The Savills Chase at Leopardstown remains under consideration for Paddy Power Gold Cup hero Stage Star.

The Paul Nicholls-trained seven-year-old won four of his six starts during his debut season over fences last term, including Cheltenham Festival success in the Turners Novices’ Chase.

He made a winning return with a tremendous front-running display in one of the sport’s most prestigious handicap chases at Cheltenham last month and connections already have one eye on a Festival return in March, with the Ryanair Chase his most likely objective.

What route Stage Star takes back to Prestbury Park remains undecided, however, with Leopardstown’s Savills Chase on December 28 and the Fleur De Lys Chase at Lingfield in January mooted as options.

On a trip to Ireland over the Christmas period, Owners Group racing manager Dan Downie said: “It is possible, I’ll have a chat with Paul next week and we’ll make a decision about whether we go to Ireland or not.

“It doesn’t matter where he goes now, it’s going to be tough.

“I think ideally we’d like to give him a run before Cheltenham, but we’ll have a chat next week, so I’ll probably know a bit more in a week’s time.”

England fell to a crushing 347-run defeat in their one-off Test to India inside three days in Mumbai.

The hosts declared on 186 for six leaving England a target of 479 to chase down from the final two days of play, but it took India just one session to bowl them out for a first home victory in nine years.

Heather Knight top-scored for the visitors with 21 runs to her name as India swept up 10 wickets in just 27.3 overs.

Casey Mittelstadt scored twice in a four-goal third period to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-2 win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday.

Zach Benson and former Golden Knight Alex Tuch also scored in the third and Dylan Cozens had a first-period goal and added two assists to help Buffalo improve to 3-1-1 in its last five games.

Devon Levi turned aside 32 shots and is 3-0-1 with a 1.71 goals-against average since he was recalled from the AHL earlier this month.

Ivan Barbashev and Jack Eichel had goals for Vegas, which had a nine-game point streak stopped (6-1-3).

Pastrnak lifts Bruins over Islanders in shootout

David Pastrnak scored the deciding shootout goal to lift the Eastern Conference-leading Boston Bruins to a 5-4 win over the New York Islanders.

Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, James van Reimsdyk and Mason Lohrie scored in regulation, with Lohrei netting the equaliser with 3:09 left in regulation on a bank shot from behind the goal line.

Brock Nelson, Bo Horvat, Alexander Romanov and Simon Holmstrom had goals for the Islanders, who had won four straight but moved to 6-0-2 in their last eight games.

Stars rally past Senators after Oettinger injured

Miro Heiskanen and Matt Duchene scored 44 seconds apart in the third period to rally the Dallas Stars to a 5-4 win over the Ottawa Senators after losing goalie Jake Oettinger to an early injury.

Oettinger left eight minutes into the game with a lower-body injury after allowing goals on the Senators’ first two shots on net. Scott Wedgewood entered and stopped 25 of 27 shots for the win.

Joe Pavelski, Esa Lindell and Thomas Harley also had goals for Dallas, which won its second straight.

Drake Batherson scored twice for Ottawa and Jake Chychrun had three assists in the Senators’ third consecutive loss.

Former Wales assistant coach Rob Howley was banned from all rugby activities for breaching World Rugby’s anti-corruption and betting regulations, on this day in 2019.

Howley was banned for 18 months, with nine months suspended, after it emerged he had placed bets on matches involving Wales and two of their players.

It was found that, over a four-year period from November 2015 to September 2019, Howley placed 363 bets involving 1,163 rugby matches with three bookmakers through accounts held under his own name.

Of the bets, 24 involved Wales or were related to “connected events”, such as Six Nations games involving rival teams. On two occasions he bet on unnamed Wales players scoring tries.

Howley was sent home from Japan shortly before the 2019 World Cup began after the WRU became aware of possible wrongdoing.

The alarm was first raised when WRU policy and integrity manager Jeremy Rogers was contacted by an employee of Betway, who claimed that Howley had placed bets on Wales games.

It emerged that Howley gambled on a Wales player to be the first try-scorer in the 25-7 Six Nations victory over Ireland in March, but he stated that it was part of a treble that fell in line with his normal recreational betting activity. He also backed another player to score a try.

When the unnamed players were interviewed they denied any knowledge that the bets had been placed on them, with Howley supporting their testimony.

