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Wales coach Wayne Pivac reflected on his "walking wounded" after a tense 21-16 Six Nations win over 14-man Ireland.

Dan Lydiate, Johnny Williams, Hallam Amos and Tomos Williams will miss next Saturday's game against Scotland at Murrayfield.

Lydiate was the most concerning after he picked up a serious leg injury on his international return.

"We'll see how the rest of the squad is tomorrow and look at what sort of side we can put together," said Pivac.

Centre Johnny Williams and wing Amos suffered head injuries, while scrum-half Tomos Williams came off because of a hamstring problem.

George North picked up an eye injury and Nick Tompkins suffered a shoulder issue against Ireland although the pair have not yet been officially ruled out against Scotland.

British and Irish Lions centre Jonathan Davies does though remain absent for the Murrayfield match.

Wales will have Liam Williams back from suspension, although wing Josh Adams will still be unavailable after his Covid-19 rules breach as he serves the second match of the ban imposed by Wales.

"We've picked up a few injuries so we're looking at those now, we'll make a better assessment tomorrow," added Pivac after Sunday's match at the Principality Stadium.

"The six-day turnaround means certain players won't be playing for us [Williams and Amos], two with the head knocks.

"Unfortunately we lose a couple of players straight away."

Lydiate was making his first international appearance since November 2018, but lasted 13 minutes as his leg buckled.

"We're going to get that scanned, but it's not looking too good," said Pivac.

"It's very disappointing for Dan and he's very disappointed in the changing room right now."

Peter O'Mahony's 14th-minute red card did not stop Ireland reacting more decisively to lead 13-6 at the break.

"We talked around our discipline and how important it was after the last time we played them, and I think after the sending off we conceded the next six penalties," said Pivac.

"It was very difficult to get our hands on the ball and the possession and territory stats showed that right away.

"We talked about that at half-time and the third 20 minutes were a lot better and we managed to claw our way back into the game and get two scores ahead."

Wales recovered with fine second-half tries from George North and Louis Rees-Zammit.

"It was good to see them both cross actually, and a really good finish from Louis," said Pivac.

"George just used his power and pace and took good advantage of that opportunity, which you would expect from a player of that experience. It was a fantastic finish from Louis."

Pivac also reflected on his first win over a major nation in charge, with four victories now in 11 competitive games.

His sights are now on a Scotland side buoyed by their historic win against England at Twickenham in the opening round.

"We're wanting to win whenever we take the field, to get a win in circumstances like this afternoon is important," said Pivac.

"We're looking at it as this competition not just the wins and losses. Since taking over the role it's really about this competition. It was day one, round one.

"It was very important we got a win, we've now got to re-focus as we've got a six-day turnaround before facing a very confident and very strong Scotland squad, to go and play in their back yard."

Ireland captain Johnny Sexton defended Billy Burns after the replacement's late missed touch helped Wales hang on to clinch a 21-16 Six Nations win.

Burns attempted to gain maximum distance with his penalty to the corner as the ball flew dead to end the 14-man Ireland team's victory hopes.

"As a 10 you have to go for it and you have to try and put it five metres out," the Ireland skipper told the BBC.

Ulster fly-half Burns had replaced Sexton late in the second half.

The 26-year-old replacement looked distraught after the final whistle and was comforted by a number of his team-mates.

"There is a big difference between going 10 metres out and going five metres because that gives you a chance to score. Sometimes you miss and sometimes you get it and you are the hero," added Sexton, who was replaced by Burns near the end after taking a heavy hit.

Ireland fought back from 6-0 down to lead 13-6 at half-time despite Peter O'Mahony's 14th-minute red card for catching Welsh front row Tomas Francis with a leading elbow when diving into a ruck.

The Ireland skipper insisted he was "proud" of how his side had regrouped from the Munster back row's early exit but admitted that "errors" had ultimately cost them victory.

"We only have ourselves to blame," added the 35-year-old.

"We spoke about discipline earlier in the week and that let us down at key times as well as some key unforced errors."

Sexton said Ireland "re-gathered well" after O'Mahony's red card for a reckless elbow to the head of prop Tomas Francis but questioned whether several Welsh challenges went unpunished by referee Wayne Barnes, citing a tackle by Johnny Williams on Garry Ringrose.

