Sorry About The Wait

Just a quick one to let all you followers of this blog know that i am very sorry for the lack of posts in the last week or so. I have been having real trouble with my internet and have therefore not been able to post. I will get back to posting straight away.

Stunning Haye Batters Barrett

David Haye announced his arrival in the heavyweight division with a stunning fifth-round knockout of Monte Barrett.

The Briton, fighting for the first time since moving up from cruiserweight, had his American rival on the canvas four times before finishing the job.

The Londoner was knocked down himself at the start of round five before a lethal combination ended the fight.

Haye now hopes to challenge either Wladimir or Vitali Klitschko for one of their world titles early next year.

Vitali was ringside to watch Haye demolish veteran Barrett, and the manner of the victory would have given the Ukrainian food for thought ahead of a possible fight next year.

Haye, who now holds a record of 22-1 (21 KO), was delighted with his win, insisting Barrett has been a dangerous opponent.

"He’s a quick heavyweight, but my speed told," said Haye. "He definitely came to win and put me down with a good shot.

"I expected to get knocked down and I did. That’s what you’re going to get with me in the heavyweight division. I might get down but I’ll get back up and I’ll do what I have to do.

"I wasn’t out of breath, my power felt great. Without having to boil down the make weight, every shot I threw felt harder than ever and I felt faster than I did at cruiserweight."

But Haye admitted Barrett had given him a few pointers about life in the heavyweight division.
"His shots felt a lot harder," said the Englishman. "Even his jab was the equivalent of a cruiserweight’s right hand, and that’s something I’ve got to get comfortable with."

Haye's trainer said there was plenty for his man to work on.

"He didn’t stick to his game-plan," said Adam Booth. "Monte managed to draw him into a slugging match. Get into slugging matches and he’ll lose his sharpness, David has to use his feet.

"All fighters have to stand and trade at times, but the fewer times you do it, the better it is for your health."

Barrett looked nervous before the fight had even begun, tripping on his way into the ring, while Haye looked composed and calm despite stepping into the relative unknown.

Haye had not fought since demolishing Welsh cruiserweight Enzo Maccarinelli inside two rounds in March, while the last time he fought at heavyweight was in 2007.

But the 28-year-old imposed himself on the fight from the first bell, catching Barrett with a fine left hook.

Two right jabs before the end of the round tested the chin of the American again.

The second round was relatively quiet, with neither boxer landing clean shots, but the fight exploded into life in the third.

Haye, whose hand speed was starting to test Barrett, floored his 37-year-old rival with a thunderous left hook.

Barrett climbed off the canvas but was again floored, this time with a right, but again he beat the count. As Haye went in to finish the job, the American was saved by the bell.

The fourth round was almost a carbon copy of the third, with Haye knocking down Barrett again with a decent left hook.

Soon after, a right uppercut looked to have finished the fight only for the bell to come to his opponent's rescue again.

There was controversy at the start of the fifth round when Haye was hit while on the floor after being knocked down himself.

An increasingly reckless and desperate Barrett was deducted a point following the incident.
But the contest was soon over as Haye put together a lethal right-left combination that floored Barrett for the fifth and final time.

Referee Richie Davies began the count but gave up at three, waving the fight off much to the delight of the crowd at the O2 Arena.

On the undercard, British light-middleweight champion Ryan Rhodes beat South African Vincent Vuma to take the WBC International title.

The 31-year-old from Sheffield won the fight convincingly with scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 116-113 in his favour as he moves closer to a WBC world title shot.

Campbell wins historic gold medal

Luke Campbell became England's first European amateur champion for 47 years after beating Detelin Dalakliev.

The 21-year-old bantamweight from Hull claimed the victory on countback after the bout ended 5-5.

Campbell had been leading by a point with only two seconds left before the Bulgarian brought the scores level.

But Campbell claimed the victory having thrown more punches than his opponent during a thrilling encounter in Liverpool on Saturday.

Campbell was the only member of a young British team to make it through to a final.

Many of the GB Olympic team, including gold-medallist James DeGale, opted to miss the tournament while considering whether to turn professional.

The last Englishman to win a European amateur title was Frankie Taylor who triumphed in Belgrade in 1961.

Ireland picked up three bronze medals at the championships.

Ireland And Scotland Both Lose

Ireland's hopes of claiming a historic first ever win over the All Blacks were dashed as the visitors won easily at despite not being at the best.

The home team had several lucky escapes before Dan Carter kicked the opening penalty at Croke Park although Ronan O'Gara levelled on 38 minutes.

New Zealand notched a penalty try in first-half injury time when Tommy Bowe deliberately palmed into touch.

Ma'a Nonu and Brad Thorn added tries as New Zealand took complete control.

Ireland had a scare in the opening minute when Jimmy Cowan charged down Ronan O'Gara's attempted clearance but Rob Kearney got back to avert the danger.

The Irish had another let off in the fourth minute when Dan Carter missed a straightforward penalty and the home side claimed a vital turnover two minutes later after Mils Muliaina had stormed through midfield.

New Zealand were coming at the home side in waves and Luke Fitzgerald made a vital tackle as Muliaina charged towards the line in the eighth minute.

Despite the All Blacks pressure, the Irish somehow reached the 20th minute without conceding any points as the home side finally began to make forays into opposition territory.

David Wallace's break cheered the home fans - with Tommy Bowe failing to hold the pass - after the Munster flanker had beaten three attempted tackles.

Carter missed a glorious chance to put New Zealand ahead on 24 minutes from straight in front of the posts but the fly-half finally did open the scoring two minutes later, from a similar position.

The fly-half's opposite number Ronan O'Gara was having a nervous opening half with a couple of errant kicks while the Irish line-out was also under pressure.

O'Gara regrouped admirably two minutes before the break to land an equalising penalty after Alan Quinlan had been fortunate to not see the award reversed when he raked his studs on Rodney So'oialo's back.

But the Irish suffered a massive blow in first-half injury time when referee Mark Lawrence awarded the All Blacks a penalty try, which led to Tommy Bowe being sin-binned.

The Ospreys winger raced to intercept a dangerous chip with McCaw also charging in and, according to the referee, palming the ball out of touch illegally inches short of the try line.

It was a huge call but on balance, looked the correct one.

New Zealand lost their man advantage two minutes into the second half when prop Tony Woodcock was yellow carded for a punch on Rory Best.

However, the All Blacks were turning the screw and Ali Williams charged over the Irish line after some sloppy home tackling on 45 minutes only to be held up by some desperate tackling.

Within five minutes the game was over after Ma'a Nonu and Brad Thorn had run in two tries, as gaping holes started to show up in the Irish defence.

Nonu's own superb flat pass to the charging Joe Rokocoko set up the 47th-minute try with the centre taking the return before touching down.

Carter added the extras to put New Zealand 17-3 ahead and more agony was piled on with Thorn's 53rd-minute score after a looping Sitiveni Sivivatu pass, with lone final defender Tommy Bowe left hopelessly outnumbered.

Ireland had numbers out wide in the 57th minute but Marcus Horan delivered the pass hopelessly into touch, which summed up the misfiring home team.

