A French-inspired Barbarians drubbed England with a seven-try showing at Twickenham to win 52-21 despite the dismissal of Will Skelton.
La Rochelle lock Skelton was sent off in the 37th minute after connecting with the head of Patrick Schickerling but the invitational side nevertheless dominated on Sunday.
Charles Ollivon crossed, with Damian Pernaud getting a brace and Baptiste Couilloud, Max Spring and Antoine Hastoy going over, while a penalty try was also awarded as Eddie Jones' team were easily dispatched.
Joe Cokanasiga, Jonny May and Marcus Smith scored for England but the latter missed all three conversions to cap off a sorry day.
With several experienced players in the squad, the showing will concern Jones ahead of England's tour of Australia, with the scoreline representing his biggest defeat as the team's coach.
However, he made it clear that the team utilised at Twickenham was not a true reflection of the squad he will select to take Down Under.
"It was a different sort of game, it's not England, it's an England select team," Jones told BBC Sport.
"We're disappointed we couldn't do more with our set-piece. We tried to get onto front foot but we didn't execute.
"This is not the England side. This was a warm-up game. We don't like to concede 50 points. We don't want that score.
"We tried to play differently, purposefully from our own 22. Thy had more combinations than we did."
In an interview with Amazon Prime, Jones added: "Obviously we are disappointed with the result.
"In terms of preparation for the tour, we tried a few different things and we weren't good enough but there are a few guys who played their first senior game and a few guys that played their first game for a few years.
"There is a big gap between club level and international rugby and some of the guys experienced that today and they will be better for it."
Greg Norman has accused the PGA Tour of "deafening hypocrisy" following the backlash to the LIV Golf Invitational Series.
Norman is the figurehead of the controversial, Saudi Arabia-backed breakaway competition, which started earlier in June with a tournament in London.
Critics have accused LIV Golf as being another method of sports washing from the Saudi regime.
Players that competed in the inaugural LIV Golf event have been suspended from the PGA Tour.
However, Norman has hit back and claimed the PGA Tour are showing hypocrisy, with the Australian citing sponsorship money that is raked in from Saudi Arabia.
"Look, if they want to look at it in prism, then why does the PGA Tour have 23 sponsors within the PGA Tour doing 40 plus billion dollars worth of business with Saudi Arabia?" he told Fox News.
"Why is it OK for the sponsors? Why is it OK that there's a Saudi sponsor, Aramco, the largest sponsor of women's golf in the world? Why is it OK for them? Why is it not OK for these players?
"Will [PGA Tour commissioner] Jay Monahan go to each and every one of those CEOs of the 23 companies that are investing into Saudi Arabia and suspend them and ban them? The hypocrisy in all this, it's so loud. It's deafening."
Norman added: "The European Tour since 2009, had a golf tournament, the Saudi International that's in existence since 2019.
"And during that Saudi International, there were PGA Tour players who were given rights and waivers to go play there.
"So to me, if golf is good for the world, golf is good for Saudi, and you're seeing that growth internally, it's extremely impressive."
Beatriz Haddad Maia claimed back-to-back WTA Tour titles after Zhang Shuai retired hurt in the Birmingham Classic final on Sunday.
Haddad Maia enjoyed a fine day, beating second seed and two-time major champion Simona Halep 6-3 2-6 6-4 in a rearranged semi-final (postponed from Saturday due to rain).
Zhang followed that up by battling past Halep's Romanian compatriot Sorana Cirstea 4-6 6-1 7-6 (7-5), setting up a second career match with Haddad Maia.
The Brazilian struggled in the opening stages, with Zhang racing into the lead before squandering an opportunity to go 3-0 up.
Haddad Maia soon recovered to level at 3-3 before Zhang was forced to retire with an apparent neck injury, with the Chinese player 5-4 down in the first set.
That handed the world number 32 her second straight title after success at the Nottingham Open last week, with Ons Jabeur and Iga Swiatek the only others to record multiple WTA Tour triumphs this year.
Haddad Maia also became the first Brazilian lift the trophy in the tournament's 40-year history, surpassing the previous best result by a player from Brazil when Gisele Miro made the second round in 1989.
