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Superpowers & genius - Italy's 'Brexoncello' take aim at England
Brexit, Brangelina, Barbenheimer. And Brexoncello?
If only true cultural phenomena get a cut-and-shut shorthand, Italy's midfield is on to something special.
Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello are a classic buddy-cop pairing.
Brex, 32, born in Argentina, has come halfway around the world to put his wily hands and gainline nous at Italy's disposal.
Menoncello is a younger gun, born a decade later and brought up in the rugby heartland of Treviso. His battering-ram running and energy have scrambled the most organised of defences.
Their partnership has become something of a meme.
Benetton Treviso, their club side, posted a video of the pair lifting weights together, external, accompanied by a heart emoji and one word: 'Brexoncello'.
Flip to January in Treviso's charity calendar for this year and there they are again, posing topless together with a rehomed dog., external
But you still see it best on the pitch.
Eleven days ago, 11 minutes into their meeting with France at the Stadio Olimpico, was a textbook example; Brex luring the defence on to him, slipping a pass and Menoncello rampaging through for a score from 40 metres out.
"He is fantastic to play with," Menoncello tells BBC Sport of Brex. "He is a genius with his little passes, he is famous for them and it is very difficult to defend."
"He is younger, he is faster, he brings every physical part of the game," says Brex, repaying the compliments.
"Maybe I am more the playmaker, and he is more the creator and finisher. That is why we work together on the pitch, we have different characteristics."
Ntamack and Penaud return as France retain 7-1 bench
Galthie has named an unchanged pack with back row Gregory Alldritt having shaken off fitness concerns to start.
Ntamack renews his half-back partnership with captain Antoine Dupont after serving a two-game ban for his red card in the opening win over Wales.
Penaud, who has scored in his last two appearances against Ireland, is one try away from equalling Serge Blanco's record mark of 38.
Louis Bielle-Biarrey, the tournament's top scorer with five tries, retains his place on the left wing.
Three-in-a-row chasing Ireland lead the standings on 14 points after three games. France are three points behind the holders, so victory for Les Bleus could give them control of the title race heading into the final round of fixtures.
"This match has special stakes, we know that and that's what we want," said Galthie.
"What's more, it's a match against the best European nation in the last three or four years.
"They're a very high-level team, one of the two best nations in the world, if not the best, and they're playing at home. It's true that the challenge is immense. And taking on a huge challenge is what we're looking for."
Ireland will name their team at 12:00 GMT on Thursday.
Antony's agent has said he "completely disagrees" with Manchester United coach Ruben Amorim's analysis that his client lacks the physicality needed to compete in the Premier League.
The Brazil winger, who joined Real Betis on a six-month loan from United in January, scored only 12 goals in 96 appearances for the Red Devils since his 85 million ($109m) transfer from Ajax in 2022.
Amorim said that Antony struggled because of the physical demands of the Premier League.
"We respect the opinion of coach Ruben Amorim, but we completely disagree with his analysis," Antony's agent Júnior Pedroso told Marca.
"Associating Antony's lack of success at Manchester United solely with the issue of his physique is a very superficial argument and does not correspond to reality."
According to Pedroso, Amorim, who took over the coaching job at United in November, did not give Antony an opportunity to prove his worth.
"The truth is that Antony has not had enough prominence or the confidence necessary to display his best football," he said. "Of the 15 games in which Amorim managed Manchester United, he only used Antony in nine, with a total of 252 minutes played. This represents only 18.6% of the total possible minutes (1,350 minutes). How can you judge an athlete without enough time for him to demonstrate his worth?"
Antony said last month that his move to Betis was what his career needed after not making an impact at Old Trafford.
Antony has been an instant hit at Betis, scoring two goals and setting up two more in five LaLiga appearances.
"It has been an incredible experience for both him and his family." Pedroso said. "It seems that he has been at Betis for years, so natural has his adaptation been. He feels completely comfortable in Seville and is delighted with the city and the club. All this reinforces that the decision was absolutely correct.
"LaLiga was the ideal destination ... Betis is a competitive team, that has a style of play that adapts well to Antony's qualities and an experienced coach like Manuel Pellegrini, who knows how to make the most of attacking players."
The loan deal which took Antony to Betis did not include an option for the Spanish club to automatically make his stay permanent this summer.
However, Betis have already made it clear that they are keen for Antony to continue at the Seville-based outfit next season.
The 25-year-old has a contract with United until June 2027.
WA hit back as bowlers dominate again at the WACA
New South Wales 17 for 3 trail Western Australia 196 (Turner 42, Curtis 42, Bird 3-22) by 179 runs
After Western Australia was bowled out for 196 in their first innings, New South Wales slumped to 17 for 3 in the pivotal fixture.