New Zealand squandered further chances in the closing minutes and the sad reality for Ireland was that the All Blacks had not played anything like their best.

By the end, the 75,000 crowd, and maybe the home players as well, were wondering how they had convinced themselves during the week that Ireland's barren run might be about to end.

Scotland came close to beating the world champions but were made to pay for missed penalties in a hard-fought encounter at Murrayfield.

Nathan Hines scored the Scots' first home try in 14 months just before the break, adding to Phil Godman's earlier penalty after two Dan Parks misses.

The Springboks hit back with a sweeping move finished off by Jaque Fourie.

Ruan Pienaar added nine points with the boot, but Scotland spurned a scoring opportunity in the final two minutes.

Camped deep inside South Africa's 22m, the Scots continued to recycle the ball, but the visitors' resolute defence held firm against the onslaught.

Godman had just spurned a glorious opportunity to cut the deficit to one point - his second penalty miss of the game - as Scotland pushed for the all-important score.

The defeat means Scotland, ranked ninth, cannot now climb back into the top eight of the International Rugby Board's world rankings before the 2011 World Cup draw is made on 1 December, meaning they will be in a group with two top-eight teams.

But despite the result, Scotland coach Frank Hadden can take heart from the way his side matched the Springboks for long periods.

Murray's Masters Dream Over

Andy Murray's brilliant season came to an end as Nikolay Davydenko beat him 7-5 6-2 in the Masters Cup semi-finals.

The Briton was visibly tired after Friday's epic victory over Roger Federer and Davydenko made him pay, breaking in game 12 for the first set.

The Russian continued to batter Murray from the baseline and the Scot succumbed as Davydenko secured the double break to wrap up the match.

Davydenko will face Novak Djokovic, who beat Gilles Simon, in Sunday's final.

It brings to and end a stellar season for Murray, who has risen from 11th to fourth in the world rankings, won his first two Masters Series titles, reached a first Grand Slam final at the US Open, and was playing in the season-ending Masters Cup for the first time.

And he had no second thoughts about giving everything to beat Federer on Friday, despite having already qualified for the last four.

"I beat probably the best player of all time, I have no regrets about doing that," he said. "To beat him means a similar amount to winning a tournament like this.

"Ideally I would have liked to have beaten him easier and given myself a slightly better chance to prepare for this match. But I don't like losing, so I'm not going to.

"I'm proud that I gave 110%. I think other players might not have taken that option, but I'm happy that I did."

Murray was unbeaten in his three group matches in Shanghai and was on course to scoop the $1.34m prize for going through the week undefeated.

Davydenko was an obstacle too far, however, the Russian's punishing baseline game proving a nightmare as Murray returned to court just 19 hours after his three-hour marathon with Federer.

The Briton looked tired from the outset and Davydenko broke straight away, converting his fourth break point of the opening game with a backhand volley.

Murray showed immediately that he was up for the fight, floating a chipped return onto the baseline to force an error on break point in the following game.

Davydenko remained the dominant force, missing two more break points in game three, but Murray had a half-chance when leading 4-3 and 0-30, with Russian on second serve.

A tired return over the baseline left Murray fuming, however, and Davydenko escaped before getting the decisive breakthrough at 5-5.

Murray appeared to have saved a break point with a serve down the middle but Hawkeye proved otherwise, and in the replayed point the Scot suffered with a net cord.

Davydenko served out the set confidently enough with an ace and a backhand winner and took charge of the second set, breaking in games five and seven of the as Murray finally wilted.

"I don't want to try to make excuses. He played much better than me," said Murray.

"In the circumstances, naturally I was going to be tired. I did the best that I could with what I had. I just felt a little bit tired.

"He's a tough guy to play against if you're not feeling like you can chase every ball down.

"He doesn't miss a whole lot. He takes the ball so early. I thought he played really, really well, and I couldn't get much going because he was making me do a lot of running."

Davydenko said: "I was lucky Murray beat Federer yesterday, but I played very well today and won.

"He wanted to show he was the best player by beating Federer so maybe he was really tired."
In Saturday's first semi-final, Simon took the first set against a below-par Djokovic but the Frenchman faded after being treated for a neck injury early in the second set.

Djokovic himself had the trainer on in the final set, for a calf injury and a long-standing breathing problem, but the Serb held on for a 4-6 6-3 7-5 win in two hours 51 minutes.

"It's a huge success for me to reach the final," said the 21-year-old, who lost all of his matches without winning a set on his Masters Cup debut last year.

"It would be great if I can end up with the title. I didn't have such a great last couple of months of the season."

England 14-28 Australia

Australia illustrated the size of the challenge facing Martin Johnson as they inflicted the first defeat of the new England manager's reign at Twickenham.

Fly-half Matt Giteau punished the hosts with six penalties, Stirling Mortlock adding another long-range one.

England trailed 12-11 at the interval after a Delon Armitage drop-goal and close-range try from Nick Easter.

Danny Cipriani landed two penalties in a mixed display but Australia sealed victory with Adam Ashley-Cooper's try.

It was just reward for a composed display from the Wallabies, superbly guided by fly-half Giteau, who overshadowed his England counterpart Cipriani.

The visitors also admirably buried the ghosts of Twickenham 2005 and Marseille 2007, gaining parity up front and even winning a scrum penalty in the second half.

Much of the build-up was dominated by the anticipated advantage that England might enjoy at the set-piece, but the first engagement between the two front rows in the opening minute was a mess.

South African referee Marius Jonker ordered it to be re-set twice before awarding Australia a free-kick at the third scrum.

England started poorly, a series of unforced errors handing the Wallabies a 6-0 lead in as many minutes.

Tom Rees was penalised for going off his feet at a ruck, Giteau landing the penalty, while Lee Mears threw a risky long line-out for Danny Care, and Armitage put a nervous kick out on the full.

When captain Steve Borthwick was caught offside running straight through a line-out, Giteau duly doubled the visitors' lead.

If that was bad enough for the watching Johnson, the sight of Giteau motoring onto an overthrown line-out and into wide open spaces would hardly have brightened the England manager's mood.

Fortunately for the hosts, Giteau's pass was knocked on by skipper Stirling Mortlock.

Cipriani missed his first shot at goal when George Smith was penalised at the breakdown, but the 21-year-old fly-half brought the crowd to their feet with a tantalising glimpse of his talent.

Spotting two Australian forwards ahead of him, Cipriani surged between them and then left Luke Burgess on his behind before releasing Riki Flutey.

Flutey was snared but the ball was moved left to Lee Mears, only for Giteau to force the hooker into touch in the left corner.

England's first points came instead from an unlikely source, Armitage sizing up his options before landing a speculative drop-goal from 35m.

But the hosts' indiscipline continued to undermine them, Vickery's hand in a ruck gifting Giteau another penalty before the fly-half made it 12-3 when England strayed offside trying to repel waves of Australian attacks.

The red rose pack found some momentum as the first half drew to a close, their tight forwards finally making some inroads.

Prop Andrew Sheridan was unable to ground the ball after a superb last-ditch tackle from Burgess, before Mears was again denied after an offload from Matt Stevens - temporarily on for Sheridan.