Fabio Quartararo declared he is "riding better than ever" after a tyre choice gamble paid off at the German Grand Prix on Sunday.
Track temperatures exceeded 50 degrees at the Sachsenring, where Francesco Bagnaia started on pole, with reigning MotoGP world champion Quartararo one of just two riders to opt for the medium rear tyre.
The Frenchman's decision was rewarded as he overtook Bagnaia on Turn 1, with Quartararo leading for all 30 laps and winning the race by almost five seconds to extend his lead in the championship to 34 points.
Bagnaia crashed out on lap four, losing the rear end of his GP22 for his fourth abandonment of the season, and last year's runner-up now sits 91 points behind Quartararo.
While Bagnaia was left to rue his mistake, Quartararo admitted he was nervous about his tyre decision.
"I feel tired. I was sick all weekend and during the race I was coughing a bit," Quartararo told reporters.
"I have no words. We took a choice on the rear tyre, the medium, that was really risky and in the race we were lucky because it dropped much more than expected.
"But I'm super happy. A really, really special victory, it was a little bit like Barcelona.
"On Friday I was not so great, yesterday was much better and this morning, with the medium tyre I felt it was the correct choice.
"In the race the conditions were totally different and from the beginning I was scared because I was using the tyre a little bit more than expected to ride fast.
"The last five, six laps were a total disaster from the rear. But the feeling on the front was super good."
Yamaha's Quartararo picked up his third win of 2022, adding to victories at the Portuguese Grand Prix and Catalan Grand Prix, and the 23-year-old feels he is in the form of his life.
"Of course, I'm feeling better than ever every time I race," the defending world champion added.
"I'm learning and I feel like every time I find something. The focus here was to make 30 laps in front and being consistent was something difficult.
"Barcelona helped me a lot because I had a similar situation, but of course I'm feeling confident and I feel I'm riding better than ever."
Ons Jabeur won the Berlin Open to seal her third career title following Belinda Bencic's retirement in the second set.
The win sees Jabeur rise to a career-high of number three in the world as the Tunisian – who was winning 6-3 2-1 when Bencic succumbed to an ankle injury – capitalised on her top seed position for the tournament.
With Jabeur on serve to clinch the first set, Bencic rolled her ankle and required treatment in a three-minute medical timeout – with Jabeur swiftly nosing herself ahead on the restart with an ace.
Olympic gold medallist Bencic pushed to continue but came to the net to retire when trailing 2-1 in the second set, taking Jabeur's tally of wins in 2022 to 30, a total that is only bettered by world number one Iga Swiatek.
Victory marked Jabeur's second title of 2022, with the 27-year-old having previously won the Madrid Open.
Jabeur had plenty of support from the crowd throughout the tournament, and said: "I cannot forget how amazing the crowd is, Tunisians are amazing, thank you for coming. I hope I can come back next year, it's been great to come back to Berlin."
Bencic paid tribute to her opponent following the game, saying: "You deserve this title, I really don't want to take this moment away from you because I think you played incredible tennis.
"This is the best tennis of your life, so I hope you continue. You gave me a really hard time, maybe it was one serve too much for me. This is your moment so I want you to enjoy it and focus on your title."
Jabeur continues her Wimbledon preparations at Eastbourne next week, competing in both the singles and doubles event – she will play alongside Serena Williams – while Bencic will be hoping to recover in time to feature in the season's third grand slam.
Daniil Medvedev lost a second final in two weeks as he fell to a straight-sets defeat to Hubert Hurkacz at the Halle Open on Sunday.
The world number one struggled to get going and repeatedly took his anger out on coach Gilles Cervara, who stormed out of his seat early in the second set.
Top seed Medvedev had already lost the first set 6-1 by that point and only fared slightly better in the second, which ended 6-4 in Hurkacz's favour.
Hurkacz has now won five ATP Tour titles, with this his first on grass, while Medvedev remains stuck on 13 having lost all three finals he has competed in this season.
The most recent of those losses came at the hands of world number 106 Tim van Rijthoven last week, but Medvedev had not dropped a set en route to Sunday's clash in Halle.
Indeed, Medvedev was 14-2 on grass since a first-round exit at Halle last year, yet Hurkacz broke the Russian's first two service games and eased into a 5-0 lead.
