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Head coach Brian Easson says Scotland failed to do themselves justice with a "really disappointing performance" in their Women's Six Nations defeat to Italy.
The Scots were outplayed by an impressive Azzurri side who looked sharper throughout and outscored their hosts by five tries to three in Edinburgh.
The defeat puts paid to Scotland's pre-tournament target of three home wins and Easson admits his side's largely lacklustre display took him by surprise.
"I didn't see it coming at all," Easson told BBC Scotland. "We didn't play well. I was really disappointed.
"I thought we got dominated at contact time. We didn't manage the game as well as we'd hoped.
"They were very short periods of time that we kept ball, short periods of time where we defended and had real urgency as well.
"So that was a really disappointing performance and that's just not what Scotland Women are all about.
"It was just one of those performances that nothing clicked at all.
"That's not what we expect, not the standards that we expect of this team. It's not the standards that they would expect for themselves either and it's just one of those ones we're going to have to look at closely, understand why and move on."
Scotland face defending champions England in Leicester next weekend, with the Red Roses having claimed maximum points from their three matches so far as they hunt another title.
"It's always going to have to be a big reaction to play against England," Easson said.
"To play against England at Welford Road, it's going to be difficult for any side.
"They're the best team in the world. You saw what they did against a tough Ireland. So, we're going to have to turn around quite quickly, a six-day turnaround as well.
"We're going to have to brush ourselves down, look at that and really have a big step up in performance next week."
This deadline has been provided to try and agree the new PRA as quickly as possible, but the current deal has more than a year left to run until the end of the 2025-26 season.
A clause in that contract says "the WRU may terminate this agreement by giving the company no less than two years' notice in writing to expire at the end of the relevant agreement year".
That can only occur if the "Professional Rugby Board (PRB) recommends the same as part of an objective review of professional rugby". It is understood no such review has happened yet.
That policy would also not align with the desire to keep four professional sides in Wales, which was a crucial factor presented in the decision to save Cardiff.
The WRU said Welsh rugby would have been heavily penalised financially by the United Rugby Championship (URC) and European authorities if they did not continue to provide four sides for their competitions.
It is not the first deadline the WRU has set this season. In August 2024, a more stark three-hour deadline was issued to the Wales women squad during contract negotiations.
On that occasion, there was a "final offer" ultimatum, saying if they did not sign new contracts within three hours they would be withdrawn, planned matches against New Zealand, Scotland and Australia would not go ahead and they could pull the Wales women's team out of the 2025 World Cup.
The threat was not acted upon and the WRU executive leadership later apologised and accepted it was a mistake.
Six 410 winged sprint car races were run this week and a pair of drivers are approaching the 20-start plateau that will officially open the National Sprint Car Rankings.
Anthony Macri and Austin McCarl have each run 16 races, with 20 required to be eligible for the national rankings. Meanwhile, five of the seven regions have begun competition.
Brock Zearfoss has yet to win this season, but hes made 14 starts and leads the Eastern region standings. Sam Hafertepe Jr. leads the Western region standings.
Carson Macedo, who won his second World of Outlaws race of the season Friday, has taken the top spot in the Mid-America region and Cap Henry is on top in the Great Lakes stanza. Jacob Begenwald leads the board in the OH-PA region.
Twenty-seven drivers have won features this season, with Gravel leading the way with five victories. Forty-one races have been run. Two hundred and 38 drivers have started at least one 410 winged sprint car race this season.
Eastern Region
- Brock Zearfoss 487
- Anthony Macri434
- Danny Dietrich 410
- Troy Wagaman Jr. 344
- Freddie Rahmer 332
LONG BEACH, Calif. After opening the season with the 36 Hours of Florida (aka the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring), the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship changed things up with the 100 minutes of Southern California during the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Not only was the sprint race a fraction of the length of either of the first two events, the competition was pared down to two classes: GTP and GTD.
