Wales secured a vital win against nearest rivals Japan in their bid to remain in the top 14 of the World Rugby Sevens Series.

Richie Pugh's side went into the penultimate round of the series in 14th spot, three points ahead of Japan.

But tries from captain Luke Treharne, Afon Bagshaw and Joe Goodchild saw Wales secure a 17-0 win in the challenge trophy quarter-final.

They face Scotland in the semi-final later on Sunday.

Wales had lost to Australia and series leaders the United States before victory over Spain in Saturday's pool matches.

Wales squad: Luke Treharne (capt), Owen Jenkins, Ethan Davies, Cai Devine, Afon Bagshaw, Joe Jenkins, Joe Goodchild, George Gasson, Cameron Lewis, Dafydd Smith, Reuben Morgan-Williams, Ben Cambriani, Tom Rogers, Morgan Williams.

ELDON, Mo. — Dominant one week ago in Michigan, Sam Hafertepe Jr. carried that momentum into Missouri for his third win in as many races with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network coming at Lake Ozark Speedway on Saturday night.

“Hats off to my guys. They did a hell of a job tonight, just like they’ve been doing all year long. That’s three in a row and we’re going to keep on going. Lock-in cars or not, we’re going to try to get it done tomorrow night,” said Hafertepe, who has taken command of the National Tour point standings by 14 markers.

Hafertepe drew the fourth starting spot for the 25-lap affair. Chasing John Carney II and Evan Martin on the first lap, the caution flew working lap two as John Schulz, Alex Hill, and Austin Alumbaugh all came to a rest in the second turn.

Throwing a deep slide in the restart, Hafertepe took the battle three deep off the fourth turn to grab the lead on the second lap.

Pulling a considerable lead on the field, Hafertepe began finding slower traffic as the race progressed past lap 10. Running top shelf around the Lake Ozark Speedway, Hafertepe’s lead started going the other way with every passing turn as the Danny Sander Construction No. J2 of John Carney II worked patiently around the hub of the Speedway.

Closing the gap to mere car lengths, Carney tried for the lead on lap 13, but without enough pull off the fourth turn, showed Hafertepe the line and allowed the No. 15h to transition off the cushion just before the caution lights clicked on for Bryan Grimes.

Green for another lap, the yellow flag flew as Matt Covington made contact with Roger Crockett racing for third; spinning the No. 95 down the back straightaway.

Overtaken by Roger Crockett on the restart with a middle groove pass in the first and second turn, Carney slipped to third as the Route 66 Chevrolet of Tulsa No. 11 worked on keeping pace with Hafertepe. Hafertepe again built a comfortable advantage only to have a caution dash his momentum while working lap 23.

Red for Matt Covington on the restart, the field took the green for the final time with a three-lap dash seeing Hafertepe win by 2.647 seconds.

“It’s tough to know where to be,” Hafertepe said. “I felt really good on the top in three and four and that’s really where I wanted to stay, but I didn’t want open the lane with three to go with those guys causing the cautions and reds at the end. It really gets you guessing.”

Roger Crockett held on for second with the race for third going three-wide off the final turn with John Carney II taking the spot by 0.166 seconds with a high side pass on Miles Paulus, who was the night’s hard charger coming from 17th to fourth, and Evan Martin to complete the top five.

The finish:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [4]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, [3]; 3. J2-John Carney II, [1]; 4. 21-Miles Paulus, [17]; 5. 4-Evan Martin, [2]; 6. 5-Kory Bales, [15]; 7. 22-Sean McClelland, [10]; 8. 35M-Jonathan Cornell, [8]; 9. 78-Kaley Gharst, [9]; 10. 14-Jordon Mallett, [13]; 11. 28-Scott Bogucki, [14]; 12. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [6]; 13. 14M-Randy Martin, [18]; 14. 52-Blake Hahn, [19]; 15. 5J-Jamie Ball, [23]; 16. 0-Steven Russell, [25]; 17. 17W-Harli White, [11]; 18. 21P-Robbie Price, [24]; 19. 37H-Nicholas Howard, [22]; 20. (DNF) 95-Matt Covington, [5]; 21. (DNF) 6-Bryan Grimes, [7]; 22. (DNF) 9-Paul Nienhiser, [21]; 23. (DNF) 99-John Schulz, [12]; 24. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [16]; 25. (DNF) 33-Austin Alumbaugh, [20]

PERRIS, Calif. — After battling back and forth with Jake Swanson, Hunter Schuerenberg took command on lap seven and led the rest of the way to win the Salute to Indy at Perris Auto Speedway.