But when the ball was recycled, Borthwick drove Easter over from a metre out.

Cipriani was again off target with the conversion, but his penalty a minute before the break, and a missed attempt from Giteau, left England only a point adrift at the interval.

Cipriani's mixed afternoon continued on the resumption though, another scintillating break between two Wallaby forwards preceding a horrible missed drop-goal from barely 15m that Jonny Wilkinson would have landed in his sleep.

He then missed another from further out, but England had already been awarded a penalty and this time the youngster was on target to put England in front for the first time at 14-12.

But Care's charged-down kick immediately put them on the back foot again, Cipriani scrambling back to avert a potential Australian try after Nathan Sharpe's punt ahead to the line.

The change in scrum fortunes was illustrated when prop Al Baxter, a victim against England in the past, won a penalty from Sheridan at the set-piece, which Giteau landed to regain the lead.

His sixth successful kick at goal swiftly followed, and when Mortlock's monster penalty from just inside the England half drifted over in the 65th minute, Australia were in command at 21-14 up.

A welter of England replacements had arrived either side of the hour mark to try to stem the green-and-gold tide.

But the Wallabies effectively sealed victory 12 minutes from time when Giteau, Ryan Cross and Mortlock combined to send Ashley-Cooper in for a swallow-dive at the right corner.

Giteau landed the extras from wide out to put the seal on a polished individual performance.

England Out Of Rugby League World Cup!

England's World Cup campaign ended after another error-strewn performance in their semi-final with New Zealand.

Tony Smith's side trailed 16-0 midway through the first half thanks to tries from Sam Perrett, Lance Hohaia and Jerome Ropati before fighting back.

But despite two touchdowns for Danny McGuire, England were always chasing the game at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium.
They closed to within six points late in the match, but Benji Marshall's score gave New Zealand a deserved win.

As anticipated, England coach Smith started with Ade Gardner on the right wing despite leaving the St Helens man out of his initial 19-man squad earlier in the week.

Rob Purdham and Ben Westwood kept their place amongst the forwards and McGuire partnered Rob Burrow at half-back.

Leon Pryce dropped to a bench that also featured Adrian Morley, Jon Wilkin and Mickey Higham. But there was no place in the squad for Leeds Rhinos skipper Kevin Sinfield.

Having got off to a flyer last against the Kiwis a week ago before blowing a 24-8 lead, England made a shocking start this time around.

With just 21 minutes gone, they were 16-0 down.

New Zealand looked dangerous going forward but England did not help themselves with a series of unforced and embarrassing errors.

Perrett was the first man to capitalise, going over wide on the right after 10 minutes, before Hohaia and then Ropati extended the lead.

England looked all at sea and showed no sign of turning things around - that's until Smith decided to make three replacements all at once, bringing on Morley, Wilkin and Higham.

Morley's presence had a telling impact on the game, which eventually turned England's way with 29 minutes gone, when skipper Jamie Peacock bulldozed his way to the line after good play by Gareth Ellis and Burrow.

Then, with time running out at the end of the half, Purdham took the Kiwis by surprise by kicking on the first tackle, McGuire outsprinting the opposition defence to collect the ball and crash over.

England suffered a big blow in the first seven minutes of the second half, with key second rower Ellis forced off with a chest injury.

And it went from bad to worse when Bronson Harrison cut through the England defence to give the Kiwis a 12-point advantage again.

Pryce went to full-back on the restart, with Paul Wellens leaving the field. And it was Pryce who provided the pass for Martin Gleeson to breathe fresh life into England's challenge with a try.

The Warrington centre held off two tacklers to stretch for the line wide out on the right, with Burrow slotting a wonderful conversion to bring the gap down to six again.

Tempers frayed on 63 minutes when Hohaia threw the ball into the head of Wilkin after England had been penalised for not releasing in the tackle after the referee had called held.

The two men tried to square up, with Wilkin flicking a hand in Hohaia's face, but were quickly divided by players from both sides.

England's defensive woes then struck again to gift-wrap the Kiwis their fifth try of the match.
McGuire could not get two hands to Nathan Fien's high kick and Gardner failed to pick up the ball cleanly, allowing Ropati to flop down for the easiest of scores.

The match looked beyond England, but they struck back with seven minutes to go when McGuire jinked his way to the line, going over just to the right of the posts.

But despite pressurising the Kiwi line, Stephen Kearney's side had the final say when Marshall pounced to touch down in the left corner and book a meeting with either Australia or Fiji.

Dismal England Thrashed By India

Yuvraj Singh's century and an England batting collapse saw the tourists thrashed by India in the first of seven one-day internationals in Rajkot.

Virender Sehwag (85) and Gautam Gambhir (51) gave India a fine start before Yuvraj hit 138 not out off 78 balls.

Replying to India's 387-5, England fell to 38-4 with Zaheer Khan taking (3-26).

Captain Kevin Pietersen (63) tried to haul his side back into the match but was run out and the tourists were soon dismissed for 229, a loss by 158 runs.

Ravi Bopara weighed in with an impressive 54 not out featuring five sixes but that will be of little consolation to England who, on this evidence, will struggle to work their way back into the series.
The teams travel to Indore for the second ODI on Monday with India, fresh from their Test series win against Australia, in scintillating form with both bat and ball.

Pietersen would have been delighted to win the toss on wicket with a decent covering of grass which he must have thought might offer the seam bowlers some early bounce and movement.
He was to be sorely disappointed as the wicket proved flat. James Anderson and Stuart Broad probed away in search of early wickets, but in Sehwag and Gambhir the tourists were faced with world cricket's in-form first-wicket partnership.

Sehwag was particularly fluent, exploiting the devilishly quick outfield by working anything short, full or into the legs for a flurry of early boundaries.

Gambhir soon burst into life and the pair dispatched every loose delivery, their running between the wickets was exemplary.

Paul Collingwood saw Sehwag bludgeon his first two deliveries over mid-off and midwicket for sixes but that over, which went for 19 runs, was a sign of things to come.

England did their best to respond. Flintoff was unfortunate to see an lbw appeal against Sehwag rejected by umpire Russell Tiffin before Samit Patel had Gambhir taken by Owais Shah at long-off.

Patel also had Sehwag caught brilliantly by a diving Ian Bell at midwicket but that brought Yuvraj to the crease and the fireworks duly began.

The 26-year-old, who hit a Broad over for six maximums during the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, was suffering from a back injury but it appeared to have anything but a detrimental affect on his batting.

After Suresh Raina had belted Broad over midwicket and Pietersen over long-on for sixes, Yuvraj smashed Flintoff and Harmison for huge sixes over long-on.

Raina fell for 43 when he sliced a Flintoff full toss to Collingwood at backward point and, four balls later, Yusuf Pathan pulled Harmison weakly to Bell at midwicket.

There would, however, be no let-up for England and Yuvraj hit Broad for a flat six over cover-point and pulled the next ball for four.

With Mahendra Dhoni helping to keep the run-rate at over seven per over, Yuvraj was able to relax and the 44th over, bowled by Patel, went for 17 including two fours and yet another enormous six.

The bowling became erratic and Dhoni lifted Anderson over long-off for six before Yuvraj, aided by a runner because of a back complaint, completed the quickest one-day century by anyone against England.

