Ireland coach Joe Schmidt says his side "restored a bit of self-confidence" in their 22-17 win over Wales.

After a 42-point drubbing against England a week ago, the victory in Cardiff provides Ireland with some much-needed momentum with their World Cup opener just three weeks away.

Ireland and Wales will meet again in Dublin next Saturday to conclude their World Cup preparations.

Schmidt will submit his provisional 31-man squad on Monday.

He will not confirm his panel until after next weekend's final warm-up game, and Ireland will go into the encounter with a renewed spring in their step as Schmidt admitted their loss at Twickenham had "created a lot of angst for people outside the environment."

With arguably only a handful a squad places still in the balance, a number of players strengthened their claim for a seat on the place with strong performances in Cardiff.

Prop Dave Kilcoyne was a dominant force while Andrew Porter impressed from the bench.

In the back three Andrew Conway and Will Addison, in his first game since January, both delivered eye-catching displays.

"It's a horrible couple of days ahead," said Schmidt.

"I know how hard these players are working and have worked for a number of years, this is the pinnacle."

With Jacob Stockdale, Rob Kearney and Keith Earls all but certain to travel, at least one of Addison, Conway and Jordan Larmour is likely to miss out on selection despite their ability to cover numerous positions.

Addison's accomplished performance against Wales came at full-back, although most of his Ulster appearances last season came at outside centre.

"He has such a balanced running style, he's accomplished at kicking," said Schmidt.

"But he'd underdone, he hasn't played a lot. His versatility is a huge strength for him."

Ireland's Pool A opener is against Scotland on Yokohama on 22 September.

STAVELOT, Belgium – Competitor Anthoine Hubert died Saturday after being involved in a crash in the FIA Formula Two event at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

Hubert, the 22-year-old reigning GP3 Series champion and son of French rally driver Francois Hubert, was battling for a place inside the top-10 on the second lap of the race when he was involved in a crash at Eau Rouge.

Giuliano Alesi lost control of his car in the incident, leading to Hubert to also crash. Hubert’s car was then struck by the car driven by Juan Manuel Correa at the exit of the Raidillon corner.

Hubert was extracted from his car and attended to by medical personnel, but he succumbed to his injuries more than an hour later according to a statement from the FIA, Formula Two’s sanctioning body.

Correa was taken to a local hospital and was in stable condition according to the FIA statement while Alesi was checked and released from the medical center. The remainder of the Formula Two event was canceled Saturday afternoon.

The full statement from the FIA can be found below:

The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) regrets to advise that a serious incident involving cars #12, #19 and #20 occurred at 17:07 on 31/08/19 as a part of the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race at Spa-Francorchamps, round 17 of the season.

The scene was immediately attended by emergency and medical crews, and all drivers were taken to the medical centre.

As a result of the incident, the FIA regrets to inform that the driver of car #19, Antoine Hubert (FRA), succumbed to his injuries, and passed away at 18:35.

The driver of car #12, Juan-Manuel Correa (USA), is in a stable condition and is being treated at the CHU Liège hospital. More information on his condition will be provided when it becomes available.

The driver of car #20 Giuliano Alesi (FRA) was checked and declared fit at the medical centre.

The FIA is providing support to the event organisers and the relevant authorities, and has commenced an investigation into the incident.

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Ryan Blaney hopes to close his season tenure with Team Penske’s NASCAR Xfinity Series program with a bang this weekend at Darlington Raceway.

He got that mission off to a rousing start on Saturday afternoon by securing the pole for the Sport Clips Haircuts/VFW 200 at the historic 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval.

Blaney toured the track in 28.696 seconds (171.369 mph) with the No. 12 Bodyarmor Ford Mustang to earn the top starting spot on the grid. It’s his first pole in three Xfinity Series starts at Darlington.

“It’s nice,” said Blaney of having track position. “Honestly, I didn’t think I got the best lap. I got … we got through one and two pretty good, but I thought I missed (turn) three. Going back to switching between cars, I kind of drove it in like a Cup car and I thought I really hurt myself, but it slid and stuck and I was able to keep going.

