Ollie Phillips: England’s next two matches can make or break their Rugby World Cup hopes November 22, 2018 England’s autumn has gone well so far, with a lot of the negativity surrounding Eddie Jones and the team dissipating, yet they have been fortunate and cracks have, for now, just been papered over. They were very lucky to edge out a South Africa team who pummelled them in the first half; downpours played into [...]
Southampton’s slump: where has it all gone wrong for the Premier League’s model club? November 22, 2018 “Sometimes you just need something to fly off somebody’s head, it flies past the keeper who can’t do anything about it and you’re off and running.” Mark Hughes is convinced Southampton aren’t far off turning things around. They just need some good fortune, some decisions to fall their way, some momentum. That is the stage [...]
Trevor Steven: England are burying their inferiority complex and Nations League success can accelerate the process November 20, 2018 As a footballing nation, England cannot expect to be winning every international tournament; all we can really ask is that the team is competitive – and we have achieved that now. Sunday’s victory over Croatia, which sent England into next year’s Nations League Finals, was further evidence of the development seen at the World Cup [...]
Sam Torrance: Sheer hard work earned Danny Willett a long overdue return to winning ways November 19, 2018 Five holes into the back nine at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai on Sunday and it was starting to look very dodgy for leader Danny Willett. The Englishman – winless since his Masters victory two and a half years ago – had bogeyed twice since the turn and was now just one shot [...]
Alex Rodriguez: Baseball is a thinking person’s game so it fits beautifully in London November 19, 2018 American sports are renowned for their scale and razzmatazz so it should perhaps be little surprise that Major League Baseball, in making a push for a slice of the British market, has sent its big hitters out to bat. For the first MLB games ever to be staged Europe, which will be held at the [...]
England break from past by learning from mistakes to overcome Croatia November 18, 2018 Among the many painful aspects of England’s failings over the last three decades has been the tendency of the most promising teams to repeat the same mistakes tournament after tournament. At both the 2004 European Championship and the 2006 World Cup, Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side departed on penalties to Portuguese opponents who, while gifted, outsmarted more [...]
Trevor Steven: Moving abroad is a risk but young English footballers can only benefit November 13, 2018 To understand why young English players are increasingly attracted to the prospect of joining teams in other European leagues you need only look at the case of Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The midfielder, 22, was part of the England squad that achieved their best World Cup finish in 28 years during the summer, yet back at Chelsea [...]
Chris Kermode interview: ATP Tour chief on the men’s tennis circuit’s rebranding, efforts to attract new audiences and the future of London’s ATP Finals host status November 13, 2018 The iceberg looming for men’s tennis is the shelf life of the superstar players who have virtually monopolised the game’s top prizes for the last decade – according to conventional wisdom, at least. Chris Kermode, president and executive chairman of the ATP Tour, has bigger worries, however. For Kermode, the greatest challenge facing the elite [...]
Sam Torrance: Tasty vintage Lee Westwood is playing as well as ever November 12, 2018 Lee Westwood swung as well as I have seen him swing for a long, long time on his way to a magnificent victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge at Sun City in South Africa on Sunday. The Englishman, 45, hadn’t won for four years but looked oustanding all week and some of the golf produced [...]
Manchester City brush off financial allegations with dominant derby win over Manchester United November 11, 2018 If last week’s Football Leaks reports suggested that Manchester City’s success owes as much to creativity in their accounting as in their attacking play, then the visit of Manchester United to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday could hardly have been better timed. Because for all of City’s alleged gaming of Financial Fair Play rules by [...]