England Rugby has condemned social media abuse directed at its players after Ellis Genge said he had been sent death threats following the Six Nations defeat by Wales in Cardiff.

England Rugby urged "true rugby fans" to stand against abuse.

"Respect is a core value of rugby," the statement said.

"Yesterday we lost to Wales who deserved their victory. Unfortunately, some of the reaction on social media to players and the team has not shown the level of respect the rugby community prides itself on.

"We will support our players and team against online abuse and hope true rugby fans will stand with us."

Genge wrote on Twitter: "Don't know why I'm not clapping in that tunnel, must be deep in thought - utmost respect for the Welsh, as for keyboard warriors sending death threats etc..."

Earlier on Sunday, England Rugby had sent support to BBC reporter Sonja McLaughlan, who described how she had been reduced to tears after abusive comments on social media.

TULARE, Calif. – The 27th running of the Abreu Vineyards Trophy Cup, planned for May 27-29 at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway, has been postponed until Oct. 21-23.

Continued uncertainty as to COVID-19 restrictions placed on Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway made it necessary to again adjust the plans for the event.

Originally, the Cup from last year that was not held was to be made up in May, with a second event for this year scheduled for the traditional October dates.

However, Trophy Cup founder Dave Pusateri remains firm on wanting fans to be able to attend before racing the event.

Tulare’s track has not had a race since the 2019 Trophy Cup, a memorable three-day affair that saw Rico Abreu win each night.

Abreu Vineyards Trophy Cup 27 presented By Rudeen Racing will offer a purse of more than $200,000 for winged 360 sprint cars in October, with the event champion guaranteed $27,000 for accumulating the most points over three days of competition.

There will not be any further plan to have two Trophy Cups in a single year, like was originally planned going into this year.

CHICAGO — An early Chicago-area racer and competitor in NASCAR’s Speedway Division in 1952, Bob Halston passed away on Feb. 9 at the age of 93.

Halston was a life-long resident of Chicago and, with the help of some neighborhood buddies, built a stock car and raced at Soldier Field in Chicago and Raceway Park near Blue Island. He scored a heat race win at the south suburban track in 1949.

The racing newcomer even had several “top three” feature finishes at the Blue Island dirt oval. He won a semi-feature and five heat races at Raceway Park in 1951, most of the time behind the wheel of a 1951 Henry J No. 95.

In 1952, Halston competed in NASCAR’s new Speedway Division, which featured Indianapolis Speedway-type cars, powered by approved American-made automobile and truck engines.

Halston made three starts in the short-lived division during the ’52 season with his best finish being a sixth at Langhorne, Pa., in his Nash Special No. 12.

When the new circuit was debuted at Daytona Beach, Fla., in February of 1952, Halston and his Nash-powered machine were among those who made timed runs on the Daytona Beach sands.

Getting married in 1955, Halston and his late wife, Jean, raised a family, which includes children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Due to the pandemic, funeral services were private.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – William Byron dominated when it counted to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season during Sunday evening’s Dixie Vodka 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Byron, who started 31st at the 1.5-mile South Florida oval, kept chipping away at traffic throughout the race and saw his No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE get better and better as the sun went down.

The Charlotte, N.C., native took the lead for the first time under green in the last corner of the second stage, then crushed the field when the lights came on and nighttime took over.

Byron led 100 of the final 108 laps en route to his second career Cup Series victory in 111 starts, pulling away from Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson early in the final run and holding off a determined Tyler Reddick down the stretch.

Byron beat Reddick to the checkered flag by 2.777 seconds, earning his first triumph with new crew chief Rudy Fugle, who previously worked with Byron in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

“(Rudy) has been huge for my career. He’s the reason I’m here and I’m glad we could get him to victory lane. He’s just awesome,” lauded Byron. “This whole team did a phenomenal job. The pit crew, over the wall, we’re extremely blessed. … I’ve got a great boss in Mr. Hendrick, and support from Jeff Gordon and Axalta. This car looks really cool. I can’t even believe it, honestly. It was just a really smooth day.

“We worked hard in the winter on this track, and now we’re here with a win. I can’t believe it.”

