‘He is an animal’: Jack Hughes loses teeth then scores Olympic ice hockey winner for US

It might not have been a shocker on the order of a bunch of scrappy college kids toppling the polished Soviet juggernaut at Lake Placid. But 46 years to the day of the Miracle on Ice, it often felt that way as another underdog United States men’s hockey team ended their Olympic gold drought in a white-knuckle contest dominated by Canada until Jack Hughes’ seismic overtime winner.Call it the Marvel in Milan.“Listen, they probably outplayed us a little bit tonight,” said Hughes, the 24-year-old center for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils. “Our goalie stood on his head, though

France 33-8 Italy: Six Nations rugby union – as it happened

That’s it from me.Keep an eye out for Raphael’s report from Lille.Cracking game (well, mostly it was).France just too good. Can they win the championship in the next round? We’ll find out in a fortnight

Bielle-Biarrey and France power past Italy to keep Six Nations grand slam plans on track

France pulled clear at the top of the table and kept their grand slam ambitions on track with a hard-fought win against Italy on Sunday.The Azzurri had unfinished business in Lille. It was two years ago in the northern city that Les Bleus, still in the midst of a post-World Cup hangover, escaped with a draw after being outplayed by the visitors.For the French, that result prompted a rejuvenation of the side which yielded immediate results. France were now an entirely different proposition, as they showed their cross-Alpine neighbours with the drubbing in Rome last year

England to conduct ‘uncomfortable’ review of Six Nations defeat by Ireland

George Ford has vowed that England will conduct a “properly honest” and “uncomfortable” review of their Six Nations humiliation against Ireland on Saturday.The hosts collapsed spectacularly in the face of an Irish onslaught at Twickenham, falling 22-0 behind after half an hour, with Ford’s surprising inaccuracy at fly-half exemplifying an error-strewn team display. The Sale No 10 missed two kicks for touch which proved terminal to England’s hopes of applying pressure in the decisive early stages.After achieving a 12th successive win, in their tournament opener against Wales, England capitulated in rounds two and three as they were overwhelmed by Scotland at Murrayfield and then beaten even more comprehensively by Andy Farrell’s Ireland in a match they had to win to keep their championship hopes alive.Instead of continuing to build momentum for the World Cup in Australia next year, there are now urgent questions concerning England’s mentality, tactics and selection under the head coach, Steve Borthwick

Lindsey Vonn hits back at ‘haters’ who questioned her place at Winter Olympics

Lindsey Vonn has hit back at the “haters” who were critical of her decision to take part at this year’s Winter Olympics.The American crashed out early in her run during the women’s downhill competition during the opening weekend of this month’s Games. She suffered a complex tibia fracture and underwent multiple surgeries in Italy before being flown back to the US for further treatment earlier this week.The 41-year-old was taking part in her fifth Olympics after a knee replacement and coming out of a temporary retirement. She was also skiing on a torn ACL

Norway (population: 5.7m) beats US (342m) to top Winter Olympics medal table

Norway has once again topped the Winter Olympics medal table, surpassing countries with far larger populations.The Scandinavian country won more gold medals (18) and more total medals (41) than the US, who came second in both categories (12 golds and 33 total medals). Norway’s 18 golds were the most by a country in Winter Olympics history, while their cross-country skiing hero Johannes Høsflot Klæbo accounted for six golds on his own, more than the all but seven other countries at this year’s Games.The achievements of Norway, which has a population of about 5.7m, are all the more remarkable given that they outperformed winter-sports nations with far larger populations such as the US (342m), China (1