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Quins have not beaten Sarries for 1,722 days, since before the Covid pandemic.
The north London side completed a league double over their rivals last season.
A summer of change then followed for Sarries as former England captain Owen Farrell, Mako and Billy Vunipola, and the retiring Sean Maitland and Alex Lewington, all left.
"Although they've lost a few [players], when you look at who they've replaced them with there's some real quality there," Harlequins head coach Danny Wilson said.
"They've always been a very strong Premiership team year in, year out, but we've focused a little more on ourselves.
"This week is about making sure we take our learnings from Northampton and we put those into the Saracens game.
"We're fully aware of what Saracens are capable of but at the same time were fully aware of what we can do.
"I dont think we did ourselves justice against them last year and we certainly want to do that at home."
Premiership considers introducing away fan sections
The Premiership is considering bringing in sections purely for away fans to heighten the atmosphere at top-flight matches.
Traditionally crowds have been unsegregated and, while mixing with opposition fans is one of rugby's attractions, it is thought that dedicated, concentrated away areas may encourage more noise.
"There are a number of clubs that are very keen to engage on that," said Premiership Rugby's chief growth officer Rob Calder.
"We've talked to them about identifying areas and getting the pricing, and communication right."
Uruguay Football Federation president Ignacio Alonso pledged his full support to Marcelo Bielsa despite confirming the declarations made by Luis Suárez over the problematic working conditions imposed by the head coach.
On Oct. 3, Suárez spoke publicly about the grim impact Bielsa's leadership had on the team during the 2024 Copa América by detailing the lack of communication between the coaching staff and players.
He admitted to feeling hurt over the manager's actions, before urging fans not to turn on the players if "something goes wrong" moving forward.
Alonso confirmed the accusations made by Suárez of Bielsa, revealing the forward spoke to him and Jorge Giordano, the director of national teams, before addressing the point on television.
"Correct, what Luis said is true, he has told me things, and Jorge [Giordano] as well," Alonso told the "De fútbol se habla así" show on DirecTV. "But I don't want to comment on Luis's interview and I don't want to give details of situations that must be handled behind closed doors."
Federico Valverde and Agustín Canobbio also validated Suárez's statement when asked.
Still, Alonso insists the matter should continue to be dealt with internally to preserve the image of the Uruguay national team.
"When it comes to internal affairs management, it is to always treat them as insiders and that was managed very well," said Alonso.
"You must always collaborate by maintaining the reserve. I saw Bielsa working as always, he is a coach very aware of the things he has in hand, hardworking like few others, meticulous, he is on top of all the details and did not have any alterations."
Despite the ongoing issues, Alonso maintains that is the right person to lead La Celeste to the 2026 World Cup.
"There is a transition from one era to another, with a generation that enters with an incredible legacy and we bet that Marcelo [Bielsa], as a football leader, could be the ideal figure for our team," said Alonso. "We are doing well, the team has shown interesting things.
"Uruguay has the hope of reaching 2026 with an optimal football commitment."
Uruguay currently sit in third place of the CONMEBOL World Cup qualifier standings with 15 in eight games, four points behind leaders Argentina. La Celeste face Peru on Friday night at Estadio Nacional de Lima, before hosting Ecuador in Montevideo, Uruguay.
The top six teams will qualify directly to the World Cup, while seventh place is forced to participate in an interconfederation playoff match for the chance to secure a ticket to the competition.
Sergio Agüero filed a lawsuit against Barcelona for 3 million ($3.2m) over money owed as part of his 2021 contract termination and the matter is still in court, an official report sent to the Catalan club's members has revealed.
Agüero, 36, joined Barça from Man City on a two-year deal in 2021 but he made just five appearances before being forced to retire after suffering heart problems during a LaLiga game against Alavés.
He officially announced his retirement in December of the same year, reaching an agreement with the club to end his contract early.
However, a report detailing Barça's financial accounts for the 2023-24 season and seen by ESPN has revealed the former Argentina striker launched legal proceedings against the club earlier this year.
"On May 29, 2024, ex-player Sergio Agüero filed a claim for 3m that, according to him, he is owed as part of the resolution agreement to end his working relationship with the club," the report states.