The run to the finish was set up by a two-car incident with 68 laps left, when Aric Almirola came up into Ryan Blaney’s Ford trying to make a pass for position, sending both cars into the wall and the leaders to pit road once the caution flag was displayed.

Byron, who led the field prior to the pit stops, came off pit road sixth while Larson came off as the new leader. Larson controlled the restart from the bottom lane, but couldn’t get clear out front and slipped back as Martin Truex Jr. powered to the race lead.

However, Byron didn’t take long to take control of the race for good. He went to the bottom of the track, charged around Truex with 58 laps left and never gave up the top spot again from there.

Byron opened up as much as a five-second lead over Larson, who was the runner-up for most of the final run, but Reddick eventually charged forward from seventh and 12 seconds back in the closing laps.

Reddick made it inside the top five with 13 laps left and finally secured second from Larson with two to go, but at that point had no time left to try and mount a charge on Byron for the victory.

“Once I really saw how fast we were in clean air, when I saw how fast we were catching everybody, it’s beyond frustrating (to finish second),” said Reddick, who matched his career-best finish at the Cup Series level. “Three different decisions on restarts would have put me miles ahead, and I would have been within reach (to challenge Byron for the win).

“Second’s great, but I saw how much faster I was than those guys at the end, so naturally, it’s frustrating.”

Truex was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in third, with Larson’s Chevrolet fading to fourth on the last lap and Kevin Harvick’s Ford filling out the top five.

Sixth through 10th were Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman and Kyle Busch.

Defending Homestead winner Denny Hamlin was hampered by a speeding penalty during the final round of pit stops, but battled through drivability issues for much of the first two stages.

Hamlin eventually finished 11th after battling through traffic for the 60-lap run to the finish.

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

TUCSON, Ariz. – In a classic shootout to the finish, a driver that had gone winless in recent time did everything he needed to do in order to take home the eighth annual Chilly Willy 150 trophy and prize at Tucson Speedway Sunday afternoon.

Christian McGhee proved he had a fast car under him since the gates opened a few days before, winning a 50-lap feature on Friday night and then setting the No. 71 fielded by Garcia Racing on the outside front row for the 150-lap main event.

He had to contend with the only driver that out-qualified him throughout the entire distance, and it was not an easy task.

Tyler Tanner paced the field for a torrid initial pace of 50 laps completed without a yellow flag in less than 15 minutes.

The North Carolina resident, originally from Washington, continued leading the way following a few cautions and a 10-minute halfway break where teams were permitted to change up to two tires, add fuel, and make any necessary adjustments.

As the second half of the race carried on, a change began to occur.  McGhee got closer and closer to the No. 65 ride and at the completion of lap 126, by .007 seconds, the Californian led at the line.

It was still another few circuits of hard racing between the two before he cleared Tanner, but ultimately McGhee’s masterful job on a final green-white-checkered restart sealed the deal.

“I was crying on the frontstretch, and I don’t ever cry,” a relieved McGhee admitted. “It’s been a long time since I won, so it feels really good just to run a clean race and have everything perfect. I did everything exactly how I set out to do from the beginning. I was stressing and shaking before the race trying to figure out if my strategy was the right way to do it and it paid off.”

McGhee, who has an assorted schedule of a few Spears SRL Southwest Tour races and other major shows mainly on the west coast but perhaps a handful further east planned with the team, described in detail the intense battle up front that saw some contact.

“I tried so many times to get by him and there was just no drive off on the bottom,” McGhee recalled. “I knew it was going to have to come to a bumper, but we were clean.  He hit me a little harder than I hit him. We kind of slid into each other when I was on the inside, but I would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.

“When there’s 10 grand on the line and 150 laps, that’s going to happen. Nobody is going to get around this place without a scratch on it for the win.”

The result provides significant momentum toward McGhee’s future endeavors, momentum that was slightly broken up in November when he was forced out of the seat during Turkey Shoot weekend due to feeling under the weather.

“We’re finally gelling,” McGhee remarked about his relationship with the Garcia team, which has numerous years of expertise behind them. “My crew chief Steve Teets and I, the crew and everybody are starting to work together really well. We have been so close so many times, to finally have it come together was really rewarding.”

