Sport

This is not the first time that New Zealand’s aura of invincibility has started to fade. Heading into their home World Cup in 2022 they were defeated four times in a row – twice by England and twice by France. What followed was a 16-match winning run and a home World Cup triumph in front of a then record-breaking crowd …

Canada: Taylor Perry; Fancy Bermudez, Shoshanah Seumanutafa, Alex Tessier, Alysha Corrigan; Claire Gallagher, Justine Pelletier; Brittany Kassil, Emily Tuttosi, Alex Ellis; Tyson Beukeboom, Courtney Holtkamp; Pamphinette Buisa, Caroline Crossley, Gabrielle Senft. Replacements: Sara Cline, McKinley Hunt, Rori Wood, Laetitia Royer, Fabiola Forteza, Julia Omokhuale, Olivia Apps, Julia Schell. Ireland: Stacey Flood; Eimear Considine, Eve Higgins, Enya Breen (capt), Amee-Leigh Murphy …

Coverage of the WXV 1 match between Canada and Ireland.

Mateo Kovacic found his scoring boots to get Manchester City back to winning ways, as boss Pep Guardiola joked it was a “copy and paste” job of Rodri. Rodri, City’s key defensive midfielder, is basically irreplaceable. But since his season-ending ACL injury, Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan are playing as a double pivot. Such is City’s style of play that both …

Brentford head coach Thomas Frank says his side scoring another early goal is “remarkable” after they beat Wolves 5-3 in the Premier League.

Scotland’s hopes of retaining their WXV2 title were boosted by a hard-fought win over Japan in Cape Town. First-half tries from Francesca McGhie and Alex Stewart put the Scots in control, but Seina Saito’s score kept Japan in touch at the break. Ayasa Otsuka’s penalty then brought Japan to within four points of Bryan Easson’s side, but Rhona Lloyd strolled …

Linfield say they “will investigate further” an incident at the end of Friday’s Irish Premiership derby at Windsor Park when “an individual was removed from the ground” after Glentoran’s Fuad Sule alleged that he was racially abused by a spectator. In a statement on his X account, external, Sule said that he was aware that emotions ran high in matches …

England captain Ben Stokes is out of the first Test against Pakistan after failing to recover from a hamstring injury in time to feature. Stokes, 33, has not played since the beginning of August, but England said 10 days ago he was “on track” to participate in this tour. The all-rounder mainly trained apart from the rest of the squad …

Former lightweight world champion Anthony Crolla: “I think Ball has a strong claim to being the best active fighter in Britain right now. His draw against Rey Vargas should have been a win and he beat a world-class fighter in Raymond Ford. “Ball is on a roll and has been superbly promoted. I see him being a little bit too …

Farke admitted he had never experienced such an incident in his 30 years in football, with such a defining mistake coming with effectively the last touch of the match. The Leeds boss suggested captain Pascal Struijk had seen the ball bounce unkindly in front of his goalkeeper, causing Meslier to let it spin past him. But Farke could not definitively …