"I'm proud of the boys and I'm proud of the effort," added the Ireland captain.

"Ultimately it came down to a few mistakes at key times and the rub of the green as well. We get red carded for a high tackle and they don't get penalised for one."

Cristiano Ronaldo inspired Juventus to victory over Roma. A day later, Lionel Messi did the same for Barcelona vs. Real Betis. Manchester City demolished Liverpool for their first win at Anfield in 17 years, Manchester United blew a 2-0 halftime lead at Old Trafford against Everton. AC Milan won, Zlatan Ibrahimovic crossing a personal milestone in the process. Bayern Munich had a narrow win (ahead of their Club World Cup semifinal on Monday), Borussia Dortmund had a narrow loss.

It was a cracking weekend of football, and By The Numbers has the best stats --


Premier League

2

Manchester United dropped points yet again as they drew 3-3 with Everton. This was just the second time in PL history that Manchester United had led a home game by 2+ goals at half-time and failed to win. The first? A 2-2 draw against West Bromwich Albion in October 2010.

3/65

Liverpool are the first side to lose three straight home league matches in the campaign that followed them winning the English top-flight since Chelsea did so almost 65 years ago, back in March 1956.

6

Not one that you'd have expected. Alisson Becker has now had 6 errors leading to goals since he joined the PL in 2018-19; no other Liverpool player has made more than 3 during that span.

14

Manchester City are on some run. They have now equaled the all-time winning run by an English top-flight side across all competitions, winning each of their last 14 matches - equaling Preston (ending in 1892) and Arsenal (ending in 1987). This is also the longest winning streak in Pep Guardiola's managerial career.

27

A historic low for Liverpool. After 23 games this season, Liverpool (40) now have 27 fewer points than they did at the same stage last season (67), the biggest drop by any reigning champion at this stage of a campaign in English top-flight history.

82%

Chelsea narrowly edged out Sheffield United on Sunday, thanks to a Jorginho penalty that made it 2-1. Nine of Jorginho's 11 PL goals have come from the penalty spot (82%) -- this is the highest ratio of any player with 10+ goals in the competition's history.

208

Harry Kane has now scored 208 goals in 317 appearances in all competitions for Tottenham, making him the joint-second highest scorer in the club's history. What makes this a truly funky stat is that he's equaled Bobby Smith, who also scored 208 goals in 317 appearances.

500

Hugo Lloris' appearance in Spurs' 2-0 win over West Brom was his 500th top-flight league appearance. Since making his debut for Nice in March 2006, he's played more games across the big-five European leagues than any other player.

Serie A

10

Inter Milan eased past Fiorentina 2-0 on Friday, Achraf Hakimi assisting Ivan Perisic for the second of those goals. With that assist, Hakimi has become the only defender to have been involved in 10 goals in the Top-5 European Leagues this season: 6 goals + 4 assists.

19

Lazio have gained 19 points since the start of 2021, only Manchester City (24) and Monaco (21) have done better in the top-5 European Leagues.

500

With his brace against Crotone, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has now scored 500 goals across his various clubs. FIVE HUNDRED. PSG - 156, Milan - 82, Inter - 66, LA Galaxy - 53, Ajax - 48, Manchester United - 29, Juventus - 26, Barcelona - 22, Malmo - 18.

La Liga

7

Real Madrid clawed back a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 thanks to a brace from... Raphael Varane. With that, Real Madrid's defenders have scored seven braces in La Liga in the 21st century, more than any other team in the competition in this period (2x Roberto Carlos, 2x Sergio Ramos, Nacho, Ivan Helguera & now Varane).

Messi-Ronaldo watch

Cristiano Ronaldo scored, Lionel Messi scored. In other news, the sky remains blue.

10

Ronaldo has a total of 10 career goals against Roma, tied for his most against any Italian side (he also scored 10 against....Juventus).

19

Roma are the 19th club he has scored double-digit goals against (Roma, Juventus, and Tottenham are the only clubs from outside of Spain).

84

Ronaldo has been directly involved in 84 goals since his Serie A debut (2018/19), thanks to 68 goals and 16 assists, more than any other player in the league during this period.

