MPs deliver warning over DCMS chase to recoup tens of millions in Covid loans

There remains a “high degree of uncertainty” over whether tens of millions of pounds paid to rugby union clubs and other sports teams during the Covid-19 pandemic will ever be repaid, the House of Commons’ public accounts committee has warned.In a report published on Wednesday, the committee also criticised the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for being “overly optimistic” in believing it will recover most of the £474m it paid out to 120 organisations in the sport and culture sectors to help them survive the impact of the pandemic.“There remains a high degree of uncertainty over how much of the loan book will ever be repaid,” the report stated.The report also highlighted what it said was a “gap in oversight and accountability” in the £123.8m loaned to rugby clubs – citing the fact that Susannah Storey, the permanent secretary of the DCMS, is married to Pev Hooper, a director of Premiership Rugby and a managing partner of CVC Capital Partners

Hong Kong in frame to host Nations Championship finals and Lions matches

Hong Kong has emerged as a candidate to stage future Nations Championship finals at its new Kai Tak Sports Park and would be an ideal British & Irish Lions stopover, according to a senior World Rugby executive.The inaugural Nations Championship finals – the biennial playoffs among the world’s leading international sides – is to be held in London in 2026 with Qatar lined up for 2028 but the Hong Kong stadium is an increasingly popular suggestion for subsequent editions.The stadium hosted its first international sporting event last weekend by staging the Hong Kong Sevens, relocating the famous tournament to the site of the former airport in Kowloon which now hosts the Cathay Pacific sponsored sports park. Transforming the site, which hosts the 50,000-seat stadium, a 10,000-capacity indoor arena and a track and field venue, cost £3bn.On Monday it was confirmed that in July, Tottenham will play Arsenal at Kai Tak stadium in the first north London derby staged outside the UK while Liverpool will also be in action against Milan

County Championship 2025: team-by-team guide to the new season

Surrey look primed to make it four titles in a row and Lancashire have enough to jump back to Division OneCaptain Alex Lees Coach Ryan Campbell Last season 5thFinished mid-table last season thanks to their habit of routing teams at home: they claimed three of their four wins at the Riverside, all of them by an innings. Meanwhile David Bedingham hit the most runs (1331) in Division One, with an average of (78.29), including the most sixes (25) and the most fours (147), and they have since strengthened their batting by signing Emilio Gay, who averaged 57.43 for Northamptonshire last season, and Will Rhodes, who scored 1,020 runs at 48.57 for Warwickshire, while another year’s experience can only benefit the promising 20-year-old, 6ft 7in opener Ben McKinney

Charlotte Edwards ‘relishing winning trophies’ as England’s new head coach

The appointment of Charlotte Edwards as the new England women’s head coach has been warmly welcomed, with former teammate Lydia Greenway saying “everyone should be really excited by this appointment”.“The one thing with Lottie is the standards she sets, and what she expects of you as a player,” Greenway told the BBC. “I’ve got no doubt in my mind that she’ll go into that group and set out her expectations and her standards from the word go.”The former England captain had put her hat in the ring in February, when changes were expected after a disastrous winter tour of Australia. England were whitewashed in the Ashes 16-0 with barely a whimper and plagued by accusations of fitness and attitude problems

ECB has hit a winner by fast-tracking Charlotte Edwards to England role | Raf Nicholson

Last time the England head coach role became available, in August 2022, Charlotte Edwards did not even apply: she believed that she did not yet have enough experience under her belt. Less than three years later, the England and Wales Cricket Board has concluded that she is such a perfect candidate for the job that it expedited her application, somehow condensing the period between firing one coach (Jon Lewis) and hiring another into the space of three weeks.Edwards’s record as head coach now speaks for itself: since domestic women’s cricket entered its professional era in 2020, she has led Southern Vipers to five out of nine available titles. She has also won the Women’s Hundred, coached a side to the final of the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia, and (less than three weeks ago) won her second Women’s Premier League in India. It is sometimes said that brilliant players do not translate into brilliant coaches, but Edwards – who during her 20-year playing career won a 50-over World Cup, a T20 World Cup and lifted the Ashes five times – is a notable exception to the rule

Reopening of Trump-owned golf course delayed after damage by pro-Palestine group

Turnberry’s famous Ailsa Course will not open as planned on 1 May after serious damage caused to the Ayrshire venue – owned by the US president, Donald Trump – by a pro-Palestine group. Tour operators and those with individual bookings at Turnberry are in the process of being informed it will be June before the Ailsa, which is routinely ranked among the finest golf courses in the world, is available for play.The clubhouse at the Ayrshire resort was daubed with graffiti and red paint in the early hours of 8 March. More significant in respect of the championship course – that has staged the Open on four occasions – was the ripping up of greens and on turf approaching them. The course has been closed since October due to planned renovation of the 7th and 8th holes