The left-hander played some remarkable shots, none more so than when chipping a virtual yorker from Flintoff straight down the ground for six, with no follow-through at all.

Dhoni played across the line and was clean bowled by Harmison but the misery would continue for England as Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma took 18 runs off the 49th over.

When Pietersen's men finally trudged back to their dressing-room, they had conceded the most runs ever by an England team in ODIs, and it was the highest ever total in India. Yuvraj had 16 fours and six sixes to his name.

When England began their chase, Ian Bell made a fairly confident start but Matt Prior never looked comfortable and it came as little surprise when he edged Munaf Patel to Sehwag at slip in the fourth over.

Sehwag was again on hand when Zaheer Khan squared up Shah, induced a thick outside edge and reduced England to 17-2.

A tentative and defensive Pietersen did his best to steady the innings but runs were slow in coming and he soon lost Bell, who flashed wildly at Zaheer and edged behind.

Flintoff showed that conditions were still favourable, taking advantage of the quick outfield by punching Zaheer past cover-point for four.

But, the very next ball, England's talismanic all-rounder was also heading back to the pavilion, the victim of a poor decision by Tiffin when trapped by a Zaheer delivery that pitched outside the line of leg-stump.

There was no mistaking the dismissal of Collingwood, who made a nervy 19 before fishing outside off stump and presenting wicketkeeper Dhoni with another straightforward take.

Pietersen crashed Pathan over long-on for two sixes and was ably supported by Patel, who lifted Sehwag for two maximums of his own.

But India regained their concentration and removed both players, Patel stumped off the bowling of Harbhajan Singh and Pietersen run out by Sharma after Bopara took a single that was not there to be taken.

Bopara and Broad put on a spirited 45-run stand but Broad, who was dropped by Sehwag at slip off Harbhajan went for one slog too many and hit Sehwag to Gambhir at long-on.

Harmison was run out and then Anderson trapped leg-before to confirm England's fate. But before that happened, Bopara had just managed to score enough runs to ensure England would avoid their heaviest ever defeat by a runs margin in ODIs.

England In India- First ODI Preview

Seamer Stuart Broad has been passed fit and named in England's team to face India in the first of seven one-day internationals in Rajkot on Friday.

Broad came through a fitness test on Thursday after missing Tuesday's final warm-up match with a sore knee.

Ryan Sidebottom has already been ruled out with an Achilles problem but James Anderson plays instead of Graeme Swann, with Samit Patel the only spinner.

Essex all-rounder Ravi Bopara has been included ahead of Sussex's Luke Wright.
Captain Kevin Pietersen said the selection was based on the performance of the wicket in recent matches and the current conditions at the Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground.

Bopara, who has yet to bowl on tour, is recalled for the first time since the opening one-day international against South Africa in August, while Wright's omission brings to an end a run of 14 consecutive ODIs.

"Ravi has earned his recall," said Pietersen. "He's been on the sidelines for a lot of the cricket we've played for the last however long.

"I'm a big Ravi Bopara fan on these wickets and we wanted to give him a go - I think he's so exciting.

"He's a very quick learner, he wants to learn and he's also willing to ask questions. He's really impressed me in the short term I've been captain and also when I've played alongside him as a player."

India pace bowler Ishant Sharma is ruled out for the hosts because of an ankle injury, so RP Singh is expected to take his place in the side.

Ishant aggravated the problem during the 2-0 Test series win over Australia, in which he took 15 wickets to win the man-of-the-series award, and has been advised to rest for five days.

England flew north to Rajkot on Wednesday, no doubt keen to forget the 124-run thrashing they suffered against an inexperienced Mumbai XI on Tuesday.

"No-one likes getting beat," coach Peter Moores told BBC Sport. "It has to be taken as a wake-up call. Physically and effort-wise, everyone's working very hard, but mentally maybe we didn't put ourselves in the right place.

"We've got to do that before Friday. Let's hope we've learned our lesson and we can produce."

Pietersen added: "Maybe there was an assumption that somebody would get a partnership and we'd go on and do it and it didn't happen. The lesson there is that we should take nothing for granted."

England will be relieved to have Broad, who is ranked the world's fifth best bowler in one-day internationals, available, especially after Sidebottom was ruled out.

"Ryan's a chance for the second ODI but we are conscious of not releasing him into competitive cricket too early," Moores added.

India are on a high after beating Australia 2-0 in a recent Test series, but their one-day squad includes eight players who did not play against Ricky Ponting's men.

Star batsman Sachin Tendulkar has been rested for the first three matches after his recent performances against Australia, and Moores said: "For us, it's a bit of a bonus, but they've got a lot of good depth of talent."

England lost 5-1 on their last visit to India in 2006 but Moores said: "The boys are very excited about taking on India.

"They got heavily beaten last time here and want to show how much they've matured as a team.
"Indian cricket is on the up. That will make it tough but also quite exciting. We haven't played a massive amount of competitive cricket over the last seven weeks, so we've got to get ourselves mentally ready to play."

A punishing schedule for England takes in seven one-dayers, each at a different venue.
"I think we are ready and up for the challenge," said Moores. "We are looking to get off to a good start, put some pressure on India and build some confidence."

India captain Mahendra Dhoni said his side would be ready for the demands of one-day cricket, despite only having three days of rest after their Test series against Australia.

"It doesn't matter if there's no gap between series, you have to be able to switch from a Test series to a one-day series and back again," he said.

"One of the good things about the India squad is that half this squad doesn't play in the Tests so they are still fresh."

Only five players from the final Test in Nagpur are likely to play - Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Murali Vijay.

As well as Tendulkar, fellow veterans Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman have all been left out of the squad as India look to build towards the 2011 World Cup.
Promising batsmen Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina are all hoping to make their mark while all-rounder Yusuf Pathan and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha are also highly rated after strong displays in the India Premier League.

India are unbeaten in home one-day series against England since 1984-5, and won the last series 5-1 in 2006, but England beat them in England in 2007.

England team: Kevin Pietersen (capt), Ian Bell, Matt Prior, Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Flintoff, Samit Patel, Stuart Broad, Steve Harmison, James Anderson.

Last Nights Carling Cup And Scottish Premier Results

Here are last nights football results from the Carling Cup and Scottish Premier League. The biggest result was Burnley's surprise penalty win over Chelsea.

Carling Cup

Chelsea 1-1 Burnley (Burnley win 5-4 on penalties)
Sunderland 1-2 Blackburn
Tottenham 4-2 Liverpool

Clydesdale Bank Premier League

Celtic 3-0 Kilmarnock
Dundee Utd 2-0 Hibernian
Hearts 1-0 Hamilton
Inverness CT 1-1 Falkirk
Motherwell 0-0 Rangers

Brighton also played Swindon in the Jonstone's Paints trophy last night and won 2-0.

Murray Into Masters Semis

Andy Murray secured his place in the semi-finals of the Masters Cup after easing to victory over Gilles Simon.

Murray raced into a 4-0 lead and, although the Frenchman hit back, he held on to take the first set.

Simon started the second set well but the British number one was soon back into his stride to seal a 6-4 6-2 win.