136

Messi scored just 136 seconds after coming on as a substitute in this match against Betis, his fastest goal as sub for Barcelona in La Liga. It was also his 10th goal in his last 6 games vs. Real Betis (26 goals in 24 games in total against them).

(Stats courtesy ESPN's Stats & Information Group)

Mahomes credits Bucs D for career-worst game

Published in Breaking News
Sunday, 07 February 2021 22:08

Patrick Mahomes didn't have just the worst game of his NFL career in Super Bowl LV. He had the worst game of his career, college or pro.

The Kansas City Chiefs were held to three field goals in their 31-9 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the first time since at least high school that Mahomes' team failed to score a touchdown in a game he started. The loss was his first as a starter with the Chiefs by more than eight points.

"They were the better team today,'' Mahomes said. "They beat us pretty good, the worst I think I've been beaten in a long time.

"They took away our deep stuff. They took away the sidelines and they did a good job of rallying to the football and making tackles. We weren't executing early, had a few miscues. Guys weren't on the same page. Credit to them. They played a heck of a game defensively and offensively to beat us.''

The Bucs hounded Mahomes relentlessly. He was pressured 29 times, a Super Bowl record, and Tampa Bay sent extra pass-rushers on just two of those plays. On the other 27 plays, the Buccaneers' front dominated a Chiefs offensive line that was missing four starters from the group Kansas City planned on having before the start of the season.

Mahomes was 26-of-49 for 270 yards and two interceptions. His QBR of 49.9 was the second worst of his NFL career.

The Chiefs were out of sorts like never before with Mahomes at quarterback.

"I just think we weren't on the same page as an offense,'' Mahomes said. "I wasn't getting the ball out on time. The receivers were running routes not exactly where I thought they were going to be at. The offensive line, they were good sometimes and sometimes they let guys through. When you play a good defense like that, you've got to be on the same page as an offense and we weren't today and that's why we played so bad.

"They were just better than us.''

Mahomes was dealing with a toe injury that might need surgery soon. But, as he said, he had no problem with the injury two weeks earlier in the Chiefs' AFC Championship Game victory over the Buffalo Bills.

"I can't say the toe was a problem when I played two weeks ago and I played well on it,'' he said. "Anytime you play football, you have to battle through injuries. We'll look at it tomorrow and we'll make a final decision on if we're going to have to have surgery on it or not."

The Chiefs, for the first time in Mahomes' time as their starting quarterback, have some soul-searching to do at the end of a season. They lost the 2018 AFC championship, but in overtime. They won the Super Bowl last season.

This loss seemed to come from nowhere.

"Obviously it hurts right now,'' Mahomes said. "It hurts a lot. But we're going to continue to get better. We have a young group of guys that had a lot of success and we learned from that, but we've had a few failures and we have to learn from that.

"We can't let this define us. We have to continue to get better going into next year and prepare ourselves to hopefully be in this game again. We knew it wasn't always going to be successful and we weren't going to be able to win 1,000 championships in a row. We knew we were going to go through times like this and adversity. I think the best thing about it is the guys we have the leadership ability to be even better next year.''

Source: Lakers' Davis (Achilles) likely out Mon.

Published in Basketball
Sunday, 07 February 2021 21:47

LOS ANGELES -- Lakers All-Star big man Anthony Davis is listed as questionable for Monday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder with tendonosis of his right Achilles tendon, the team announced.

A league source told ESPN it is "very likely" Davis will miss the Thunder game as a precaution and that Davis, 27, has been managing the discomfort "for a while."

Davis underwent medical imaging on the injury, the source said, which assured the Achilles tendon is in good shape. However, the nine-year veteran has been experiencing tightness in his right leg, causing concern.

Davis' points (26.1 to 22.3), rebounds (9.3 to 8.6) and blocks (2.3 to 1.9) are all down from last season, his first in L.A., which he capped with a championship. He has missed three games this season, most recently because of a bruised right quad.

Davis scored 30 points in the Lakers' double-overtime win over the Detroit Pistons on Saturday, also notching five rebounds, three assists and two blocks in 45 minutes of action.

