Stand-in Scotland captain Finn Russell expects France to restore their big-hitters for next weekend’s rematch in Saint-Etienne.
A second-string Les Bleus side were ripped apart by the rampant hosts in the second half of Saturday’s World Cup warm-up match at Murrayfield.
French head coach Fabian Galthie started debutant trio Paul Boudehent, Emilien Gailleton and Louis Bielle-Biarrey in Edinburgh, while Antoine Dupont, Gael Fickou and Romain Ntamack were among a raft of established players given the day off.
The experimental nature of the team did not hinder the visitors in the first half as they raced into a 21-3 lead at the interval.
But Scotland, despite having prop Zander Fagerson sent off in the 50th minute, roared back to win the second half 22-0 and claim a morale-boosting 25-21 victory five weeks ahead of their World Cup opener.
“It was not their strongest team, a lot of their players will come back next week,” said Russell. “It will be a different team we face.
“It was tough to prepare as a lot of the (French) boys have not played before, especially against us in the Six Nations, so we focused mainly on ourselves this week.
“Next week against them we can look at their players that come back and look back to the game from the Six Nations (in February) and analyse how they play and we will go from there. Next week will be a very different French team we face.”
Despite the fact it was not against France’s strongest side, Russell feels Scotland’s relentless second-half performance – in which Darcy Graham, Pierre Schoeman and replacement Dave Cherry got the game-changing tries – will stand them in good stead ahead of the World Cup.
The Scots will spend this week at their tournament training base near Nice before travelling to Saint-Etienne on Thursday for their next warm-up match against the hosts.
“The first half we did some good things but gave away some soft penalties and turnovers and the skills weren’t there,” said Russell. “In the second half we got a try early on that got us back into the game and got the momentum for us.
“It was great to have had that second half and play the way we wanted to. It showed the rugby we can play.
“From last week it was a step forward and we go to France next week. It will be a very different French team we face but it will be a very good challenge for us heading towards the World Cup.”
Russell was captain in the absence of injured skipper Jamie Ritchie, who hopes to return in Saint-Etienne following a calf issue. The 30-year-old stand-off enjoyed leading his country for the first time.
“It was good fun,” he said. “As a 10 on the pitch you tend to talk a lot and chat with other leaders.
“In terms of speaking on the pitch and having leadership, it was similar to previous occasions.
“It was more the relationship with the referee and having those key decisions at certain times such as ‘do we go for the posts, or the corner?’ That was the main difference.
“At half time it was maybe not the most enjoyable but the second half it was good.”
Shark Hanlon is in no rush to firm up the next plan of attack with Hewick after he finished down the field under a big weight in the Tote Galway Plate on Wednesday.
The eight-year-old was bidding for back-to-back wins in the Ballybrit feature, but after racing prominently he weakened to finish 14th of 20 finishers.
Hanlon believes the rain-softened ground was to blame for his stable star’s below-par performance and he will now give him a short break before returning him to competitive action later in the year.
“He’s come out of it perfect, the ground was just softer than he wants it and that’s it,” said the Bagenalstown handler.
“He obviously had a lot of weight and you can give away weight on good ground, but you can’t give away weight on soft ground.
“He ran a cracker until they came down the hill when the ground got soft.”
Following his Galway Plate success 12 months ago Hewick looked set to land another major handicap in the Kerry National at Listowel until unseating his rider at the final fence.
He famously sparked scenes of wild celebration by winning the American Grand National before being saved for the Cheltenham Gold Cup, in which he was still going well when falling two from home.
And while Hanlon is unsure on the route, he is keen to head back to Prestbury Park in March for another crack at National Hunt racing’s blue riband prize.
He added: “I don’t think we’ll go to Listowel this year as he’d have to give a lot of weight away again, maybe we’ll go back to America but we’ll see.
“We’re going to plan back from the Gold Cup, that’s what we’re doing. America might be in the plan and a run at Leopardstown over Christmas might be in it.
“I want to give him a bit of a break now. He’s gone back to the owner for a couple of weeks and we’ll see where we are after that.”
Warren Gatland will send out a team “desperate to perform” at Twickenham next weekend as competition for World Cup places intensifies.
Wales boss Gatland is relishing the battle to make a 33-strong World Cup squad that will be announced later this month.
The final phase of preparation for the tournament could hardly have started in more promising fashion, with Wales’ 20-9 victory over England being underpinned by a dominant second-half display.
It was Wales’ third-biggest win of the professional era against their fierce rivals, and Gatland will now run the rule over other World Cup selection candidates in south-west London.
“There is a lot of competition in the squad,” Gatland said.
“In 2019 when we won the (Six Nations) Grand Slam, we had a settled side and we knew what a large number of our World Cup squad was going to be.
“I can tell you now there is a lot of competition in this team. It’s a good start, and the pleasing thing is there’s a group of players who will get an opportunity next week who are desperate to perform.
“I think the boys showed the work we’ve done over the past eight weeks or so that we are in a pretty good place, physically.”
Wales kept an England side that conceded 22 turnovers scoreless in the second period, turning around a 9-6 interval deficit to triumph through tries from scrum-half Gareth Davies and centre George North.
Full-back Leigh Halfpenny converted both scores and kicked two penalties on his 100th Wales appearance, leaving him just five points short of 800 in Test rugby.
Wales paraded five new caps, with the second-half introductions of former England prop Henry Thomas and back-row forward Taine Plumtree proving key to Gatland’s men posting a first home victory since November last year.
