Fly-half Sam Costelow will make his first Pro14 start for Scarlets when they host Leinster on Saturday.

Versatile Wales back Johnny McNicholl moves from wing to full-back and Uzair Cassiem is back at number eight.

Leinster's Tadhg Furlong returns to play his first match in almost a year.

The prop has not played since Ireland's Six Nations defeat by England in February because of calf and back problems, while it is over a year since he has played for his club.

Max O'Reilly makes his second appearance at full-back, with Cian Kelleher on the right wing and Dave Kearney returning on the left after missing the win over Munster with a minor hamstring injury.

Furlong is joined in the front row by Peter Dooley and James Tracy, while there is a chance of a debut off the bench for 19-year-old centre Jamie Osborne.

Leo Cullen's side go into the match on the back of a close comeback win over Munster on their return to Pro14 action last week.

The hosts are missing 11 Wales Six Nations squad members.

Glenn Delaney's side are also without injured players Sione Kalamafoni (concussion), Steff Evans (leg), Lewis Rawlins (neck), Tomi Lewis (knee), Dylan Evans (shoulder), Samson Lee (concussion), Jac Morgan (knee), Tom Rogers (knee), Pieter Scholtz (hamstring), Rob Evans (concussion) plus long-term absentees James Davies (concussion), Aaron Shingler and Rhys Patchell.

Ryan Conbeer and Tom Prydie come on to Scarlets' wings, with Tyler Morgan joining skipper Steff Hughes at centre, while Dane Blacker is at scrum-half.

Phil Price and Marc Jones join Javan Sebastian in the front row, with Morgan Jones partnering Sam Lousi at lock.

Cassiem will make his 50th Scarlets appearances as he takes over from concussed Kalamafoni at number eight, while Dan Davis is back at open-side flanker after an ankle problem.

The game has been rearranged after it was postponed in December because of Covid-19.

Scarlets have suffered back-to-back defeats against Cardiff Blues, while defending Champions Leinster won 13-10 at Munster and are second in Conference A.

Scarlets head coach Glenn Delaney said: "You look at the games against Connacht, Ulster and then into Bath before Christmas, we were in a purple patch and playing the rugby we wanted to. The derbies have been a little disjointed. This gives us a chance to refresh, reset and get back to where we were.

"Leinster defend differently to Cardiff. We have got a plan to create and there will be opportunity for guys who haven't been playing these past few weeks. That is bringing new energy and excitement to the group. Our job is to make sure they are free and are able to express themselves.

"When you play Leinster you have to make sure you remain in the contest to give yourself a chance to execute. We know they are the form horse, they have been for a number of years and they have plenty of depth. It is an opportunity to have a crack at them and we are excited by it."

Scarlets: Johnny McNicholl; Tom Prydie, Tyler Morgan, Steff Hughes (capt), Ryan Conbeer; Sam Costelow, Dane Blacker; Phil Price, Marc Jones, Javan Sebastian, Morgan Jones, Sam Lousi, Blade Thomson, Dan Davis, Uzair Cassiem.

Replacements: Taylor Davies, Kemsley Mathias, Werner Kruger, Tevita Ratuva, Carwyn Tuipulotu, Will Homer, Angus O'Brien, Paul Asquith.

Leinster: Max O'Reilly; Cian Kelleher, Liam Turner, Ciaran Frawley, Dave Kearney; Harry Byrne, Luke McGrath (capt); Peter Dooley, James Tracy, Tadhg Furlong, Ross Molony, Ryan Bair, Josh Murphy, Dan Leavy, Jack Conan.

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Ed Byrne, Tom Clarkson, Jack Dunne, Scott Fardy, Hugh O'Sullivan, David Hawkshaw, Jamie Osborne.

Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)

Assistant referees: Craig Evans, Dan Jones (both WRU)

TMO: Jon Mason (WRU)

Bristol make six changes for the derby clash with Bath as Chris Vui plays for the first time since November after recovering from injury.

Props Christian Judge and Juan Schoeman, lock Elliott Stooke and flankers Josh Bayliss and Miles Reid all start as Bath make seven changes.

Centre Josh Matavesi and winger Gabriel Hamer-Webb return among the backs.

The Bears have fly-half Callum Sheedy on the bench after he was released from the Wales squad, but are without Max Malins, Harry Randall and Ben Earl, who are on England duty, and the suspended Kyle Sinckler.