“I’m really proud of this (No.) 12 group. It’s my second (and) last race for them for this year, so it’s really cool to have a good start to the day,” Blaney added. “Hopefully we can end it just as good. Thanks to Bodyarmor for being part of this deal. It should be a fun one today.”

Christopher Bell will join Blaney on the front row, after a lap of 28.828 seconds (170.584 mph) with his No. 20 Rheem/Ruud Toyota Supra. Bell is a six-time race winner so far this season.

Cole Custer and Justin Allgaier will share the second row of the grid, while Chase Briscoe completed the top five.

Reigning Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick will start sixth, followed by Brandon Jones, Noah Gragson, Austin Cindric and Michael Annett.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., making his first Xfinity Series start since Richmond (Va.) Raceway last September, will roll off 14th in the No. 8 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro, throwing back to his father’s Cup debut in 1975.

To view complete qualifying results, advance to the next page.

GLENDORA, Calif – JEGS, a high-performance automotive equipment retailer, has extended its NHRA sponsorships of the JEGS Allstars program and the JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals event.

The multi-year extensions will keep the JEGS name on these tradition-rich programs tailored for sportsman drag racers. JEGS has been the title sponsor of the Allstars competition since 2002 and came on as the title sponsor of the SPORTSnationals in 2005.

“JEGS and the Coughlin family is excited to extend our partnership with the NHRA for both of these prestigious events for competitors in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series,” Scott “Woody” Woodruff, JEGS director of media & motorsports. “We take great pride in making these events better-and-better each year with the support and dedication of the racers and the NHRA. JEGS will be celebrating our 60th anniversary next year and the racing community has been with us every step of the way for all 60-years. This is another way to say thank you and show people the JEGS way.”

The JEGS Allstars event is a race-within-a-race bonus program for the very best in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series which takes place annually at the Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Chicago. It’s one of the most anticipated events of the season when these high-performing sportsman racers hit the track to face off in a battle for individual and team honors. It pits the top points earners from NHRA’s seven geographic divisions and four Top Alcohol regions against each other in the culmination of a yearlong points battle

The JEGS NHRA SPORTSnationals is a premier standalone event for competitors in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. This event awards national points to competitors and features three days of intense racing action from the top sportsman racers in the country. Widely regarded as one of the biggest and most prestigious weekends in sportsman racing, the 2019 event will take place at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, Sept. 20-22.

“We appreciate our strong relationship with JEGS and are thrilled to see the continued support of sportsman racing through these two significant events,” said Brad Gerber, NHRA vice president and chief development officer. “We look forward to the coming years and more exciting racing action thanks to JEGS.”

Ansu Fati's goal in Barcelona's draw at Osasuna on Saturday saw him become the club's youngest-ever goalscorer in La Liga.

The teenage forward opened his account for the club in Pamplona just five minutes after coming on as a substitute. He got across his marker to head home and make it 1-1, with the game eventually ending 2-2.

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Aged 16 years and 304 days, his goal sees him take the crown from Bojan Krkic, whose first league goal for Barca came when he was 17 years and 53 days old. Lionel Messi's arrived at 17 years and 331 days old.

However, Ansu is not La Liga's youngest-ever scorer. Fabrice Olinga, playing for Malaga at the time, scored the winning goal against Celta Vigo in 2012 when he was 16 years and 98 days old. Next comes Athletic Bilbao's Iker Muniain, who was 16 years and 289 days old when his first league goal arrived, with Ansu now placing third on the list.

Ansu had become the youngest player to represent Barcelona in the league since the 1940s when he came on in last week's win over Real Betis.

He began preseason with the club's U19 team and coach Victor Valdes revealed he didn't even have a decent pair of boots when he turned up for a training camp in Russia.