Earlier in the week, Davis pushed back at any suggestion his production had dwindled this season.

"A lot of people talk about my offense, and how this year has been a slow start and everything offensively, but I'm a two-way player," Davis said after the Lakers' win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday. "I don't rely on offense for me to have a great season. I'm doing everything I can on the defensive end. ... When you're a two-way player, you don't have to rely on one aspect of the game with just scoring. I can help my team win on the defensive end and make shots when I need to."

The Lakers, riding a four-game winning streak to bring their record to 18-6, have the second-best winning percentage in the NBA, only behind the Utah Jazz.

Britain's Katie Boulter saved four match points but ultimately fell to Daria Kasatkina in the first round of the Australian Open.

Boulter, ranked 371 but using her protected ranking in Melbourne, lost 6-1 6-4 to the Russian.

The 24-year-old made 18 unforced errors in the first set against former top-10 player Kasatkina.

She fought back from a 5-2 deficit in the final set before Kasatkina closed out victory in 71 minutes.

Boulter had beaten promising American teenager Coco Gauff in the Gippsland Trophy as part of her Grand Slam preparations.

However Kasatkina, now ranked 71 after a difficult few years, proved too much for Boulter.

Boulter is the only Briton in action on the first day at Melbourne Park.

She did not help herself in a error-strewn first set, hitting just two winners as Kasatkina blazed past her in 23 minutes.

After saving a break point in her opening service game of the second set, Boulter was broken in the third game and found herself serving to stay in the match at 5-3.

It looked to be over as Boulter went 0-40 down on her serve, handing Kasatkina three match points, but the Briton rallied to win the 10-minute game and cling on.

However, Kasatkina was able to take advantage when Boulter's serve faltered again to set up a second-round meeting with either seventh seed Aryna Sabalenka or Viktoria Kuzmova.

Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka both registered quick victories on the opening day at Melbourne Park.

The first Grand Slam of the year was delayed by three weeks to allow players to quarantine on their arrival.

Serena Williams launched her latest bid for a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam with a 56-minute demolition of Laura Siegemund at the Australian Open.

The American, 39, said it was "vintage Serena" as she thrashed the German 6-1 6-1 in front of a small, unmasked crowd on Rod Laver Arena.

US Open champion Naomi Osaka also made a convincing start with a 6-1 6-2 win over Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

But former champion Angelique Kerber was the first seed to be knocked out.

The German 23rd seed, who was one of 72 players to spend 14 days in 'hard' quarantine before the tournament - confined to a hotel room and unable to train outside - was beaten 6-0 6-4 by American Bernarda Pera.

Both Williams and Osaka had withdrawn from warm-up events last week with shoulder issues but neither showed any sign of injury as they made swift progress to the second round, where they will also be joined by Williams' 40-year-old sister Venus, who beat Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens 7-5 6-2.

Jackets' Laine: NHL's reversed call 'biggest joke'

Published in Hockey
Sunday, 07 February 2021 19:30

The NHL admitted that a Carolina Hurricanes goal should not have counted in their 6-5 win at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday.

At 18:45 of the second period, Carolina's Vincent Trocheck scored to give the Hurricanes a 4-3 lead. Replays appeared to show he had entered the zone before the puck carrier, Dougie Hamilton, did.

The Blue Jackets used a coach's challenge to get the call overturned, but linesmen Tyson Baker and Jonny Murray reviewed the play and decided the goal would stand, resulting in a delay of game penalty for Columbus.

During the intermission, however, game officials informed both teams that the NHL had determined the challenge should have resulted in Carolina's goal being disallowed. As a result, the remaining 45 seconds of the delay of game penalty against Columbus that carried over to the third period were rescinded.

"I think that's the biggest joke I've ever seen," said Blue Jackets winger Patrik Laine, who had two goals in the loss. "So generous to take the [45] seconds off the clock. I've never seen that one before, but I guess there's always a first time."

Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said the officials came to the dressing room between periods and said "they messed up, and the power play is over" for the Hurricanes.

"I don't really understand it. I'm glad it worked for us," he said.