There was much intrigue over how Konstas would approach the situation having to come out to bat an hour before stumps. He started in orthodox fashion, playing straight and hitting a couple of elegant drives. There was no sign of anything fancy in his first 15 balls but he fell in tame fashion on the next delivery when he chipped left-arm quick Joel Paris to mid-off.
Just 0.24 points separates second-placed NSW and WA with a victory for either team putting them into pole position to reach the final.
With the remarkable events of the ground's last Shield match still fresh, Edwards had no hesitation in bowling first despite the hot conditions. The calendar might have flipped into autumn, but March is essentially an extension of summer in Perth and the pitch was baking with temperatures already in the mid-30s Celsius by the time the first ball was bowled.
All eyes were on Bancroft in his long-awaited return and he was intent on showcasing his trademark steely defence against accurate new ball bowling from Bird and Edwards. WA only scored two runs off the first six overs with Edwards starting off with three consecutive maidens.
The ball wasn't quite zipping off the surface like the South Australia match, but Edwards did occasionally produce sharp bounce and he had captain Sam Whiteman fending agonisingly short of leg gully.
Whiteman had a torrid time, hit on the helmet by Hadley after attempting a pull shot before edging over the slips for a fortuitous boundary. But after battling through early trouble, Whiteman and Bancroft blunted the bowling in a sedate period through the middle part of the first session.
The hardnosed openers have a knack of leaving bowlers flustered and they appeared set to bat through the first session as NSW's quicks started to lose patience. But Liam Hatcher provided a spark 30 minutes before lunch when he nicked off Bancroft before having a huge appeal for caught down the legside off Jayden Goodwin turned down.
Goodwin made it through to the long break, but Whiteman didn't after he chopped on to a back of a length delivery from Edwards. WA reached lunch at 62 for 2 in a total that was eerily similar to the same stage of the South Australia match. On that occasion WA fell apart after the interval and there was a sense of déjà vu when they lost 3 for 27.
Edwards was in the midst of a terrific spell and had Goodwin nicking off before Hadley clean bowled Hilton Cartwright, who had an error of judgement when he didn't play a shot.
But Turner couldn't regain his rhythm after tea and he nicked off to Bird although he was unhappy with the decision. After dismissing Paris on the next delivery, Bird came within inches of completing his hat-trick when Cameron Gannon almost chopped onto his stumps.
Southee, Philander back Shami's call to revoke ban on usage of saliva on ball
"That was a rule brought around Covid with the virus going around the world, but I think as a bowler, you want to have a slight advantage," Southee said on ESPNcricinfo's Match Day. "We see the game going the way it's going and seeing sides score 362 and more often than not over 300 in this format. I think there needs to be something in the bowlers' favour, and whether that's a little bit of saliva, then yeah, I don't see why they couldn't afford to get that back in."
"If we look at the state of that ball, I mean towards the back end, it was really scuffed up, and I think had you used the saliva [to polish one side of the ball], the element of the reverse swing might have come into play," Philander said. "So it certainly does play a part. You can get it to shine up and you use the elements to swing it a little longer.
"I'd like to see that element being brought back into the game because I think it's needed as well. I mean, especially in ODI cricket where we see batters really dominating, especially when you play on surfaces like we've just seen in Pakistan as well where it's really batter friendly."
Southee felt that the use of saliva to polish one side of the ball and induce reverse swing makes even more of a difference in red-ball cricket than in white-ball.
"I think the ball only swings initially for a few overs [in white-ball cricket]. But with the red ball, you are able to bring it back and obviously sweat can be limited at times in various parts of the world, whereas saliva you're able to obviously have access to it from a number of sources and in all parts of the world," he said. "I think there is an advantage to having saliva on the ball, probably more so in red-ball cricket than white-ball cricket."
Are there any other advantages of using saliva to polish the ball instead of sweat?
"With the South African team, we were always trying to keep the ball as dry as possible," Philander said. "The minute you start erring on the side of sweat, I think you start wetting both sides of the ball. Your hands get sweaty, especially when you play in hot, humid conditions.
"Saliva was definitely the preferred method of shining the ball. In the longer run in the scheme of things, I'd like to see that being brought back. As far as sweat is concerned, I do feel that it's difficult to control the amount of sweat you put on the ball, [especially when] you start sweating obviously heavily."
Injured Carse ruled out of IPL 2025, SRH sign Mulder as replacement
Mulder, meanwhile, was South Africa's joint-highest wicket-taker, with six wickets, in their run to the Champions Trophy semi-finals.
Mulder has played 128 T20s, scoring 2172 runs and taking 67 wickets. This will be his maiden stint in the IPL. However, he's been part of the SA20, now-defunct Mzansi Super League (MSL), and England's Vitality Blast.