Whats more, the tight, concrete-wall confines of the 1.968-mile street circuit posed very different challenges than the wide-open spaces of Daytona Intl Speedways hybrid road course/high-banked oval and Sebring Intl Raceways rough and tumble airport-based circuit.
More Of The Same
For all the many differences between Long Beach and the first two races of the season, the weekends GTP competition evoked a distinct sense of deja vu all over again. Once again, the BMW M Team RLL entries were fast in practice and qualifying as Dries Vanthoor in the No. 24 BMW M Hybrid V8 took the Bavarian marques third pole in as many tries.
Vanthoor was followed by teammate Sheldon van der Linde in the No. 25 with the No. 7 and No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963s of Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet in lockstep behind them. And when the green flag dropped, the BMWs sprinted into a one-two lead. In race trim, however, the Porsches matched the pace of the BMWs, with Tandy in particular giving van der Linde in the second-placed BMW all he could handle.
Come the one and only round of pit stops and using what is becoming a classic winning strategy at Long Beach the No. 7 did not change Michelin rubber and so emerged in the lead ahead of its stablemate while the BMWs slipped to third and fifth, sandwiching the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.
With Felipe Nasr now at the helm, the No. 7 Porsche loped to its third straight win of the season with Matt Campbell bringing the No. 6 Porsche to its second runner-up finish of the year.
No, it wasnt as easy as it looked as Nasr and Tandy both noted they had to be very careful with their energy management so as not to need a second pit stop. And yes, many challenges await beginning with WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in three weeks time. But its starting to look like its going to take something special or unexpected to derail the Porsche Penske Express.
It goes to show just what a high level the team is operating at the moment, said Tandy. Were lucky enough to be in the front three times, but if the No. 7 isnt at the front, the No. 6 is and vice-versa. Both sides of the garage are operating just flawlessly.
RINGERS
A WeatherTech Championship calendar that includes select events which feature just one of the two GTD classes GTD or GTD PRO creates an interesting dynamic, one which sees ringers from the category that otherwise has the weekend off competing. Last year, for example, Vasser Sullivan Racing doubled up for the Long Beach and Detroit events, fielding the No. 89 Lexus RC F GT3 that normally contests GTD PRO races as the No. 14, in addition to the No. 12 Lexus that ran the full standard GTD schedule. Two months later, the team flipped the script and entered both cars in the GTP/GTD PRO-only race at Detroit, with the No. 12 GTD entry rebranded as the No. 15 in GTD PRO.
In each case, the ringer gave the team and Lexus twice the chance to score a win, not to mention add to their points haul in the respective championships. A similar move paid dividends for Porsche last weekend at Long Beach, as defending GTD PRO champions AO Racing claimed top GTD honors in Saturdays race in the No. 177 Porsche 911 GT3 R (992), aka Rexy.
In some respects this encourages a two-dimensional competition, as the class regulars are focused on the proverbial big picture, i.e., the season-long competition for manufacturer, team and driver titles. In contrast, the ringers are laser-focused on individual race results and can afford to roll the dice on fuel, tire and pit stop strategies.
Such was the case at Long Beach where the AO Racing squad gambled on running an extra lap while the class leaders pitted. Thus did the No. 177 Porsche leapfrog the No. 12 Vasser Sullivan Lexus and the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage GT3 EVO to take the GTD lead. The strategy provided AOs Laurens Vanthoor with track position so crucial at Long Beach and he was never headed.
The team made a very good decision for us not to change tires and be aggressive on the fuel side, said Vanthoor. So that was our only chance because Lexus, as we saw in the first stint, had a lot of speed. Its not easy to overtake here so we had to try to take track position and we managed that.
More Than Meets The Eye
If you were to just look at the results, Robert Wickens GTD debut was somewhat underwhelming, given that the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette Z06 GT3.R finished a lap down, 15th in the 16-car field. However, in reality, Wickens and co-driver Tommy Milner were on their way to a top-five or sixth-place finish before a coming-together with the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT3 EVO at the Hairpin. The resulting damage to the Vettes bodywork eventually necessitated an unscheduled pit stop to effect repairs and led to what was an unrepresentative finish.
