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Prem Rugby: Leicester snarl, Saracens surge and Exeter’s signing deliver
That Northampton’s away fans has been allocated block ‘FU’ at Mattioli Woods Welford Road at the East Midlands derby summed up Leicester’s predictably confrontational approach to the fixture.
Inside three minutes Tigers prop Nicky Smith’s snarling had sparked a 30-man melee of pushing and shoving, and his relentless team kept up the aggro all afternoon.
In total, six cards were shared between the two teams – two yellows and Izaia Perese’s 20-minute red for Leicester, and three yellows for Saints – but the scoreline was a lot more lopsided, with Tigers triumphing 41-17 to register an eighth straight home win in the Prem.
Northampton were pummelled up front as a formidable front five of Smith, Jamie Blamire, Joe Heyes, George Martin and Ollie Chessum turned the screw on a pack which had lost second row Tom Lockett in the warm-up.
Northampton leaked possession at scrum and line-out, and their back division could not conjure the get-out-of-jail card that has been their trump in recent weeks.
Instead it was Leicester’s England stars who sparkled.
Jack van Poortvliet produced a delicious bump-and-run kick-through for Adam Radwan to score the first try of the second half. Freddie Steward, whose torpedo mis-pass has earlier set up Ollie Hassell-Collins’ score, weaved over for Leicester’s sixth try – a derby record.
And a mention for James O’Connor. The Australian was ushered in for only his second start since February after first-choice fly-half Billy Searle picked up an injury in training, but revelled in a fast-paced, frenetic game.
With Searle, the undisputed signing of the season, potentially being out for the rest of the campaign, O’Connor or Orlando Bailey, who flipped into the fly-half role for the final quarter, are set for a starring role in the run-in.
Tigers are now only one point off Bath, who have lost three in a row in all competitions, and the second spot which would book them a semi-final in their home fortress.
A fair bit can change between now and then, but the two meet at the Rec in the final match of the regular season.
Northampton will need to regroup. They remain top, but there was a sense that this defeat has been in the pipeline, with their defence and set-piece creaking in recent weeks.
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Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua press conference: ‘Fury will try every trick in the book to get to AJ’ | Boxing News
Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua’s first press conference is expected to go ahead in London on Wednesday ahead of their blockbuster heavyweight fight on December 11, and Sky Sports‘ Matthew Macklin has spoken of what he expects when the two British rivals face off….
I think the press conference will be important.
The psychological, mental aspect of boxing is huge. It’s an individual sport – one on one – so if you can get into the other guy’s head and help put him in a negative headspace, you’re halfway there.
Confidence is key. And if someone’s struggling with confidence, if you can put some seeds of doubt in their mind, that’s a real benefit to you.
There’s a lot on the line. A lot of people involved, a lot of money, a lot of pride, a lot of ego, so there’s already cracks appearing left, right and centre.
Fury will certainly be trying every trick in the book.
There will be people there who will try and control things as best they can, trying to make sure that nothing physical happens. But I’d expect Fury to be animated.
Joshua less so. I wouldn’t have said that the psychological warfare was as big a part of AJ’s game as it is Fury’s. I don’t think he’s as well versed in it.
But sometimes not engaging can be good, it can sort of give you the edge – like Carl Froch the second time round with George Groves.
I think he realised that for the first fight he wasted so much energy on things and fell into the traps that George was setting.
I think was it Michael Corleone [in The Godfather III] who said, “Never hate your enemies, it affects your judgment”. And I think, certainly with Froch the first time round, that was a factor.
Ahead of the second fight, he just chose to disengage. So maybe AJ will do similar and choose to not get involved?
I think we’ll get there. I think the fight will go ahead, but I do think there’ll be some twists and turns and bumps in the road on the way.
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The F1 Show podcast – Sky Sports | F1 News

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Join Simon Lazenby and special guests from the world of F1 and sport, as they react to all the major F1 news and events and answer your questions after every Grand Prix weekend.
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Follow the 2026 F1 season with Sky Sports
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The action kicked off in Melbourne, Australia on March 8 and again runs into December, with Abu Dhabi bringing the curtain down on the first season of F1’s new rules era.
Follow the latest F1 news, see the full 2026 F1 schedule and find out how to watch or stream on Sky Sports F1 or the Sky Sports app. Not got Sky? Get Sky Sports or stream with no contract on NOW TV.
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Scotland: Sebastian Pocognoli’s ‘sad’ Hampden debut as he demands Nations League response | Football News
Scotland head coach Sebastien Pocognoli admitted his Hampden Park debut left him “sad” as he stressed the importance of winning their next Nations League match.
Jack Hendry’s early red card effectively rendered his home debut against Switzerland a write-off.
They went down 3-0 in their second Nations League match after the Swiss took full advantage of playing the majority of the match with an extra man.
Scotland have failed to score in four successive matches for the first time since 1971, albeit three of their opponents have been in the top 15 of the FIFA rankings.
“I had a warm welcome from the crowd and that made me feel a little bit sad because we wanted to give something back and we couldn’t,” said the new boss.
“Even with 11 men, if we had the bad result, we would have wanted to give something, some emotion, something to analyse, something to give a direction about where we want to go, and we didn’t have the chance to show it and that frustrated me a lot.”
Pocognoli was pleased with his team’s attitude but felt there was little else to take from a match in which a Swiss side that reached the World Cup quarter-finals in the summer were able to flex their muscles.
“Not a lot to say about the game, you know- 80 per cent of the game with 10 men,” the Belgian added.
“Red card, then directly punished from the red card with a free-kick, so probably the worst situation that we can have.
“We should prefer maybe a penalty and to stay with 11 men and to maybe show exactly what we planned for the game.
“We started quite aggressive, front foot, and then after eight minutes, the game plan has to be put to the side and we just see if the team react well or not with 10 men, and they did their best.
“To be honest, they had a great attitude to just stick together, try to have the moment in transition or set-pieces or something, but it never happened because Switzerland is a good side and they didn’t give anything away.”
With just one point and no goals from their opening two Nations League fixtures after a 0-0 draw in Slovenia at the weekend, Pocognoli admits Scotland’s next match in North Macedonia on Saturday has taken on added significance.
“Yeah, it’s important to get a result because it can give a boost to the staff, not only for me but for all the people who worked so hard from the first day,” said the 39-year-old.
“We had a good second half in Slovenia, and eight minutes tonight that we can analyse on some good aspects, but we need also a good performance in Macedonia and the result is important.”
Gunn: ‘We stick together’
Goalkeeper Angus Gunn insisted there was no blame game in the Scotland dressing room after Tuesday night’s defeat.
“He [Jack] tried to apologise to lads in there but the manager was like, that’s football, that happens.
“That’s why we’re a team and that’s why we stick together and no-one’s got to apologise for anything.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t dig deep and get a result.”
“Hopefully, that’s lessons learned, playing the majority of the game with 10 men. Hopefully, we can maybe use that in the future and come out on a positive side.
“That’s two games down and we’ve got two more to finish this camp off.
“We’ve just got to go and react. It’s Saturday night and we’ve got a good squad. Everyone’s ready for their opportunity.”
Scotland’s Nations League fixtures
- October 3 – North Macedonia (A) 7.45pm
- October 6 – Slovenia (H) 7.45pm
- November 13 – North Macedonia (H) 7.45pm
- November 16 – Switzerland (A) 7.45pm
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