Racing Andy Reinbold and Todd Underwood’s No. 19 AME Electrical / Mesilla Valley Transportation Spike, Schuerenberg earned his second career AMSOIL USAC/CRA Sprint Car triumph over Swanson, Richard Vander Weerd, Matt Mitchell and R.J. Johnson.

Matt McCarthy earned the Specialty Fasteners Hard Charger Award with a 21^stto ninth place run. Stevie Sussex claimed the Wilwood Disc Brakes “Lucky 13 Award” with a 13^th-place finish in the main event.

Damion Gardner scored his 85th Woodland Auto Display Fast Time Award by posting a time of 16.409 seconds over the 25-car field.

The finish:

Feature (30 laps, with starting positions): 1. Hunter Schuerenberg (2), 2. Jake Swanson (1), 3. Richard Vander Weerd (5), 4. Matt Mitchell (4), 5. R.J. Johnson (7), 6. Brody Roa (12), 7. Danny Faria Jr. (8), 8. Chris Gansen (10), 9. Matt McCarthy (21), 10. Austin Williams (3), 11. Damion Gardner (6), 12. Jace Vander Weerd (11), 13. Steve Sussex (18), 14. Mike Martin (20), 15. Verne Sweeney (13), 16. Cody Williams (9), 17. A.J. Bender (15), 18. Matt Stewart (16), 19. Jeff Dyer (22), 20. Joel Rayborne (19), 21. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (17), 22. Trent Williams (14). NT

STOCKTON, Calif. — D.J. Netto won the 35-lap Jimmy Sills Classic at the Stockton Dirt Track on Saturday night.

In surprising fashion, Netto took advantage of a very late race caution to pass initial leader Shane Golobic with just two laps remaining and drove the Netto AG No. 88n to victory over Kalib Henry and Golobic.

The race’s final caution waved on lap 33 when Blake Carrick spun in the second turn.  The caution put an end to Golobic’s dominating performance after he started on the front row next to pole sitter Netto. Golobic led from the initial start and controlled the race despite several cautions and a red flag period. Netto made a bold pass to the inside of Golobic going into the first turn on the restart.

A surprised Golobic tried to make a cross over move going down the backstretch, only to overpower the outside edge and loosing yet another spot.  He would have to settle for a third-place finish after having controlled the entire race up until that point.

The race went five laps before the first caution flag flew for Ben Worth.  On the restart, Netto challenged leader Golobic by getting along side of him in the fourth turn, but Golobic would remain the leader going into the first turn. The green flag would stay out long as fifth-place runner Zane Blanchard spun going down the back stretch.  His race ended as he was towed back to the pits.

scary moment for Tony Gualda occurred on lap 10 when he parked his car atop the fourth turn banking and jumped from the car, apparently on fire. The result was the race’s only red flag stoppage, as Gualda was able to walk away from the scene after being attended to by the ambulance crew.

The next caution was for Lucas Ashe who stopped off the third turn. He would refire and join the back of the pack.  Andy Forsberg’s race ended on lap 14 after spinning and then retiring from the event.

A long green flag period allowed Golobic to catch the back of the field, where he had to master the slower cars.  What looked like a sure win ended when Blake Carrick brought out the caution with just two laps to go.