The NHL said in a statement that "during the review, a miscommunication occurred between the Video Replay Booth in Columbus, the Linesmen and the Situation Room and play resumed before all replays could be reviewed to confirm the off-side" and that "the challenge by Columbus should have resulted in the Carolina goal being disallowed."

Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno said "it's a bad look for the NHL" to have not gotten the call correct at the time of the review.

"It just confused everybody. It makes the linesmen look bad. It makes the refs look bad. It's just a bad look. Accidents happen, but that's why we have that replay there for a reason: So they don't [happen]. That's the hard part. Again, it's not why we lost the game," he said, before correcting himself. "Maybe you can say it is because we lost by a goal. It was a weird game tonight."

Foligno said that his coach, John Tortorella, inquired why the goal wasn't taken off the board if the call was made in error. Tortorella said after the game that he hadn't made sense of the situation and declined to comment further.

Columbus would tie the game at 2:08 of the third period, but Carolina scored the next two goals for the margin of victory. Ryan Dzingel, who assisted on Hamilton's eventual game-winning goal, said the bizarre situation was to be expected in these strange times.

"It's 2021. Anything is possible these days. We're not even shocked anymore to be honest," he said.

Backstrom, 6-time Cup winner, dies at age 83

Published in Hockey
Sunday, 07 February 2021 20:15

WINDSOR, Colo. -- Ralph Backstrom, a six-time Stanley Cup winner with the Montreal Canadiens, college coach and founder of a minor league team, died Sunday. He was 83.

The Colorado Eagles announced the death of Backstrom, who founded the minor league franchise in northern Colorado in 2002. He served as the Eagles' team president from 2003 to 2007. No cause of death was given.

Backstrom was a longtime forward and helped the Canadiens capture the Stanley Cup in back-to-back seasons on three different occasions. He played in 1,336 career games in the NHL and the World Hockey Association, collecting 378 goals and 514 assists.

A native of Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Backstrom also was a coach at the University of Denver. He led the Pioneers to the NCAA Frozen Four in 1986.

"Ralph Backstrom was the most honorable gentleman I've ever encountered in my professional life and he was single-handedly responsible for professional hockey in Northern Colorado," Eagles owner and CEO Martin Lind said in a statement. "We all are forever indebted to this legacy of a gentleman and we pray his family has peace and comfort in this difficult time."

He is survived by his wife, Janet; daughter, Diana; and sons Andrew and Martin, the Eagles said.

Live Report - India vs England, 1st Test, Chennai, 4th day

Published in Cricket
Sunday, 07 February 2021 21:16

Welcome to our live report of the fourth day of the first India-England Test from Chennai. Join us for updates, analysis and colour. You can find our traditional ball-by-ball commentary here

*Most recent entry will appear at the top, please refresh your page for the latest updates. All times are local.

10.20am: Leach strikes

Nothing much happening with the new ball for England's seamers, so Root throws the new ball to Jack Leach less than five overs after it has been taken. He strikes with his second delivery: extra bounce from a length with the harder ball which takes Ashwin by surprise as he lunges forward, hoping to smother the spin, and the ball loops up towards the vacant silly point region. Jos Buttler gets across to take the catch, and the 80-run partnership is broken. Shahbaz Nadeem, at No. 9, is still a useful batsman, but England are into the tail.

9.50am: Easy pickings

Poor start from England's spinners, and for Bess in particular. Too many balls were either overpitched or back-of-a-length in his three overs this morning, and India have added 27 in six overs, with Sundar reaching his second Test fifty with a cover drive off Leach. The new ball is available: if these two can survive the first 10 overs or so against it then India will grow increasingly confident that this Test can be saved.

9.15am: New ball looms

A useful unbroken stand of 32 between R Ashwin and Washington Sundar last night has given India hope of avoiding the follow-on, but there are only six overs until the new ball is due this morning, and England will be hopeful that James Anderson and, in particular, Jofra Archer can break the stand when it arrives. With 15 minutes to go until we get underway, there's plenty of time to catch up on last night's Polite Enquiries below, or any of the rest of our overnight content.

5:12
#PoliteEnquiries: Pant + Pujara = Trump + Dalai Lama? And the Bob Dylan among 'Wisdens'

Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets at @mroller98

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