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West Indies elect to field in bid to beat UAE and rain
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 West Indies captain Jason Holder The remnants of Cyclone Pam are expected to sweep down the east coast of New Zealand's North Island later in the day with rain expected in the afternoon. Jason Holder's team must beat UAE, and preferably by a big margin, at McLean Park to give themselves any chance of making the quarter-finals. Pakistan and Ireland, who are both on six points, clash later in Adelaide with the winner of that game finishing third in Pool B. The loser could still advance if West Indies lose or the match is washed out. Chris Gayle, who has had a back injury, was ruled out with Johnson Charles joining Dwayne Smith at the top of the batting order. Gayle scored the first World Cup double century against Zimbabwe last month and his aggressive style will be missed as West Indies try to chase down a target before the rain arrives. UAE were forced into one change with Fahad Alhashmi suffering a bad knee injury in their last match against South Africa in Wellington on Thursday and left armer Manjula Guruge coming back into the side. Swapnil Patil also resumes wicketkeeping duties from Saqlain Haider while Nasir Aziz replaces Kamran Shazad. West Indies - Dwayne Smith, Johnson Charles, Marlon Samuels, Jonathan Carter, Denesh Ramdin, Lendl Simmons, Darren Sammy, Andre Russell, Jason Holder (captain), Jerome Taylor, Kemar Roach UAE - Amjad Ali, Andri Berenger, Krishna Chandran, Khurram Khan, Shaiman Anwar, Swapnil Patel, Amjad Javed, Mohammad Naveed, Mohammad Tauqir, Nasir Aziz, Manjula Guruge. | |||||
England beat Scots but could rue mistakes
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 England's George Ford scores a try against Scotland After Wales had beaten Ireland in Cardiff earlier, England knew a big win against a team they had not lost to at home for 32 years would put them in pole position on points difference but they made hard work even of securing victory, having somehow trailed 13-10 at halftime despite largely dominating. Second-half tries by George Ford and Jack Nowell, added to Jonathan Joseph's score after five minutes, did just enough to secure the win. Yet there was precious little for the Twickenham crowd to get excited about after they had arrived with their hopes revived by Wales's win. England lead the table with a points difference of plus 37 and complete their campaign at home to France in the last match of next week's 'Super Saturday' finale. By then, they will know exactly what they have to do to take the title after Wales (currently plus 12) have played Italy in Rome and Ireland (plus 33) have faced Scotland in Edinburgh. It is a scenario that will dismay and baffle England fans following an opening 15 minutes when they constantly tore through the visiting defence but had only Joseph's nicely created fourth try of the championship to savour amid a host of blown opportunities. They paid for that profligacy with Scotland levelling in the 22nd minute when Mark Bennett scored in their first serious attack and strong Scottish pressure earned two Greig Laidlaw penalties that gave them the improbable interval lead. The second half began with more English pressure and a try, this time as Ford opened a hole with a nice dummy. Mike Brown thought he had scored another but it was ruled out for James Haskell's careless forward pass before Ford struck a post with an easy penalty. England finally crossed again when winger Nowell slipped over in the corner but Ford's missed conversion summed up their accident-prone day as they seek their first title since 2011. "We left a few points out there, which is frustrating, but at least we were creating opportunities," Ford told the BBC. "We just need to tidy ourselves up a bit." | |||||
Welsh win down to character and maturity - Gatland
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 Wales head coach Warren Gatland The visitors, chasing the game after conceding an early 12 points, threw everything at Wales but their grand slam hopes were extinguished by a dogged red line of defence. Joe Schmidt's Ireland enjoyed two-thirds of possession, made more than twice the amount of metres than their opponents and comfortably won more rucks and mauls. But Wales stood up to the second-half onslaught, flinging bodies around with abandon and celebrating every stop, lineout stolen or blow of referee Wayne Barnes's whistle in their favour with fist pumps and pats on exhausted backs. "We had to dig deep, win a couple of games away from home (against Scotland and France) and get ourselves back in this competition. We've done that. I'm very proud of the effort over the last three games," Gatland told reporters. The hosts lost prop Samson Lee to a potentially serious Achilles injury and fellow front rower Gethin Jenkins did not emerge for the second half after pulling his hamstring but those setbacks, Gatland said, showed the character of his side. "(Captain) Sam (Warburton) was outstanding and a lot of our players ran themselves into the ground. The result could have gone either way. Ireland did not lie down and kept coming at us. "The pleasing thing for me, particularly in the last couple of games, has been our maturity and keeping our composure." An aerial bombardment contributed much to Ireland's win over England last time out but flyhalf Johnny Sexton kicked noticeably less this time, especially after Wales comfortably dealt with his early up-and-unders. Gatland said 12 unanswered points by Wales forced Ireland to rethink their kicking strategy. "It probably put a bit of pressure on them, they had to start playing with ball in hand and play a bit of rugby," he added. Coach Schmidt was left to rue a hesitant start as Ireland's run of 10 straight wins came to an end. "We allowed Wales to control the first quarter with territory and possession," the New Zealander said. "In the second half we put some good phases together, made a few linebreaks and got in behind them pretty well. "But they scrambled and defended really well ... they have massive charcter. They are very organised." | |||||
Morata strike inches Juventus closer to title
