Jamie George has urged the Rugby Football Union to give England players a voice when devising the ‘hybrid contracts’ that are expected to be signed off by the end of the year.

The RFU wants to tie 25 players to the contracts that will give head coach Steve Borthwick greater control over frontline members of his squad, who would also continue to be employed by their clubs.

The deals would help keep England stars in the Gallagher Premiership, but while George applauds the increased collaboration between club and country, he insists players should be consulted before they are formalised.

“We just need a bit more clarity around them. It is hard for us because you hear the whispers and you might get excited about it, but at the same time we have to focus on the job at hand,” the Saracens hooker said.

“What I do have is a huge confidence in Steve to make sure we get this right if those central contracts or playing contracts do come in.

“It could be a great thing for English rugby, but it has to be done right. Steve will do it in the absolute right way that does not take away from the club game because that’s something that means a lot to me.

“Hopefully there will be plenty of player influence as well because there are a lot of very intelligent guys in this changing room who have a lot of things to say and care a huge amount about the English game and its development.

“You can see that in the way that a lot of the older guys are speaking about the future of this team and hopefully the RFU use us and we will be heavily involved in those conversations.”

All conversations will take against the positive backdrop of England’s encouraging performance at the World Cup, which saw them finish third after toppling Argentina in the bronze final.

An ugly win was secured six days after their agonising semi-final defeat by South Africa – a result that caused George even greater anguish than losing in the 2019 final to the same opponents.

“This week has actually been a really difficult week – probably the hardest week of my career. I was just sat in my hotel room hitting waves of sadness,” George said.

“I’m still gutted about last week if I’m completely honest and that is going to take a long time for me to get over.

“To be able to come away with a medal is really important. It’s really important for this team, it was really important to send off some absolute legends of the game in the right way.

“But it was also important to send a message to the English public that we will still fight for everything.

“It wasn’t pretty, it was probably one of the scrappiest games I’ve been a part of. But we are coming away with a medal.

“It’s not the colour we wanted and that will give us huge inspiration going into the Six Nations.

“Our foundations are strong. We’ve shown that we can fight and we can put our best foot forward against the best teams in the world.”

Michael Carter-Williams has backed Joel Embiid to win a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, but he thinks an NBA title is out of reach for now.

Embiid was named the NBA MVP last season, having played 66 times for the Philadelphia 76ers across the regular season, averaging 33.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game.

However, Embiid was unable to inspire the 76ers in the playoffs, as they lost to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Ahead of the new season, Cameroonian-born Embiid confirmed he would represent the United States at next year's Olympic Games, and Carter-Williams, who played alongside the center in Philadelphia between 2014 and 2015, thinks a gold medal is more than achievable for Team USA.

But he does not feel Embiid is likely to win an NBA championship with the 76ers just yet.

"I think that the gold with the United States is a way more sure bet than him winning the championship in Philly, just because they [have] got some things going on," Carter-Williams told Stats Perform.

"I believe that Embiid will get a championship in his career, I just don't know whether it's right now with Philly or if it's later on.

"There are just other teams that have made some really tough moves, I don't know how well Philly matches up with that."

The Sixers began the 2023-24 campaign with a 118-117 defeat to the Milwaukee Bucks. Embiid finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and six assists in that loss.

"He's been unreal," Carter-Williams said of Embiid.

"Someone who's also an abnormal-sized human being doing those things is unreal. His focus level is also really good, he just focuses on his footwork, I always just saw him watching films of so many big [players], Hakeem Olajuwon especially.

"Then I saw him on the court just emulating those moves over and over again, and I used to see his feet and his jump shot just improve over and over again, especially through his rookie year when he was hurt, and he was sitting out and his process was slowed down a little bit.

"You could see him practice every single day, and then as soon as he started going against guys in practice, you'd be like, 'man, he's killing it' and nobody could do anything about it."

England head coach Shaun Wane was “absolutely desperate” for victory as he saw his side wrap up a series win over Tonga with a 14-4 triumph at the John Smith’s Stadium.

England were keen to continue the good work from their opening autumn Test match in St Helens last week, and opened the scoring in the sixth minute after Matty Ashton ran over in the corner before helping himself to another try when he pounced on Mikey Lewis’ wonderfully worked grubber kick.

Tonga reduced the deficit in the second half to 10 points when Toluta’u Koula raced over the whitewash but it was not enough to stop the hosts from going into an unassailable series advantage.

