Leicester hit Northampton for six as league leaders crumble in fiery derby

You can play all the classy rugby you want, you can be leading the table with a few matches to play, but certain elemental truths still apply. One of them is that if you find yourself overpowered up front away from home in a sold-out East Midlands derby, you will be blown away.Northampton could have secured themselves a place in the playoffs here if they had won with a bonus point, but – how to put this – they did not. In a ferocious atmosphere, records tumbled as Leicester claimed that bonus-point win to move third, within one point of Bath, who play Exeter on Sunday, and five shy of Saints. They scored more points than they ever have in this fixture; there were more cards than there have ever been in this fixture

Wigan humilate scoreless St Helens to reach Challenge Cup final

The Challenge Cup kings have done it again. For the first time in a long time, Wigan Warriors were underdogs going into this semi-final against their fiercest rivals, St Helens, with four successive Super League defeats before stopping the rot last week against promoted Bradford.In contrast, St Helens sit joint-top of Super League and had won their past five games. It all leaned into their being only one winner, but for the 34th time the Warriors have reached the final.Wigan will face either Hull KR or Warrington Wolves, who square off in the second semi-final on Sunday, at Wembley on 30 May and whoever gets through they will face a side hungry for silverware having failed to win anything last season: the first time that has happened during Matt Peet’s first four years in charge

Marlie Packer terrorises Italy to keep England’s Six Nations defence on track

Marlie Packer made her England debut 18 years ago, but she is playing some of her best rugby, with the openside flanker once again key as the Red Roses set up a Championship decider against France next Sunday. The former England captain has won back the starting shirt because of the unavailability of other players after falling down the pecking order.At the World Cup last year Packer played one match, against Samoa in the pool stage. She has said she will be there for the team that “means so much” to her in whatever capacity she is needed by the head coach, John Mitchell, but is proving she can still do more than a good job. The 36-year-old scored four tries and brought her leadership experience too

Italy 33–61 England: Women’s Six Nations rugby union – as it happened

That’s all from me. Thanks for your company.England march on to the Grand Slam match with France next week as expected, but take nothing away from Italy’s effort in securing a try bonus point in the face of a clearly superior team. They never stopped fighting to the end and asked plenty of questions on the Red Roses defence.That’s the final act of a game that ended up far more reasonably balanced than anticipated

A 30th season and an $850m franchise: is the WNBA’s rocketing growth sustainable?

Women’s sport is in its high-growth phase. With surging salaries and new – or even revived – teams, the league has plenty to reflect on and to look forward toOpening night typically pulses with anticipation rather than gushes with nostalgia, but the New York Liberty wore a “court origins” uniform that alludes to their history as one of the WNBA’s eight founding members when they hosted the Connecticut Sun on Friday.Protracted and pugnacious negotiations between the players’ union and the league threatened to delay or even wreck the new season. But an accord that hands the players significant pay rises means the league has much to look forward to, as well as plenty to reflect on, as it celebrates 30 years.Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has described the 30th season as a “transformational moment” and the “beginning of a new era”

Tennis slams’ refusal to discuss money is slap in face for players who are right to threaten boycott | Tumaini Carayol

At some point in the quiet buildup to her opening match at the Italian Open, Aryna Sabalenka decided to attack one of the most contentious subjects in her sport with the same force as her forehand. In her press conference, the subject of the top players’ attempts to attain a greater revenue share from the grand slam tournaments prompted the world No 1 to make a drastic prediction: “I think at some point we will boycott it, yeah,” she said. “I feel like that’s going to be the only way to fight for our rights.”It marked an escalation in a pay dispute that, until this point, had played out in a series of polite letters and public statements. Over a year ago, in March 2025, the players sent their first letter to the grand slam tournaments