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 Juventus' Alvaro Morata (L) celebrates with teammate Claudio Marchisio after scoring against Palermo Juve's first triumph away from home in over two months gives them 64 points from 27 games, while second-placed AS Roma, who host Sampdoria on Monday, trail on 50 from 26 games. "One less win needed to win the league," Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri shrugged in an interview with Sky Sports Italia. "Probably six more victories and a few draws should be enough." Spanish international Morata came on in the 60th minute, replacing compatriot Fernando Llorente in a match that appeared to be heading towards a goalless stalemate. Yet 10 minutes later, he received a long pass from Claudio Marchisio, kept defender Sinisa Andelkovic at a distance and rifled home an unstoppable left-foot shot from just outside the area. "He scored a marvellous goal," Allegri said. "I love 1-0 games. For the second straight time, we finished with a clean sheet. I'm very pleased." Andrea Barzagli was back in Juve's starting line-up after playing his first five minutes of the season against Sassuolo on Monday. The former Palermo defender, playing alongside Italian international team mates Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, looked in good form after the heel injury which has sidelined him since last summer's World Cup. "It's very important to have Barzagli back," Allegri beamed. "We'll see how he feels tomorrow but the first game is usually easier than the second." Juventus visit Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday in the Champions League last 16 second leg, having won the opening match 2-1. "It'll be much tougher in Germany," Allegri concluded. "Scoring one goal won't be enough, we'll probably need two to advance." In a match affecting the other end of the table, a late goal by Matias Vecino earned Empoli a 1-1 draw and pushed Cagliari closer to Serie B. A curled shot by Joao Pedro in the 20th minute allowed the home side to pull ahead but Vecino's goal with 40 seconds left in stoppage time denied Cagliari manager Zdenek Zeman, in his second stint with the Sardinians, his first home win of the season. It keeps Cagliari in the drop zone on 21 points, three adrift of 17th placed Atalanta. | |||||
Benfica take big step closer to title
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 SL Benfica's Eliseu celebrates a goal against Sporting de Braga A 60,000-plus crowd witnessed a feisty start with visiting keeper Matheus repeatedly called into action as Benfica tried to make an early breakthrough. That it did not come until the 21st minute was down mainly to a stout rearguard action from fourth-placed Braga. The right foot of Jonas eventually did the damage with a well-placed shot zipping past Matheus from outside the box. A last-ditch goalline clearance by Aderlan Santos then prevented Pizzi from notching a second Benfica goal before the break. The second half continued in a similar vein with Braga unable to make any meaningful impression in attack. As the pressure on them grew, Tiago Gomes's red card on 58 minutes for a rash tackle on the lively Eduardo Salvio made Braga's task harder. Benfica made it 2-0 with 13 minutes to go thanks to a piledriver from left back Eliseu. "Once again the supporters have shown what it is like to have a proper team on the pitch and one in the stands," said Benfica coach Jorge Jesus after his side went seven points clear at the top with nine matches left. | |||||
Toyota joins Olympic sponsor programme
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 leading Olympic sponsor in a partnership deal running until 2024, the IOC said on Friday. The agreement was announced in Tokyo between International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach and Toyota president Akio Toyoda, the IOC said. Toyota joins The Olympic Partner (TOP) programme in the mobility sector to include vehicles and mobility services. It becomes the IOC's 12th TOP Partner and the third company to have committed through the 2024 Olympics, including the 2020 Games in Tokyo "This is a very symbolic day," Bach said. "It is the first time in the successful history of the TOP programme that we have had a mobility category." Toyota is the third Japanese company to become a global Olympic sponsor after Panasonic and Bridgestone. Toyota will join the TOP Programme in 2017, but will have marketing rights in Japan with immediate effect. The IOC said the deal was in line with Olympic reforms under the Agenda 2020 programme approved by the IOC in Decembver in which sustainability is a key element. Toyota will help to "provide sustainable mobility solutions for the Games to help with safer, more efficient mobility, including intelligent transport systems, urban traffic systems and vehicle-to-vehicle communications systems." The partnership "will help deliver a mobility legacy in the host cities and countries," it said. | |||||
Fifth seed Nishikori reaches third round at Indian Wells
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 Kei Nishikori (JPN) during his 2nd round match against Ryan Harrison Seeded fifth for the elite ATP Masters 1000 event, Nishikori broke his opponent five times while losing his own serve on three occasions on a hot afternoon at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden before sealing the win in just under an hour and a half. Nishikori, who became the first Asian male to reach a grand slam singles final with a storming run at the U.S. Open last year, had beaten Harrison in their only other meeting, in Memphis earlier this year. "It was a different situation (in Memphis), an indoor game," the 25-year-old Japanese, ranked fifth in the world, said courtside. "I knew it would be tough today, I knew he was playing good. "It was a bit up and down but I played well in the second set. I broke him many times and that was a key for the match." Nishikori, who lost to Marin Cilic in last year's U.S. Open final before ending a landmark season with four ATP World Tour titles, will next play Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who beat Australia's James Duckworth 6-2 7-6. In other matches, 10th-seeded Croatian Cilic, who has been troubled by a shoulder injury, was upset 6-4 6-4 by Argentine Juan Monaco while big-serving South African Kevin Anderson beat Federico Delbonis of Argentina 7-5 6-4. Later in the day, fourth-seeded Englishman Andy Murray was due to play Canadian Vasek Pospisil before Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic launches his bid for a fourth title at Indian Wells by taking on Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis. | |||||
Westermann faces pause with knee injury
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 Hamburg SV's Heiko Westermann team's next Bundesliga match on Friday after being injured in Saturday's 3-0 defeat Hoffenheim. "He has taken a knock on the knee and will possibly miss out next week," coach Josef Zinnbauer said after the match. Hamburg will also be without goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny in their next game against Hertha Berlin after he was sent off in the first half of the loss to Hoffenheim. | |||||
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