Following last week’s victory, much of the pre-match build up was made by Tonga after boss Kristian Woolf questioned referee Liam Moore as well as highlighting a difference in ruck speed between the teams.

England boss Wane wanted more from his players following last week’s victory but was pleased to see his side grab the win and prove some people wrong in the opposite camp.

He told a press conference: “I was absolutely desperate to win that game today.

“The things that have been said about my players this week and about my team, my mates really upset me so it was a massive motivator for us.

“Excuses about the ground not being right, every excuse about the ruck and our referees cheating so to prove them wrong by a firm pitch, really slow ruck and to get that two wins, I’ll be interested to see what the next excuse is.

“There’s been posters all round our dressing room, they did a lot of the talking themselves and the players were absolutely with me all the way.”

England have the series victory in the bag and will be looking to next week to seal the whitewash and Wane does not want his side to let the foot off the gas.

He added: “This week will be a really intense week.

“We will enjoy today but it will be work and we have a job to do on Saturday and I know the players have been fantastic in supporting me, we have to be obsessed about them seeing the best of us on Saturday.

“Winning is the only thing and playing well comes second. We will have a look at it in the next few days when we come down off cloud nine and fix a few things up.”

Tonga boss Woolf admitted his side were not good enough to get the win as his side slumped to a second defeat to England inside a week.

Woolf said: “We need to be a bit more disciplined, we gave away too many penalties and gave away too many unforced errors.

“It was a close game, a very tight game and they got one try and we didn’t quite get things right on the left edge.

“England had more discipline than us and had more discipline with the ball in terms of penalties and we need to be squeaky clean.”

Exeter showed their 11-try thrashing of defending Premiership champions Saracens on the opening day of the campaign was no fluke as they managed an equally emphatic 43-0 victory over last season’s beaten finalists Sale.

Despite losing a host of internationals during the summer, Exeter’s new young guard once again showed they are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Sale went into the game having won their first two matches of the season, but they were strangely off colour as an error-strewn display saw them suffer their biggest ever defeat to the Devon side.

Exeter got off to a dream start with a try inside the first two minutes. An initial surge by hooker Dan Frost earned a penalty, which was quickly taken, and England Under-20 number eight Greg Fisilau finished off on the blindside, with captain for the day Henry Slade slotting a superb conversion.

The England centre added a penalty soon after to put the Chiefs into double figures.

Sale had the wind behind their backs in the first half, but it was the Chiefs who continued to dominate territory, and they notched a second try just before the midway point of the half, with a catch-and-drive effort from Frost, after Chiefs did well to splinter Sale’s maul defence, and it was improved by Slade.

Young full-back Tom Wyatt was proving rock solid under the high ball for Exeter, while their scrum was having much the better of the Sale eight.

The Sharks thought they had got a foothold in the game when Cobus Wiese drove over in the 27th minute, but he was adjudged by excellent debutant referee Joe James to have been held up, while Tom O’Flaherty knocked on soon after when trying to ground the ball after a handling mistake close to his own line by Fisilau.

Exeter made the most of that double reprieve by securing the try-scoring bonus point before half-time.

Tight-head prop Josh Iosefa-Scott finished off another driving maul in the corner, and then Slade latched on to a wayward Sale pass to send former Wasps winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso racing over beneath the posts, with Slade adding the conversion for an incredible 29-0 interval advantage.

Both sides struggled to string passages of play together in the wet conditions in the second half.

When Sale did threaten the home line, the Chiefs defence proved more than a match.

The Chiefs put the icing on the cake when an excellent run by impressive second row Lewis Pearson saw him offload to replacement scrum-half Niall Armstrong to run in try number five, with Slade adding the kick for a personal 11-point haul, and their dominant scrum rounded it off with a penalty try as Exeter completed their first Premiership shutout since 2014.

Exeter Chiefs showed their 11-try thrashing of defending Premiership champions Saracens on the opening day of the campaign was no fluke as they managed an equally emphatic 43-0 victory over last season’s beaten finalists Sale.

Despite losing a host of internationals during the summer, Exeter’s new young guard once again showed they are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Sale went into the game having won their first two matches of the season, but they were strangely off colour as an error-strewn display saw them suffer their biggest ever defeat to the Devon side.