IPL 2025 will begin on March 22 and SRH, who were runners-up in 2024, will begin their campaign against Rajasthan Royals at home on March 23.
Britain's Cameron Norrie made light work of Luca Nardi to reach the Indian Wells second round.
Norrie, who claimed his biggest career title at Indian Wells in 2021, took just 65 minutes to beat the Italian 6-0 6-3.
Nardi memorably beat Novak Djokovic as a lucky loser at last year's tournament.
World number 77 Norrie has reached at least the quarter-finals of the hard-court tournament in three of the past four years.
He will face Czech 23rd seed Jiri Lehecka next.
Britain's Jack Draper has a first-round bye as the 13th seed and could potentially face compatriot and good friend Jacob Fearnley in the second round.
Fearnley begins his campaign against another rising star, 18-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca, on Thursday.
Fonseca recently won his first ATP Tour title at the Argentina Open and has been tipped as one of the sport's future stars.
Elsewhere on the first day, Japan's Kei Nishikori battled through injury and cramps to beat Spain's Jaume Munar 6-2 5-7 7-6 (7-3) in just under three hours.
Nishikori, who struggled with a leg problem during the third set, said: "It was not easy. I almost gave up because I was struggling with my body".
Indian Wells loss 'worst match I've ever played' - Osaka
Former champion Naomi Osaka said her Indian Wells first-round exit was the "worst match I've ever played in my life".
Japan's Osaka, playing her first match since retiring injured from January's Australian Open, lost 6-4 6-4 to Camila Osorio.
The four-time major champion described the defeat in a news conference as a "little bump in the road" but later apologised to fans on social media.
"Worst match I've ever played in my life. Wow, I'm so sorry to everyone who watched that," the 27-year-old posted on Threads., external
Osaka has had several injury struggles since returning from maternity leave in January 2024.
In her news conference, the 2018 champion had given a more upbeat reflection, saying: "There were certain things that felt extremely off because I could only start to practice serving after a certain amount of time.
"I think given the situation, it wasn't that terrible.
"It just feels like a little bump in the road."
Colombia's Osorio, who had never previously won a match at Indian Wells, will face Denmark's Clara Tauson in the second round.
Elsewhere on the first day of main-draw action, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova was beaten 4-6 6-3 6-4 by France's Varvara Gracheva.
The defeat means Czech Kvitova is still searching for her first win since returning to the WTA Tour last month after giving birth to her first child last July.
"If you let me step back a little bit, I really want to congratulate her," Gracheva said of Kvitova.
"I'm so happy that she now has the role of a mother and a tennis player, which is very demanding. It's just amazing."
"His legacy is one of excellence, dedication, and a profound love for tennis.
"His impact on the sport will be remembered and cherished by all who had the privilege to witness his contributions."
Stolle was among the Australians - along with Roy Emerson, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and John Newcombe - who dominated the men's game late in the amateur era and start of the professional.
Stolle, who described playing for Australia as "everything to me", helped them win the Davis Cup in 1964, 1965 and 1966.
After retiring he became a coach and then commentator.
Laver, the only man to win all four majors in one year during the Open era, described Stolle as "too nice a guy to hold a grudge".
"It took the best to beat the best," he said on X.
"We never tired of reliving the past as we travelled the world looking into the future with an enduring love of the sport."
Former Australian doubles player Paul McNamee said: "What a player, what a commentator, what a bloke."
"One of that great group of Aussie tennis players who made history, and whose legacy is perhaps unrivalled."
Jamie Osborne says he is "confident" playing in any position for Ireland in Saturday's Six Nations game with France.
Osborne was named at full-back in place of Hugo Keenan in Ireland's win over Wales but has also featured at centre or the wing.
The 23-year-old bounced back from a nervy start in Cardiff to score a crucial try as Simon Easterby's side edged a tight contest.
"It definitely helps I've played a couple of positions," Osborne said.
"I'd be confident in any place I end up going. If you do your role well and perform well then the coaches will see that.
"When the team performance goes well I think everyone benefits from that."
The game with Antoine Dupont's France in Dublin has been billed as a potential title decider.
The hosts are unbeaten and aiming for an unprecedented three Six Nations championships in a row while France can take control of the tournament with victory in Dublin, which could move them to the top of the table ahead of the final round of fixtures.
"It's a huge challenge but everyone is looking forward to it," Osborne added.
"We know how strong they are and we have to be at our best to beat them."
While Ireland had moments of difficulty in Cardiff last time out, Osborne said the team "will learn from it" ahead of the game with France.
"The first half wasn't how we wanted it to go. There were a lot of errors, including from myself, but we bounced back from being five points down with a man in the bin, we managed to get back into the game.
"Probably not the game we were expecting to play before the game but we put pressure back on them. I think we learnt a lot about ourselves in the second half."
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