Having successfully served out the opener, Hurkacz – who beat the same opponent in this year's Miami Masters – again broke Medvedev in the first game of the second set.
Medvedev took aim at his coach at that point, with Cervara then spotted leaving the stands and failing to return for the remaining nine games, which went the way of the serve.
After easily navigating his way past Medvedev in a match lasting just over an hour, fifth seed Hurkacz becomes the seventh male player in the Open Era to win his first five career finals.
Matteo Berrettini ramped up his Wimbledon preparations by securing his seventh ATP Tour title and fourth on grass as he won again at the Queen's Club Championships.
The Italian returned from injury in emphatic fashion at the Stuttgart Open, defeating Andy Murray in the final, before heading to Queen's ahead of the start of the third major of the year.
Berrettini had little trouble negotiating his way through to Sunday's showpiece, dropping just one set throughout the tournament to set up a meeting with Filip Krajinovic.
And despite having to battle in the first set, Berrettini triumphed 7-5 6-4 to retain the title he won last year.
The 26-year-old had an early break cancelled out by Krajinovic but got a crucial second break to take the first set.
A tentative opening followed in the second set, yet Berrettini's patience paid off when he broke in the fifth game and he was able to serve out the victory.
That signified Berrettini's ninth straight win, all on grass, after a three-month injury lay-off.
Berrettini is the first player in the Open Era to win titles in each of his first two appearances at Queen's, and is the eighth repeat champion at the tournament – the other seven players to have achieved that feat are all former world number ones.
"I arrived to Stuttgart, and I wasn't feeling great, I wasn't hitting the ball the way I want it that way I used to do, and I was like 'guys I think it's going be tough' and then it went pretty well," he said after the win," Berrettini said.
"I mean I guess I'm Italian, I'm always complaining!"
Berrettini has also advanced to the final in all four of his past grass-court events, with his only defeat coming against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon last year.
The world number 10 will now look to go one better this time around at The All England Club.
Zizou Bergs earned a wildcard for Wimbledon and a grand slam main draw debut by beating Jack Sock in the Ilkley Trophy final on Sunday.
Named after Zinedine Zidane – the France, Juventus and Real Madrid football great who goes by the nickname 'Zizou' – Belgian Bergs has established his sporting career in tennis.
Bergs, 23, is ranked a lowly 207th by the ATP and had to come through qualifying to play in the Ilkley event, a Challenger Tour tournament in Yorkshire.
Former world number eight Sock stood in his way in the final, but Bergs secured a 7-6 (9-7) 2-6 7-6 (8-6) victory over the American.
His father Koen Bergs wrote on Twitter: "Yesssssss. The tournament director announced during the ceremony the official reward of the WC for @Wimbledon main draw. History is made."
His triumphant son added on Instagram: "WIMBLEDON MAIN DRAW WILDCARD!! Whuuuutttt"
Bergs completes the list of men's singles wildcards, featuring alongside five British players plus Dutchman Tim van Rijthoven and Swiss three-time grand slam winner Stan Wawrinka.
Wimbledon begins on June 27 at the All England Club in south-west London.
Peter Sagan has seen his Tour de France preparations take a hit after testing positive for COVID-19 less than two weeks before the start of the race.
Seven-time Tour de France green jersey winner Sagan was forced to abandon the Tour de Suisse on Saturday due to a third positive coronavirus test in 18 months.
The Slovakian, who holds the record for the most points classification victories in the Tour de France (seven), took to Twitter to announce he had contracted the virus on Sunday.
"Yesterday, Saturday, after the finish of stage seven of the Tour de Suisse, I was given a COVID-19 test by the Team TotalEnergies doctor," he wrote.
"Unfortunately, it came out positive. I have no symptoms, and I feel well but I have to abandon the race. I thank you for your support and I will keep you posted."
Sagan becomes the latest name in a growing list of riders to contract the virus, with INEOS Grenadiers' Tom Pidcock and Bora-Hansgrohe's Aleksandr Vlasov also testing positive for COVID-19.
Vlasov was leading the Tour de Suisse at the time of his withdrawal, while Mikkel Bjerg – team-mate of two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar – withdrew from the Tour of Slovenia due to coronavirus.