Exeter got off to a dream start with a try inside the first two minutes. An initial surge by hooker Dan Frost earned a penalty, which was quickly taken, and England Under-20 number eight Greg Fisilau finished off on the blindside, with captain for the day Henry Slade slotting a superb conversion.

The England centre added a penalty soon after to put the Chiefs into double figures.

Sale had the wind behind their backs in the first half, but it was the Chiefs who continued to dominate territory, and they notched a second try just before the midway point of the half, with a catch-and-drive effort from Frost, after Chiefs did well to splinter Sale’s maul defence, and it was improved by Slade.

Young full-back Tom Wyatt was proving rock solid under the high ball for Exeter, while their scrum was having much the better of the Sale eight.

The Sharks thought they had got a foothold in the game when Cobus Wiese drove over in the 27th minute, but he was adjudged by excellent debutant referee Joe James to have been held up, while Tom O’Flaherty knocked on soon after when trying to ground the ball after a handling mistake close to his own line by Fisilau.

Exeter made the most of that double reprieve by securing the try-scoring bonus point before half-time.

Tight-head prop Josh Iosefa-Scott finished off another driving maul in the corner, and then Slade latched on to a wayward Sale pass to send former Wasps winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso racing over beneath the posts, with Slade adding the conversion for an incredible 29-0 interval advantage.

Both sides struggled to string passages of play together in the wet conditions in the second half.

When Sale did threaten the home line, the Chiefs defence proved more than a match.

The Chiefs put the icing on the cake when an excellent run by impressive second row Lewis Pearson saw him offload to replacement scrum-half Niall Armstrong to run in try number five, with Slade adding the kick for a personal 11-point haul, and their dominant scrum rounded it off with a penalty try as Exeter completed their first Premiership shutout since 2014.

Dual Stayers’ Hurdle winner Flooring Porter made the perfect start to his new career when making nearly all the running in the William Hill Lengthen Your Odds Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham.

Turning his hand to chasing relatively late in life as an eight-year-old, connections felt now was the time for the switch given he failed to win a race last season.

Ridden by new partner Keith Donoghue in place of Danny Mullins, he set out to make all but was soon hassled for the lead by Broadway Boy, one of two runners for Nigel Twiston-Davies.

Despite lacking the size and scope of his rivals, Flooring Porter (6-4 favourite) was foot perfect on the first circuit, although when the pace quickened on the second time around, there were a couple of blips.

He left his hind legs in one fence down the back straight and then took off too early at the open ditch, but he never looked like falling.

Donoghue seemed keen to hold on to his head for as long as possible as Broadway Boy and his stablemate Weveallbeencaught loomed up behind him, but good jumps at the last two enabled his class to come to the fore and he skipped clear to win by two and a half lengths.

“I know he was ahead of the others on his rating and that he’s still a high-profile horse, although not as much as he was,” said Cromwell.

“But he’s not very big, which made the way he jumped so pleasing.

“I thought he could do that, and it’s always great to see that the engine is still there.”

Matty Ashton scored two tries as England sealed a Test series victory over Tonga with a 14-4 victory at the John Smith’s Stadium in Huddersfield.

Fresh from their opening victory at St Helens, England looked intent on putting the series to bed from the outset and had a two-try lead thanks to a pair of Ashton tries without reply in the first period.

Harry Smith’s two penalties extended the score to 14 before Toluta’u Koula scored Tonga’s solitary try of the afternoon, which was not enough to stop England from gaining an unassailable 2-0 series lead.

England picked up where they left off last weekend and opened the scoring in the sixth minute after the ball was spread from left to right, Ashton waiting in the corner to collect the ball and rush over the whitewash – Smith’s conversion followed by a penalty made it 8-0 to the hosts.

Tonga came close to a try as the ball went through the hands and Moses Suli unleashed Koula down the left but he was ushered into touch, which sparked a brawl between the two sets of players.

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles winger Koula looked the main danger for the visitors and for a moment it looked like he had unlocked the English defence with a superb turn of foot before spilling the ball in touch.

Moments after Tonga were denied a reply on the try line, England went up the other end and scored their second try of the afternoon when Mikey Lewis’ neatly threaded grubber fell beautifully for the onrushing Ashton who touched down for the second time.

England ran onto the field in the second half with the same intensity and could have had a third try when Mike McMeeken’s kick found Tom Johnstone in acres of space but he dropped the ball with the try line at his mercy and had to settle for Smith’s penalty to make it 14-0.