In fact, the DXDT Corvette was at the proverbial sharp end of the field throughout Friday and Saturday before the incident with the Turner BMW, with Wickens more than holding his own. After mechanical gremlins cost them the first third of Friday mornings hour-long practice, Milner posted a target lap which Wickens got within a couple seconds of later in the session in his first real world laps in competition in the Corvette equipped with the Bosch hand-controlled braking system.
After debriefing with the DXDT engineers and Milner, Wickens shaved three full seconds off his practice time to post the fastest lap of the second practice session, only to cause a stoppage in the session when he was unable to rejoin the track after skating down the Turn One escape road. IMSA rules dictate that a driver causing a red flag in practice will lose their fastest lap in qualifying, so Wickens went into the qualifying session knowing he had to post not one but two quick laps in order to start at or near the front of the GTD grid.
Unfortunately, any opportunity he had to repeat his practice form and challenge for the pole was dashed when he had a coming together with another competitor in Turn 9 that tweaked the DXDT Corvettes suspension. Nevertheless, he posted a couple of very respectable laps of 1:18.239 and 1:18.411, with the latter resulting in an eighth-place start given that the quicker lap was disallowed.
Wickens gained one spot on the opening lap when the No. 34 Conquest Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 had a moment, then settled into a consistent run in seventh spot before handing the car over to Milner during the races one and only pit stop.
It was pretty uneventful (but) it was good, said Wickens of his race. We stayed clean which is the most important thing. I feel like we had more pace than we showed in qualifying but, unfortunately, we paid the price in track position. But we just wanted to keep the car in one piece so Tommy could have a go!
I think we all knew this was almost going to be the worst-case scenario of learning the hand control system in the Corvette Z06 GT3.R. Honestly, I even surprised myself with the pace in Free Practice 2 and the potential pace we could have had in (qualifying). In the race I felt super comfortable, and felt like I was attacking more than defending; although I didnt do a lot of attacking, but thats the nature of the this track.
Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny said on Monday he will accept being dropped for Marc-André ter Stegen if that is what coach Hansi Flick decides when the Germany international returns to full fitness.
Szczesny, 34, came out of retirement to sign for Barça last October when Ter Stegen injured his knee in a LaLiga fixture against Villarreal.
Ter Stegen was initially expected miss the rest of the season, but he returned to training ahead of schedule this month and could feature again before the campaign is up.
"Look, I am here this season to replace Marc," Szczęsny told a news conference ahead of Tuesday's Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Borussia Dortmund in Germany.
"If Marc is back and fit and the coach decides he's back in goal, I am fine with it. But I want to play. If the decision is the other way, I think Marc will understand too.
"At this moment, there is no competition because Marc is only coming back to training. He's not fully with the team. When he is available, it will be the coach's decision, not ours, and we will respect it.
"It's not uncomfortable. There's no tension between us. We both want the best outcome for the team at this crucial stage of the season."
Barça's fortunes have changed dramatically since Szczesny first came into the side in January, replacing Iñaki Peña. They are undefeated in their last 24 matches in all competitions, with the former Poland international yet to taste defeat in his 22 appearances for the club.
His contract is due to expire in the summer, but there have been reports he will sign an extension, which would see his battle for the gloves with Ter Stegen run into next season.
"We have only big games from now until the end of the season and I want to focus on playing the best football I can," he added.
"I don't want to lose energy on contract negotiations or contemplating my future.
"I want to win every trophy in front of us and leave the contract talks to the club and my agent. There is a chance they are talking, but I don't want to hear it."
Barça have already won the Spanish Supercopa with Szczesny in goal and three more trophies could follow. They are four points clear in LaLiga, in the Copa del Rey final and have a 4-0 lead going into the second leg against Dortmund.