England trio Charlie Ewels, Will Stuart and Beno Obano are missing from the Bath line-up, while Talupe Faletau is on the bench after also being allowed to play by Wales.

Bristol: Piutau; Morahan, Radradra, O'Conor, Purdy; Lloyd, Uren; Woolmore, Byrne, Afoa, Attwood, Vui, Luatua (capt), Thomas, Hughes.

Replacements: Capon, Thomas, Armstrong, Holmes, Heenan, Kessell, Sheedy, Leiua.

Bath: de Glanville; McConnochie, Joseph, Matavesi, Hamer-Webb; Priestland, Spencer; Schoeman, Dunn, Judge, McNally (capt), Stooke, Bayliss, Reid, Mercer

Replacements: Walker, Bhatti, Thomas, Williams, Faletau, Chudley, Redpath, Cokanasiga

Referee: Wayne Barnes (RFU).

OCALA, Fla. – A back-and-forth battle Thursday night at Bubba Raceway Park went the way of Erick Rudolph, who topped Matt Sheppard and Stewart Friesen to win the season opener for the Short Track Super Series.

After a lap-one red flag, Rudolph battled Friesen throughout the 35-lap main event, with Rudolph eventually making the winning pass on lap 26 after three prior lead changes.

A mistake on the cushion allowed Friesen to briefly retake command with seven laps left, but Rudolph got back past moments later and held the position to the finish.

Rudolph eventually took the checkered flag in front by .641 seconds, with Sheppard dispatching a fading Friesen for the runner-up honors with six laps to go.

Friesen completed the podium, followed by Max McLaughlin and Michael Maresca.

Tyler Dippel, Billy Pauch Jr., Anthony Perrego, Jimmy Horton and Danny Bouc filled out the top 10.

Thursday night’s Sunshine Swing opener was broadcast live on SPEED SPORT TV affiliate Dirt Track Digest TV.

The results:

Feature (35 laps): Erick Rudolph, Matt Sheppard, Stewart Friesen, Max McLaughlin, Michael Maresca, Tyler Dippel, Billy Pauch Jr., Anthony Perrego, Jimmy Horton, Danny Bouc, Mike Mahaney, Billy Decker, Kyle Coffey, Joseph Watson, Mike Gular, Brett Haas, David Schilling, Danny Hieber, Danny Creeden, Danny Johnson, J.R. Heffner, Marshall Hurd, Matt Stangle, H.J.Bunting, Rusty Smith, Peter Britten, Rob Pitcher, Tyler Siri.

DNQ: Andy Bachetti, J.R. Hurlburt, Jordan Siri, Tim Buckwalter, Jacob Dgien, Cale Ross, James Hill, Kenny Hammond, Kyle Weiss, Eric Williams, Scott Kurtzner, Nick Petrilak, Scott Ferrier, Ron Cartwright Jr., Brandon Hightower, Jeremy Smith, Bob Hentschel, Chris Ostrowsky

GIBSONTON, Fla. – Stormy Scott raced to his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory on Thursday night at East Bay Raceway Park.

The 31-year-old New Mexico native took the lead on lap seven and never yielded the point in winning the 40-lap main event. It was the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series’ 100th-sanctioned event at East Bay dating back to 2005.

Scott, who started ninth in the field, came to the front quickly by passing Brian Shirley for the lead. Scott then held serve for the remainder of the feature to become the fourth different winner in four series races this season.

Kyle Bronson caught Scott in traffic, but kept his line to finish second. Tim McCreadie earned his first podium finish of the year in third. Frank Heckenast Jr. was fourth, with Shirley taking fifth.

“I can’t thank everybody enough for helping us get here, especially all of our sponsors and all of my crew,” said Scott. “We have probably had the roughest two years in late models that anyone could ever have. We started at the highest level and everybody thought were fools for doing that. I just can’t stand defeat and every time we got kicked in the side we just kept going. I want to thank my grandparents for this opportunity. During the race, I knew when I moved up the track a little bit I couldn’t steer, and I started watching in front of me and nobody up there could steer as well. I stayed on the bottom and if somebody got by me then they deserved it more than me.”

Bronson finished second at his home track.

“I think it was the hardest thing to do in my life to not leave that bottom,” Bronson said. “I feel like McCreadie is the best in the sport at hooking that bottom. I knew if I got off the bottom he [McCreadie] was going to get past me. Stormy did a heck of a job, he did everything he needed to do out there. I am pretty excited to see him win tonight, he has worked hard the last two years.”