Roger Federer kept his hopes of making the last four alive after beating Radek Stepanek - a late replacement for the injured Andy Roddick - 7-6 (7-4) 6-4.

Defending champion Federer, who arrived in China nursing a back injury, triumphed despite suffering from a stomach bug.

Roddick pulled out of the tournament with an ankle injury so Stepanek, the world number 27 from the Czech Republic, became the second stand-in to play in Shanghai after Simon replaced Rafael Nadal.

Simon beat Federer in his first game but found Murray a different proposition, although the Scot did not have things all his own way.

Despite a strong start that saw him break Simon twice in the first four games, a number of unforced errors allowed Murray's opponent back into the first set and his own serve began to wobble.

Murray missed an easy overhead on game-point when he was serving to go 5-1 up and was eventually broken, then needed to dig deep to save three break-points in his next service game.

The start of the second set was just as close with Murray again riding his luck on serve as Simon continued to improve.

But the Frenchman was still unable to take his opportunities and instead it was Murray who struck - breaking twice in quick succession as mistakes began to creep into Simon's game.

In the end it was a comfortable win for Murray, who can relax ahead of his match with Federer knowing he is already into the last four.

"The first two matches were really important," Murray told BBC Sport. "I did not want to go into the final day having to play Federer to qualify.

"I have played really well so far and I have a chance to win the competition. I would have signed up for that at the start of the year, that is for sure."

Murray was noticeably sharper than he was against Roddick and feels he is in good shape to continue his progress.

"My first match really helped," he explained. "I'd been falling asleep around 8pm in the evenings most days and that match started at that time. I felt tired, and my legs were very heavy after some long rallies but today I felt absolutely perfect.

"I have got a lot of confidence just now and I want to try to keep it going. I have got a great record indoors and I really like these courts."

Serbia's Novak Djokovic became the first player to book his semis place on Tuesday after beating Nikolay Davydenko in three sets in the Gold Group, and Murray has definitely joined him.

Federer needed a win over Stepanek otherwise he would have been out of contention before meeting Murray in his final match on Friday.

On paper it seemed an easier task for the Swiss star than overcoming Roddick but he had to work hard to take the first set on a tie-break.

Stepanek also pressed him hard in the second before folding at the end - losing the match thanks to a double-fault which saw him drop his serve to love.

Federer revealed afterwards that he had been ill since Monday evening, explaining: "I guess I got really lucky that the match was scheduled late. Then that Andy pulled out made it a little bit more lucky.

"And then Radek is not playing with his own racquets, so that made it a little bit more lucky again," he said.

"At the end of the day I still have a chance. I hope with a day of recovery, I'll make a miracle happen here and get through into the semis."

A victory for Murray on Friday would eliminate Federer and he says he will not lack motivation against the top seed.

"I'm sure the tournament director would rather I didnt want to win that one," Murray laughed.
"But I think any time you play against Federer, who is probably the greatest player of all time, it is probably a bit disrespectful to not try to win.

"I will give it my best shot. There is a lot of pressure on him to win that match and I will just try to do my best.

"Maybe I will feel too relaxed and I won't play my best because there is not that much pressure on me but, in terms of actually wanting to win the match, not too many people beat three top ten players in the world and go through their group stage in the Masters Cup without losing and I would love to do that."

Carling Cup Results- 11/11/08

There were four Carling Cup matches tonight including one all Premiership tie between Arsenal and Wigan. Here are the results in full.

Arsenal 3-0 Wigan Athletic- Arsenal- Simpson 2, Vela

Manchester United 1-0 Queens Park Rangers- Manchester United- Tevez

Derby County 2-1 Leeds United- Derby County- Villa, Ellington, Leeds United- Becchio

Stoke City 2-0 Rotheram- Stoke City- Whelan, Pugh

Swansea City 0-1 Watford- Watford- Williamson

Their was also one game in Coca Cola League 1 tonight in which Leicster beat Yeovil 1-0 to go to the top of the table.

Finally Aberdeen beat St Mirren 2-0 at home in the Scottish Premier League tonight.

England Collapse To Heavy Defeat

England crashed to a humiliating defeat as they were bowled out for just 98 in their final warm-up match ahead of the seven-match one-day series in India.

The batsmen were unable to cope against a side made up mainly of club players, losing by a massive 124 runs.

That was after the Mumbai President's XI, asked to bat first, made 222-7.

England lost their first five batsmen inside 12 overs, and seamer Kshemal Waingankar - with just one previous first-class cap - claimed five wickets.

Stuart Broad had a sore knee and was pulled out of the match as a precaution, and with Ryan Sidebottom (Achilles) still recovering it meant the tourists had only three fit specialist pacemen in the side.

But the problems were all with the bat - and there will be obvious concerns for England with the first one-day international of seven looming large in Rajkot on Friday.

It is, after all, only 10 days since they were skittled for 99 by the Stanford Superstars in Antigua.
But in Mumbai on Sunday - at the same Brabourne Stadium where they batted so poorly in Tuesday's defeat - Andrew Flintoff's century had taken them to 297-4 and an easy victory.

Warikshire batsman Ian Bell had looked in good touch when scoring 58 in that emphatic victory over the Mumbai Cricket Association.

But he lasted just two overs on Tuesday, hanging his bat outside off-stump almost in practice at a cut shot - and edging the ball behind.

Wicketkeeper Matt Prior suffered his second successive failure of the tour in the next over when he was given out lbw to seamer Rajesh Verma, from a delivery which kept low.

Waingankar then claimed the key wicket of Kevin Pietersen, who advanced down the wicket trying to whip the ball through mid-wicket but was hit on the pad - and the umpire upheld the lbw appeal.

Samit Patel, promoted to number five, was fortunate to survive another lbw appeal two balls later as he tried to rescue England in partnership with Paul Collingwood.

Their stand lasted only five overs, however, when Collingwood advanced to Verma and drove straight to mid-on to leave England in disarray.

Patel lasted a further three overs before also falling, this time edging Waingankar to second slip as the England collapse continued.

Flintoff lasted just one over before edging behind, and Ravi Bopara fell in similar circumstances - while Luke Wright became Waingankar's fifth victim when he played on, pushing forward defensively.

The dismissal of Steve Harmison left the scoreboard on 64-9 - whereupon Graeme Swann (24 not out) and James Anderson (20) showed there was little wrong with the pitch, putting on 34 for the last wicket in the most profitable stand of the innings.

England had done well enough with the ball, keeping the hosts to 222-7 off their 50 overs with Harmison taking 2-38. Patel also took two wickets but proved more expensive.

Having elected to rest batsman Owais Shah, England won the toss and Anderson - who impressed with 3-15 in the first match - took the first wicket.

They struggled to break a stubborn second-wicket stand worth 82 between Sushant Marathe (65) and Paul Valthaty (44), but three wickets then fell to the spinners and England seemed to be on top.

That impression continued despite the late intervention of Shoaib Shaikh, who hit two sixes off Patel and another off Collingwood, en route to 37 off 35 balls.

Irish Hopes End

Ireland's Rugby League World Cup dream came to an end with a comprehensive defeat to Fiji in their semi-final qualifier.

