History hangs heavy over Calcutta Cup but England’s young side can turn tartan tide

In one of sport’s weirder coincidences, England are about to play must-win games against Scotland in both rugby and cricket on the same day. The forecast 3C temperatures for the Calcutta Cup encounter may be cooler than in Kolkata – appropriately the venue for the T20 World Cup group fixture – but a white-hot contest inside a chilly Murrayfield can be absolutely guaranteed.Because this particular collision, the 144th since the sides first met at Raeburn Place in 1871, looks set to shape the Six Nations prospects of all involved. To say Scotland are under additional pressure following their defeat by Italy in round one is to state the obvious. And England, too, will take the field knowing the time has come to demonstrate whether or not they are the real deal

From vertigo to Van Gogh: 10 things you may have missed at the Winter Olympics

Benoît Richaud is working on the ice with 13 countries, with uniform changes to match, and Korean skiers are having nightmares on waxDomen Prevc set a men’s ski jump world record of 254.5m on the Planica flying hill in Slovenia last March, known for its steepness and long jumps. Germany’s Philipp Raimund sat it out – he suffers from vertigo. “From time to time, I have the issue that my body is reacting without me controlling it,” he said. “It’s like I am just observing myself while something has a tight grip on me

Patriots’ Stefon Diggs pleads not guilty to assault, strangulation charges

New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs on Friday pleaded not guilty to felony strangulation and other criminal charges stemming from an alleged dispute with his personal chef.The arraignment at Dedham District Court in Massachusetts was postponed until after Super Bowl LX so Diggs could play in the NFL championship game. At the arraignment, Diggs was scheduled to next appear for a pretrial hearing on 1 April.According to court records, the chef told Dedham officers she and Diggs argued about money he owed her for her work. During the 2 December encounter at his home, she said, he “smacked her across the face” and then “tried to choke her using the crook of his elbow around her neck”, leaving her feeling short of breath

Winter Olympics thrills, FA Cup magic and the Six Nations – follow with us

Emillia Hawkins kickstarts the weekend’s football programme with our unmissable rolling blog that rises early to provide all the breaking news from around the grounds as the FA Cup hoves into view. Expect followup from Friday’s two ties – Hull v Chelsea and Wrexham v Ipswich – plus news and buildup to Saturday’s eight fourth-round matches, bookended with West Ham’s lunchtime trip to Burton and Liverpool hosting Brighton at 8pm. There are five Championship matches and a full programme in Leagues One and Two. In Europe, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are in action, while in Serie A Inter meet Juventus in the evening’s derby d’Italia. Why not join the conversation by sending your thoughts to matchday

Skating body defends Olympic judging after French duo’s ice dance gold

The International Skating Union (ISU) has defended the integrity of Olympic ice dance judging after a single judge’s scoring gap became central to the outcome of the gold medal contest, insisting variations across panels are expected and that safeguards exist to prevent bias from determining results.In a statement released on Friday, the governing body rejected suggestions that the judging system failed during the competition, in which France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron narrowly defeated Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates in one of the closest and most disputed finishes of the Milano Cortina Games.“It is normal for there to be a range of scores given by different judges in any panel and a number of mechanisms are used to mitigate these variations,” an ISU spokesperson said. “The ISU has full confidence in the scores given and remains completely committed to fairness.”Under the ISU judging system, the highest and lowest scores for each element and programme component are automatically discarded before the remaining marks are averaged – a process known as a trimmed mean – which is designed to reduce the influence of outlier judging

Ukrainian athlete’s appeal for Winter Olympics reinstatement dismissed by Cas

The Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych has lost his appeal to compete at the Winter Olympics after the court of arbitration for sport ruled that the International Olympic Committee guidelines banning his “helmet of memory” were fair and proportionate.Heraskevych had gone to Cas after being dramatically removed from the men’s competition on Thursday only 45 minutes before it was due to start because of his helmet, which depicts 24 athletes and children killed by Russia.Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.In the Guardian app, tap the Profile settings button at the top right, then select Notifications