On the other side of the coin, Tanner was somewhat subdued, but satisfied with their performance.

Considering upon arrival on Thursday the team, composed partly of his father Kelly Tanner who won at Tucson in 1997, was left thinking critically how to overcome some of the struggles they were encountering with the track and tire, a second-place finish was something to be proud about.

“Honestly we had the car to beat for the first segment, controlled the race and ran fast when I needed to and conserve tires the best I could,” Tanner noted. “We’ll have to evaluate things.  I don’t know if the stagger on these right side tires opened up a little bit, but the thing just got real free on entry right off the bat that second stage. It gave him a couple opportunities and then I guess he got antsy enough and used us up pretty hard there getting into one, but both of us kept it going and ran a clean race.

“He had the better car the second segment, so he deserved to win, I guess.”

Coming home in third was the defending Turkey Shoot winner at Tucson Speedway, a 125-lap event on Thanksgiving weekend. Brett Yackey started further back, ran mid-pack early on, and even spun to avoid a multi-car wreck on a restart.

Then, out of seemingly nowhere, the No. 32 was battling within the top five.

At one point late in the going, he did see an opportunity to peek briefly for the lead when McGhee and Tanner made some of the aforementioned contact.

“At the beginning I dropped to like 12th and three quarters of the track behind coming from that far back was just hard on tires and equipment,” the Greeley, Colo., driver noted. “But once I got up there I kind of hung out there, got loose in the middle, got loose off, and fought it. Honestly the car wasn’t that good but made the most of it and can’t complain with a third place finish.”

The showing was a good baseline for the season to come. Yackey plans to leave a car down in Arizona and commute to compete for the track’s super late model title.

Multi-time track champion Brandon Farrington came across the line in fourth, but was disqualified for a rev limiter infraction. That moved veteran Bruce Yackey to fourth and track regular Vanessa Robinson to fifth in the official finishing order.

The Legends feature winners were an exact replica from Friday, with Minnesota’s Tristan Swanson earning the trophy in the 40-lap Semi-Pro/Young Lions race and New Mexico’s Jason Irwin taking the 50-lap Pro/Masters accolades.

The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series tentatively begins at Tucson Speedway on Saturday, March 13, including a 75-lap super late model feature.

Fans that missed all of the Chilly Willy weekend’s action can subscribe and watch on-demand at Low Budget TV, a member of the SPEED SPORT Network.

The finish:

Christian McGhee, Tyler Tanner, Brett Yackey, Bruce Yackey, Vanessa Robinson, Kody Vanderwal, Bob Cramb, Rudy Vanderwal, Tanner Reif, Joe Paladenic, Chris Eggleston, Austin Thom, Edward Vecchiarelli, Dean Thompson, Michael Scott, Bryce Bezanson, Scott Graf. DQ: Brandon Farrington.

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – Branden Grace closed eagle-birdie Sunday to win the Puerto Rico Open, an emotional triumph following his father's January death after a month-long fight with the coronavirus.

Grace holed out from a greenside bunker for eagle on the par-4 17th and birdied the par-5 18th for a one-stroke victory over Jhonattan Vegas at windy Grand Reserve.

“This morning I had a tear in the car when I was talking to my wife,” Grace said about father Peter. “It was an emotional day. I thought about him a hell of a lot out there, especially the last tee shot. I was really struggling the last hole, because I knew he was watching over me. I knew he was guiding me."

The 32-year-old South African player won for the second time on the PGA Tour and 13th worldwide, closing with a 6-under 66 to finish at 19-under 269.

“It’s been a very tough couple of years and a tough couple of months and it’s just nice to — obviously, with all the support back home with my wife and my son and my family and everybody back home,” Grace said. “And all that we have been through, there’s some light at the end of the tunnel.”

Vegas, from Venezuela, birdied the 18th in a 65. Puerto Rican player Rafael Campos and Grayson Murray, tied for the third-round lead, each shot 70 to tie for third at 16 under.

Grace drove into the right bunker on the 17th, the hole playing 300 yards to the front of the green with the tees moved well forward.