McCreadie earned his best finish of the season in third.

“We just kind of persevered out there,” McCreadie said. “We were unbalanced. This is our second car. This is hard to do. You spent a lot of the night adapting to the way the track is. For us, we haven’t had a lot of side-bite and traction.”

The finish:

Stormy Scott, Kyle Bronson, Tim McCreadie, Frank Heckenast Jr., Brian Shirley, Mike Marlar, Ricky Thorton Jr., Ross Bailes, Brandon Overton, Ashton Winger, Tanner English, Brandon Sheppard, Tyler Erb, Devin Moran, Hudson O’Neal, Bobby Pierce, Tyler Bruening, Jimmy Owens, Michael Brown, Mason Zeigler, Billy Moyer Jr., Gregg Satterlee, Jonathan Davenport, Earl Pearson Jr., Josh Richards, Boom Briggs, Shane Clanton, Rick Eckert, Chase Junghans, Wil Herrington.

GIBSONTON, Fla. – Josh Richards survived a caution-filled make-up feature to earn his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of the season in Thursday’s nightcap at East Bay Raceway Park.

The 2017 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion started inside of the fifth row and raced to his first victory of the Winternationals. The race was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was postponed to Thursday evening due to weather.

Richards took the lead on lap seven from Mark Whitener and then proceeded to lead the rest of the way to score his 32nd career win with the tour and his eighth at East Bay Raceway Park. Brandon Overton crossed the finish line a little over a second behind the winner, in second. Hudson O’Neal finished third followed by Brian Shirley and Devin Moran.

Whitener was looking for the biggest win of his super late model career and bolted to the lead at the start on the second main event of the night. Richards quickly went to the front and was second by the fourth circuit. Richards made his move on Whitener, grabbing the lead with seven laps scored.

Overton moved to second on lap nine while Whitener remained in the top three until he suffered a flat tire with five laps to go. A caution with one lap to go set up a dash to the finish, with Richards holding off Overton for the victory.

Richards went to Lucas Oil Victory Lane piloting a brand new race car.

“I was really frustrated in that first race,” Richards said of the first race on Thursday. “I felt like we had a really good car, but we had to take a provisional and we moved up a little and then we just ended up destroying our primary car in a wreck. I can’t thank the Mason Zeigler crew enough for all of their help in getting this thing ready for the second feature. I felt like in then first few laps it was going to be critical to get to the front and it paid off.”

Overton is the current series point leader heading into the final two nights of racing this week at East Bay.

“I tried to not make any mistakes and then had to hope we still had enough air in the tires to make it to the end,” said Overton. “I was worried about my left rear tire, we went soft on it, but it held up. I was scared to death I was going to get a flat. So, I just eased up on the restarts to try and save them.”

O’Neal earned his second podium finish for Double Down Motorsports so far this week after winning the Winternationals opener.

“I was very concerned about my tires,” O’Neal admitted. “You try to drive it straight and keep my tires underneath of me for a good part of the race. We didn’t have a very good first feature tonight, but we rebounded nicely in the second round.”

The finish:

Josh Richards, Brandon Overton, Hudson O’Neal, Brian Shirley, Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr., Frank Heckenast Jr., Kyle Bronson, Brandon Sheppard, Jimmy Owens, Rick Eckert, Dennis Erb Jr., Tyler Erb, Billy Moyer Jr., Tim McCreadie, John Baker, Earl Pearson Jr., Tanner English, Chase Junghans, Mark Whitener, Kyle Strickler, Bobby Pierce, Jonathan Davenport, Boom Briggs, Tony Jackson Jr., Wil Herrington, Mike Marlar, Blair Nothdurft.

Serge Aurier left the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at half-time on Thursday when his side were losing 1-0 to Liverpool after a bust-up with manager Jose Mourinho in the dressing room, sources have told ESPN.

Tottenham conceded four minutes into injury time at the end of the first half when Sadio Mane crossed the ball to Roberto Firmino, who ended Liverpool's barren run of 482 minutes without a league goal.

- Insider Notebook: Man United concern over Rashford
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Sources have told ESPN that Aurier was furious when Mourinho singled him out for criticism regarding the goal in the dressing room. Other players were also involved, with Eric Dier and Joe Rodon criticsed for their role in the goal.

Aurier engaged in a heated exchange with Mourinho, according to ESPN sources, and when Mourinho decided to substitute him before the start of the second half the Ivory Coast international decided to leave the stadium.