Sagan will hope to recover in time for the start of the Tour de France in Copenhagen on July 1, having ended a 13-month winless drought with his sprint victory at stage three in Grenchen earlier this week.
Fabio Quartararo extended his MotoGP championship lead with victory at the German Grand Prix, where Francesco Bagnaia suffered yet more disappointment by crashing out.
Bagnaia had won twice in his past four races and set a scorching pace to claim pole at Sachsenring, but he was overtaken by Quartararo on Turn 1 and lasted three more laps.
In an attempt to reclaim first place from reigning world champion Quartararo, Bagnaia lost the rear end of his GP22 when coming through Turn 1 on lap four and left the track.
Bagnaia was unhurt physically, but his furious reaction said it all, with last year's runner-up now 91 points behind Quartararo and surely out of title contention for another year.
It was the fourth abandonment of the season for the Ducati rider, which is two more failures than he suffered throughout last year's 18-race campaign.
Adding to his victory at the Catalan Grand Prix last time out, Quartararo had no trouble in retaining his lead in Germany to move 34 points in front of Aleix Espargaro in the championship.
Monster Energy Yamaha's Quartararo is the first MotoGP rider other than Marc Marquez to win on this track since 2012, with the Spaniard missing this race due to injury.
Pramac Racing's Johann Zarco stayed safe in second place, 5.3 seconds behind the race winner, while Jack Miller did brilliantly to pip Espargaro to a place on the podium.
Luca Marini and Zarco's team-mate Jorge Martin completed the top six, with the latter returning to action after a period out following hand surgery.
Elsewhere, Maverick Vinales was forced to retire with 13 laps to go due to his rear ride-height device jamming. Joan Mir and Pol Espargaro were also among those not to finish.
TOP 10
1. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha)
2. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) +4.939s
3. Jack Miller (Ducati) +8.372s
4. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) +9.113s
5. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46) +11.679s
6. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) +13.164s
7. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) +15.405s
8. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini) +15.851s
9. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) +19.740s
10. Enea Bastianini (Gresini) +21.611s
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Riders
1. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) 172
2. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) 138
3. Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) 111
4. Enea Bastianini (Gresini) 100
5. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) 82
Teams
1. Monster Energy Yamaha 197
2. Aprilia Racing 184
3. Pramac Racing 172
4. Ducati 162
5. Red Bull KTM 146
Matt Fitzpatrick heads into the final round of the U.S. Open with a share of the lead and the confidence of a previous win in Brookline.
The 27-year-old, who recorded the best major result of his career last time out with a tie for fifth at the US PGA Championship, shot a 68 on Saturday to join Will Zalatoris on four under for the tournament.
Saturday's third round was a tricky one for most of the rest of the field, with only nine players now under par.
But Fitzpatrick knows exactly how to succeed at this course, having won the U.S. Amateur in Massachusetts in 2013.
He could now follow in the footsteps of the great Jack Nicklaus, who repeated his U.S. Amateur triumph at Pebble Beach in 1961 by winning the U.S. Open at the same course 11 years later.
"I certainly think it gives me an edge over the others," Fitzpatrick said, looking forward to Sunday's action. "I genuinely do believe that.
"It's a real, obviously positive moment in my career. It kind of kick-started me.
"To come back here and play so well again, it just gives me growing confidence round by round."
But Fitzpatrick knows he will not have it easy, with his experience of a tough final day at the US PGA – which he entered in second place – fresh in his mind.
"I think up until Southern Hills, I didn't really appreciate how hard it is actually to win a major," he said. "I've not challenged really up until then.
"I think, myself included, people on the outside maybe think it's easier than it is.
"You just have to look at Tiger [Woods]. He knocked off so many in such a quick span. That's why I think people think, 'oh, it's a piece of cake; it's like a regular Tour event'. But it's not.
"It brings a lot more to the mental aspect of the game than other regular events, and for me, I think it's been a big change from US PGA to come here to a golf course I know so well, and it's given me extra confidence."
Fitzpatrick might not get a better chance to land his first major win, and he accepts: "Would my career be incomplete if I didn't have one? Sure, yeah.