The WRU found that Howley made an overall loss of £4,000 during the time period under scrutiny and described his activity as a “hobby”, while adding that “we use the word hobby with some caution because it seems that a trigger for Mr Howley’s betting activity was a family tragedy involving the death of his sister”.

Howley returned to coaching with Canada after serving his ban and, in December, was appointed as technical coach with Wales ahead of the 2024 Six Nations.

Cameron Menzies went from fixing a kitchen sink to throwing his way into the second round of the World Championship, where reigning champion Michael Smith survived an opening-night scare.

Menzies is a plumber by trade and had to do a day’s work on Friday, changing a waste basin, fixing a burst water main and repairing a kitchen sink before facing Austrian Rusty-Jake Rodriguez at the Alexandra Palace.

The colourful Scot won 3-0 to book his place in the second round where he will play Dave Chisnall on Saturday afternoon.

“I never thought this would happen. I was really panicky today,” he said. “I was working but it kind of chilled me out, it made me realise that darts is a hobby and a very lucky one, too.

“I changed the waste in a basin, I couldn’t get the pedestal out because it was concreted in. Then I did an emergency which was a burst water main and I fixed it, then I went to a tenant’s house to fix a bath and she wouldn’t let me in.

“Then I went to another job to fix a kitchen sink, so my job is maintenance-wise. Basically, it is burst pipes and blocked drains, it’s not pretty.

“I was so nervous, I knew that game meant a lot. What happens now is a bonus but winning that game meant the world to me.

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“Going to work chilled me out. It made me realise that it is not the be-all and end-all. I am a worker. I would like to be in a situation where I can give up my job and do this full-time, but I have a long way to go.”

Menzies will be able to take bragging rights back to the home he shares with girlfriend Fallon Sherrock, who is in first-round action on Monday night.

The 34-year-old was happy to avoid his girlfriend in the draw because he thinks she would “batter” him.

“You don’t understand how many issues we had,” Menzies said. “She went down for the draw, I was on the computer going, ‘Please’. There’s a handful of players you don’t want to draw and Fallon is up there.

“I play Fallon in the house and I beat her eight times out of 10 but she has a moment when she smashes me, which is fair enough.

“I know for a fact up there on the stage she would batter me. It’s her stage, she would batter me. I was like, ‘Please not Fallon’.

“Everyone was texting me asking if I was playing. Rusty is a very good player but I would take him over Fallon in a heartbeat.”

Smith began the defence of his 2023 title in nervy fashion as he was taken all the way by world number 66 Kevin Doets.

‘Bully Boy’, who beat Michael van Gerwen to win a maiden Ally Pally crown at the start of the year, was facing the prospect of becoming the first defending champion to go out at the first hurdle since 2009 when it went to a final-set decider with the Dutchman having the throw.

But a brilliant 142 checkout in the opening leg of the fifth set settled any nerves and Smith was able to go on and win 3-2, ensuring a happy Christmas as he does not return to action until December 27.

2010 finalist Simon Whitlock won a final-leg decider to see off Paolo Nebrida, claiming a 3-2 win to set up a second-round match with Gary Anderson.

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou was delighted with his side’s composure as they made it back-to-back wins for the first time since October with a 2-0 Premier League victory at Nottingham Forest.

Dejan Kulusevski picked out Richarlison to head home the opener in first-half stoppage-time before turning goalscorer when he capitalised on a poor clearance from Matt Turner to double the advantage at the City Ground.

Tottenham then had to see out the final 20 minutes with 10 men after Yves Bissouma’s dismissal for a high lunge on Ryan Yates but they held on despite Neco Williams hitting the post late on.

Postecoglou told Sky Sports Premier League: “It’s a tough game here, you have to earn whatever you get. They’re obviously pretty desperate for points and the crowd get behind them.

“Every time they get a throw-in, you feel like you’ve conceded a goal and they’re launching it in the box. We had to deal with a lot of things we don’t normally have to deal with. Just great character.

“We had some adversity obviously to go down to 10 men. Some of our football was good as well, so a bit of everything.

“For the most part we stayed pretty calm and composed, the back four, Ben Davies and Romero were excellent, Vic was good when we needed him.

“We always had an outlet, we always looked dangerous, which meant we just didn’t camp ourselves in there. So really pleased.”

However, Postecoglou remained concerned about Tottenham’s lack of discipline as Bissouma was sent off for the second time this season and his 70th-minute dismissal was Tottenham’s fourth red card of the season.