Gatland, meanwhile, said that hooker Ryan Elias and lock Dafydd Jenkins will undergo scans on Monday after being forced off with hamstring and knee injuries, respectively.
Among several eye-catching performances was that of fly-half Sam Costelow, who took his chance to shine in front of a 65,000 Principality Stadium crowd.
“I will take a lot of learnings from it. It showed me where I want to be and where I can get,” Costelow said.
“I have been doing a lot of work with (Wales assistant coach) Neil Jenkins in the training week, helping me with kicking and the game-management side of things. It is about keeping improving.
“You have just got to work hard every day. That is the biggest mindset, really, turning up every day and trying to improve.
“In the second-half we managed to find a way and we started putting some phases together, and I thought we had some decent outcomes.
“We played in the right areas, getting opportunities higher up the field and creating chances, which we probably didn’t do in the first-half.”
Lewis Ludlam admits it is “hard to not think about it” as the selection waiting game for England’s World Cup hopefuls nears its conclusion.
England head coach Steve Borthwick will name his 33-strong World Cup squad on Monday morning.
It follows an opening tournament warm-up performance against Wales that badly misfired, with some World Cup prospects undoubtedly falling by the wayside as Warren Gatland’s team triumphed 20-9 in Cardiff.
Northampton captain Ludlam’s performance was among the few highlights, delivering a trademark display that bristled with intent and purpose, while an ability to cover all three back-row positions makes him a priceless asset for Borthwick.
“I tried my hardest and that is all you can ask for,” said Ludlam, who made England’s final World Cup cut for Japan four years ago.
“It has been brilliant, the amount of competition we’ve had in the back-row over the past six weeks.
“We have learnt a lot from each other and there has been some healthy competition as well.
“It’s a tough decision to make. Like I say, the competition is so good and that has been a real positive this campaign.
“It has really pushed us all on and you can’t be too comfortable in this environment with so many good back-rowers coming through.
“It (World Cup selection) might be at the back of a lot of people’s minds, it is hard to not think about it.”
The squad will be unveiled with three World Cup warm-up Tests left as England host Wales next week, then travel to Ireland before entertaining Fiji.
Borthwick’s decision to go early at least guarantees an end to selection speculation that would have accompanied his players throughout the August schedule.
“I guess knowing early is good with the security and then you know what you are doing,” Ludlam added.
“But then again, on the other hand, pressure is a good thing and brings the best out of some people as well. So I expect it will be different for different people.
“Pulling on the jersey any time, whatever the occasion, is special. Not many people have the honour of playing for their country.
“The World Cup is just that extra bit special. It would be a dream for a lot of lads. Those who do go will be looking forward to it and relishing that challenge.”
Courage Mon Ami has the Prix du Cadran on his long-range radar after connections admitted they failed to learn anything new from the Ascot Gold Cup winner when he suffered his first defeat at Goodwood on Tuesday.
Run on unseasonably good to soft ground, Quickthorn turned the Al Shaqab Goodwood Cup into something of a procession, with Hughie Morrison’s charge routing his 10 opponents by six lengths and upwards.
The John and Thady Gosden-trained Courage Mon Ami, having just his fifth lifetime start, was sent off the 2-1 favourite to back up his Royal Ascot victory, but having taken a keen hold, did not get a clear run. His jockey, Frankie Dettori, realised he had no chance once the winner quickened clear.
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani owns the gelding under his Wathnan Racing operation and Richard Brown of Blandford Bloodstock buys the horses on his behalf.
He was responsible for the purchase of Courage Mon Ami from Anthony Oppenheimer after the son of Frankel had won twice on the all-weather as a three-year-old, before opening his four-year-old campaign with a Goodwood handicap success.
Brown was left non-plussed by his latest display, however, and said: “He has come out of the race well, but it was a bit of a non-event, to be honest. It was a frustrating race to watch. We have just got to put a line through it.
“Frankie was very easy on him early when he knew his chance had gone.”
Courage Mon Ami is likely to take on Quickthorn again in the Prix du Cadran over an extended two miles at ParisLongchamp in October.
Connections hope to find out a little more about the inexperienced gelding in the meantime.
“He’s come out of it fine and the obvious end-of-season target would be the Cadran,” said Brown.
“We’ve got to decide what we do before then, but it was frustrating to be part of. We saw at Ascot what he is capable of.
“The problem is we didn’t learn anything. We didn’t learn anything about ground. Frankie said he went fine on it.
“Obviously, he has only run four times before then, including twice on the all-weather, and we are still learning about the horse.
“He is probably going to be better on top of the ground, and I’m hoping he’s going to be ground versatile.
“He already owes us nothing, but I very much hope there is a lot more to come from him.”
The unbeaten Gregory is on course for the Sky Bet Great Voltigeur Stakes at York later this month, after looking like he would represent the Wathnan team in the Goodwood Cup, only for the ground to change running plans.
The Golden Horn colt has won all three starts for the Gosdens this year, culminating in an emphatic Queen’s Vase win at the Royal meeting.
“All roads lead to the St Leger,” Brown added. “Although we are not committing to anything, John is quite keen to run him again before Doncaster, so the Voltigeur is quite an obvious race that we might take in along the way.”
The Ralph Beckett-trained Remarquee, who finished runner-up in both the top-class Coronation Stakes and the Falmouth, will be given a break after her latest fourth-placed effort in the Prix Rothschild at Deauville.
Winner of the Fred Darling at Newbury on her seasonal bow, she has proved herself as one of the leading milers without yet winning over that distance.