The finish:

D.J. Netto, Kalib Henry, Shane Golobic, Willie Croft, Kyle Offill, Mitchell Moles, Cole Macedo, Blake Carrick, Tanner Carrick, Jesse Love, Ben Worth, Lucas Ashe, Andy Forsberg, Tony Gualda, Jake Haulot, Zane Blanchard, Jayson Bright

ANDERSON, Ind. — For the third time in four years California driver Kody Swanson pulled into victory lane in the 71st running of the Pay Less Little 500 at Anderson Speedway.

Swanson took the lead with an outside pass of his teammate Shane Hollingsworth on the back straight. The pass came after both drivers made their final pit stops on lap 354.

That was followed by the long green flag run of 74 laps.

The Gene Nolen Racing teammates led all but one lap with only Bobby Santos on the point when the Nolen teammates pitted together.

It was a dominating performance with Swanson leading 345 of the 500 laps.

“We had a great system and never gave up,” Swanson said in the winner’s circle. “Traffic is always tough to work through because you’re always racing someone.

“This is a marvelous team,” he continued. “We had the two fastest cars on the track. It doesn’t get any better.”

Santos said his team work hard all week and provided him with a great car.

“I want a win,” he said of the Little 500. “It’s disappointing because we had a fast car all night and this is a great race.”

Wilson said for his team it was a return to form for the team which has struggled in other forms of racing.

“We didn’t have our best car,” he said, “we were just a little off.”

Swanson led the first 186 laps from the pole position and his teammate took the lead when Swanson pitted.

Years ago, legendary car builder Glen Niebel dominated the Little 500 with V-6 power under the hood and the Nolen cars were both running with V-6 engines.

Santos came home in second followed by Jacob Wilson, Hollingsworth and Chris Windom.

Missisippi driver Joey Schmidt claimed rookie of the year honors with a seventh-place finish.

Following the first round of pit stops Swanson moved into second by passing Bobby Santos on lap 296 and closed on Hollingsworth.

Hollingsworth was able to hold off Swanson until lap 326 when the pass for the lead was made on the back straight with a lapped car coming into play.

The race was one of attrition with only 18 of the 33 starters running at the halfway point.

Several incidents took out expected contenders through contact with other cars and the retaining walls.

Tyler Roahrig, Kyle Hamilton, Aaron Pierce, Shane Cottle and Caleb Armstrong were all eliminated through incidents before 200 laps were completed.

The finish:

1) Kody Swanson; 2) Bobby Santos; 3) Jacob Wilson; 4) Shane Hollingsworth; 5) Chris Windom; 6) Brian Gerster; 7) Joey Schmidt; 8) Mickey Kempgens; 9) Travis Welpott; 10) Jimmy McCune; 11) Chris Neuenschwander; 12) Nick Hamilton; 13) Brian Vaughn; 14) Scotty Hampton; 15) Tony Main; 16) Donnie Adams; 17) Shane Butler; 18) Johnny Gilbertson; 19) Eric Gordon; 20) Kyle O’Gara; 21) John Inman; 22) Chris Jagger; 23) Kyle Hamilton; 24) Aaron Pierce; 25) Brian Tyler; 26) Tyler Roahrig; 27) Ken Schrader; 28) Trey Osborne; 29) Justin Grant; 30) Billy Wease; 31) Jeff Bloom; 32) Shane Cottle; 33) Caleb Armstrong

Manchester United expect top summer target Matthijs de Ligt to resist their advances and complete a move to Barcelona, with Old Trafford sources having told ESPN FC they believe the Spanish champions struck an agreement with the Ajax captain two months ago.

De Ligt, 19, has emerged as one of the most-sought after players in Europe this season after playing a key role in Ajax's run to the Champions League semifinal. The defender also led the Amsterdam giants to their first Eredivisie title since 2014 earlier this month as well success in the Dutch Cup.

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But with Ajax accepting to sell the centre-half this summer, United and Barcelona have been battling it out to secure the teenager's signature for months.

Sources have told ESPN FC that United have offered De Ligt a deal worth £250,000-a-week to move to Old Trafford -- more than the player will receive at Barcelona.

But despite the prospect of playing in the Premier League with United, De Ligt has made it clear to the club that his preference is a move to Barcelona, who have already completed a €75 million deal for his Ajax teammate, Frenkie de Jong.