The Irish were well in the game at half-time, trailing 12-10 after tries by Damien Blanch and Scott Grix.

But the Fijians were far too strong after the break when a sustained period of pressure put them in control.

They scored three more tries through Jason Bukuya, Jarryd Hayne and Akuila Uate, his second, to seal a semi-final meeting with Australia on Sunday.

Fiji got off to the perfect start after two minutes when Simon Finnigan charged down Aaron Groom's kick but Groom got possession back and captain Wes Naiqama ran wide to score and add the extras.

But Ireland's response was swift as some neat play across the line allowed winger Blanch to break down the right and cross for his fourth try of the tournament, converted by Pat Richards.

Full-back Michael Platt had to be alert to put in a try-saving tackle on Groom and Richards missed a chance to put Ireland ahead when he missed a penalty from 40 metres out.

But on the half-hour they found themselves behind when Fiji winger Uate ran from right to left across the Irish defensive line, a stylish left-foot step taking him through a gap to score, and Naiqama made it 12-6 with the kick.

Ireland gave themselves hope just before the break when they were gifted possession 20m out when Semi Tadulala failed to cope with Karl Fitzpatrick's kick and knocked on.

Ryan Tandy and Finnigan got Andy Kelly's side closer to the line, allowing captain Grix the chance to cross, but Richards hit the upright with the goal attempt to leave Ireland two points down at the break.

Fiji started the second half strongly when James Storer went over but the try was disallowed by the video referee.

But the weight of possession was well in Fiji's favour and they forced a number of back-to-back sets to put pressure on Ireland.

It was no surprise when they eventually forced their way over through loose forward Bukuya and Naiqama's goal made it 18-10.

A Naiqama penalty extended Fiji's lead to 10 points and Ireland were struggling to make an impact and get any useful possession as Fiji controlled matters.

Ireland started to look tired and after 65 minutes, Groom capitalised with a pin-point grubber kick which was touched down by Hayne.

Fiji controlled matters thereafter to make sure of the win, Uate scoring his second try five minutes from time.

But Ireland had the final say with Blanch scoring his second try of the game from Lee Doran's offload to bring the curtain down on a superb tournament for the Irish.

Murray wins on Masters Cup debut

Andy Murray got off to a winning start at his first Masters Cup by defeating Andy Roddick in three sets in Shanghai.

The British number one came through 6-4 1-6 6-1 against the American in the season-ending event for the world's top eight players.

Murray still has round-robin matches to come against Frenchman Gilles Simon and world number two Roger Federer.

Simon caused a major shock by beating defending champion Federer 4-6 6-4 6-3 in the opening match in the Red Group.

The top two will go through to the last four, along with two from the Gold Group of Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Juan Martin del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Murray began in imperious fashion against Roddick, winning his first service game with three aces and a backhand winner before earning the first break with a cross-court forehand pass in game five.

The Scot served magnificently as he eased through the set without facing a break point, and a fifth win in eight meetings with Roddick looked inevitable.

But while Roddick is not the daunting opponent he once was, he remains a fighter, staving off a break point at the start of the second set to stay in the contest.

It proved vital because Murray then suffered an alarming slump, hitting two double faults in the next game as he dropped serve before appearing to conserve his energy for the decider as the set raced away from him.

Murray was breathing heavily as the third set began but his focus had returned.
In game two, Roddick saved two break points with an ace and a volley but could do nothing about a searing Murray backhand return on the third.

The Briton secured another break in game four, setting it up with a beautiful return at the feet of the incoming Roddick, before eventually serving out for a victory that leaves him well placed to reach the semi-finals.

Asked how he was feeling afterwards, Murray said: "Not great. He made it difficult and made me do a lot of running.

"It's tough to get over the jet lag. I've been going to bed at this time and hopefully I'll be better for the next match."

Briton Wilson Just Misses Out

Sergio Garcia moved up to second in golf's world rankings with victory over Oliver Wilson in a play-off at the HSBC Champions tournament in China.

Rain washed out Friday's play in Shanghai so players completed their final rounds on Monday, Garcia moving level with Wilson at 14-under.

The Spaniard holed a birdie putt on the 18th, the only play-off hole, to win after Wilson missed his attempt.

"Second is not good enough any more," reflected the disappointed Englishman.

Wilson had taken a one-shot lead into the final day, but a closing round of 70 saw him finish level with Garcia, who forced the play-off by sinking a five-foot birdie on 18 to finish with a four-under 68.

On the second play-off hole Wilson's approach shot almost hit the pin, before spinning back to rest 10 feet short of the hole.

But his birdie effort just slipped past the hole and he slumped to his knees, resting his head on the end of his putter in frustration.

Garcia drained his long birdie putt to win the £3.2m event, leaving Wilson disappointed to have missed out.

"I hit a great putt. I can't believe it missed," he said.

"Sergio played great and didn't really miss a shot. So congratulations for him. But obviously I am disappointed.

"There was a time when I was pleased to be finishing there [in second place], and it's gone. It's about time I took my chance."

Wilson, who finished the 2008 European Tour Order of Merit in 11th place, was attempting to win his first European tour event. This is the eighth time he has finished second.

He was a surprise success in the Ryder Cup this year, playing alongside Garcia in the European team, and a second-place finish in Shanghai still sees him collect £350,000. Garcia picked up £530,000.

Victory for Garcia, his third in 2008 following wins in the Players Championship and Castellon Masters, was enough to displace Phil Mickelson and move behind Tiger Woods in the world rankings.

"I'm just so proud to win and get to number two in the world," said an elated Garcia.
"I'm very happy. It's a great week. The last seven months have been very, very positive since my win at the Players."

Garcia added he felt capable of knocking Tiger Woods off the top spot in the rankings.

"If I play the way I'm playing, I probably can," he said. "[But] you've got to realise that when we talk about Tiger, we're looking at the kind of player you don't see very often in history.

"At least I've never been this close to number one and it's exciting to be there."

Defending champion Mickelson struggled to a 73 on Monday and finished tied for eighth in the tournament, five strokes behind the leaders.

Peter Hanson of Sweden (66) and Geoff Ogilvy of Australia (70) finished a stroke off the lead, while Swede Henrik Stenson (71) was three behind.

The Shanghai event was the first of the 2009 European tour season, which will end next November in the Dubai World Championship.

The European tour has also rebranded the Order of Merit - the season money title - and now calls it the Race to Dubai.

That tournament will have a £6.3m purse with the same amount of cash available in bonus money.

Premiership Team Of The Week- Clarkey

There have been some great performances this week so my team was extremely hard to pick but here it is.

..................Jasskalainen..................

Da Silva.......Lescott.......Arbeloa.....

Nasri....Murphy.....Collinson.....Tuncay...

.....Saha............Bent...........Anelka.....

Premiership Team Of The Week- Sam

After some great games this weekend such as Arsenal vs Man Utd this is my team of the week:


-----------Jaaskelainen-----------

-Arbeloa--Gallas--Lescott--Da Silva-

------Nasri--Lampard--Tuncay-----

-------Keane--Anelka--Bent--------

Premiership Game Of The Week

Full Highlights of Arsenal's 2-1 win over Manchester United on saturday:

Sunday's Football Results

Here Sunday's football results from England and Scotland. There were games from the Barclays Premiership, Scottish Premier League, Coca Cola Championship and Fa Cup.