“That was a tough bunker shot,” Grace said. “And to play it perfectly, just get it with just enough check and managed to get it to roll out and 5 or 6 feet to go, I knew it was in. So, that was obviously fortunate.”

He also hit into a greenside bunker on 18, flopped out to 6 feet and made the winning putt.

“The only thing you can’t do on 18 is hit it left,” Grace said. “I managed to hit a great drive, and I wasn’t going to go left. I pulled my second. And I knew if I could get it maybe front edge or in the bunker, then I’m going to give myself opportunity. And fortunately I was in the second bunker, so I could really just get it up on the slope and just get it to run out a little bit and manage to play perfectly.:

The tournament was played opposite the World Golf Championship event in Florida. Grace earned a two-year PGA Tour exemption and a spot in the PGA Championship in May, but not the Masters in April.

Campos had his third top-10 finish in his home event. He tied for eighth in 2016 and tied for 10th in 2017. He parred the final three after rebounding from bogeys on 10 and 11 with birdies on 12, 13 and 15.

“I can seal the deal. I know I can,” Campos said. “It just didn’t happen today. I didn’t have my best game out here, but I still managed to give myself a real opportunity of winning the tournament. I think it’s just getting myself more opportunities and it will happen eventually.”

Needing an eagle to catch Grace on 18 after birdieing 17, Murray hooked his drive into the trees, took an unplayable lie and made a bogey.

Brice Garnett (65 ) and Andrew Putnam (69) were 15 under.

Collin Morikawa won his first World Golf Championships event on Sunday at the WGC-Workday Championship. Here's the prize money and FedExCup points breakdowns for Morikawa and the rest of the players who completed 72 holes at Concession:

BRADENTON, Fla. – More than a dozen PGA Tour players showed their support for Tiger Woods on Sunday by wearing his traditional final-round outfit – red shirt, black slacks – scribbling “TW” on the side of their hats or using a ball stamped with “TIGER.”

They were small gestures meant to lift the spirits of Woods, who is recovering in a Los Angeles-area hospital after suffering serious injuries from a car accident earlier this week.

“Obviously things are looking a little better today than they were on Tuesday, but he’s still got a ways to go. He’s got a huge recovery ahead of him,” Rory McIlroy said. “I think it was just for everyone to show their appreciation for what he means to us out here. If there was no Tiger Woods, I just think the Tour and the game of golf would be in a worse place. He’s meant a lot to us, he still does mean a lot to us, and I think that was just a little way to show that.”

Woods was clearly moved by the gesture, tweeting this on Sunday night, after the completion of the World Golf Championships-Workday Championship:

"It is hard to explain how touching today was when I turned on the tv and saw all the red shirts. To every golfer and every fan, you are truly helping me get through this tough time."

Tournament winner Collin Morikawa said that he had planned to wear a red shirt on Sunday, but that the shipment from Adidas got stuck in Memphis because of weather issues. His caddie even went to the distribution center to check if it had arrived. When it became clear that the shirts wouldn’t get here before his tee time, Morikawa instead settled for black pants.

“My agent said that even though the shirt wasn’t there, go out and play like Tiger would with the lead,” Morikawa said. “I think I did.”

TUCSON, Ariz. – Kevin Sutherland chipped in for the only birdie of the final round on No. 16 and had a tap-in for another on the next hole, shooting a 4-under 69 to overtake Mike Weir in the Colorguard Classic on Sunday.

Sutherland trailed by two to start the day and was down four after Weir birdied the par-5 eighth in blustery conditions at Tucson National. Sutherland cut Weir’s lead in half with two birdies in his first three holes to start on the back nine and chipped in from short right of the 183-yard, par-3 16th.

Sutherland tapped in on 17 after putting through the fringe on the par 5 and just missed another birdie on the difficult 18th to close out his second victory in his last three PGA Tour Champions starts and fifth overall. He finished at 15 under, two ahead of Weir, three up on Steve Stricker and Scott Parel.

Weir had bogeys on two of his final three holes to shoot an even-par 73. The 2003 Masters champion has twice been runner-up on the PGA Tour Champions since turning 50 last year.