While United remain huge admirers of De Ligt, who is not expected to leave Ajax until after his involvement with the Netherlands at the Nations League in Portugal next month, there is an acceptance within Old Trafford that Barcelona have all but tied up a deal for the player.

United are also attempting to finalise moves for Swansea winger Daniel James and Newcastle midfielder Sean Longstaff.

But while the focus is on recruiting the best young talent in the country, United have ruled out a move for Borussia Dortmund and England forward Jadon Sancho due to the excessive costs of signing the former Manchester City youngster.

Mahela Jayawardene had been invited to play a role in Sri Lanka's World Cup campaign, but declined largely because he remains disillusioned with Sri Lanka Cricket's general direction.

Now a two-time IPL-winning coach, Jayawardene has in the past produced plans to overhaul Sri Lanka's domestic cricket system, only for those proposals to be rejected by SLC. Last year, a committee featuring Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Aravinda de Silva had also produced a report on Sri Lankan cricket, with recommendations on governance as well as domestic structure. Those recommendations have been almost totally ignored since.

Jayawardene said he had been asked twice to play a role in Sri Lanka's backroom for the World Cup - once by Sri Lanka's sports minister, and once by SLC's CEO towards the end of the recent IPL. He turned the offers down.

"I was [invited] but I have several other commitments. More than that, I didn't understand the role I am expected to play," Jayawardene told Sunday Times. "There's no point in me getting involved tactically, or whatever, if I don't have a say in the whole structure. The team is selected and everything is done and dusted. There is no room for me to come in and add something.

"I am still happy to contribute in my little way with the management of the team, but nothing to do with the SLC. That's something I have told myself as well. I just don't have the appetite to come and work for anybody when I know that it's not the right place for me."

Jayawardene had been especially dismayed by SLC's failure to seriously consider the recommendations put forward by his committee last year. That report had been commissioned by Sri Lanka's sports ministry.

"We created a professional cricketing structure spending eight months," he said. "We offered to set it up for them but they rejected it. We did it because we don't want to lose our cricketers going to Australia and to league cricket in England. We need those experienced players in our system.

"There are some teams in our first class system where the average age is 25, which is sad. When we played, we had so many senior cricketers to guide us. Without them in our system, we cannot build a strong domestic cricket structure. And without doing that, there's no point in building stadiums."

"He gave in to cricket politics. He allowed other people to make decisions and did not stand up for his players. I have told him this as well and he accepts it." Jayawardene on Angelo Mathews

Jayawardene also criticised aspects of Angelo Mathews' and Dinesh Chandimal's leadership, whose failures he believes contributed to the rapid recent turnover of captains in the Sri Lanka side. Mathews was captain of all Sri Lanka's teams when Jayawardene retired in 2015, but since then, Chandimal, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedara and - most-recently - Dimuth Karunaratne have held the reins. This instability is understood to have contributed to Sri Lanka's serious decline in ODIs.

"The only advice [Kumar and I] gave Angelo was not to give in to cricket politics," Jayawardene said. "He needs to be a stronger leader, to be with the players and do the right thing. But he gave in to cricket politics. He allowed other people to make decisions and did not stand up for his players. I am being honest. I have told him this as well and he accepts it. If he hadn't give in, we would probably not be in this situation today. Even if I see him today, that's the only complaint I will have against him.

"The number one rule in Sri Lanka is, if you are the captain, lead by example and do not allow any outsiders coming into that setup. That's the only way we ran the show and survived. It was unfortunate and it was not easy, either. You need to deal with a lot of unwanted elements. But if you are a strong character, that's something you have to do. I have nothing against him. He is a brilliant cricketer and a wonderful person but he did not handle this situation well. He should be the one who is leading this team at the World Cup. He had to give up because it was too much for him. But it was his fault.

"I think [Chandimal' was another victim of cricket politics. In the sense, he was another player like Angelo Mathews who was snared to elements behind the scene and went along with them rather than taking control of the team and being a strong leader."

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