The away side were still looking for their first points of the game and almost had them when Isaiya Katoa’s dummy freed Dion Teaupa up for the try line but Johnstone and Lewis brought him down to prevent a first try.

Tonga did most of the attacking in the second period and they looked to break away once again when Tyson Frizell latched onto a long kick and set Tui Lolohea free with his sights on the whitewash, but Johnstone was on hand once again to bring those efforts to a halt.

A few seconds later, Tonga were awarded a penalty and finally had their first score of the game as the ball went through the hands and Koula was waiting on on the byline to storm over in the corner and reduce the deficit to 10 points.

But that was all they could muster as they suffered a second straight defeat with one Test match to play at Headingley.

Blueking D’Oroux may have booked his ticket for the Greatwood Hurdle back at Cheltenham next month following a straightforward success in the Masterson Holdings Hurdle.

Trained by Paul Nicholls, the four-year-old arrived from France with a fairly tall reputation but took a while to adapt to his new surroundings.

He ended last season in good form, though, by winning a decent handicap at Ascot at 50-1 and finishing second at Aintree’s Grand National meeting.

Harry Cobden always looked in control on this occasion and the 5-2 chance came up the hill on his own to win by two lengths.

Nicholls said: “I’m thrilled with that. On ratings, he was entitled to win and we had him ready for today. He has improved so much for last season’s wind operation, as he was a disaster at the start.

“He’s always been quite a nice horse, but he was struggling with his breathing and never showed anything at home.

“But after his summer out he’s worked beautifully. He’s improved from last year and is an improving horse. Some of ours are needing their runs and I’ve not been in such a hurry with them. It’s all about their futures.

“This horse is in the Greatwood and at Ascot and we’ll look at races like the Betfair Hurdle later in the season. He’ll go novice chasing next year. He’s got to take on older horses in handicaps.”

Coral cut the winner from 16-1 into 12s for the Greatwood Hurdle next month.

Nicky Henderson’s Hyland (9-1) was given a patient ride by Nico de Boinville to win the Pertemps Network Qualifier.

Top weight Flight Deck made a very bold bid from the front on his first outing for Deborah Cole but Hyland joined him at the last and went on to win by two lengths. Judicial passed Flight Deck up the hill to claim second.

David Sumpter, spokesman for the winning Ten From Seven syndicate said: “We’ve had lots of winners, that is number 99, but it’s the first one here at Cheltenham for myself and I’m overwhelmed.

“The ground was getting too soft for him but Nico decided to stick to the inner and he handled it superbly. Ten From Seven have been going for 20 years and originally was made up for people from Seven Barrows.”

Hyland was given a 25-1 quote for the Pertemps Final by Paddy Power.

The Olly Murphy-trained Butch (3-1) made almost all the running in the William Hill Epic Weekend Free Bet Novices’ Hurdle.

Sean Bowen set off to make it a proper gallop but Keith Donoghue had bided his time on Antrim Coast and seemed to have delivered him perfectly after the last to hit the front deep inside the final furlong.

To Butch’s credit, however, he battled back and got back up to win by a neck.

Bowen said: “He was the only runner that had run over three miles and so I wanted to make the best of it.

“The horse gave everything and really stuck his head out. It’s not often they come back like that after being headed.”

Winning owner Max McNeil said: “The horse has proved he’s an out and out stayer, that’s why we wanted to make it a test, and Sean read the script well.

“This is a very good prospect but I’m also very excited about Inthewaterside at Aintree tomorrow.”

Ballymount Boy secured a deserved big-race victory with a determined display in the William Hill Prospect Stakes at Doncaster.

Adrian Keatley’s star juvenile pushed subsequent Middle Park hero Vandeek to a length in the Group Two Richmond Stakes at Goodwood in August and filled the runner-up spot again in the Group Three Acomb Stakes at York three weeks later.

A tilt at Group One glory in the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere at ParisLongchamp on Arc weekend did not work out, but he made the most of having his sights lowered to Listed company on Town Moor.

James Doyle’s mount was a 5-2 joint-favourite dropping back from seven to six furlongs and appeared at pains to play his cards as late as possible.

Alaskan Gold looked the likely winner after grabbing the lead inside the final furlong, but Ballymount Boy eventually reeled him in and was half a length to the good at the line.

Doyle said: “Adrian told me to try and get there fairly late, probably not quite that late but it worked out well in the end.

