Sports
Challenge Cup: Leigh Leopards 26-14 Featherstone Rovers – Umyla Hanley scores hat-trick for hosts
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Umyla Hanley’s hat-trick helped Leigh see off underdogs Featherstone in an excellent Challenge Cup last-16 tie.
The son of Great Britain legend Ellery went over for three tries in a well-contested first half.
Manoa Wacokecoke ran in two long-distance tries to keep Rovers in sight, as the wind played havoc with both sides’ kicking games.
Josh Charnley and Matt Moylan seemed to have ended the contest but Gareth Gale scored again to reduce the deficit.
Featherstone went into the tie against Super League opposition with confidence, as they were the only side to beat Adrian Lam’s team in the Leopards’ record-breaking promotion season in 2022.
They were on the front foot from the start, but the difference between the Super League and Championship sides was immediately shown, Harry Bowes coughing up possession as Fev attacked – allowing Leigh to go up the other end for Hanley to finish superbly.
That was trumped by flying Fijian Wacokecoke who, from deep in his own half, raced past Josh Charnley, and survived tackles by Zak Hardaker and Hanley to score in the corner and light up Leigh Sports Village.
A sharp tip pass by Jack Hughes freed Hanley for his second and, after Featherstone forward McKenzie Yei was sin-binned for a spear tackle, Hanley made use of the extra space for his third – and a 10-point advantage at half time.
With Yei about to return, Wacokecoke struck again, intercepting Ben McNamara’s pass and racing away to narrow the gap.
Coach Lam was unnerved enough to send on his son and main playmaker Lachlan, back on the bench after injury, and with Rovers’ main pivot Thomas Lacans forced off, the game seemed to have swung in Leopards’ favour.
Lam dictated play for 20 minutes, with Charnley and Moylan both profiting with tries down the left-hand side, but Rovers refused to lie down.
Their new signing Paul Turner, fresh from St George Illawarra in the NRL, had a superb second half as a sub, denying Hanley a fourth try with a marvellous tackle and then bouncing out of three tackles, throwing two dummies and flipping a gorgeous pass that led to Gale going over in the corner.
Rovers deserved their strong finish but Moylan rounded things off with a penalty from the last kick of the game.
Leigh: Brand, Hanley, Hardaker, Leutele, Charnley, Moylan, McNamara, Norman, Davis, Mulhern, O’Donnell, Halton, Hughes
Interchanges: Nakubuwai, Holmes, Trout, Lam
Featherstone: Aekins, Wacokecoke, Hardcastle, Minikin, Gale, Bowes, Lacans, Springer, Jones, Albert, Day, Tomlinson, Addy
Interchanges: Turner, Yei, Wynne, England
Referee: Jack Smith.
Sports
US Open women’s final 2024: Aryna Sabalenka holds off Jessica Pegula to win third Grand Slam title
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After losing to Gauff in last year’s final, a tearful Sabalenka admitted she had struggled to deal with the crowd, later saying the noise was so loud it “blocked my ears”.
The atmosphere was no different this time around, with Pegula receiving the majority of the support from the packed 23,000-seater stadium.
There were times when Sabalenka looked like the occasion would again get the better of her as she hit 34 unforced errors and five double faults.
Once the type of player who failed to keep her emotions in check, she has taken active steps to strengthen her mentality, including working with a psychologist, to become one of the most consistent competitors on the WTA Tour.
With injuries disrupting her season – she struggled with a stomach problem at the French Open before a shoulder issue ruled her out of Wimbledon – Sabalenka has got back on track with successive titles after beating Pegula in the final of last month’s Cincinnati Open.
“I wish she would have at least let me get one set. We had a tough match in Cincinnati a few weeks ago and she’s one of the best in the world,” Pegula said.
“She’s super powerful and isn’t going to give you anything, she can take the racquet out of your hand.”
Sabalenka’s victory in New York sees her become the first player to win both hard-court Slams in the same year since Angelique Kerber in 2016.
Sports
Republic of Ireland 0-2 England: What BBC Radio 5 Live saw in Lee Carsley’s first game
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Ian Dennis
Even before we had gone live on air for 5 Live, it was noticeable how involved Lee Carsley was with the warm-up.
The interim head coach even placed the red and white cones out in the England half of the field.
He was waiting on the pitch as a solitary figure before the players came out to warm up.
Carsley was actively involved along with his assistants Ashley Cole and Joleon Lescott. It’s a significant change in approach to that of Gareth Southgate or previous managers.
I even remember Fabio Capello, when he was England head coach, watching intently from the sidelines along with his assistant Franco Baldini – but they would study and monitor the opposition.
Carsley was purely focused on his England players and looked comfortable as a tracksuit manager.
John Murray
If you were looking for a different approach from Lee Carsley, it was there right from the start. There was an initial mis-step when he turned right to the home dugout when he first walked down the tunnel, but it was a tracksuited Carsley who laid out the balls and the cones and oversaw the whole of the warm-up.
It served to underline how he wishes to be seen very much as the head coach. And if England replicate the first-half performance, he will not be interim for too much longer.
Sports
Paris 2024 Paralympics: Finlay Graham, Emma Wiggs and Charlotte Henshaw win trio of golds for GB
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Finlay Graham, Emma Wiggs and Charlotte Henshaw won gold medals on Saturday morning at the 2024 Paralympics in Paris, taking Great Britain’s tally to 45.
Graham, 24, won the men’s C1-3 road race, while Wiggs, 44, was victorious in the women’s VL2 200m Va’a Single final.
Henshaw, 37, continued GB’s Para-canoe success, winning the women’s VL3 Single final, where there was also a silver medal for Hope Gordon. David Phillipson took silver in the men’s KL2 Single final.
Daniel Powell has guaranteed himself at least a silver medal in the men’s -90kg men’s J1 judo.
In Para-equestrian, Sophie Wells won the bronze medal in the Grade V individual freestyle event.
Great Britain now have a total of 106 medals at the Paralympics, including those 45 golds. Only China, with 85 golds and 195 total medals, have more.
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