Sources added that some players felt the half-time chaos in the dressing room, as well as Harry Kane's injury and the change of tactics, were among the reasons why Trent Alexander-Arnold scored just two minutes into the second half.

Mourinho addressed the situation after the game and said it was reflective of a team who were unhappy to be losing.

"It was the mood of team that was difficult to accept you are losing," he added.

"It's difficult to accept the nature of the goal because the goal is in some aspects a replica of the chance they had in the first minute. So it's, of course, a mood where people is not happy."

AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli has defended striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic from accusations of racism following a clash with Inter Milan's Romelu Lukaku during the midweek Coppa Italia quarterfinal clash.

The pair had to be separated after exchanging strong words on the pitch with both receiving bookings and Ibrahimovic was later sent off when he picked up a second yellow card.

- Insider Notebook: Man United concern over Rashford
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Ibrahimovic was accused of having used offensive language during his spat with Lukaku and later posted a message on social media reiterating he is against racism.

"I've been a player, too, so I understand these things can happen," Pioli said in news conference ahead of Saturday's Serie A clash with Bologna. "Of course, I don't justify nor agree with [it].

"Ibra's past shows us he's clearly not racist, which is important. It's also important to point out that Milan has always been on the front line when it comes to fighting against all type of discrimination."

Ibrahimovic was also heavily criticised for leaving his side with 10 men. At the time of his red card, Milan were leading 1-0 but lost the match 2-1.

However, Pioli said criticism only fuels Ibrahimovic and motivates him more.

"Ibra and I haven't really spoken," Pioli said. "I feel he needs these types of situations to find more energy, more strength and even more determination if that's possible.

"Ibra is calm and he is motivated as we all are. I am certain we can do well. He is sorry for his second yellow card and for leaving the side with 10 men. He is determined to get the best result possible [against Bologna]."

There have been many thousands of words used to describe what life feels like for an addict at the very bottom. But perhaps none captures the last days of active addiction quite like one particular phrase from recovery literature: pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization.

No checklist exists for what that entails. There are no minimums or maximums on DUIs, or divorces, or overdoses. It can be three of each, or none of the above. It just has to be the most broken a person has ever felt.

In CC Sabathia's new documentary, "Under the Grapefruit Tree" (streaming now on HBO Max), he describes the obvious low point of his alcoholism: bowing out of the 2015 season to go to rehab in early October, just as his team, the Yankees, was wrapping up its final series of the season in Baltimore before starting its playoff run a few days later.

He received widespread support from his teammates and the organization, but you can imagine how some people responded. "Dock Ellis can throw no-nos tripping balls back in the day yet CC Sabathia can't pitch in the playoffs hungover? Remember when men were men?" one Barstool contributor tweeted.

He went to rehab anyway, and it just may have saved his life. "You'll feel bad now," his friend, fellow pitcher Chris Young, told him. "But you'll come out of rehab a hero."

But pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization isn't simple. It's not just one decision, or one moment. It's often a string of crumbs leading to the ultimate realization that an addict has only two choices, pain or sobriety, in front of them. The announcement stung. But Sabathia's true bottom may have actually been a few hours after he told the world his deepest secret with a news release.

As he drove home from Baltimore to pack for rehab, he knew friends, family and his agent had gathered at his house to see him off. Not everybody loved the decision. Some thought maybe he should have just hung on until after the season, just a few more weeks, then sought treatment.

It wasn't that anybody thought he didn't have a problem. As good as Sabathia was at hiding his alcoholism, everybody around him had at least a few data points over the years to support the idea that the 35-year-old had a problem. Some just thought maybe it could wait a week or two?

But going to rehab can be like catching demoralization lightning in an empty vodka bottle. People crash into their bottom and need to go -- and go now -- before they start digging again. That's where Sabathia's head was.

And yet, on the drive home, Sabathia thought, Screw it, I am going to rehab anyway. Why not get drunk one last time? He grabbed two bottles of his drink of choice, Hennessy's, at a liquor store and got blasted on the way home as he drove. When he walked in the front door barely able to speak, there were no more doubters. "Me showing up drunk actually made it a lot easier for everybody to see," Sabathia says now.

That's a hard story to process, isn't it? The man who desperately needed help, who was going to die otherwise, who now had his secret headlining every New York City tabloid, who publicly committed to rehab and getting sober, who ... goes and gets blasted on the way to rehab? Who does that?

Well, CC Sabathia.

