Still smarting from last autumn’s Rugby World Cup disappointment, the game’s northern hemisphere giants began the process of regrouping and rebuilding in an attritional first round of Six Nations action. Tournament co-favourites Ireland and Wales slugged it out in Dublin for a tense but thrillingly inconclusive 16-16 draw, while Eddie Jones’ new-look England – bearing a remarkable similarity to the old-look England – emerged 15-9 winners over Scotland in Edinburgh thanks to Jack Nowell’s second-half try. In Paris, France survived an almighty scare from Italy to emerge 23-21 winners, but only after the visitors’ captain, Sergio Parisse, saw what would have been a winning stoppage-time drop goal attempt sail agonisingly wide.
England rip up the stumps
England’s new death-or-glory brand of one-day cricket continued to dish up mostly the latter as Eoin Morgan’s side raced into a 2-0 lead in their series against South Africa. Jos Buttler enhanced his burgeoning reputation with two influential innings, the wicketkeeper-batsman’s week further improved by an Indian Premier League contract with Mumbai Indians worth around $550,000. That was small change, however, compared with the $1.4m lavished by Royal Challengers Bangalore on the grizzled Australian all-rounder Shane Watson, or the $1.3m trousered both by South Africa’s Chris Morris (Delhi Daredevils) and India’s Yuvraj Singh (Sunrisers Hyderabad). Meanwhile, New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum bowed out of one-day cricket by guiding his side to a 2-1 series win over Australia in Hamilton. McCullum will retire from all forms of cricket after the forthcoming Test series against the Australians.
Leicester outfox the pack
Leicester City sustained their welcome disruption of English football after a 3-1 victory at fellow title challengers Manchester City sent the Foxes five points clear at the top of the Premier League. “I love this spirit in this team,” said gleeful Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri. Others see mystical forces at play, the Sun newspaper claiming that the Foxes’ win ratio had risen to 65% since the former king of England Richard III’s bones were reburied inside Leicester cathedral. Tottenham, meanwhile, edged into second place with a 1-0 victory over Watford, their fourth win in a row.
Willett is Desert king
English golfer Danny Willett was the talk of the sand dunes, if not the town, after eclipsing several more fancied contenders to win the Dubai Desert Classic tournament. Willett coolly birdied the final hole to put himself into serious contention for the European team to defend the Ryder Cup later this year. “I’m ecstatic,” Willett said. “You can’t buy that feeling.” Although a $445,000 winner’s cheque may now put that theory to the test.