"I would be disappointed if I didn't, yeah. I genuinely would be disappointed if I didn't.
"I feel like certainly now these last two majors, I feel so much more comfortable out here. My game has changed for the better. I've given myself more chances.
"I definitely feel like I have much more of a chance now to win a major than I ever have done in my career, obviously."
Andrew Wiggins hopes to keep playing for the Golden State Warriors and keep "proving the doubters wrong".
Wiggins had a vital role in the Warriors' NBA Finals victory over the Boston Celtics.
It was the Warriors' fourth title in eight years but a first for Wiggins, who arrived from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a February 2020 trade.
The former first overall pick has faced plenty of questions in his NBA career so far, but he answered plenty of them against the Celtics.
Wiggins played more minutes than any other Warrior (235) and also led the way in rebounds (53) and blocks (nine) as he had a huge impact on the defensive end.
On offense, he trailed only Finals MVP Stephen Curry in points (18.3 per game) and made field goals (45), shooting 44.6 per cent.
"There was a lot of talk, people have something to say about every little thing, but now I'm happy that I made it here," Wiggins said.
"People didn't think I could ever be in this position or even be helpful on a championship team. But I'm proving the doubters wrong, and I'm going to keep it going."
And he plans to keep going on the Warriors, having been linked with trades almost since he arrived two years ago.
"I would love to stay here," said Wiggins, who will earn $33.6million next year before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
"Being here, this is top-notch. The way they treat the players... we're all one big family. I feel like a lot of places may say that, but [the Warriors] show it through their actions."
Tampa Bay Lightning captain Steven Stamkos was still coming to terms with a franchise record loss after the two-time defending champions were drubbed 7-0 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Colorado Avalanche.
Three days on from a close-fought Game 1 loss, the Florida outfit were soundly smashed at Ball Arena as they capitulated to leave an arduous path back to a third consecutive title.
After an overtime clash before that indicated a tight postseason battle for hockey's biggest prize, the Lightning were no match for the Avs, suffering their largest ever playoff defeat.
"Am I shocked that we lost seven-zip?" Stamkos stated. "I mean, I don't think we saw that coming.
"We have a game plan, and it's trying to neutralise their speed and their forecheck. And we've gotten away from it a little bit at times, and it cost us."
Stamkos in particular said the team owed an apology to goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy, who suffered a torrid night as the Avs ran rampant.
"We left him out to dry tonight," he added. "He's been our backbone for years and years and years. We owe it to him to have a better game next game. By no means is this on him tonight."
This was just the fifth instance of the defending Stanley Cup champions falling 2-0 behind in a Finals series, with only the 1966 Detroit Red Wings recovering to take the title again.
Meanwhile, the 1980 New York Islanders are the sole team to have allowed 11 or more goals through two games and still won the Finals.
But with two games back home to restore parity, the Lightning are adamant that they are not out of the picture yet.
"It takes a great team to realise the mistakes that we've made," Stamkos added. "And I have full confidence in this group that we'll have a much better effort.
"Listen, people are going to be watching this game tonight and probably think the series is over. But we're a very resilient group. We were in this position last round.
"So, whether it's 1-0 or 7-0 or 10-0, it's a loss in the playoffs. We've got to man up as a team. Let's get back home in front of our fans, and let's see what we're made of."
Defenseman Victor Hedman added: "At the end of day, we lost the game, not the series."
Mookie Betts is headed for the injured list with a cracked rib, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has revealed.
Outfielder Betts sustained the injury when he collided with Cody Bellinger in the first inning of Wednesday's 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
The five-time All-Star subsequently missed the first two games of the Dodgers' series against the Cleveland Guardians.
And after the second game, a 7-1 victory on Saturday, Roberts announced the results of an MRI, confirming Betts would be moved to the IL on Sunday with no return date specified.
"You're taking one of the best players in baseball out of the lineup," Roberts said.
"It's a big blow, but at least we know what we're dealing with, and we're going to get him back sooner rather than later."
Betts, the 2018 American League MVP while on the Boston Red Sox, is batting .273 this season with 17 home runs and 40 RBIs.
The Colorado Avalanche took complete control of the Stanley Cup Finals with a sensational 7-0 win in Game 2 that coach Jared Bednar considered almost flawless.