She will likely have another opportunity to do that at Newmarket on October 7, bypassing an engagement in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown next month.
Brown said: “Remarquee came out of her race in good shape. She has had three quick runs, so we have put a line through the Matron and are going to give her a little bit of a rest.
“She might have one more run, which is likely to be the Sun Chariot.”
Simone Biles says she always knew she would return to gymnastics after her experience at the Tokyo Olympics.
The 26-year-old – the most decorated gymnast in history – ended her two-year hiatus on Saturday as she won the US Classic in Chicago.
It was her first competition since the Olympics in 2021, when she suffered “the twisties” – a phenomenon which temporarily affects an athlete’s spatial awareness – and withdrew from five of her six finals to focus on her mental health.
And the seven-time Olympic medallist and 19-time world champion, who is still doing weekly therapy, said her successful return “means the world”.
She told CNBC: “It felt really good, especially after everything that’s happened over the past year.
“I always kind of knew (I’d be back) as soon as everything that happened in Tokyo.
“So, this time I’m doing it for me. I worked a lot on myself and I believe in myself a little bit more, just coming back out here and starting the first steps again.
“It means the world because after everything that kind of transpired in Tokyo and it took a lot.
“I worked on myself a lot, I still do therapy weekly and it’s just been so exciting to come out here and have the confidence I had before.”
Biles recorded the meet’s best mark in three of the four disciplines as she scored a total of 59.100 to finish five points in front of second-placed Leanne Wong.
And Biles was happy with the fan support she received.
She added: “Everyone that was cheering, made posters and all that in the crowd, it just made my heart melt that they still believe in me.”
Biles has not confirmed whether she plans to compete at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris but her efforts on Saturday earned her qualification for the US Championships later this month.
Andy Farrell expects rookie fly-half Jack Crowley to take “massive confidence” from the experience of running the show for Ireland in their 33-17 World Cup warm-up win over Italy.
Johnny Sexton’s three-match ban opened the door for his understudies to stake claims during the lead up to the tournament, with Crowley the first to be given an opportunity.
The 23-year-old, who is also competing with Ross Byrne and Ciaran Frawley for a place on the plane to France, produced an assured performance against the Azzurri on the occasion of his second Test start to strengthen his case for further action.
Unlike his full Ireland debut, when he was elevated from the bench at the 11th hour for the autumn victory over Australia due to Sexton’s late withdrawal, Crowley was given a full week to prepare.
Head coach Farrell is planning a midweek debrief with the Munster man but was encouraged by his showing on Saturday evening in Dublin.
“He did well,” said the Englishman. “Certainly in the first half, he controlled the game very well.
“I didn’t think he overplayed too much. He looked composed enough.
“There are a few things we’ll chat about during the week that will help his performance but he will be glad to get that one done.
“Another experience where he’s started at 10 and this time he’s been able to run the week, so he’ll gain massive confidence from that.”
Crowley’s mature display at the Aviva Stadium included slotting three of four conversions as two Caelan Doris tries, plus scores from Dave Kilcoyne, Stuart McCloskey and Cian Healy, secured a victory which Farrell termed “a bit clunky”.
He filled in at full-back for the second period due to Jimmy O’Brien’s shoulder injury, with debutant Frawley taking over at 10 and adding the extras on Doris’ second effort.
Farrell, whose side have further fixtures against England and Samoa this month, was less convinced following that reshuffle.
“We’ll have a look at the performances of the two of them playing together,” he said of Crowley and Frawley.
“We try and get two ball players playing together, whether that came to fruition or not, I’m not too sure at this moment in time.
“We started the second half pretty poorly really and didn’t really get going for a while there so we’ll have to look at that.”
Leinster player Frawley was one of three international newcomers from the bench alongside Ulster hooker Tom Stewart and Munster wing Calvin Nash.
The 25-year-old has been involved in Ireland training camps since November 2021 but had to be patient for his Test bow, partly due to an untimely injury.
“I’m delighted I got it and hopefully there will be more to come,” said Frawley, who is bidding to make the cut when Farrell chops his current 42-man squad down to a final 33 on August 28.
“It’s very competitive in there, it’s hard to believe they’re going to drop nine players.
“At the moment, you’re just trying to put your best foot forward and get selected for the games that are coming around the corner, focus on what’s coming.
“You obviously have the big picture in the back of your mind but, if you get ahead of yourself, you might not perform on the day.”
Nash, 25, added: “Naturally after getting our first caps, we want to push on and try to get to the World Cup for sure and get a few more caps. That’s the aim.”
Dan Evans progressed to the final of the Citi Open with a straight-sets victory over Grigor Dimitrov in Washington.
The British number two eclipsed his Bulgarian opponent 6-3 7-6 (4) in just under two hours to set up a meeting with Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands.
Despite being overmatched in the power department, Evans put together a clean and composed performance as a sloppy Dimitrov was left to rue his own mistakes.
The world number 20 fired 24 winners to just nine from Evans, but came unstuck with 30 unforced errors.
Evans, who beat both Alexander Shevchenko and second seed Frances Tiafoe on Friday to reach the last four, is the first British player to make the final in Washington since Andy Murray in 2006.
He told the ATP’s website: “It was so hard after yesterday putting in such a big effort.
“Coming back today it was really important to not roll over and have a bad performance.
“The last few months that has happened a little bit. I’m really proud I could do that today. One more to go.”
Victory on Sunday would give Evans the second ATP title of his career following his victory in Melbourne in 2021.
Meanwhile, Griekspoor shocked American top seed Taylor Fritz in three sets in their semi-final clash as the world number 37 seeks his third title of the season.