Postecoglou added: “I haven’t seen it but I’m assuming they slowed it down and saw it. It’s been a little bit of an issue. It’s a fine line with those things.

“The players are aware of that, they don’t want to miss games. I think today was more of a desperation tackle than something nasty.

“We’ve had to deal with that a few times this year and you can’t go on doing it like that because eventually we’ll pay a price for it, and we did against Chelsea.

“It’s something we talk about constantly but it’s a fine line between their commitment to what we’re trying to do and not overstepping the mark.”

Forest boss Steve Cooper bemoaned the error that led to Tottenham’s second goal that left his side with a mountain to climb.

Under pressure from Heung-min Son, Turner’s attempted clearance went straight to Kulusevski, who rifled into the net to make it 2-0.

Cooper said: “The result is obviously the most important and will always write the narrative and we accept that.

“I think we sort of played the game we thought was the right one to play in terms of playing on a fairly closed pitch and not trying to give Spurs too much space to play in because we could see how dangerous they can be.

“Obviously the goal, we’ve come off the plan, we haven’t doubled up, we’ve let him come inside.

“It’s the one time they’ve put a real free cross in and we’ve not marked in the box. And that’s the level and that’s the bit that we’re not doing very well in terms of when we’re given moments in and around the opponent’s box, we’re not making it count.

“Then obviously we’ve come out and we started the second half well and then the second goal is not something you can do at any level, never mind in the Premier League.

“So that killed the momentum but I’ve got no complaints with the general performance.”

Pep Guardiola has admitted Manchester City may need to seek a replacement for Kalvin Phillips in January if the England midfielder moves on.

Phillips, 28, is expected to leave the Etihad next month in search of regular first-team football, having been unable to force his way into Guardiola’s side in the 18 months since his £42million switch from Leeds.

And while Guardiola insisted he was not thinking about the January market, that might change if he was left short of numbers in midfield, where City have struggled any time their regular enforcer Rodri has been missing through injury or suspension.

“Right now I don’t have anything in my mind,” Guardiola said. “It depends if they leave or don’t leave. Some players stay, some players leave. It depends on the squad, it depends on young players and if you can rely on them or not in some moments.”

Only last week, Guardiola appeared to effectively confirm Phillips would not be able to turn things around at City, saying: “I visualise the team and I struggle a little bit to see him (in it).”

Several clubs have been linked with a January move for the Yorkshireman.

Asked specifically if Phillips’ situation could change things for City, Guardiola said: “Kalvin is a player with us, I don’t want to anticipate absolutely anything. Everyone knows the situation he has.

“It depends if it happens. If it happens we talk. The market in January is not easy…We still have incredible things to play for, and after we decide.”

Next week City will be playing for the Club World Cup for the first time in their history after last season’s treble success.

The team are due to fly to Saudi Arabia after Saturday’s match against Crystal Palace – with both Erling Haaland and the injured Kevin De Bruyne due to make the trip regardless of whether they will be fit to play.

“It’s a competition we have never won, everyone will be there,” Guardiola said.

“I want the players not to be desperate to win, (but) to play two games, win the first one and get the credit to play the final. If we don’t win it, hopefully we win the Champions League in the future to be back. Two football games, do what we have to do.

“We learn from the Champions League in the past. In life you don’t know what will happen… the motivation, the feeling we’ve never won, it’s important. Winning helps to win. Winning against Palace will help by far.”

As enticing as the prize on offer next week is, Guardiola warned against looking past Saturday’s match.

“This is my job, I will warn (the players) or let them know,” he said. “It has always been difficult with Roy (Hodgson), or Patrick (Vieira) before, Crystal Palace have always been tough.

“Everyone has to be involved to play quick, be patient, transitions, set-pieces, good on second balls, the physicality is amazing. Always we struggle.

“At Selhurst Park it’s normal, but at Selhurst Park we perform better than at the Etihad. It happened, we lost a lot of points, they do it really well.”

Tottenham moved level with Manchester City for the Champions League places after goals from Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski earned them a 2-0 over Nottingham Forest despite the second-half dismissal of Yves Bissouma.

After a relatively even opening 45 minutes, the visitors went ahead when Kulusevski picked out Richarlison to head home before turning goalscorer to double the advantage.

Bissouma 70th-minute dismissal for a high lunge on Ryan Yates made for a nervy final 20 minutes, but Guglielmo Vicario was relatively unscathed as Tottenham made it back-to-back wins for the first time since October.