Fulahm 2-1 Newcastle

Aston Villa 1-2 Middlesbrough
Blackburn 0-2 Chelsea
Man City 1-2 Tottenham

AFC Hornchurch 0-1 Peterborough
Havant and W 1-3 Brentford
Team Bath 0-1 Forest Green

Swansea 3-1 Watford

Kilmarnock 0-4 Rangers

Robson Wins First Senior Title

British teenager Laura Robson won her first senior title when she defeated compatriot Samantha Vickers at the LTA women's event in Sunderland.

Robson, 14, beat the 17-year-old Vickers 6-3 6-2 in Sunday's final.

The International Tennis Federation-sanctioned event is the lowest level in women's tennis, with a total prize fund of US$10,000.

The Junior Wimbledon champion made her WTA Tour debut last month, losing to world number 42 Iveta Benesova.

The wildcard in Luxembourg saw Robson become the youngest Briton to play in a main tour event and earned her a first world ranking of 550, which had slipped to 559 before her win in Sunderland.

Robson had previously played three events on the second tier of professional tennis in the wake of her stunning victory at the All England Club in July.

She made her debut on the ITF circuit in France in September and then beat three opponents to reach the semi-finals in Shrewsbury, before losing to Germany's Angelique Kerber in the first round in Barnstaple.

Her run in Sunderland began with a 6-3 6-3 win over 16-year-old compatriot Stephanie Cornish, followed by a 6-3 6-3 defeat of 23-year-old Croatian Matea Mezak.

Robson then beat 20-year-old Romanian Laura-Ioana Andrei 6-7 (7-9) 6-4 7-5 in the quarter-finals, and 16-year-old fellow Briton Tara Moore 6-3 6-3 in the last four.

Flintoff ton sets up England win

Andrew Flintoff struck an unbeaten 100 as England beat the Mumbai Cricket Association by 122 runs in the first warm-up match of their tour of India.

Flintoff's first English hundred since the fourth Test of the 2005 Ashes came from 85 balls and contained three sixes and 12 fours, but he was dropped twice.

He helped the tourists add 112 in the final 12 overs of this 12-a-side match as England made an impressive 297-4.

England used eight different bowlers and James Anderson took three wickets.

There was no toss in this unusual fixture, in which scorers for media outlets were not
permitted. It was agreed that England would bat first, and they might have lost Matt Prior without scoring in the second over.

The wicketkeeper got an inside edge to seamer Prashant Bhoir, but Mumbai CA wicketkeeper Sufiyan Shaikh could not snare the chance and it raced away for four.

Prior pulled a more conventional boundary through mid-wicket but soon lost his middle-stump, before Ian Bell and Owais Shah overcame a hesitant start and shared 78.

Anderson boosted his confidence with three wickets Bell was stumped for 58 after charging down the pitch to off-spinner Vikrant Yelgeti.

Kevin Pietersen also fell to spin, caught behind for six off slow left-armer Nilesh Kulkarni, but Shah made a run-a-ball 83 before mis-timing to mid-wicket with five overs remaining.

Flintoff took advantage of reprieves on seven and 25, reaching three figures in the final over with a six.

One of his powerfully hit strokes caught Sinha on the shoulder and ended the spinner's part in the proceedings.

Flintoff then took an early catch at second slip as Anderson enhanced his claims for a place in Friday's opening one-day international, having been left out of the team for the ill-fated Stanford Super Series finale.

Spinner Samit Patel struck twice and Flintoff's ever-reliable bowling saw him also in the wickets column in the closing stages.

"We'll play against better teams on this tour, obviously, but a hundred is a hundred and I've not scored one for ages so I'll take it," Flintoff said.

"I enjoyed it because I feel comfortable about the way I'm playing. One of the things about my batting is that it does take a while. I've not played for a while and I'm finding my rhythm but I'm getting there.

"I'm not daft, though, and I know it's a starting point. We're going to be playing against the likes of Harbhajan (Singh) and (Ishant) Sharma in just over a week's time - this was fine but it's not always going to be like that."

Classy Calzaghe Demilishes Jones!

For the second fight in succession Joe Calzaghe recovered from a first round knockdown to beat a legend, on this occasion comfortably outpointing Roy Jones Jr at Madison Square Garden in what he suggests will be his last fight.

The Pride of Wales won the fight on all three scorecards 118-109 and there can be few complaints with the scoring. Though an argument could be made for the second round, from the third onwards Calzaghe bossed the fight, comfortably holding on to his Ring Magazine light heavyweight title.

The Newbridge fighter came out for the first round throwing with great volume but landing only sporadically. Jones comfortably kept him out of range before catching him with a flush left hook then a follow-up straight right hand.

Calzaghe seemed more hurt than when put to the canvas by Hopkins in his last fight but his powers of recovery and chin stood the test of time again.

Jones had some success once again in the second round with Calzaghe, for the second fight in succession, being a sucker for a straight right hand early in the fight. That said, Calzaghe was finding more success against Jones albeit with many shots blocked by the 39-year-old's arms.
The third round saw Calzaghe showboating like a mid-90s Roy Jones, at times leaving his chin exposed inches from his opponent who threw next to nothing back.

The Welshman would return to this throughout the fight knowing he could take such a liberty with the fighter at this stage of his career. When not preening, Calzaghe threw his trademark flash punches with little coming back the other way.

At the end of the sixth, a round where Jones began to look visibly tired, Calzaghe supporters had their last real moment of worry as the American landed with a beautiful right uppercut which to his credit the Welshman took very well.

This was to be the last we would see Jones as an attacking force in the fight. In the seventh round Calzaghe opened a nasty cut over the former heavyweight champion with a straight left hand, after which the challenger showed little attacking intent.

The cut got uglier as the fight went on. If it had been a lesser renowned fighter in an undercard fight, it is unlikely that he would have been allowed to continue.

From this point on it was largely a procession for Calzaghe. Jones showed heart to stay in the fight to the end, despite the wishes of members of his family at ringside that he be pulled out, along with defensive skills to avoid being hit flush often.

That said, Calzaghe did not go looking for the stoppage in the same way he did against Jeff Lacy for example, and in the last round, especially, it seemed out of respect for his opponent he did not go looking for powerful punches, contenting himself to go through a range of showboating moves including a shoulder shake and strange Celtic jig.

During the bout, Compubox recorded that Calzaghe landed 344 punches, the most ever received by Jones, who himself was successful with 159 of his blows.

There was no denying Calzaghe won the fight convincingly and few could argue if he does choose to end his career unbeaten after 46 fights, following this victory over a legendary opponent at boxing's most famous venue.

Elsewhere in boxing last night Danny Williams was stopped by Abert Sosnowski of Poland but there was a win for Junior Witter in his comeback fight against Victor Hugo Castro whom he knocked out in the third round.

Saturday's Football Results

Here are saturday's football results from England and Scotland.