England’s experimental side tumbled to a 20-9 defeat by Wales at the Principality Stadium in the opening match of their warm-up schedule for the World Cup.
The only Test to take place before head coach Steve Borthwick names his 33-man squad for the tournament on Monday, it was seen as the stage to influence the handful of remaining selection calls.
Few emerged with credit from the contest, but here the PA news agency looks at three players who gave Borthwick a timely nudge.
Lewis Ludlam
England’s most effective forward in Cardiff by a significant margin, carrying with intent and disruptive at the breakdown. Started at blindside flanker against Wales but covers all three back-row positions, including number eight where Alex Dombrandt once again proved unable to stamp his authority on a Test. Factor in his leadership and defensive steel and the Northampton captain could be a valuable asset at the World Cup, having travelled to Japan four years ago as a bolter.
Joe Marchant
Of all England’s players on display at the Principality Stadium, it was Marchant who seized the opportunity to show Borthwick why he should be included in the squad announced on Monday. The dynamic 27-year-old provided pace and sharp running lines to an attack that showed signs of life in the first half before crumbling amid a host of handling errors. Marchant’s 16 caps have largely been hit and miss, but he offers something different and covers wing as well as centre.
Joe Cokanasiga
Although hardly a stellar display, there was enough on show from Cokanasiga to suggest he could make an impact at the World Cup. The Bath wing of Fijian heritage hunted for the ball and punched holes in the home defence and while his rugby instincts may fail to match his athleticism, his power would be an X-factor asset to England’s backline. Vulnerable defensively at times and can be targeted with a clever kicking game, but his key tackle on Louis Rees-Zammit was an important moment.
Dan Evans progressed to the final of the Citi Open with a straight-sets victory over Grigor Dimitrov in Washington.
The British number two eclipsed his Bulgarian opponent 6-3 7-6 (4) in just under two hours to set up a meeting with Tallon Griekspoor of the Netherlands.
Despite being overmatched in the power department, Evans put together a clean and composed performance as a sloppy Dimitrov was left to rue his own mistakes.
The world number 20 fired 24 winners to just nine from Evans, but came unstuck with 30 unforced errors.
Evans is the first British player to reach the final in Washington since Andy Murray in 2006.
Meanwhile, Griekspoor rallied from a set down in his semi-final clash with American Taylor Fritz as the world number 37 seeks his third title of the season.
Tim Anderson and Jose Ramirez exchanged punches to trigger a benches-clearing brawl in the sixth inning of the Chicago White Sox’s 7-4 win over the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday.
The fight began when Ramirez slid headfirst into second with an RBI double and Anderson stood over him, straddling Ramirez. When Ramirez got up, he pointed his finger in Anderson’s face and yelled, prompting the two to square off like a boxing match.
Anderson dropped his glove and threw the first punch, setting off a melee that saw both dugouts empty onto the infield. Ramirez appeared to connect with a right hand to the face of Anderson, who fell backward to the ground.
Anderson got back up incensed and tried unsuccessfully to get at Ramirez while being restrained by several teammates.
Tempers temporarily calmed before Guardians manger Terry Francona and Chicago manager Pedro Grifol had words, leading to pushing and shoving by players and coaches on both teams.
Anderson, Ramirez, Francona, third base coach Mike Sarbaugh, Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase and Grifol were all ejected. It took 15 minutes before order was restored after multiple flare-ups ensued.
Elvis Andrus hit a two-run homer, while Andrew Vaughn, Luis Robert Jr. and Oscar Colas had solo shots for the White Sox.
Chicago starter Michael Kopech carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and allowed two runs in 5 1/3 innings.
Verlander loses to begin second stint with Astros
Justin Verlander pitched seven innings but took a loss in his first start since being re-acquired by his old team, as the Houston Astros fell to the New York Yankees 3-1.
Verlander, who was traded by the New York Mets on Tuesday, began his second stint in Houston by allowing seven hits and two runs over seven innings while striking out four.
Jose Altuve hit his 200th career home run in the third inning, but the Astros managed just one other hit the rest of the game.
Nestor Cortes started his first game for the Yankees in over two months after recovering from a rotator cuff injury in his throwing shoulder.
Cortes allowed one run and one hit in four innings and fanned eight.
Jake Bauers provided the go-ahead RBI with a solo shot off Verlander in the fifth inning, and Gleyber Torres’ solo homer added an insurance run in the eighth.
Streaking Rangers rally past Marlins
Josh Jung hit the third of three multi-run homers for Texas in the middle innings and the Rangers erased a five-run deficit to beat the Miami Marlins 9-8 for their fifth straight victory.
Texas entered the bottom of the fourth down 5-0, but Adolis Garcia led off with a single and Jung singled before Robbie Grossman belted a three-run homer to right.
The Rangers took the lead for good with a four-run fifth, as Corey Seager’s homer scored Marcus Semien before Jung’s two-run blast made it 7-5.
Texas extended its lead in the AL West to 2 ½ games over the Astros, who lost to the Yankees.
Andy Farrell played down the severity of injuries suffered by Jack Conan, Jimmy O’Brien and Craig Casey during Ireland’s “clunky” World Cup warm-up win over Italy.
Number eight Conan was pictured in a protective boot following his first-half withdrawal in Dublin, while full-back O’Brien and scrum-half Casey were taken off with shoulder and back issues respectively.
Caelan Doris shone for the Guinness Six Nations champions with two tries in a 33-17 victory in which Dave Kilcoyne, Stuart McCloskey and replacement Cian Healy were also on the scoresheet.
