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• Antigua & Barbuda Netball Association President Karen Joseph pleased with progress ahead of International Netball series

  Antigua and Barbuda Netball Association (ABNA) President Karen Joseph believes the home team is on the improve as they prepare to stage the ECCB Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) International Netball series this weekend.

  Currently ranked at 33rd in the world, Antigua and Barbuda are rated below several of their rivals in the 10-team World Netball (WN) approved tournament, but Joseph anticipates a good showing from her squad.

  “I was looking for specific aspects where the girls are concerned and I am now seeing it in terms of the commitment and the serious part of them, also, the fitness part of it,” said Joseph, who is also part of the Antigua and Barbuda coaching staff.

  The tournament, featuring Barbados and Cayman Islands as guest teams, starts on Saturday at the YMCA Sports Complex. Antigua and Barbuda will tackle Dominica in their opening game.

  “All the umpires are from the INF pool. Because it’s a rankings tournament you have umpires from England and all over. Also, Barbados is onboard and they have been onboard for the past two years in an effort to help out the OECS in terms of us advancing in the rankings. Cayman Islands is also on board, so when [we] play against those teams, even though they may win the game we still advance in our rankings because of their higher ranking in the world,” she said on the Good Morning Jojo sports show.

  St Vincent and the Grenadines are defending champions.

• Record-breaking Gareth Davies enjoying rugby again after reclaiming Wales spot

  Wales scrum-half Gareth Davies says he is enjoying his rugby again during a World Cup campaign that has seen him produce record-breaking form.

  Davies’ early touchdown in the 40-6 rout of Australia set a new World Cup best of eight tries for a scrum-half.

  And it represents an impressive return to international rugby after he missed out on Wales’ South Africa tour last year, the 2022 autumn Tests and Six Nations campaign two months later.

  Wales head coach Warren Gatland’s predecessor Wayne Pivac preferred players like Tomos Williams, Kieran Hardy and Dane Blacker in the scrum-half position.

  And although Gatland was in charge for last season’s Six Nations, Williams, Hardy and Rhys Webb fought for the number nine shirt.

  Crucially, though, a door opened for the 33-year-old when Gatland named Davies in the World Cup training squad, and he has not looked back.

  He starred in the tournament warm-up victory over England and regained the number nine shirt for key Pool C wins against Fiji and Australia

  “I love World Cups,” Davies said. “I love the build-up to them.

  “It is the only time that we really get a full pre-season (with Wales). It has been a tough couple of months, but I have enjoyed it.

  “Physically and mentally, I feel like I am in the best shape of my life. I am really enjoying my rugby again.

  “We are all back to where we want to be under this management. We are fighting for each other, playing for each other and the environment is good, which is the main thing.

  “We are enjoying our time off the pitch as well. We’ve got a good bunch of boys, and it shows.”

  Davies, who made his Wales debut nine years ago and was the team’s starting scrum-half during the 2015 and 2019 tournaments, is once again excelling under Gatland’s direction.

  He scored five tries at the 2015 World Cup, then two more in Japan four years later – including an interception effort in a pool-stage win against Australia.

  “Warren has got his way,” Davies added. “It works for me and it obviously works for everyone else in the squad. It gets us all going.

  “The other coaches as well, Mike (Forshaw) with defence, Kingy (Alex King) in attack and Humphs (Jonathan Humphreys) with the forwards. We’ve had a lot of changes with coaches, and I think that’s made the difference, to be honest.”

  Wales’ crushing success against Australia secured a quarter-final place – the fourth World Cup in a row for them to achieve that under Gatland – and has set up a potential last-eight appointment with Argentina in Marseille on October 14.

  “I thought our win in 2019 against Australia in the World Cup was big, but this is right up there,” Davies said.

  “Momentum is key, especially in World Cups. We had a good week’s training preparing for the game, and I thought it showed on the pitch.

  “We obviously won’t look too far ahead of ourselves. We have got a few days off to recover, and then we will focus on Georgia the following weekend.

  “We have still got a job to do against them first, and then we will start looking at the quarter-final draw.”

• Desert Hero camp rule out Melbourne Cup bid

  Hopes of seeing a royal runner in this year’s Melbourne Cup are over after connections of Desert Hero confirmed he will not be making the trip to Australia.

  The Sea The Stars colt brought the house down when providing the newly-crowned King and Queen with their first taste of Royal Ascot success in the King George V Stakes in June, while a subsequent victory in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood earned him a shot at Classic glory in the St Leger.

  The King and Queen made the trip to Doncaster to see the William Haggas-trained three-year-old in action and while he came up short, he was far from disgraced in finishing third behind Aidan O’Brien’s Continuous and Haggas left the door ajar for a possible tilt at ‘the race that stops a nation’ on the first Tuesday in November.

  However, while Desert Hero was put through and passed the veterinary checks that would allow him to board the plane, his team have ultimately decided a journey to Australia is not in the youngster’s best interest at this stage of his career.

  John Warren, racing adviser to the King and Queen, told the PA news agency: “After giving it plenty of thought we have decided that Desert Hero won’t head to the Melbourne Cup this year.

  “It is obviously a world-class race and it was very tempting, but he is still a young horse and we will give him more time to mature.

  “He will now have a good break and William will work out a plan for next year.”