The Rugby Football Union would slide into months of “rancour and disruption” should a rebel motion to oust chief executive Bill Sweeney pass on Thursday, interim chair Bill Beaumont has warned. A collective of clubs, led by those in the second-tier Championship, have forced a referendum on Sweeney’s leadership. They claim the organisation has lost … Read more

UAE Team Emirates-XRG’s Juan Ayuso leads the Volta a Catalunya after emerging victorious in a photo finish on stage three. The Spaniard took the first major mountain stage by the width of a tyre ahead of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe’s Primoz Roglic after the two pre-race favourites had burst clear of the peloton as the finish line … Read more

Wilkinson’s side opened their Nations League campaign with a 1-0 loss to Italy in Monza, but secured an impressive 1-1 draw with Sweden – who were ranked fifth in the world by Fifa – in Wrexham four days later to earn their first point of the group. Wilkinson has named an experienced squad with only … Read more

Paul O’Connell has been named Ireland’s interim head coach for the summer tour of Georgia and Portugal after Simon Easterby was appointed to the British and Irish Lions coaching team. Defence coach Easterby was given the Ireland interim head coach for the recent Six Nations because Andy Farrell is on a sabbatical from the role … Read more

The kind of mental fortitude, perhaps, that enabled Gourley to get up in front of his fellow athletes in Nanjing and deliver a rousing captain’s speech, after he was given the honour of leading the British delegation. “Leave some room for the extraordinary to happen,” Gourley said, when asked what he told his team-mates. “Don’t … Read more

The report has been produced after interviews with 64 stakeholders in the game, including current and former administrators, commercial and media partners and players such as Jos Buttler, Heather Knight and Australia captain Pat Cummins. It is critical of the sport’s global leadership and says the International Cricket Council (ICC) needs to be “modernised”. It … Read more

Although just the first of three T20s before three 50-over games and a four-day match, this is a promising victory for a young England side, especially given the turmoil around the senior XI. England are looking for a new coach and captain after Jon Lewis and Heather Knight were sacked following the humiliating 16-0 clean … Read more

He added: “It has taken me time to feel ready to share my diagnosis, and I have found it difficult not being completely open with people. “Personally, my passion and love for coaching is as strong as ever, I am focusing on keeping physically fit, which is key to slowing down the progression of Parkinson’s. … Read more

There were 15 seconds left on the clock when a 19-year-old college basketball player launched a 16-foot winning shot that would change sports marketing forever. Watching that day was marketing executive and grassroots promoter Sonny Vaccaro. He was so impressed by what he saw that two years later he would bet his job at sports … Read more

Ireland forward coach Paul O’Connell – a former Lions captain and three-times a tourist as a player – had been widely expected to take charge of the Lions pack. But with O’Connell out of the running, Farrell has turned to Dalziel. The former Glasgow coach will share forwards duties with Fogarty, with Easterby likely to … Read more