Speaking of the injury concerns, head coach Farrell said: “They seem not too bad.
“Jimmy’s shoulder has shut down a little bit, it’s something he’s had in the past. Jack lost power in his foot, he seems OK.
“Craig had a tight back which was making his hamstring cramp. They were taken off as precautions more than anything.”
An experimental Ireland side recovered from a sluggish start at a subdued Aviva Stadium to take control of the contest but did not fully convince, despite the comfortable scoreline.
“To get up and running with a victory is nice, but I think we all know really that it was a bit clunky, to say the least, at times,” said Farrell.
“There was some really good stuff as far as possession is concerned and opportunities to convert were there in spades.
“But we weren’t patient enough to be able to convert that, so I think that’s the morale of the story really.”
Back-rower Doris, selected in an unfamiliar role at openside flanker, was the standout performer, while Ciaran Frawley, Calvin Nash and Tom Stewart came off the bench to make Test debuts.
“I’m sick of him getting man of the match,” joked Farrell.
“He just keeps getting better and better. We all know he’s good at jackalling and good over the ball and I don’t know whether he took that through the roof because he had a number seven on his back.
“He epitomises what we’re trying to do as far as the player being in control of his own mind.
“It doesn’t really matter whether he makes a mistake or two, he just gets on with the next job the whole time.
“He’s playing extremely well but he’s certainly growing as far as his leadership role is concerned as well. He’s coming on leaps and bounds.”
Ireland move on to a training camp in Portugal before taking on England and Samoa later this month.
Italy head coach Kieran Crowley said: “In the first half, we were dominated all over the place.
“Ireland were too good for us in that first half. Second half, we came back but we’ve still got a lot of work to do in our breakdown work and just in general with our management.
“I saw an improvement in that second half – we won the second half, I think, but that’s not winning the game.”
Katie Archibald inspired Great Britain to an emotional women’s team pursuit victory at the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow on Saturday night.
Archibald joined up with Elinor Barker, Josie Knight and Anna Morris to beat New Zealand to gold in a time of four minutes 8.771 seconds, four and a half seconds up on their rivals, to give Britain a first world title in this event since 2014.
It was a fifth world title for Archibald, but perhaps the most significant. She has come into these championships, in her home velodrome, still grieving the death of her partner Rab Wardell, who suffered a cardiac arrest as he lay in bed at home a year ago.
Archibald had said she was determined to honour Wardell this week, and she surely did so with a powerful ride that belied a difficult build-up and helped make the difference in the final.
New Zealand were ahead on the time splits for much of the opening 1,500 metres, but a big turn from Knight nudged Britain in front before the midway point.
Archibald then put on the power to open up a two-second advantage before pulling off with a kilometre still to go, the result all but beyond doubt.
Archibald and Barker were both part of the team when Britain last won the women’s team pursuit world title nine years ago. They went on to Olympic glory in Rio before taking silver in Tokyo, but the rainbow jerseys in this flagship event eluded them.
“It is all coming out, this is the event,” Archibald said on BBC Sport. “Someone was talking about imposter syndrome the other day and you almost have it the other way round, we almost see ourselves as the best in the world.
“But we have not been on the top step since 2014, so to have that feeling validated, it feels good!”
Knight, who is Archibald’s housemate in Manchester, called her friend “phenomenal”.
“I see her ups and downs every day,” she said. “She’s had a really tough couple of weeks. I know her prep hasn’t been quite what she would have wanted. Usually she’s the real hero of this team. We’ve had to adapt and I’ve tried to step up, take that role on.
“But she is phenomenal. We all stepped up. And we’re world champions.”
Barker, who has shared so many moments with Archibald including Olympic gold in Rio, added: “Katie’s unbelievable. It’s really hard to summarise the year that she has had, how she feels about it, how we feel about it.
“Just the fact that she is here, it’s insane. I don’t really know how she does it to be honest.”
This is Barker’s first global track event since she became a mother after the last Olympics, and an extra special one as she was able to share the moment with sister Meg – who rode in Saturday morning’s first round – and Morris, who was in the same year as her at Llanishen High School in Cardiff.
Meg Barker had ridden the opening qualifier in place of Archibald, who is saving some of her energies for Sunday’s elimination race and the omnium in the coming days, a change to the original plan – with Elinor Barker now joining Neah Evans in Monday’s Madison.
In the men’s team pursuit, Denmark beat Italy to take the world title in a time of three minutes 45.161 seconds, two years to the day since Italy beat Denmark to gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
There were more gold medals for Britain’s para-cyclists. Sam Ruddock successfully defended his men’s C1 kilo title before Blaine Hunt took the C5 crown, with Jaco van Gass then beating team-mate Fin Graham to win the men’s C3 scratch race and his second rainbow jersey in as many days.
Caelan Doris shone and Jack Conan suffered an injury scare as Ireland launched their World Cup warm-up fixtures by easing to a 33-17 win over Italy in Dublin.
Back-rower Conan departed the field shortly before half-time and was later pictured in a protective boot on the bench.
Full-back Jimmy O’Brien and scrum-half Craig Casey were also withdrawn for treatment to give head coach Andy Farrell cause for concern ahead of his side’s campaign in France, which kicks off in just five weeks’ time.
An experimental side missing a host of rested stars, in addition to suspended skipper Johnny Sexton, overcame a sloppy beginning to cruise to a 15th successive home victory.