The Avs had beaten the two-time defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 in overtime in the series opener, but there were no such fine margins on Saturday.
Colorado put seven past Andrei Vasilevskiy, marking the fourth time this postseason they have scored seven in a game. Only the Edmonton Oilers (six games in both 1984 and 1985) have topped that feat.
This was also just the third instance in Finals history of a team winning by seven or more goals while registering a shutout, following the 1919 Seattle Metropolitans' 7-0 Game 1 win over the Montreal Canadiens and the 1991 Pittsburgh Penguins' clinching 8-0 Game 6 win over the Minnesota North Stars.
It was little surprise then that Bednar was left struggling to identify ways in which his dominant Avs team could improve.
"It was certainly as close to perfect of a game as you can get from your players," he said.
"Coming out of Game 1, we were dangerous offensively, but I thought there was another step for our group. We evaluated that, we showed them some things, and they did a nice job.
"And on the defensive side, we were way better tonight. It wasn't even close.
"I thought we made some big mistakes that led to goals against in Game 1. We got better in those areas, amongst others."
Goaltender Darcy Kuemper joined his team-mates in impressing, but he faced only 16 shots – the fewest the Lightning have generated in a playoff game this year.
"[We are] hungry on the defensive side of things, trying to win as many races as we can, as many battles as we can, getting above pucks and making it difficult," Bednar added.
"It's part of our identity and who we are. Our guys have been doing it all year, and they're continuing to do it. Tonight, they did it better than we usually do."
The New York Yankees extended their winning streak to nine games on Saturday, shutting the Toronto Blue Jays out 4-0 on the road.
Jameson Taillon was in impressive form on the mound for the Pinstripes against their divisional rivals, allowing only four hits and striking out eight and managing 14 first-pitch strikes out of 22 batters faced over 88 pitches.
Allowing all four runs and six hits in just over five innings for the Blue Jays, walking one and striking out five, Alek Manoah lost for the first time in 16 career home starts.
Aaron Hicks gave the Yankees important early momentum with a three-run drive off Manoah in the second inning, in an otherwise off night for the top of the batting order.
Improving to 49-16 for the season – leading the Blue Jays by 12 games in the American League East - the Yankees will next face Blue Jays left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who also ended their 11-game win streak in May.
Willson wins in Contreras match-up
Willson Contreras led the way for the Chicago Cubs against younger brother William and the Atlanta Braves, with the Cubs winning 6-3.
Both starting at catcher on Saturday, the two brothers embraced at home plate before Willson's first at-bat, in what was their first meeting in the major leagues. The older Contreras went on to claim three hits and a stolen base in the win.
Kyle Wright gave up a career-high 11 hits, a day after the Cubs snapped the Braves' 14-game winning streak, which broke their own sequence of 10 consecutive losses.
Freeman the fuel as Dodgers hit 40
Freddie Freeman had three hits and Trea Turner homered for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who secured a 7-1 victory over the Cleveland Guardians.
Julio Urias pitched solidly for the Dodgers, giving up only two hits and two walks while striking out six over 87 pitches in six innings to secure his first win since May.
The Dodgers became the fifth team to reach 40 wins for the year, taking a lead of half a game in the National League West over the San Diego Padres.
Red Bull's Sergio Perez conceded it was driver error that forced his crash in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, which will see him start from a lowly 13th on Sunday's race in Montreal.
Perez, who sits second in the driver's standings behind team-mate Max Verstappen, put his Red Bull into the wall at turn three during Q2 on Saturday, forcing out the red flag and ending his hopes of a front-row finish.
Verstappen handled the wet conditions best, meanwhile, finishing almost seven tenths of a second quicker than Fernando Alonso, who qualified second in his Alpine.
After a disappointing qualifying finish, Perez claimed Sunday's race will be about damage limitation from his standpoint.
"I did a mistake from my side, so I'm very sorry for my team," Perez told Sky Sports F1 post-qualifying. "I let them down unfortunately, but I'm going to already be thinking on tomorrow, and hopefully I'm able to recover and get into strong points.
