done at the Jamaican National Championships in June. She has three second-placed finishes on the Diamond League circuit this season in Rome, Monaco and Lausanne.

Clayton ran a personal best 53.33 to win at the Monaco Diamond League event and also finished second in Stockholm. Panama’s Woodruff finished third in Monaco and fifth in Lausanne.

2019 World Champion and former world record holder Dalilah Muhammad and two-time World Championship silver medallist and European 400m and 400m hurdles champion Femke Bol will also be present while the field is completed by Italy’s Ayomide Folorunso, Ukraine’s Anna Ryzhkova and Viktoriya Tkachuk.

World number one Iga Swiatek has continued her commanding 2022 season with a straight-sets victory over eighth seed Jessica Pegula securing her spot in the US Open semi-finals for the first time.

The Pole, who won this year's French Open and went on a 37-match winning streak until her third-round Wimbledon defeat, triumphed 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in one hour and 53 minutes in a match full of breaks.

Swiatek's victory, her 55th of the season, clinched a semi-final date with sixth seed Aryna Sabalenka, who fell in the last four at last year's US Open.

The 21-year-old became the first women's top seed to reach the US Open semi-finals since Serena Williams in 2016, while she is the only previous grand slam winner remaining in the draw.

In a match that was far from a classic, Swiatek fought back from a break down in the first set to take the advantage, before a second frame that included 10 breaks, with the Pole edging home in a tie-break.

Pegula broke Swiatek in the fifth game to lead 3-2 in the first set but the Pole responded emphatically, going on a sequence where she won 14 of 15 points to secure the set.

Swiatek appeared ready to run away with the match when she immediately broke the American in the first game of the second set but that merely set the tone, with both players struggling to hold on serve.

The world number one served twice for the match but faltered, forcing a tie-break which the Pole won, converting her first match poinit.

Data slam: Breaks galore in tense battle

Holding serve proved challenging in a tense match, with 13 games broken out of the 21 played, including 10 of those coming in the second set. Swiatek had broken serve 57 per cent of her return games during the US Open coming in.

Both players also had more unforced errors than winners, with Swiatek's 21 winners ultimately proving the difference in class. It was Swiatek's eighth win over a top-10 opponent in a row in straight sets.

ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS

Swiatek – 1/3
Pegula – 1/3

WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS

Swiatek – 21/32
Pegula – 14/29

BREAK POINTS WON

Swiatek – 7/11
Pegula – 6/10

It will be an exciting day of sprint hurdling as the 2022 Diamond League season comes to a close at Thursday’s Diamond League final in Zurich.

The men’s 110m hurdles will include the likes of World Champion Grant Holloway of the USA, Commonwealth Champion Rasheed Broadbell of Jamaica and Olympic Champion Hansle Parchment, also of Jamaica.

Broadbell comes into the race in fantastic form, having won his last five races including a personal best 12.99 clocking at the Lausanne Diamon League on August 26.

Completing the field are World Championship silver medallist Trey Cunningham of the USA, Spain's Asier Martinez, France's Just Kwaou-Mathey, Poland's Damian Czykier,  Brazil's Rafael Pereira and Switzerland's Jason Joseph

In the women’s 100m hurdles, Jamaica’s Britany Anderson, The Bahamas’ Devynne Charlton and Puerto Rican Olympic Champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn will all be looking to take the Diamond League crown against a field including Nigerian World and Commonwealth Champion and world record holder Tobi Amusan and former world record holder Keni Harrison of the USA.

Camacho-Quinn has four wins  so far on the Diamond League circuit including a 12.27 effort to win in Brussels last week.

The field is completed by American 2019 WOrld Champion Nia Ali, Switzerland's Ditaji Kambundji, The USA's Tia Jones and Poland's Pia Skrzyszowska.

 

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is seeking a massive contract extension, but he is just not willing to let negotiations interfere with the 2022 season.

Jackson set Friday as the deadline to work out a new deal before shutting down negotiations to focus on the regular season, ESPN reported.

"As of right now, we're still talking," Jackson said after practice Wednesday. "The week isn't over yet."

The Ravens open the season by visiting the New York Jets on Sunday.

If a new contract isn’t signed in the next two days, Jackson will play the 2022 season on the fifth-year option of his rookie deal, netting him $23 million.

The quarterback market has been booming this offseason, with Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray and Russell Wilson each signing extensions with an average annual value of at least $46 million.

At 25-years-old and with an MVP award already on his mantle, Jackson could be looking for even more than that.

Jackson was unwilling to comment on whether he and the Ravens are close to a new deal.

"I have no clue," Jackson said. "You have to ask the guy who I'm talking to. You talk to the GM [Ravens' Eric DeCosta] about that."

Cornerback Marlon Humphrey and tight end Mark Andrews are among the Baltimore players who have said publicly that Jackson has kept his focus on preparing for the season and that the contract negotiations have not been a distraction.

Still, Jackson has been clear that he would like to secure his long-term future in Baltimore sooner rather than later.

"It was a pretty big risk [playing] last season. The year before," Jackson said. "I'm just playing football.

"Anything can happen. God forbid the wrong thing happens."

New York Mets right-hander Max Scherzer has been placed on their 15-day injured list with a "left oblique irritation" retroactive to Saturday.

The eight-time All-Star was sidelined earlier this year for almost seven weeks with a left oblique injury but the Mets had hoped he would return to finish the season strong.

Scherzer said it was not a "significant injury", with Mets manager Buck Showalter expecting him to miss one or two starts as part of a series of roster moves for the side.

"That's the first and foremost thing - this is not a significant injury," Scherzer said.

"This is more that I'm going to miss one start - we knew that - and then once the ball's out of my court, the team's gotta do what they gotta do for roster moves.

"I don't have one specific spot that you can point to where that hurts. It's just general fatigue on the whole left side."

Three-time Cy Young Award winner Scherzer has a 9-4 record this season, with a 2.26 ERA.

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