Sport

Fit-again John Cooney has returned for Ulster’s United Rugby Championship game against Munster on Friday (19:35 GMT), while academy fly-half Jack Murphy could make his debut off the bench. Ireland Under-20 international Murphy, the son of head coach Richie Murphy, joined the Ulster academy from Leinster earlier this year. The 20-year-old started all five of Ireland’s games in this year’s …

The Friedkin Group has completed its majority takeover of Everton, ending the turbulent tenure of Farhad Moshiri. The deal is believed to be worth in excess of £400m and the Toffees become the 10th club in the Premier League under majority American ownership. The group reached an agreement with Moshiri on 23 September and were awaiting regulatory approval, with the …

Christian Kist hit a nine-darter but lost his PDC World Championship first-round match to Madars Razma. The Dutchman became the first player to seal a perfect leg in the tournament since Michael Smith did so on the way to beating Michael van Gerwen in the 2023 final. Kist, the 2012 BDO world champion at Lakeside, collects £60,000 for the feat, …

Eleven games. Eleven starts. Ten goals. Alessia Russo is reaping the rewards of hard work under Arsenal interim boss Renee Slegers and her fine form continued in the Gunners’ final game before the winter break. The 25-year-old scored Arsenal’s second goal in Wednesday’s 3-2 comeback win against Bayern Munich that sealed top spot in their Women’s Champions League group. It …

Lowry says that Ulster’s first-half performance against Bordeaux was “the best 40 minutes” the side have played all season. Richie Murphy’s side led by five points at half-time but their French opponents, who are second in the Top 14 behind all-conquering Toulouse, roared back in the final quarter to seal a convincing win. “Unfortunately the second half wasn’t as good …

Sergio Perez is to leave Red Bull two years before the end of his contract after reaching a termination agreement with the team. The move comes after a weak season for the Mexican, who failed to win a race and finished on the podium only four times as team-mate Max Verstappen won his fourth world title. Perez, who has essentially …

Blumberg has also revealed more about the circumstances surrounding Flanagan’s sudden departure, which was said to have been a mutual decision. Blumberg said Flanagan “wanted a decision on his future” and had “applied a bit of pressure around what would happen for him”. “That almost made it a decision that had to be made quickly rather than wait for a …

The financial meltdown of London Irish, Wasps and Worcester has left the taxpayer out of pocket by more than £30m in unrecovered Covid loans. The three Premiership clubs went out of business during the 2022-2023 campaign after taking £41.6m in contingency funding from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to cover the loss of revenue from matches and …

Batter Billy Root has signed a new deal to stay at Glamorgan for the 2025 season. The 32-year-old has become a mainstay since joining the club in 2019, helping them win the Metro Bank One Day Cup in 2021 and 2024. Root has scored 3,326 first class runs, as well as 1,217 in list A and 357 in T20 cricket. …

This result was always likely with only 131.2 overs possible across the first three days – even more so when India’s last-wicket pair of Bumrah and Akash Deep dramatically avoided the follow-on late on day four. India’s innings was finally ended when Deep was stumped off Travis Head for 31 five overs into the final day, but no play further …