And me.

The first time I drank, I was 14 or 15. I pounded down two Coors Extra Golds, and I loved it so much that I opened the next two beers at the same time. I wanted them to be ready. My whole body was warm, and my brain went numb. I hadn't stumbled onto something fun and relieving to do sometimes, like a casual drinker might describe; I had found my solution. I forget my age sometimes, but I can recall every detail of that night the way only an alcoholic and drug addict can.

I partied with friends and crushed a bag of honey mustard and onion pretzels as I drank. I spent the next eight hours passing out, puking, passing out again, puking again, passing out again. When I woke up the next morning, somebody said to me, "Geez, you really overdid it last night. Hope you learned your lesson."

I had learned my lesson. And that lesson was: Don't eat honey mustard and onion pretzels next time. Because I was definitely going to drink again, as soon as I could.

Sabathia remembers his first drinks too. It's a common theme for people like us -- we don't bother with the minor leagues. We go right to the pros. In a freshman orientation course in college, I remember asking the instructor repeatedly to explain the difference between drinking and binge drinking. I couldn't understand the difference. There are people who drink a glass of wine or two beers? What? "I never enjoyed the taste of alcohol," Sabathia says. "Whether it was wine or whatever, I was always drinking to get f---ed up. I was never drinking to enjoy alcohol. I don't even know who does that. Alcohol is so nasty to me. I don't even understand it."

My drinking increased when I got to college, and when I contracted bacterial meningitis and spent a week in a coma, I woke up to a new drug of choice: For the next 10 years, I had a bag of opioids at my disposal at all times as I endured multiple amputation surgeries on my ravaged feet. Bacterial meningitis devours your limbs first and works its way toward essential organs 'til you're dead, usually in less than 24 hours. Doctors heroically kept it from getting to my heart, but it claimed my soul instead. Painkillers and booze took ahold of me for a decade, and, as I have written before, my low point came in October of 2008. I ate 40 painkillers during my daughter's birthday party, and I threw up in the sink as the party roared on outside the bathroom door. I looked in the sink, at my breakfast and the last 10 pills that weren't fully digested, and I picked the pills out of the sink and ate them again. I'd have picked pills out of your puke too. I could not stop.

I kept going for a few more weeks, but I knew what CC Sabathia knew in October of 2015. I was consuming up to 60 Vicodin or Percocet a day, mixed with beer and Ambien at night. I was a dumpster, and I could have died or killed someone else on any given day as I drove around high. I kept going for a few more weeks, but I eventually came clean to my wife and my ESPN colleagues. I needed help, and on Nov. 8, 2008, I drove to rehab, or else I was going to die.

And ... I got as high as ever on the drive. I faked a foot injury and hit an urgent care on the way, got a prescription for 30 painkillers, dropped it off at a pharmacy and went to the rehab. They wanted to evaluate whether I needed a full check-in for a medically guided withdrawal or if I could do their intensive outpatient program instead. For an hour, I was honest about my addiction for the first time. It made me cry. I knew everything I was saying, of course, but I'd never said it out loud. For years, the shame had just rattled around inside my own head, and then I drank and drugged to make it stop for the night.

That's the thing about what drugs and alcohol did to me -- for me, actually. They made me not have to be present. They helped me not be here; I could go over there. In here, I had to feel stuff, to know I was a bad husband and an unreliable worker and a flaky brother. In here, the mortgage was overdue and my daughter was teething and my right front tire was leaking air. Here was real life. The hard stuff. I couldn't handle here.

But over there, that difficult big-boy crap got swept away, a daily solution of pills and booze, a near-death experience that wiped my hard drive clean every night. I could try to deal with here again tomorrow. Maybe it'll be better in the morning.

Then tomorrow came, and my here was another day thrown away, more guilt than I could handle. I could go only one place to make it feel better, and so I would go there again. By October of 2008, I was high almost every minute of the day. My there was my here. I was a husk.

I emptied out my guts to the counselor at rehab, confessing to it all. My tears were real. My pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization was all out in the open, and she offered me a new start at living a clean life. It felt awesome.

And I still slammed down all 30 pills in the hour drive home. I sobbed the whole time, but I couldn't not take the pills. But those are the last 30 painkillers I have taken since that day, same as those two bottles of Henny are the last two CC Sabathia has had.

I identified with so much of Sabathia's life story and relationship to booze. Sure, I am a guy who visited the Hall of Fame once and he's going to have a plaque there as a pitcher with 251 wins and 3,000-plus strikeouts. But with addiction, it's not the details of our lives that are similar; it's the nature of our disease.