Doris’ two tries, plus scores from Dave Kilcoyne, Stuart McCloskey and Cian Healy, earned victory, while Jack Crowley and debutant Ciaran Frawley kicked six and two points respectively.
Lorenzo Pani and Tommaso Menoncello claimed consolations for Italy but they never threatened to shock the Six Nations champions.
Ireland were back in action for the first time since clinching the Grand Slam against England in March.
Farrell retained only three of the players who began that day as part of an unfamiliar XV, while Italy included England-born debutants Paolo Odogwu and Dino Lamb in a strong selection.
The Aviva Stadium was far from full for the late kick-off and Ireland’s sluggish start, during which Tommaso Allan’s early penalty put the visitors ahead, initially did little to enhance the subdued atmosphere.
Italy lost Saracens prop Marco Riccioni to injury inside 10 minutes and that setback was quickly compounded by Kilcoyne burrowing over at the other end to register his first Test try since November 2014.
The score settled Ireland down to an extent and they capitalised on Italian indiscipline to stretch the scoreboard just before the half-hour mark.
Doris claimed the second try of the evening, crashing over wide on the right, moments after Azzurri loosehead Danilo Fischetti was sin-binned for failing to retreat.
Conan’s 35th-minute departure was an unwelcome sight for Farrell but the hosts’ performance continued to improve, with man-of-the-match Doris proving to be a real menace.
The Leinster man, selected in the unfamiliar position of openside flanker, produced a crushing tackle on Stephen Varney deep inside Italian territory to pave the way for McCloskey to power over.
Crowley landed his third conversion of the evening to make it 21-3 at the interval.
Farrell shuffled his pack slightly for the restart, introducing the uncapped Frawley at fly-half and pushing Crowley to full-back in place of the withdrawn O’Brien, who had received treatment on a shoulder issue.
A further change was required just four minutes later as scrum-half Casey followed Conan and O’Brien into the treatment room.
Italy, whose only Dublin success came in 1997, had struggled for territory in the opening period.
But, on the back of some cheap penalties conceded by Ireland, they reduced their deficit in the 51st minute when Pani was afforded yards of space on the right to charge forward and hold off the attempts of Jacob Stockdale.
Replacement prop Healy then celebrated moving level with Rory Best as Ireland’s third most-capped player on 124 appearances with his 12th international try.
Menoncello again reduced the arrears for Italy 12 minutes from time before the impressive Doris had the final say.
Following a week’s training camp in Portugal, Ireland move to matches against England and Samoa with plenty of positives but some fitness concerns.
Steve Borthwick said he would reflect ahead of his World Cup squad announcement following England’s lacklustre performance in their 20-9 defeat to Wales.
England withered after leading 9-8 at the interval in Cardiff, making over 20 handling errors in total and being outshone after the break as head coach Borthwick was given plenty to ponder less than 48 hours before naming his World Cup squad.
“I will give a period of reflection,” Borthwick said. “I will reflect where I am in terms of the squad selection and whether this game changes anything or clarifies anything regarding that.
“It is another piece of information in terms of the full picture, which is what I was always after on each and every one of the players to make the best informed decision.
“This game informs many different elements and it is another step as we build forward through these four games.
“I’m looking forward to announcing the squad on Monday and the Test match against Wales at Twickenham next Saturday.”
England will also travel to Ireland and host Fiji before heading to the World Cup in France next month.
Borthwick will be able to reintegrate players who were absent at the Principality Stadium but who are expected to start England’s World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9.
On England’s underwhelming display, Borthwick said: “We created a load of opportunities, but in Test rugby you have got to score when you are down there.
“Instead, we came away with three penalties. So, we created no scoreboard pressure.
“Our line-out and scrum went well in the first half, but at the mid-point in the second half, in both of those areas of the set piece we faltered.
“We also made a large number of handling errors and errors in contact against a team that jackal hard for the ball. We couldn’t sustain pressure because we turned the ball over.
“The turnover count I saw was 21 to nine and it’s very difficult to win Test matches with that. We created opportunities in the opposition 22 and we’ve got to take them.
“We’re still in quite a big training phase and we will sharpen up over the next three games together.”
England second row Dave Ribbans will be assessed after leaving the field with a HIA in the second half.
Second-half tries from Gareth Davies and George North rewarded Wales’ dominant second-half show, although injuries to Ryan Elias and Dafydd Jenkins threatened to take the gloss of their victory.
Hooker Elias left the field as early as the sixth minute while second row Jenkins suffered a knee injury in the second half.
Head coach Warren Gatland said: “They’ll be scanned on Monday. Ryan looks like a slight hamstring tear but it’s not too bad.
“I thought the two second-rows were great, so with Daf we are hoping it isn’t too serious a knee injury.”
Wales had won only two of their previous 10 games but Gatland, who took over before the 2023 Six Nations Championship, believes his squad have benefited from pre-World Cup camps in Switzerland and Turkey.
He said: “I think we’ve done a lot of work as a group in the last eight weeks. The line-out defence was excellent and we competed well.
“Despite the scrum penalties, I thought we dominated there. I need some clarity from the referee in terms of the decisions.
“We were winning the collisions and the hit. It’s a good start.
“The pleasing thing is there’s a group of players who will get an opportunity next week who are desperate to perform.”
Katie Archibald and Great Britain celebrated an emotional women’s team pursuit win in Glasgow at the UCI Cycling World Championships on Saturday night.
Archibald joined up with Elinor Barker, Josie Knight, and Anna Morris to beat New Zealand to gold in a time of four minutes 8.771 seconds, more than four seconds up on their rivals, to give Britain a first world title in this event since 2014.