"As of June 21, 2024, there was no conciliatory agreement between the parties. The club is now waiting for the claim to be processed by a local court for the next step in the procedure."
The dispute with Agüero is one of nine legal cases detailed by Barça in the section of the report titled 'Litigation.'
Another reveals that a company named 'Scores Sports Management' is demanding 10m ($10.9m) for their role in the transfer which saw winger Ousmane Dembélé leave Barça for Paris Saint-Germain in a deal worth 50m ($54.6m) in 2023.
"On June 18, 2024, the club was notified of a claim filed by the company Scores Sports Management requesting 10m for their supposed intermediary role in the transfer of Dembélé to PSG," the report explains.
"The case has been taken up by a local court given the club's opposition and desire to contest the claim."
The cases are listed by Barça given their potential financial implications.
The report was sent out to select members this week ahead of the club's AGM on Oct. 19, when members will have the opportunity to challenge the 2023-24 financial results.
At the AGM, Barça will present losses of 91m ($99.4 m) for last season.
On Friday, Barcelona also lost a legal case to get a half million-dollar bonus from Zenit St. Petersburg that the Russian club did not have to pay because it was barred from the Champions League following the invasion of Ukraine.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said Friday it dismissed Barcelona's appeal against a FIFA ruling last year in a contract dispute over the transfer of Brazilian winger Malcom.
Vlaeminck dislocates shoulder on T20 World Cup return
Vlaeminck was attempting to stop a boundary off Muneeba Ali's fine edge on just the fourth ball of the match in Dubai on Friday. Running back from short third, Vlaeminck slid but her knee got stuck in the turf as she reached for the ball and flicked it back before tumbling over the rope, crying out and clutching at her shoulder as she did so.
Lying on the boundary's edge clearly in distress as Australia team medical staff rushed to her aid, captain Alyssa Healy looked visibly concerned.
Vlaeminck's shoulder was later relocated and the extent of the injury will be known following further assessment in the coming days.
She had come into the side for the big-hitting Grace Harris, adding pace in what Healy described as an "impact for impact" swap in Australia's first match of the tournament at the ground, having opened their campaign with wins against Sri Lanka and New Zealand on a slower pitch in Sharjah.
It is the latest in a long line of injuries for 25-year-old Vlaeminck, playing her first World Cup match since 2018, Australia's group game against India, and only the second of her career.
Vlaeminck dislocated her left shoulder playing for Victoria in the 2017-18 season. Then, during the Australia A tour of England which coincided with last year's Women's Ashes, she dislocated the same shoulder again while bowling, which led to corrective surgery.
Before she made her debut for Australia, in 2018, she had undergone two ACL reconstructions. Stress fractures in her foot also forced her to miss the 2020 home T20 World Cup as well as the 2022 ODI World Cup, the Commonwealth Games later that year and the 2023 T20 World Cup. Her foot injuries led her to spend time training with professional dancers at the Australian Ballet as part of her rehab work.
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor, women's cricket, at ESPNcricinfo
Ryan ten Doeschate: 'We are trying to push the limits of what we can do'
With Rohit Sharma as captain and Rahul Dravid as coach, India had shed their safety-first approach with bat in limited-overs cricket. It paid dividends when they finished as the runners-up of the 2023 ODI World Cup and the winners of the 2024 T20 World Cup.
"Hundred per cent," ten Doeschate said, when asked if playing fearless cricket was part of the team philosophy. "I think it has shown in the way we have played. The Test match in Kanpur is a great example."
"We are trying to push the limits of what we can do as a team," ten Doeschate said. "We have obviously got the quality to do it. And then it's about giving the players the belief to do it in a safe space, that if it's not going to go right, it's also okay. And even if you look back at the first two games, someone like Sanju [Samson] getting a quick start in the first game in Gwalior, it would have been easy for him to knock it around and just get a 50-60 not out. But you can see he was trying to push the boundary. He knows the state of the game, and the messaging has been pretty consistent with that.
"We want the guys to expand their game. We want to move cricket forward, like it's going with the times. And we want to be prepared for the big crunch moments that are coming up in the next 18 months."