"Ansu arrived at the camp with pain in his feet so I asked him to show me his boots," Valdes explained earlier this week. "They were a genuine disaster. The pain was coming from there. We went and bought him new ones.

"But I can't speak highly enough of him: he's strong, quick, daring... we have to give him complete freedom so that all flows. He's got character, too, and he's lethal around the box."

Ansu, who has been at the club since he was 10, is getting his chance in Ernesto Valverde's team due to injuries to Messi, Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele.

His goal at El Sadar cancelled out Roberto Torres' opener, with Arthur Melo then firing Barca into the lead. However, Osasuna grabbed a point late on when Torres added his second from the penalty spot after Gerard Pique's handball.

Barca have now dropped points in two of their opening three league games this season, following their loss to Athletic in the opening round of fixtures two weeks ago.

Hubli Tigers 152 for 6 in 20 overs (Aditya Somanna 47, Luvnith Sisodia 29, KP Appanna 2-19) beat Ballari Tuskers 144 all out in 20 overs (CM Gautam 29, Devdutt Padikkal 68; Abhilash Shetty 3-34, Aditya Somanna 3-24) by 8 runs.

Vinay Kumar may have moved on from Karnataka, but continued to make his presence felt as a leader, inspiring Hubli Tigers to their maiden IPL crown on Saturday. They beat Ballari Tuskers in the finale by eight runs in Mysore.

Tuskers started poorly in their chase of 153 but recovered through 19-year old Devdutt Padikkal (68) and CM Gautam (29), before the Tigers applied the choke through the pace duo of Abhilash Shetty (3 for 34) and Aditya Somanna (3 for 24).

Earlier in the evening, Vinay may have rued for a while his decision to bat as Prasidh Krishna and KP Appanna, the left-arm spinner, left their mark with some exceptional bowling. Tigers were then powered by a 62-run stand between Somanna (47) and Luvnith Sisodia (29). The late lift was provided by Praveen Dubey (26*) and Shreyas Gopal (14*).

Tuskers lost three wickets inside the first four overs. Then, Padikkal and Gautam added 75 in just 66 balls to come within 53 runs of victory off the last five overs, before stuttering again by losing the set pair. It proved to be costly, but Padikkal had some consolation as he walked away as the highest run-getter in the tournament with 310 runs.

French driver Anthoine Hubert has been killed in an accident during the Formula 2 feature race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium.

Hubert, 22, lost control of his car on the second lap of the race at the top of the Raidillon corner, which follows the famous Eau Rouge section of the Belgian race track. Raidillon is a blind corner at the crest of a hill. After an initial impact with the barriers, Hubert's car came back onto the race track and was hit at upwards of 200 km/h by American driver Juan Manuel Correa. Hubert's car was split in two pieces by the crash.

A third driver, Giuliano Alesi, was involved but was unharmed after his car came to a halt without a rear wing and a punctured rear tyre.

TV cameras quickly cut away from the scene, and no replays were shown. The race was immediately red flagged and, once the other cars had returned to the pits, it was soon confirmed it would not restart.

F2 is the official feeder series to Formula One and the race was taking place shortly after qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday. There is also an F2 sprint race allocated on Sunday's schedule.

Just before 7 p.m. local time, the FIA confirmed Hubert had succumbed to his injuries. Correa is in stable condition in CHU Liège hospital.

"The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regrets to advise that a serious incident involving cars #12, #19 and #20 occurred at 17:07 on 31/08/19 as a part of the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race at Spa-Francorchamps, round 17 of the season.

"The scene was immediately attended by emergency and medical crews, and all drivers were taken to the medical centre.

"As a result of the incident, the FIA regrets to inform that the driver of car #19, Antoine Hubert (FRA), succumbed to his injuries, and passed away at 18:35.

"The driver of car #12, Juan-Manuel Correa (USA), is in a stable condition and is being treated at the CHU Liège hospital. More information on his condition will be provided when it becomes available.