We both were alcoholics before we ever picked up a drink, then had that fun stage where we were just the happy drunk at every party, and then we realized we got so drunk around others that the only way to keep going was to drink in the shadows, alone. Basements and bottles became our home games. We both went to rehab and loved the clean break and fresh start it gives you after a 10-year losing streak against your addiction.

But we both loved rehab in the way where you only want to do it once. "In rehab, there were certain guys that I knew they just weren't done drinking," Sabathia says. "There was an older guy who was wealthy but his family had written him off. He'd call his kids every day and they wouldn't pick up. It hit me that I had an opportunity right now to correct this thing, to never get to that point. I thought I'd be doing myself a disservice if I didn't dive deep into rehab."

Our sober journeys veered off from there, though, and that's OK. That's one of the beautiful things about recovery -- there are so many ways to get sober and stay sober. I can't tell you how many people I've met over the years who think they might have a problem but have some predetermined metric that defines whether you need help or not. They say, "Well, I don't drink every day," or, "I've never gotten a DUI," or, "I'm married and have a good job, so I don't know if it's that bad." Then they ask me what I think. I always say basically the same thing: Only you can determine whether you need help, so if you don't think alcohol or drugs is a problem in your life, I wish you well, but it's not for me to say.

Sabathia gets the same request for a freelance diagnosis. "I always tell people, if you think you might have a problem, you probably have a problem."

Sabathia and I both had success on paper -- jobs, marriage, kids, no lengthy prison sentences hanging over our heads -- but felt tortured internally because we knew how bad it was. So we sought help at rehab, even if the backs of our baseball cards still looked OK to a casual observer. At my treatment facility, I'll never forget there was a guy who'd gotten blackout drunk and tried driving off with an Amtrak train before he got arrested. "Well, I never robbed a train," I thought. "Maybe I don't belong here?" But with the way things were going, was I really confident saying that stealing an Amtrak was completely out of the realm of possibility? I decided maybe I should stay.

Sabathia went to treatment, experienced some breakthroughs in individual therapy, reconnected with his family and has devoted himself to physical fitness during the pandemic. He's down 30 pounds, and his heart feels terrific after a 2019 surgery that relieved a 90% blockage in one of his arteries. He celebrates Oct. 5 as his sobriety date, which means he ended 2020 with five-plus years without a drink. And, in this writer's humble opinion, he's a goddamn miracle. "I never thought I could go five days without a drink," Sabathia says. "And yet, here I am."

My sober path has been a little different. They say recovery is like walking up a down escalator, that if you stand still, you're going backward. I have to work very hard at keeping up with my disease -- even in sobriety, I am finding that my factory settings push me to reach for something, anything, to get out of here and go there again -- and I've had to double my sober efforts during the pandemic. Because when in-person gatherings got shut down, I was shocked at how quickly I slid down the escalator. I apparently wasn't alone: A recent NPR story quoted studies showing a 20% increase since March in overdose deaths, and about 60% of countries worldwide have seen a spike in alcohol and drug deaths since mid-March.

Right before the pandemic began in the U.S., I went to a 12-step meeting and saw a friend of mine (I'll call him Steve, but that's not his real name). Steve was a gregarious guy I loved to see at meetings or around town. He was tall and gangly, so when he hugged me, it was like I'd thrown on a big, warm coat. But he couldn't stay sober. He'd work hard for 60 days and then disappear. I gave him a hug that night, and he told me things were going well.

About a month later, a sober friend asked me if I was going to Steve's Zoom memorial. "Wait, Steve died?" I asked. In four weeks, he had drunk himself to death. As I sat there with 50 or so other sober mourners a few days later, I made the same vow I always do after we lose somebody to addiction: I will not let Steve die in vain. I will be more sober today than I was yesterday, because somebody might need help the way I needed help, and I want to be ready for that.

Over the next month or two, I struggled. Being in quarantine too closely resembled active addiction -- staying indoors, avoiding others, keeping your circle very small, bad sleeping habits ... that was my life when I was drinking and drugging, and that's what the CDC was recommending we all do every day.

So I settled into a groove with lots of Zoom meetings, sporadic outdoor gatherings, some sober book clubs and a lot of phone calls. Recovery is hard, to be sure, and that's why I can never vouch for somebody else's sobriety, and I can't promise you I'll be sober tomorrow, let alone next month or when my kids get married or any other time than right now.