It was a fifth world title for Archibald, and a hugely poignant one as she races at these championships in her native Scotland to honour her late partner Rab Wardell, who tragically died of a cardiac arrest as he lay in bed last August.
New Zealand were ahead on the time splits for much of the opening 1,500 metres, but a big turn from Knight nudged Britain in front before the midway point.
Archibald then put on the power to open up a two-second advantage before pulling off with a kilometre still to go, the result all but beyond doubt.
Archibald and Barker were both part of the team when Britain last won the women’s team pursuit world title nine years ago, going on to enjoy Olympic glory in Rio before taking silver in Tokyo.
This is Barker’s first global track event since she became a mother after the last Olympics.
Britain had topped the time sheets in all three rounds of this event, having subbed in Elinor’s sister Meg Barker in place of Archibald for Saturday morning’s first round.
Archibald is saving herself for the elimination race and omnium in the coming days, a change to the original plan with Elinor Barker now joining Neah Evans in Monday’s Madison.
In the men’s team pursuit, Denmark beat Italy to take the world title in a time of three minutes 45.161 seconds, two years to the day since Italy beat Denmark to gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
There were more gold medals for Britain’s para-cyclists. Sam Ruddock successfully defended his men’s C1 kilo title before Blaine Hunt took the C5 crown, with Jaco van Gass then beating team-mate Fin Graham to win the men’s C3 scratch race and his second rainbow jersey in as many days.
Although Ruddock went in as defending champion, the 33-year-old called his title a surprise given his recent focus on the individual pursuit, in which he finished fourth on Thursday.
“Madness,” Ruddock said. “I didn’t expect it at all. We’ve done a lot of work around pursuits in the previous year so the target was to get a bronze medal ride off and we achieved that.
“The kilo was the secondary event so to go faster in the kilo and defend the title was a massive surprise.”
England’s began their final phase of World Cup preparation in horribly underwhelming fashion as Wales sent them spinning to a 20-9 defeat in Cardiff.
Second-half tries from Gareth Davies and George North staved off a fifth successive home loss for Wales as England boss Steve Borthwick was given plenty to ponder less than 48 hours before he names his World Cup squad.
Few players left lasting impressions, although there were some impressive moments from fly-half Marcus Smith and number eight Alex Dombrandt, with Wales responding superbly to a three-point interval deficit.
England were abysmal with their ball-retention, conceding a colossal 22 turnovers, and Wales did not require a second invitation to capitalise.
Full-back Leigh Halfpenny marked his 100th cap by converting both tries and kicking two penalties, with Smith kicking England’s points through three first-half penalties.
England’s opening World Cup game against Argentina is just five weeks away, yet Borthwick will not be reaching for any panic button with three warm-up fixtures still to come on the August schedule.
For Wales, it was a significant confidence-booster following a fifth-placed finish in last season’s Six Nations as they recorded just a third win from the last 11 Tests.
Halfpenny led out the Wales players, who wore black armbands in memory of former Wales captain and coach Clive Rowlands following his death last weekend at the age of 85.
Wales suffered an early injury blow when hooker Ryan Elias was forced off after taking a blow to his right leg, with Dragons forward Elliot Dee replacing him.
A long-range Smith penalty nudged England ahead, rewarding initial dominance as the visitors monopolised possession and territory, putting Wales firmly in back-foot mode.
Smith soon doubled the advantage when Wales were guilty of a scrummaging infringement, but a Halfpenny strike made it 6-3 towards the end of an opening quarter high on intent, yet littered with errors.
Wales fly-half Sam Costelow created the game’s first clear-cut chance 15 minutes before half-tine when his inside pass freed wing Louis Rees-Zammit, but he slipped with England’s line at his mercy.
It was much better from Warren Gatland’s team and Halfpenny deservedly drew them level through a 26th-minute penalty.
England responded through some clever work from Smith that created space for centre Joe Marchant, before wing Joe Cokanasiga was tackled into touch near the corner-flag.
Despite conceding 12 turnovers during the first 35 minutes, England remained on top, while there were also scrummaging issues for Wales as debutant props Corey Domachowski and Keiron Assiratti had a testing opening half.
Smith completed his penalty hat-trick to make it 9-6 at the interval, yet England knew they needed to sharpen their attacking edge in the second period.
The game required a spark and Wales duly found one just eight minutes into the second period.
Costelow’s kick found number eight Aaron Wainwright and his one-handed pass was collected by captain Jac Morgan, who brushed off challenges from Cokanasiga and replacement Jonny Hill before a supporting Davies touched down.
It was a try of outstanding quality and Halfpenny’s conversion opened up a four-point lead before Gatland made four changes.
The new arrivals included debutants Taine Plumtree and former England prop Henry Thomas, who qualifies for Wales through his father.
Thomas was able to switch countries under new World Rugby regulations which mean players can feature for their country of birth – or their parents’ or grandparents’ birth – provided a minimum period of three years has elapsed since they were last selected for an adopted country.
Borthwick also rang changes midway through the third quarter, introducing international newcomers Theo Dan and Tom Willis as England looked to reassert themselves in the contest.
But Wales were a team transformed after the break and when North crossed for his 45th try in the red shirt England entered the final quarter 11 points adrift.
Wales were within inches of adding a third try during the closing minutes, but Rees-Zammit knocked on behind the line under pressure from England full-back Freddie Steward.