Phil Mickelson’s long-shot bid to win his first three PGA Tour Champions starts came to a screeching halt with a triple bogey on the par-4 ninth. He shot 73 to finish 11 shots back.

Weir opened the second round with a birdie as gusting wind bent flagsticks at sharp angles. He followed with five straight pars and walked up to the green at the par-3 seventh as Rush’s “Limelight” blared from one of the backyards lining Tucson National.

The Canadian left-hander responded with a little inspiration of his own, chipping in for birdie from about 90 feet. A curling 15-foot birdie putt at the par-5 eighth gave him a four-shot lead over Sutherland.

Sutherland, who won the Charles Schwab Championship in November in Phoenix, opened the back nine with a birdie and had another on the par-5 12th. The 56-year-old from Sacramento, California, stumbled when he couldn’t get up and down from a bunker on the par-3 14th, but closed with a flourish as conditions worsened.

Weir watched a slick 4-foot par putt slide by the hole after a nice bunker shot on No. 16 and missed a birdie putt from the fringe on No. 17 after a bunker shot ran through the back of the green. He three-putted to bogey the par-14 18th.

Mickelson was the last amateur to win on the PGA Tour in Tucson 30 years ago, but couldn’t conjure up the same magic in his return.

Nine shots back entering the final round, he had three birdies and a bogey through the first eight holes before hitting his tee shot into the water on the par-4 ninth. He then hit into the greenside bunker and three-putted for a 7.

Mickelson did avoid the mud on No. 15, at least.

He hit two good tee shots in the opening two rounds and both found the pond on the dogleg of the par 5. Mickelson made a birdie after hitting his second shot out of the mud in the first round and salved par after another mud shot in the second.

He avoided the pond altogether Sunday by hitting into the adjacent 17th fairway and ended up with par after missing a birdie putt of about 15 feet.

Alabama entered this weekend's LSU Invitational ranked 28th in the Golfstat Division I men's rankings.

The Crimson Tide now will likely drop significantly thanks to a series of unfortunate events.

Alabama finished last in the 15-team field Sunday at University Club in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but it wasn't because they played that poorly. Instead, the Crimson Tide were disqualified after they were unable to get four counting scores for Saturday's second round.

Senior Davis Shore couldn't compete in the final 36 holes after re-injuring his back after an opening 81, which meant that Alabama had no margin for error for the remainder of the tournament. The shorthanded Tide went out and shot even-par 288 to enter Sunday in eighth place, but when they were warming up Sunday morning, it was discovered that freshman J.P. Cave had signed for an incorrect score the day before. He had actually made a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 15th but signed for a bogey.

"It was a strange all that occurred," Alabama head coach Jay Seawell said in a school release. "... I've been coaching for 29 years and this is the first time I've ever had a kid sign for an incorrect card. Those are the rules of golf and that responsibility at the end of the day falls on me as the head coach. I hate it for the guys because I really wanted to see how they would compete as a team and we didn't get that opportunity. In the end, life has a lot of learning experiences and sometimes they are harder than others, but it is just a game and just golf and we will learn from it. We'll make sure to do some things to talk about and move forward on and we'll do some things in the future where certain things won't happen.

"I look forward to seeing how we handle it. That's what we talked about at the end the round. This can define us negatively or positively depending on how we handle it. I believe in the character of this team and we'll go to work to make sure we are positive."

This isn't the first time that a team has been disqualified after having both an individual WD and DQ in the same round. Two seasons ago, both Iowa and SMU had DQs for similar circumstances. The Mustangs ended up receiving a No. 10 seed that year at regionals and went on to advance all the way to match play at the NCAA Championship. It's unlikely that Alabama misses a regional this year, especially with no .500 rule in place because of the pandemic.

Mid-tournament substitutions are allowed in men's golf but only beginning at conference championships. Discussions on regular-season subs stalled last year.

Alabama did tee it up in Sunday's third round for individual purposes. Senior Wilson Furr ended up firing 68 to finish solo third, five shots behind medalist Jackson Suber of Ole Miss. Illinois won the team title at 12 over, two shots better than runner-up Vanderbilt and 13 clear of Florida, which led after 36 holes before shooting 22 over on Sunday and placing fifth.