Another change since Gambhir became the coach has been the push to make as many players in the side bowl. In the second T20I, despite Hardik Pandya not rolling his arm over, India used seven bowlers, with each picking up at least one wicket.
"You see the way the game is going, it's very rare that all five bowlers, or even six bowlers, are going to go well on a given day," ten Doeschate said. "So it's nice to have options. Ideally, you want them to bowl a little bit more, but someone like Hardik not bowling in the last game, it's just a testament to the depth of the bowling in the team."
India fielded the same XI in the first two T20Is. But now with the series sealed, they are likely to try their bench strength.
"That was always the plan," ten Doeschate said. "Obviously, there's a nice depth in the squad - a lot of guys have the IPL experience. We are trying to expose as many guys as we can to international experience with what we have coming up. So someone like Harshit Rana, we are keen to give a game to. Obviously, Tilak [Varma] came into the squad a bit later. Jitesh [Sharma] is there as well. We want to give Sanju another chance. So there are options."
The third and final T20I will be played in Hyderabad, where the average run rate in IPL 2024 was 10.54. But ten Doeschate said India would not blindly trust the data.
"Certainly the data and the evidence is around that [a high-scoring game]. But a little bit like when we got to Delhi the other day, you don't want to read too much into the data. We probably feel that those first three wickets we lost was maybe because of going a little too hard. The wicket was a little bit sticky.
"So we will have a look at this wicket. We are aware of the high-scoring nature of this pitch during the IPL but also we are five months away from the IPL now. So conditions could change as well. Fingers crossed, it's a high-scoring game and a quality game."
Hemant Brar is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
Australia's romping win over Pakistan made bittersweet with injuries
Shami not ready for New Zealand Tests; Bumrah named vice-captain
India did not have a designated vice-captain for their most recent Test series against Bangladesh but Bumrah has performed the role for India in the past when he was the vice-captain in the two-Test home series against Sri Lanka in March 2022. Later, he served in the position in the two-Test tour of South Africa in 2023-24 and then in the five-Test series earlier this year against England.
India Test squad for the New Zealand series
Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah (vice-capt)Travelling reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna
Sources: 49ers RB Mason has sprained AC joint
San Francisco 49ers running back Jordan Mason, the NFL's leading rusher, is believed to have suffered a sprained AC joint that is not considered serious during Thursday night's win at Seattle, but he will undergo further testing Friday, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Mason injured his left shoulder in the first half of the 36-24 win over the Seahawks, returned for one carry to open the third quarter and was only available in an emergency situation the rest of the game.
He finished with 73 yards on nine carries and caught another pass for 9 yards. On the season, Mason has 609 rushing yards on 114 carries.
The 49ers are already without key players such as running back Christian McCaffrey (Achilles tendinitis), linebacker Dre Greenlaw (torn Achilles), defensive tackle Javon Hargrave (torn triceps) and safety Talanoa Hufanga (torn wrist ligaments).
Titans QB Levis (shoulder) will start against Colts
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Quarterback Will Levis will get the start for the Tennessee Titans when they face the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday according to coach Brian Callahan.
"He took every rep and made every throw in practice well," Callahan said Friday. "It hasn't affected his practice or him throwing."
Levis was a full participant in practice all week after injuring his throwing shoulder attempting to dive for a first down 10 snaps into Tennessee's 31-12 win over the Miami Dolphins in Week 4.
The bye week gave Levis time to rest the shoulder before some light throwing during practice Monday. Levis admitted to being sore after throwing again but remained confident he'd be ready to go this week.
"I'm fighting like hell to get out there on Sunday," Levis said after Wednesday's practice.
Callahan made it clear multiple times that Levis would be the starter if healthy after the bye week despite backup quarterback Mason Rudolph coming in and directing the Titans to their first 30-point performance in over two years.
Levis said his goal is to build off the momentum from the team getting its first win of the season.
"I was ecstatic for us to get that win, but it's like -- I guess if you have a certain sense of competitiveness in you, you feel that guiltiness," Levis said. "It was tough dealing with that for like a day, but just flipping the page, getting ready. Obviously with an injury to deal with now, I'm just focusing on that."
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