“We didn’t want him to fly the lid as he overraced in France the last day, so I tried to get him to break a bit steadier and we overdid it slightly, so it put us on the back foot.

“It gave us plenty of targets and there was a point I was going to come out and try and close, but then we would have had daylight for a good two and a half furlongs so I just thought I’d try and be brave and on this ground it can open up. It worked out nicely.

“What he’s doing this year is purely on ability. Even before I hit the front there, he pricked his ears and had a look about. I don’t think he’s fully wised up to what it’s all about, so hopefully when that comes next year, they’ll have a bit of fun with him.”

Keatley said: “We’re relieved more than pleased, just to get a win into him. It’s good to finish the year like that. He’s had a couple of hard races and it’s nice for the horse.

“He’s been on the go since the breeze-ups and he’s going to get a deserved break. Things didn’t work out running downhill into the bend in France but he’s a good horse.

“Hopefully we’ll have another good summer with him next year. We’ll start off at six furlongs, I hope he can start on a winning note in the spring and go on from there.”

Henry de Bromhead enjoyed a birthday double at Cheltenham when Dancing On My Own and Whacker Clan powered up the famous hill in front

De Bromhead, who was celebrating his 51st birthday, got the day off to the best possible start with the Rachael Blackmore-ridden Dancing On My Own in the Epic Value At William Hill Handicap Chase.

The race was still in the balance on the approach to the last as Gary Moore’s Haddex Des Obeaux, who had made every yard of the running, was still holding a slender lead when coming down at the final fence.

Having set a searching gallop, Haddex Des Obeaux had seen them all off bar the eventual winner and Nigel Twiston-Davies’ Guy, who were the only three in contention for the final half mile.

As Guy began to weaken up the hill and Haddex Des Obeaux came down, Dancing On My Own (14-1), the winner of Aintree’s Red Rum Chase in April, was left to come home alone. He had two lengths to spare over Triple Trade, with In Excelsis Deo and Notlongtillmay both making good progress for minor honours.

De Bromhead said: “Rachael gave him a super ride, she was brilliant on him.

“I was worried about his big weight and he was up 7lb for Aintree but I’m delighted with him, he jumped super.

“He’s funny, he just loves to go a good decent gallop the whole way, so the other horse going on suited him, and Rachael knows him better than anyone.

“Let’s see what the handicapper thinks, but he could come back for the Schloer maybe, we might need to look at conditions chases as he’s boxing up there.

“We haven’t managed to win the two-mile division (Queen Mother) but even with Energumene out, there are plenty of good horses in it.”

De Bromhead ran two in the Epic Jumps Season At William Hill Handicap Chase, with Blackmore on Amirite but it was the Darragh O’Keeffe-ridden Whacker Clan (12-1) who jumped his rivals into submission from the front.

He looked a sitting duck as Twig challenged over the last but pulled out more to win by three lengths.

“He’s a hardy fella and has just been progressing. A lot of plans were hatched for him in the Strand hotel at Dunmore East. It’s one of those pubs, and the syndicate members are very enthusiastic,” said De Bromhead.

“He might be a horse that could get into the Kim Muir but we need to back off him.”

Louise Foyle, one of the winning owners, said: “Henry’s our local trainer and we have three in syndicates with him. The Strand is our family business and we love a party. We’ve been coming for years, and it’s amazing to see our own horse win.”

Ancient Wisdom showed an abundance of spirit and stamina to land the Kameko Futurity Trophy Stakes at Doncaster.

Charlie Appleby’s charge made the running early on but was headed by Devil’s Point and Dancing Gemini when the pace quickened three furlongs out.

However, Ancient Wisdom got a second wind in the latter stages and galloped on strongly to outstay Devil’s Point by a length and three-quarters.

William Buick’s mount was sent off the 5-4 favourite, while God’s Window stayed on to finish a head behind Devil’s Point in third. Aidan O’Brien’s Diego Velazquez faded out of contention.

Ancient Wisdom, supplemented for the race on Monday, was cut to as short as 6-1 with Betfair and Paddy Power for next year’s Derby, while Coral offered 8-1 for him to win the Epsom Classic.

The start of the race was delayed by a nasty incident when Battle Cry reared up in the stalls and fell backwards, unseating jockey Ben Curtis in the process.

That forced the O’Brien-trained outsider to be withdrawn but both horse and jockey were thankfully able to walk away.