"I like the winning," the former Arsenal and Juventus goalkeeper said. "I was on the beach a few months ago, I didn't really want to play football. Now I get to play with what I believe is the best team in Europe.
"It's a little surreal for me, but the winning is nice, in the dressing room, the training sessions. It's a nice feeling, I missed that. The winning is what I enjoy the most.
"Of course I would not believe [being here]. But we're here and now I don't want to accept any other outcome. I want to win big trophies.
"This year takes me closer than ever to my dream of winning this competition. I want to take that chance. I want to focus on the last few weeks of the season to do something very special for the club and ourselves."
Barça will be without Alejandro Balde in Dortmund after the left-back injured his hamstring at the weekend, but Dani Olmo is back in the squad.
Flick said his team must not take their foot of the gas despite travelling to Germany with a big lead.
"We always want to be at our best," the Barça coach said in a news conference. "We have high quality in our team and it's our duty to show that every game.
"We play a team like Dortmund, they have strong players themselves, and here at this stadium you need to be switched on from the start.
"I am happy we won 4-0 because I know tomorrow will be a tough game. It is important the team shows how good they are; that they enjoy playing on this stage against some of the best in Europe.
"We won't take any game lightly. We want to deliver, for the fans travelling, watching at home in Barcelona and around the world."
Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has joined other confederations in opposing the proposal of CONMEBOL leader Alejandro Domínguez to expand the World Cup to 64 teams for the 2030 edition of the international tournament.
Domínguez introduced the official proposal to broaden the competition during an online meeting of FIFA's ruling council, insisting the tournament grow from the traditional 32 participants to 64.
"At Concacaf, we've shown that we are open to change by supporting the Women's World Cup expansion and the continuous evolution of our Confederation's men's and women's national team and club events," Montagliani told ESPN.
"I don't believe expanding the men's World Cup to 64 teams is the right move for the tournament itself and the broader football ecosystem, from national teams to club competitions, leagues, and players."
FIFA will already be testing a new 48-team format for the 2026 World Cup, but Domínguez emphasized more can be done with a larger scale tournament.
"We haven't even kicked off the new 48-team World Cup yet, so personally, I don't think that expanding to 64 teams should even be on the table."
UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin also expressed dissent for the proposal by Domínguez, labeling the thought of expansion a "bad idea."
"I think it's a bad idea -- it's not a good idea for the World Cup itself and it's not a good idea for our qualifiers as well," he said. "So, I am not supporting that idea. I don't know where it came from but it's strange that we didn't know anything before this proposal at the FIFA Council."
While Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa maintains that growth at this rate would incite chaos.
"If the issue remains open to change, then the door will not only be open to expanding the tournament to 64 teams," said Salman at the 35th AFC Congress.
"But someone might come along and demand raising the number to 132 teams. Where would we end up then? It would become chaos."
The 2026 World Cup will be testing a new format for the first time in tournament history, seeing 48 teams compete for the coveted trophy across stadiums in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Lynx get Mystics' Samuelson for '26 1st-rounder
The Minnesota Lynx acquired veteran guard Karlie Samuelson from the Washington Mystics in exchange for a first-round pick in the 2026 WNBA draft, it was announced Monday.
Samuelson, who turns 30 next month, joins her sixth team as she enters her seventh season in the league. She averaged a career-high 8.4 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 29 games (19 starts) for the Mystics in 2024.
She is a career 39.7% shooter from 3-point range.
Samuelson has averaged 5.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 105 games (45 starts) with the Los Angeles Sparks (2018-19, 2021, 2023), Dallas Wings (2019), Seattle Storm (2021), Phoenix Mercury (2022) and Mystics.
No. 77 is No. 1: Doncic jersey is NBA's top-selling
Luka Doncic is making an impact both on and off the court for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Doncic's No. 77 Lakers jersey was the NBA's most popular jersey for the 2024-25 regular season based on NBAStore.com sales, the league announced Monday.