But recovery is also right around the corner from you if you really want it. I did find that my sober tolerance has increased for the past 10 months or so, which made me laugh a bit because that resembles the way I drank and drugged. I started out taking two painkillers at a time, but eventually the effects were minimal. So that number went to three, and then four, and so on until I was in the double digits. Same thing with recovery -- I need to chase sobriety as hard as I chased opioids and beer. I realized I need to spend at least 30 to 60 minutes every single day devoted to something sobriety-related.

Sabathia, meanwhile, has found retirement to be the perfect antidote. He mostly lives a calm, serene life. He doesn't feel the itch to get a broadcasting career going, or to become a pitching coach. "I don't really want to show up and be at a job every day," he says.

By the last two years of his baseball career, he says, he was stunned at how much he had begun to hate packing and boarding airplanes. He just wanted to be at home with his family. That was his here, and now he has it every day. He says he feels fulfilled by simple things that don't involve back-to-backs to Toronto and Anaheim. He likes to bike and work out, and therapy is a weekly staple for him. He does Legos with his kids, plays catch with his oldest son, CC III, a promising 17-year-old slugging first baseman. In "Under the Grapefruit Tree," he just looks like the rest of us dads out there, throwing down a lawn chair and fidgeting as his kid steps to the plate. "I'm all-in on the dad stuff," he says.

As our conversation winds down, I ask him about his thought process on the documentary. He does a weekly podcast, and he was always a good interview during his pitching career when he did them. But he mentioned more than once that he spent 20 years in the spotlight as a baseball player and that he actually considers himself an intensely private person.

"So why do a 60-minute documentary like that? It must have really taken a piece out of you," I say.

His Wi-Fi had gone out several times earlier during our Zoom, so we had switched over to the phone, and he paused long enough that I thought maybe I'd lost him again. But he was just thinking. "Reliving that part of our lives was hard," he finally says. "But it might help somebody, so we put it out there. You never know when somebody could turn their lives around. The hardest part about facing addiction and alcoholism is actually facing it and telling somebody you need help. The last five years of my life have been great once I fessed up and said I needed help. Life has been really good. People always talk about sobriety and say everything is better, but I can attest that it really is."

A few minutes after I got off the phone with Sabathia, I went downstairs and there was a flurry of activity in the kitchen. My wife and three daughters were all crammed in there making something. It was loud and messy, so I breezed through once and decided to go back upstairs and stay focused on Important Work Emails and Reading About Sports.

They yelled up a little later and asked if I'd come have a piece of cake with them. Midday cakes are a little out of the norm for us, but out of courtesy and curiosity, I stopped working and met them in the dining room.

They'd made a delicious-looking red velvet cake with white icing and a thin sheet of candy on top. They explained what I had been too busy to notice earlier: It was Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, and the four of them were celebrating Kamala Harris together. "It's a 'break the glass ceiling' cake," my wife said.

My kindergartner leaned over and said, "Dad, that means we have the first girl vice president."

They each took turns cracking the candy with spoons, and I was chosen to be the guinea pig to try to chew up the shards. My wife said the "glass" was cornstarch and some other ingredients, but it's entirely possible it was the windshield of my Honda CR-V. I stopped chewing after a few seconds of agony, and everybody laughed and opted out of trying any windshield themselves.

We'd all been standing above the cake, so I got my piece and stood near two chairs.

"Dad, do you want to sit here? Or there?" my kindergartner asked.

"Here," I said. "I want to sit right here."

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Britain's Francesca Jones, who has qualified for her first Australian Open, will play last year's French Open semi-finalist Nadia Podoroska in next week's warm-up event in Melbourne.

Britons Johanna Konta and Katie Boulter have been drawn in the Gippsland Trophy, which will run concurrently.

Konta has a first-round bye, while Boulter plays Russian Anna Kalinskaya.

Heather Watson will play in the event reserved for players who have been in hard quarantine, which starts on Wednesday.

BBC One will broadcast live coverage of seven Six Nations matches on BBC TV, iPlayer, online and mobile app.

There will be live text coverage, reports and video highlights of every match on the BBC Sport website and app, plus in-play highlights of BBC games.

BBC Radio 5 Live or Sports Extra will bring you commentary of every match involving a home nations team.