"I wasn't struggling with the brakes, I think they were on the cold side. I had a lock-up into turn 10 the lap before. I flat-spotted them, and it probably meant that I was a bit out of shape and going into turn three I just became a passenger. As soon as I touched the brake, it was a bit too much.
"It can be tricky and difficult, but it was just a mistake from my side. Tomorrow I will just try to minimise the damage and just attack from lap one onwards, and see where we end up."
On the other hand, Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer cited driver quality as the reason Alonso was able to qualify in second amid tricky conditions.
Both Alpine cars progressed to Q3, with Esteban Ocon also finishing in seventh but he was out-qualified by nearly two seconds by Alonso, who was without fear in the wet.
"We've had good pace here all weekend," Szafnauer told Sky Sports F1. "We had decent pace in Baku too, so we keep working on the car, but Fernando's experience and skill shone through today, and put it on the front row.
"He's always been really, really good at adapting very quickly, so he's always on the pace very quickly. When you have changeable conditions, that ability to adapt quickly shines through."
Scottie Scheffler is enjoying the tricky conditions at this year's U.S. Open, sitting two strokes from co-leaders Will Zalatoris and Matthew Fitzpatrick heading into Sunday's final round.
Despite a strong start, the world number one could only manage a one-over 71 at The Country Club on Saturday, finishing on two-under after 54 holes.
In windy and overcast conditions, only seven players posted scores under par on moving day in Brookline, with nine under par for the tournament after three rounds.
After his round on Saturday, Scheffler was far from bemoaning the difficulties he or the field has faced, insisting it is why he is playing the tournament.
"I think the U.S. Open is very taxing, mentally and physically," he said. "I think that's all part of what this makes this tournament so fun. You're going to get tested all different kinds of ways, whether it be physically, mentally, whatever it is. This golf tournament is going to test you.
"That's why I show up here. I think that's kind of the fun of it. If every golf tournament was like this, it would be in for a long season for all of us. A few times a year I think it's a ton of fun."
After a spectacular eagle on the par-five eighth to go three-under over the front nine, the conditions bit Scheffler hard, posting a double bogey and then three consecutive bogeys between 11 and 14.
A birdie on the 17th was followed up with a massive par save on the final hole after finding the bunker, and the usually stoic 25-year-old let out a rare show of emotion, triumphantly pumping his fist after a tough one-putt.
"It was good because I hit my second shot, and I hit it exactly where I wanted to," Scheffler said. "It got gusted, and it came up short. Where we thought the ball was going to end up was right on top of the bunker where I had no stance.
"So, a hole in which I really thought after a good shot on the second round I was going to walk away with five, to get out of there with four was definitely a big boost.
"I knew how hard the putt was, and that's why I was so frustrated because I had a chance to get it somewhat close, and I didn't hit a great shot."
While seven of the top 12 players heading into Saturday’s third round at the U.S. Open made at least one double bogey in strong wind and cool temperatures, Rory McIlroy was not among them.
The 2011 U.S. Open champion and four-time major winner made just one birdie in his score of three-over 73 on moving day at Brookline, but his putter provided salvation late.
He was able to keep himself within striking distance with a string of par saves, to sit three shots back from co-leaders Will Zalatoris and Matthew Fitzpatrick heading into the final round on Sunday at The Country Club.
"It was one of the toughest days on a golf course I’ve had in a long time,” McIlroy said afterwards.
"I just needed to grind it out, and I did on the back nine. To play that back nine at even par today was a really good effort, I thought. Just kept myself in the tournament. That's all I was trying to do. Just keep hanging around.
"I had some really good putts for pars coming in, 13, 15, great up-and-down on 16, good putt on 17. Then was really fortunate at the last to get that drop from the grandstand and be able to hit it on the green from there."
With only nine players under par for the tournament, blustery and overcast conditions provided palpable difficulty on Saturday.
"I know guys aren’t going to go out there and shoot the lights out," McIlroy said. "I mean, 67 from Will out there today is unbelievable. Such a good score. 68 from Fitz as well.
"I certainly thought I was going to be a few shots further back than I was at the end of the day, but Jon [Rahm] struggled there coming in.
"Even though it was such a tough day and feel like I battled well and whatever, to still only be three back going into tomorrow is a good thing for me."
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