The damage, though, had long been done ahead of next Saturday’s return fixture at Twickenham.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend is braced for the possibility of losing Zander Fagerson for at least a portion of the World Cup after his red card in Saturday’s exhilarating 25-21 warm-up victory over France.
The Scots produced a magnificent second-half fightback to overturn a 21-3 deficit at the break and record a morale-boosting 25-21 victory despite having the Glasgow prop sent off following a high challenge on Les Bleus hooker Pierre Bourgarit in the 50th minute.
Fagerson was initially yellow carded before having his punishment upgraded to a red a few minutes later after a review via the newly-implemented bunker system.
With just two warm-up matches remaining – away to France and at home to Georgia – the Scots fear any suspension for Fagerson could carry over into the World Cup.
“Yes, of course there’s concern when someone picks up a red card,” said Townsend. “It’s a difficult one. The contact area is so fiercely competitive.
“France are a team that like to jackal and the hooker that Zander collided with is one of the best jackalers in world rugby.
“If it’s a timing issue or a height issue, yes, we have to make sure that we don’t get those head knocks, head collisions but there was no malice or foul play. It’s more from the rugby incident of mistiming on a ruck clear so we just have to hope that the judiciary see it the same as what we see.”
Fagerson was handed a four-game ban after being sent off following a similar incident against Wales in the 2021 Six Nations, but Townsend does not believe this offence was as severe.
“I’ve seen the incident again and he does adjust his feet,” said the head coach. “The one from the Wales game he comes in very quickly and at the time it was very understandable because someone else hadn’t gone to the ruck clearance so he knew if he didn’t come in quickly, Wyn Jones would have got the jackal.
“On this occasion he did adjust his feet so there’s nothing reckless in wasn’t as much speed, it wasn’t reckless, he just didn’t get underneath the French hooker’s chest area which can happen in all the 200 ruck clears there are in a game.
“What I hope for Zander and for us as a team is that they see there is nothing reckless in there, nothing was out of control, it’s just a timing issue that he couldn’t get underneath the jackaller.”
Townsend expects to find out Fagerson’s fate before their rematch against the French in Saint-Etienne next Saturday.
“Automatically any red card would go to a hearing and we’d expect that to be done by Tuesday or Wednesday,” he said. “It would affect our plans for next weekend and our World Cup squad is announced a week on Wednesday so we’ll need to know before then.”
Scotland lost another key man in the shape of Ben White, who limped off in the first half with an ankle injury, but Townsend is hopeful that it will not cause the scrum-half to miss the World Cup.
“He’s much more positive now,” said the head coach. “He got his foot trapped under him when they kicked through, he got high tackled and got his foot trapped under him.
“It was an area where he had an issue at the beginning of our World Cup camp but he’s been training fully now for the last six weeks and in initial testing (after the game) it seems OK.
“He’s off to hospital just to make sure there’s nothing in the scan so fingers crossed that he’s OK. It might be that he struggles to train this week but hopefully he’ll be available for the World Cup.”
Townsend was proud of the way his 14-man team recovered to win the second half 22-0 after being outclassed by a second-string French side in the first half.
“Even though these are not Six Nations or World Cup games, it is a Test match in front of almost 60,000 people, so we know our job is to win,” he said.
“And when you are defending your line at the end, thoughts go through your head about whether we are going to hold out for the win.
“It was such an encouraging second-half performance and victory that it would have been a big blow if we hadn’t got that win.
“We showed much more of who we are in that second half, both in attack and defence. To do it with one less player for the majority of the second half is going to be really positive for the players’ level of belief.”
Peter Fahey notched up his fourth winner of this year’s Galway Festival when Ambitious Fellow scored in the feature BoyleSports Handicap Hurdle.
Fahey had already struck with A Law Of Her Own, The Big Doyen and A Sign From Above earlier in the week before Ambitious Fellow prevailed at odds of 14-1.
It was the second of Fahey’s winners partnered by Sam Ewing, who was also on A Law Of Her Own – his first winner of the season.
Ambitious Fellow always appeared to be travelling within himself before Ewing made his bid for home two out.
Once he hit the front, he had to be kept up to his work to see off Noel Meade’s Bugs Moran by three-quarters of a length, with the favourite Icare Allen six lengths away in third.
“Sam made a good move to nip up the inner before coming down the hill and it could have been the winning and losing of it. It was a brave move but it worked out great for him,” said Fahey.
“He lost his form a little bit but had an issue after he ran at Limerick last year and it took him a while to get back right. He had a lovely run the last day when he was completely wrong at the weights, but it gave him confidence coming here.
“I was worried about the ground but it worked out great.”
He added: “There are four involved in the OGB Partnership including Ber (his wife) and after he won a bumper, we brought him to the sales but couldn’t get anyone to buy him. We brought him home and he has now won at the Punchestown Festival and has landed a big pot today.
“We had four winners last year, we’ve had good old craic again and it has been brilliant.”
Aidan O’Brien enjoyed a short-priced double through Navy Seal (1-4 favourite) in the BoyleSports Casino Irish EBF Maiden and Portland (15-8) in the Gra Chocolates Irish EBF Nursery Handicap.
Stable representative Chris Armstrong said of Navy Seal: “He was a still a bit babyish throughout the run but came on from Killarney, where he ran a nice race on debut.
“Seamus (Heffernan) felt once the penny dropped, he showed a nice turn of foot to quicken up and peg back Joseph’s horse (Bad Desire). He will come on from it and will be a nice middle-distance horse for next year.
“He’ll probably step up to stakes company now and into something like the mile Group Two at Leopardstown during Champions Weekend.”
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