Son Heung-min broke through early down the inside left channel, but saw his close-range effort well blocked by Matt Turner in the Forest goal.

Tottenham dominated the early stages, however, their patient build-up play failed to open up the Forest backline and was the home side who created a great chance to open the scoring with 18 minutes on the clock.

A quick break out of defence saw Morgan Gibbs-White feed an inch-perfect ball down the right to Anthony Elanga, but Vicario was quickly off his line to save.

The Forest counter-attack was a danger to Tottenham and another inviting ball forward just failed to pick out Yates as the visitors were given another warning.

Brennan Johnson came close to breaking the deadlock against his former club when his flicked effort midway through the half was clawed away by Turner, with Ben Davies heading the resulting corner harmlessly over.

Pedro Porro headed wide from Son’s cross, but it was Spurs who broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time.

A quick break down the right saw Kulusevski cut back inside on his left foot and his delightful cross was headed home from close range by Richarlison.

After a somewhat cagey opening to the second half, Forest thought they had drawn level in the 57th minute when Elanga turned home Neco Williams’ cross, but VAR intervention ruled the goal offside.

Son forced another save from Turner before Tottenham doubled their lead when a poor clearance from the Forest goalkeeper under pressure from Son went straight to Kulusevski and he made him pay when lashing into the net with his right foot.

Forest’s hopes of a comeback were then given a boost with 20 minutes remaining after Yves Bissouma was shown a straight red card for a high challenge on Yates following another VAR decision.

Tottenham reacted by withdrawing Richarlison for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg to strengthen the midfield.

Williams saw an effort deflected wide before Harry Toffolo saw his header from the resulting corner somehow kept out by Vicario and Williams struck the post deep into stoppage time, but they could find no way through.

Juventus missed the chance to move into top spot in the Serie A table as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Genoa.

Juve’s only dropped points in their previous eight games had come in a draw against leaders Inter, and a win would have left their rivals playing catch-up in Sunday’s clash with Lazio.

Federico Chiesa put the visitors ahead from the penalty spot in the 28th minute at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris, but Albert Gudmundsson levelled three minutes after half-time and Juve could not find a winner.

Massimiliano Allegri was without Adrien Rabiot, who joined Mattia De Sciglio and Moise Kean on the sidelines because of a minor foot problem, while Paul Pogba and Nicolo Fagioli were both suspended.

Genoa’s options in the attacking areas, meanwhile, were limited by the unavailability of Kevin Strootman and Mateo Retegui.

The hosts had the first shot in the sixth minute through Ruslan Malinovskyi, but it was from a long way out and was comfortably saved by Wojciech Szczesny.

Chiesa looked the man most likely at the other end and he tried to catch out Josep Martinez in the home goal with a fierce shot from the tightest of angles that was pushed behind.

Chiesa then turned creator in the 22nd minute with a brilliant cross to the edge of the six-yard box, where Dusan Vlahovic met the ball but could not keep his effort down.

Six minutes later the visitors took the lead, with Vlahovic seizing on a heavy touch in defence to play in Chiesa, who had his legs taken out by Martinez.

The striker picked himself up and confidently found the bottom corner from the penalty spot for his first goal in Serie A since September.

Genoa tried to hit back, but the closest they came before the break was a Johan Vasquez effort from a corner that flew just over the crossbar.

Alberto Gilardino sent on Caleb Ekuban for the second half in place of Vasquez and within three minutes he had created the equaliser, chesting the ball down and then heading it on for Gudmundsson to fire into the net on the stretch.

Martinez made amends for his own mistake three minutes later, this time timing his challenge on Chiesa perfectly after he had given the ball straight to the Juventus forward.

He then pushed away an Andrea Cambiaso cross that just evaded the onrushing Vlahovic.

But Martinez saved his best for last, reacting very smartly to push the ball over the bar after a corner hit Gleison Bremer on the hip and securing an impressive point for Genoa.

The Texas Rangers will be without key pitcher Max Scherzer for possibly the first half of the 2024 season after the three-time Cy Young Award winner underwent back surgery this week, the team announced Friday. 

Scherzer issued a statement revealing he had surgery Thursday to repair a herniated disk in his back that has been bothering him all offseason. The injury also forced his removal from the Rangers' roster prior to the end of the 2023 World Series, which Texas won in five games over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"After returning to my offseason home in Florida, my discomfort in my back continued to get worse,” Scherzer said. “During this time I received the diagnosis of a herniated disk.  After several conservative treatments and consulting with multiple specialists, I made the decision to have the recommended surgery.

