Jacques Vermeulen on song as Sale batter Harlequins in second half

Of all the indignities heaped on Harlequins this season, and goodness knows there have been a few, this Christmas stuffing was perhaps the most humiliating.Leading 17-12 at the interval against a Sale side who had lost their last four in the Prem, they succumbed so meekly that Jason Gilmore, their senior coach, was forced to question their collective desire. This abject surrender came just six days after Quins were thumped 40-14 by Bristol at Twickenham.“The boys care for the club – but there’s a difference between caring for the club and doing something about it,” the Queenslander said pointedly after his players conceded 31 second-half points without reply. “We will be looking hard at the squad in terms of what next year looks like

Harry Redknapp says he’s ‘in Champions League’ after Jukebox’s King George hit

“Today, we’ve gone into the Champions League,” Harry Redknapp, the owner of The Jukebox Man, said after his horse had fought back to win an extraordinary three-way photo-finish in the King George VI Chase here on Friday. “We got into the Premier League, which was fantastic, but today we were taking on the Real Madrids and Barcelonas and he proved he can compete with them and win against them, which was an amazing feeling.”It was, in truth, simply an amazing race from start to finish, with one of the most enthralling passages of action from the home turn to the line that anyone here could recall in a Grade One steeplechase. Kempton is unloved by the Jockey Club, its owners, which has signed over an option to developers that would see it bulldozed for housing, but its speed-favouring, right-handed track is something special and unique in British jumping and here it produced an all-time classic for a sell-out crowd of 17,000 spectators.Eight horses set off for what was, on paper at least, the best renewal of this famous race for at least a decade, and after Il Est Francais had ensured a decent gallop through the first two-and-a-half miles, with scarcely the hint of a mistake from any of his rivals, all eight were still within three lengths of each other at the final turn

Your Guardian sport weekend: Premier League, Ashes and NFL

There’s no better entry point to the weekend’s footballing action than our rolling blog as David Tindall sets up Saturday’s big matches. Breaking news, team updates and the vibe from around the grounds keeps you bang up to date with all the latest developments, including and fallout from Friday night’s Manchester United v Newcastle clash. There’s a bumper seven Premier League fixtures and six Scottish Premiership games to stay across and readers are welcome to join the conversation. Send your thoughts and observations to matchday.live@theguardian

Harry Redknapp’s The Jukebox Man wins epic King George VI Chase: racing from Kempton – as it happened

Harry Redknapp wins a thrilling King George with The Jukebox ManThe Jukebox Man, carrying the colours of the high-profile former Premier League manager Harry Redknapp, came out on top in an epic renewal of the Ladbrokes King George VI Chase at Kempton Park.A quality field of eight assembled for the Boxing Dayhighlight, with the Willie Mullins-trained pair of Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File joined at the head of the betting by Nicky Henderson’s recent Ascot winner Jango Baie.After tracking the pacesetting Il Est Francais for much of the three-mile journey, Ben Pauling’s The Jukebox Man (7-1) moved to the lead before the final bend under Ben Jones, but the runners were tightly grouped as they straightened up for home.There were still four in with a chance jumping the final fence, with The Jukebox Man, Gaelic Warrior, Jango Baie and last year’s winner Banbridge right there, but after a stirring battle and tense wait it was The Jukebox Man who was called a nose in front of the Joseph O’Brien-trained Banbridge.The emotional owner said after the race:“That’s a dream and to have a horse that good is unbelievable

Duckett and Bethell were dangled out to dry by failings of a slack setup | Barney Ronay

Guess who just got back today? Those wild-eyed boys that had been away. This was a day of brittle, over-caffeinated cricket, on an MCG pitch streaked with faint green ridges. But it was also a day when the boys were, however briefly, back in town.Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell have been the two protagonists in the grainy, Zapruder-style footage from England’s six-day, mid-series jig-about by the sea. True to apparent recent form, both were here for a good time not a long time as England were bowled out for 110 in 29

Australia edge England as 20 wickets fall on wild day one of Boxing Day Test

A record 94,199 spectators turned up to the MCG on Boxing Day and none will forget what they witnessed. An extraordinary 20 wickets fell on a pitch offering lavish movement and it left Cricket Australia fearing a second multimillion-dollar loss in this Ashes series.The first of these came in Perth, when a two-day bunfight triggered mass refunds and had visiting fans scrambling to book sightseeing trips. This fourth Test always had the ingredients for a repeat, not just a surface with 10mm of grass but also a touring side in England who, having lost the Ashes and with criticism flying, looked broken before the coin even went up.It actually landed in their favour here, Ben Stokes calling correctly, inserting his opponents without hesitation, and watching Josh Tongue skittle Australia for 152 before tea