Barclays Premier League

Arsenal 2-1 Man Utd
Hull 0-1 Bolton
Liverpool 3-0 West Brom
Sunderland 1-2 Portsmouth
West Ham 1-3 Everton
Wigan 0-0 Stoke


The FA Cup sponsored by E.ON

AFC Telford 2-2
Southend
Accrington Stanley 0-0 Tranmere
Aldershot 1-1 Rotherham
Alfreton Town 4-2 Bury Town
Barnet 1-1 Rochdale
Blyth Spartans 3-1 Shrewsbury
Bournemouth 1-0 Bristol Rovers
Brighton 3-3 Hartlepool
Bury 0-1 Gillingham
Carlisle 1-1 Grays Athletic
Cheltenham 2-2 Oldham
Chester 0-3 Millwall
Chesterfield 3-1 Mansfield
Colchester 0-1 Leyton Orient
Crewe 1-0 Ebbsfleet United
Curzon Ashton 3-2 Exeter
Darlington 0-0 Droylsden
Eastbourne Borough 0-0 Barrow
Eastwood Town 2-1 Brackley
Harlow 0-2 Macclesfield
Hereford 0-0 Dag & Red
Histon 1-0 Swindon
Huddersfield 3-4 Port Vale
Kettering 1-1 Lincoln City
Kidderminster 1-0 Cambridge Utd
Leicester 3-0 Stevenage
Leiston 0-0 Fleetwood Town
Luton 0-0 Altrincham
MK Dons 1-2 Bradford
Morecambe 2-1 Grimsby
Oxford Utd 0-0 Dorchester
Sutton Utd 0-1 Notts County
Torquay 2-0 Evesham
Walsall 1-3 Scunthorpe
Yeovil 1-1 Stockport


The Coca-Cola Football League Championship

Barnsley 1-2 Sheff Utd
Blackpool 0-1 Ipswich
Coventry 0-2 Crystal Palace
Norwich 2-2 Preston
Nottm Forest 1-1 Birmingham
Plymouth 2-2 Charlton
QPR 1-0 Cardiff
Reading 3-0 Derby
Sheff Wed 1-0 Doncaster
Southampton 0-1 Bristol City
Wolverhampton 2-0 Burnley


Clydesdale Bank Premier League

Celtic 2-0 Motherwell
Dundee Utd 2-1 Aberdeen
Hamilton 1-1 Falkirk
Hibernian 1-2 Inverness CT
St Mirren 0-1 Hearts

Rugby Union International Results

England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland were all in action today so lets see how they got on.

England 39 - 13Pacific Islanders

England- Tries:Sackey 2, Cipriani, Kennedy, Mears, Penalties:Cipriani 2, Conversions:Cipriani 4

Pacific Islanders- Tries:Rabeni, Penalties:Hola, Bai, Conversions:Hola

Ireland 55 - 0 Canada

Ireland- Tries:Earls, Kearney 2, Heaslip, Bowe 2, Wallace, Quinlan, Penalties:O'Gara Conversions:O'Gara 5, Wallace

Scotland 6 - 32 New Zealand

Scotland- Penalties:Paterson 2

New Zealand- Tries:Tuitavake, Weepu, Kahui, Boric, Penalties:Donald 2, Conversions:Donald 2, Carter

Wales 15 - 20 South Africa

Wales- Penalties:Halfpenny, Hook 4

South Africa- Tries:Jacobs, De Villiers, Penalties:Pienaar 2, Conversions:Pienaar 2

The closest and the pick of the games was Wales' narrow defeat to the World Champions South Africa.

A brave Welsh performance wasn't enough to lower the colours of world champions South Africa in the opening Invesco Perpetual clash of the autumn at the Millennium Stadium.

The Springboks looked to be cruising to a comfortable victory when leading 20-3 shortly after the break but Warren Gatland’s men fought back valiantly and were actually in the ascendancy when the full-time whistle blew.

Wales coach Warren Gatland described the narrow defeat as a lost opportunity of beating one of the top teams in world rugby.

"We are more than disappointed really," he said. "We've talked about evolution in this team and the next step for this team is to nail those opportunites and the guys will have to go through some pain as you do that development. I thought that was a real Test match, a real arm wrestle but we had some chances there, pretty unhappy and I've said to the guys they should be pretty disappointed because we were the best team out there today.

"South Africa kicked off and immediatley tested the Wales defence with a series of up and unders. New cap Andy Powell accepted the challenge and commanded the ball with a couple of well taken catches to repel the initial bombardment.

The game burst into life in the sixth minute when centre Adi Jacobs dived over after a sweeping Springbok move which stemmed from another huge kick. The ball was recylced swiftly by the forwards which sent the green machine tearing towards the Welsh try-line. The ball found its way to Jacobs who crashed over to give Ruan Pienaar an easy conversion.

Pienaar increased the lead two minutes later after Jamie Roberts was penalised for not releasing the ball, which gave the outside the opportunity to send the ball between the sticks to give the Boks an 10-0 lead.

Wales finally got a head of steam up on the quarter hour mark and debutant Powell shreaded the Boks defence in the 20th minute with a searing break but the South African rearguard somehow managed to snuff out the attack.

Wales continued to take the attack to the world champions with Shane Williams threatening with his dazzling footwork to set up a penalty opportunity for Stephen Jones from 40m but the fly half was unable to convert the chance.

However after a period of sustained pressure, the Boks were forced into infringing and rookie winger Leigh Halfpenny showed nerves of steel to send the penalty over.

The Springboks blew a golden opportunity to increase their lead when Pienaar dropped the ball over the line in Halfpenny’s tackle. The fly-half quickly made amends when he rifled over a penalty to increase South Africa’s lead to 13-3 with three minutes remaining of the first half.

Halfpenny had the chance to reduce the arrears with the last kick of the half but his long range effort from halfway drifted wide.

The second half began in better fashion for Wales with Halfpenny sending Tom Shanklin clear down the touchline before the cover defence closed down the danger. Lee Byrne tore open the vice-like grip in the 50th minute and only a desperate tackle by JP Pietersen on Halfpenny denied Wales from scoring.

Wales then made a double change James Hook and Dwayne Peel replacing Stephen Jones and Gareth Cooper respectively. Hook’s first pass intercepted by Jean De Villiers who raced 50m unhindered to the try line to give Pienaar another easy conversion to take the score out to 20-3.

Wales then clicked through the gears and tore into South Africa. Byrne made a couple of telling breaks and Ryan Jones was held up just short of the line. Eventually the pressure told and Hook reduced the deficit with a penalty in the 56th minute. Hook made further inroads with another penalty from the same spot two minutes later.

You sensed the tide was turning when Powell’s chip ahead put the Springboks defence in panic mode. Jaque Fourie was sin binned just moments after coming on as a replacement as Wales applied the blowtorch. Hook added salt to the wounds by sending over the resulting penalty to close the gap to 12-20 with 17 minutes remaining.

Wales edged even closed when Hook sent over, via an upright, his third penalty of the afternoon to leave Wales fans biting their finger nails with five minutes remaining.

But despite Wales’s best efforts, the Springboks kept their line intact to begin their end of season tour with a hard earned victory.