"Getting this procedure done now will give me the best chance to pitch as much as possible for the Rangers in 2024. I look forward to putting in the rehab work and getting back on the mound next summer."

Rangers general manager Chris Young told reporters Friday that Scherzer will likely be sidelined into June or July. 

Scherzer was forced out of his Game 3 start of the World Series after three innings with what was initially described as back tightness. The 39-year-old also missed the final few weeks of the regular season with a muscle strain in his right shoulder before returning for the American League Championship Series between Texas and the Houston Astros.

The eight-time All-Star also missed time with injuries in 2022 while then with the New York Mets, as he was limited to 23 starts and 145 1/3 innings that year. Discounting the COVID-19 shortened 2020 campaign, both totals were his fewest in a season since his rookie year in 2008.

Texas acquired Scherzer from the Mets near the trade deadline on July 30, and he posted a 4-2 record with a 3.20 ERA in eight regular-season starts before the shoulder injury. The veteran right-hander was 0-1 with a 6.52 ERA in three post-season starts.

Scherzer compiled a 13-6 record with a 3.77 ERA and 174 strikeouts in 27 overall regular-season starts between the Mets and Rangers in 2023.

The Rangers will now begin defense of the franchise's first World Series title with two former Cy Young winners on the injured list. Jacob deGrom, Scherzer's former teammate in New York, is recovering from Tommy John surgery performed last summer and is aiming for a return in August.

“We had hoped to have a healthy Max Scherzer at the beginning of the season, obviously,” Young said when asked if the injury changes the Rangers' offseason plans. "That said, we also recognised that we were going to need pitching depth. I'm not sure it changes much in terms of building out that depth. It thins us out a little bit on the front half of the season.

"Pitching will remain a focus and we'll continue to look for any way to improve our club.”

The Cleveland Cavaliers will be without two star players for the next several weeks after announcing significant injuries to point guard Darius Garland and forward Evan Mobley on Friday.

Garland suffered a fractured jaw after colliding with Boston Celtics center Kristaps Porzingis on Thursday. Garland finished the game, but a scan on Friday confirmed the injury. The 2021-22 All-Star selection will undergo a procedure to repair his jaw and will be re-evaluated in four weeks.

Mobley has missed Cleveland’s last four games, listed on the injury report with left knee soreness. The Cavs announced Friday that the third-year big man will undergo arthroscopic surgery on the knee and will be re-evaluated in six to eight weeks.

Garland and Mobley have combined to score nearly 37 points per game this season, and their absence will place an even greater offensive burden on the shoulders of Donovan Mitchell, Max Strus and Caris LeVert.

The loss of two core players is a massive blow for a team off to a middling start this season.

After a disappointing first-round play-off exit to end last season, the Cavs opened this campaign 4-6. The team appeared to find its footing over the next few weeks, rising above .500, but Cleveland has dropped its last three games and sits at 13-12.

Garland was the fifth overall pick in the 2019 draft and is averaging 20.7 points – second on the team behind Mitchell – and 5.9 assists this season.

Mobley was the third overall pick in 2021 and immediately made a splash as an All-Rookie selection. He is scoring 16.0 points per game this season and is averaging career highs with 10.5 rebounds, 1.67 blocks and 57.3-percent shooting from the field.

Mobley is the Cavs’ best defender, and he was an All-Defensive Team selection last season.

Al Ahly turned on the style in the second half to sweep aside Karim Benzema’s Al-Ittihad 3-1 and secure a place in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals.

Benzema missed a penalty that would have levelled the score at 1-1 just before half-time and the Saudi Pro League champions paid a heavy price for the wastefulness of their France striker.

Ali Maaloul had fired Al Ahly ahead from the spot – both penalties were awarded for handball – but it was the period after half-time that set the Egyptians apart.

First to strike at the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium was Hussein El Shahat with a curling shot into right of the goal that gave keeper Abdullah Al-Mayouf no chance.

And then came a slick finish by Emam Ashour after he had presented with a cutback by Kahraba.

Al Ahly suffered a late setback when Anthony Modeste was sent off for use of the elbow, meaning he will not be available for the semi-final against Fluminense, before Benzema grabbed a late consolation.