Eddie Jones earned himself the freedom of the English shires, in the unlikely event he should ever need or covet such a thing, after the Australian coach delivered the Six Nations rugby championship to England at the first time of asking. Jones’s team just about withstood a late and psychologically chilling Wales fightback to win 25-21 at Twickenham, before Scotland proved the unlikeliest of English allies by beating nearest challengers France 29-18 at Murrayfield the following day. England now find themselves travelling to France in the final round with a golden chance to secure what would be a first Grand Slam since 2003: “We’ll go to Paris confident,” said Jones. In the weekend’s other match, Ireland piled on the tries in a 58-15 thumping of wooden spoonists Italy.
Arsenal’s cup runs dry
English football continued to live up to its reputation for mediocrity-driven excitement, with Watford dumping holders Arsenal out of the FA Cup in the quarter-finals: “It is becoming a farce. We have lost a game. We are sad,” lamented Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger. Crystal Palace, Everton and either Manchester United or West Ham join Watford in the Cup’s last four. In the Premier League, Spurs stayed on the tail of leaders Leicester with a 2-0 win at Aston Villa, while relegation-threatened Newcastle finally sacked manager Steve McClaren and bet the farm on former Liverpool and Real Madrid coach Rafael Benítez keeping them up. In France, Paris St-Germain won their fourth straight league title in embarrassingly quick time with a 9-0 win over Troyes.
Ireland back to drawing board
Ireland’s cricketers – the subject of recent rumours of admission to the Test-playing fold of nations – suffered a setback by failing to qualify for the World T20 finals, which began in India this week. A shock defeat by Oman proved costly, as bad weather wrecked their subsequent qualifying matches against Bangladesh and the Netherlands. Pakistan’s involvement in the tournament, having been in doubt due to security fears, appeared to have been secured, though their group stage match with the hosts, scheduled for this weekend, was switched from Dharamsala to Kolkata.
Thomas wins Paris-Nice
Wales’s Geraint Thomas laid down an interesting marker for the new cycling road racing season, holding off Alberto Contador by four seconds to win the Paris-Nice on the Côte d’Azur. “It’s incredible to beat Contador. Man, he is one of the best stage racers ever … It’s the biggest win for sure of my whole career,” said Thomas. Victory puts him among the exalted company of Bradley Wiggins and Tom Simpson as the only Britons to have won the race. Australia’s Richie Porte finished third overall.