"The driver of car #20 Giuliano Alesi (FRA) was checked and declared fit at the medical centre.

"The FIA is providing support to the event organisers and the relevant authorities, and has commenced an investigation into the incident."

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton posted his condolances to Instagram shortly after the news was confirmed.

"This is devastating. God rest your soul Anthoine. My prayers and thoughts are with you and your family today."

In a follow-up post, he said: "If a single one of you watching and enjoying this sport think for a second what we do is safe your hugely mistaken. All these drivers put their life on the line when they hit the track and people need to appreciate that in a serious way because it is not appreciated enough. Not from the fans nor some of the people actually working in the sport.

"Anthoine is a Hero as far as I'm concerned, for taking the risk he did to chase his dreams. I'm so sad that this has happened. Let's lift him up and remember him. Rest in peace brother."

Hubert, the reigning GP3 champion, was part of the Renault F1 team's junior driver academy.

Born in Lyon, France, he started karting at age 12. Once he made his debut in single-seater racing in the French F4 championship in 2013, he rose through the ranks quickly. He won the French F4 series at the first attempt, before spending two seasons in Formula Renault 2.0. He stepped up to Formula 3, claiming a race win at the Norisring.

He moved up to GP3 with ART in 2017. His first season in the series was winless, but he followed it up with a championship-winning campaign in 2018. This year he stepped up to F1's official feeder series and claimed victories at sprint races in Monaco and France. Arriving at Belgium, hosting the 17th and 18th rounds of the 2019 season, he was eighth in the championship.

The last fatality caused by injuries sustained at a Formula One event was Jules Bianchi, who suffered severe head injuries at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix and died in July 2015.

In the first of our series in which Stuart Weir speaks to reigning world champions, pole vault winner Stefanidi shares her experience of striking gold in London two years ago

What do you remember about the London 2017 World Championships?

I remember the whole stadium dancing with great songs playing – both when I was jumping and during the ceremony the next day. That is definitely my No.1 memory. I remember very much the feeling of confidence. I went into the competition and I almost knew that I would win. I think that’s very important in any event but especially in the pole vault when it is such a mental event. And now I’m finally getting that feeling back.

What does it mean to you to be world champion?

That’s a hard one. It is something that you dream of as a kid and I think for me maybe more than other people because I started so young – I started pole vaulting aged 10 and even before that I was already doing track and field. The idea of being Olympic champion, world champion, European champion was this big goal and my dream from a very early age. Even at 12 years old I would cross the road and I would say “you need to be very careful because if you get hit by a car, how can you be world champion and break the world record?” I mean, a 12-year-old doesn’t think that way. My parents and coach at the time pushed me so much to think that way and that’s probably why I care so much more about medals right now than I do about records. It’s hard to say exactly what it feels like but I think that gives you an idea of how important it is for me.

“I almost knew that I would win”

As world champion, Olympic champion and European champion do you feel unbeatable?

I don’t! My coach would like me to, but I don’t. Every year is new and I think you build that confidence, of going into the meeting feeling like you will win no matter what, throughout the season. So for me, every year is new. I was European champion last year but now I need to come out and jump good again and build that confidence. And kind of catch up mentally with where I am physically. But there is definitely some confidence and it is not just me being confident, it’s about the other girls thinking ‘she has been able to perform well when it mattered’ but at the end of the day I still need to do it again.

How do you peak for Doha when it is such a long season?

I would almost say that it is an advantage for me because every year it takes me a little while to get used to the longer poles because I mostly only use them in competition. With having an extra month to the season I think it would allow me to do a few more competitions, be a little more consistent and maybe be able to raise my grip. I’ve said in the last three years that the only thing I think I’m missing from breaking the world record is the grip. I have pushed as far as (three-time world champion Yelena) Isinbayeva has, I’m just gripping lower on the same poles. Every year by the end of the year I slowly raise my grip but now I have an extra month or maybe a little more and I think it can definitely get us a little closer to those five-metre or five and above heights.