You can also download the Rugby Union Weekly podcast every Tuesday from the BBC Sounds app to hear hosts Danny Care, Ugo Monye, Chris Ashton and rugby correspondent Chris Jones debate the big talking points, while Matt Dawson's Rugby Show returns on Radio 5 Live to preview every round of games.

Matt Dawson will also offer his take on events in a weekly column published on the BBC Sport website.

England won the delayed 2020 Six Nations on points difference from France.

Which matches are on BBC TV and iPlayer?

After showing Wales v Ireland on the opening weekend, BBC One and BBC iPlayer will bring you six other games:

Former France and Leicester hooker Benjamin Kayser joins the TV team, while former Wales and British and Irish Lions captain Sam Warburton returns to a line-up that also features Martin Johnson, Jamie Heaslip, John Barclay, Jeremy Guscott, Jonathan Davies, Chris Paterson, Thomas Castaignede, Andy Nicol and Brian Moore.

There will be a one-hour Six Nations Rugby Special on BBC Two on 14 February for fans to catch up on all the latest highlights from the Championship.

When does live radio commentary start?

The BBC's live radio and online coverage starts on the opening day of Saturday, 6 February with Italy v France followed by England's Calcutta Cup clash with Scotland.

There will also be additional coverage and analysis across BBC Wales, BBC Scotland and BBC Northern Ireland. All Ireland games will be live on BBC Radio Ulster, all Scotland games will be on BBC Radio Scotland, and all Wales games will be on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru.

How to follow on social media

BBC Sport's various social media accounts will provide all the latest breaking news stories and most sharable clips from the tournament. Follow BBC Sport on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to get your rugby union fix.

What about the women's tournament?

The 2021 Women's Six Nations has both been postponed to a date yet to be announced.

Fixtures and full BBC coverage times

All times are GMT. Fixtures and event start times are subject to change. The BBC is not responsible for any changes that may be made. Coverage on BBC Red Button can be subject to late schedule changes.

Saturday, 6 February

13:15-13:45, Eddie Butler's Six Nations, BBC One and BBC iPlayer

14:15-16:15, Italy v France, Radio 5 Live Sports Extra & ITV

16:45-18:45, England v Scotland, Radio 5 Live & ITV

Sunday, 7 February

14:00-17:15, Wales v Ireland, BBC One, BBC iPlayer & Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (from 15:00)

17:10-17:30, Six Nations Forum, BBC Red Button & online

Friday, 12 February

21:00-22:00, Matt Dawson's Rugby Show, BBC Radio 5 Live

*further dates to be added once confirmed

Saturday, 13 February

14:15-16:15, England v Italy, Radio 5 Live Sports Extra & ITV

16:00-19:10, Scotland v Wales, BBC One, BBC iPlayer & Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (from 16:45)

19:05-19:20, Six Nations Forum, BBC Red Button & online

Sunday, 14 February

15:00-17:00, Ireland v France, Radio 5 Live Sports Extra & ITV

18:00-19:00, Six Nations Rugby Special, BBC Two and BBC iPlayer

Saturday, 27 February

14:15-16:15, Italy v Ireland, BBC Radio Ulster & ITV

16:00-19:10, Wales v England, BBC One, BBC iPlayer & Radio 5 Live (from 16:45)

19:05-19:30, Six Nations Forum, BBC Red Button & online

Sunday, 28 February

14:00-17:15, France v Scotland, BBC One, BBC iPlayer & Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (from 15:00)

17:10-17:30, Six Nations Forum, BBC Red Button & online

Saturday, 13 March

14:15-16:15, Italy v Wales, BBC Radio Wales, Radio Cymru & ITV

16:45-18:45, England v France, Radio 5 Live & ITV

Sunday, 14 March

14:00-17:15, Scotland v Ireland, BBC One, BBC iPlayer & Radio 5 Live Sports Extra (from 15:00)

Saturday, 20 March

13:45-16:30, Scotland v Italy, BBC One, BBC iPlayer & BBC Radio Scotland

16:45-18:45, Ireland v England, Radio 5 Live & ITV

19:15-22:25, France v Wales, BBC One, BBC iPlayer & Radio 5 Live

Catch-up

You can view BBC Sport output and listen to our radio sports programming on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.

The BBC Sport website is available via desktop, mobile, tablet and app, giving fast and easy access to the live stream, text commentaries, news, reports, schedules and videos, as well as highlights of the day's action. The BBC Sport app is available free on Apple and Android devices.

National and regional variations

National and regional variations have been included in this list where possible, but please check your local listings for more detailed information.