The Lakers were also No. 1 on the team merchandise list.
Doncic became the first player other than LeBron James or Stephen Curry to hold the lead in jersey sales since the 2012-13 regular season, when Carmelo Anthony was No. 1, playing for the New York Knicks.
Curry finished No. 2 this season and James was No. 3. The top 10 were rounded out, in order, by the Boston Celtics' Jayson Tatum, the Knicks' Jalen Brunson, the San Antonio Spurs' Victor Wembanyama, the Minnesota Timberwolves' Anthony Edwards, the Memphis Grizzlies' Ja Morant, the Oklahoma City Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic.
Doncic, who is Slovenian, is the first international player to top the most popular jerseys list, the league announced.
The Lakers' popularity also was reflected by the NBA's social media and digital platforms, with James' clips amassing 3.23 billion views to lead the league and Doncic's 1.82 billion views coming in third, according to the announcement. Curry was second with 2.56 billion views.
Pelicans fire Griffin, eye Dumars as top executive
The New Orleans Pelicans have fired executive vice president David Griffin, the team announced Monday.
Griffin spent the past six seasons as the head of basketball operations for the Pelicans. New Orleans went 209-263 under Griffin's leadership, with two postseason appearances during that span.
Hall of Famer Joe Dumars is a serious front-runner to become the lead basketball executive with the New Orleans Pelicans, sources told ESPN. The 2003 executive of the year and 2004 champion with the Detroit Pistons is a Louisiana native. Dumars is currently the NBA's executive vice president, head of basketball operations. The Pelicans and Dumars are expected to engage in conversations to finalize a deal by the end of the week, sources tell ESPN.
Griffin's tenure was marked by the Anthony Davis trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2019 and the drafting of Zion Williamson in 2019 with the No. 1 pick.
The Pelicans received three players -- Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart -- and three first-round draft picks, including the No. 4 pick in 2019, in exchange for Davis.
Williamson, meanwhile, has played in just 45% of his possible games with the Pelicans -- and has never played in the playoffs after he suffered injuries prior to both of the team's postseason appearances in 2022 and 2024.
The Pelicans finished this season at 21-61 -- the fourth-worst record in the league, ahead of only the Utah Jazz (17-65), Washington Wizards (18-64) and Charlotte Hornets (19-63).
Dejounte Murray fractured his left hand in a season-opening win against Chicago Bulls, tipping off what would be a vicious wave of injuries for a team that lost 16 of its first 20 games. The vaunted trio of Murray, Williamson and Ingram never stepped foot on the court together, with Ingram traded to Toronto in February.
In all, the Pelicans lost Murray, Ingram, Williamson, Trey Murphy III, Herbert Jones and Jose Alvarado at some point to either season-ending or prolonged injuries. The club also shut down CJ McCollum for the season.
ESPN's NBA insiders contributed to this report.
After missing the NBA playoffs and play-in tournament with the largest payroll in league history, the Phoenix Suns have fired head coach Mike Budenholzer, the team announced Monday.
"Competing at the highest level remains our goal, and we failed to meet expectations this season. Our fans deserve better. Change is needed," the team said in a statement.
For the third consecutive offseason, Suns owner Mat Ishbia, CEO Josh Bartelstein and general manager James Jones are changing coaches. Phoenix finished 36-46.
Budenholzer had issues connecting with the locker room this season, with team officials concluding that the roster failed to respond to the 2021 NBA championship coach, sources said. Budenholzer's inability to coexist with his players centered around the franchise's cornerstone, Devin Booker, and went down the roster, those sources said.
The Suns will now hold a wide-ranging coaching search, sources said.
Budenholzer accepted the Suns' job on a five-year, $50 million contract last offseason -- hired for his winning pedigree and schemes on both sides of the court.
The Suns became the third team in NBA history to start 8-1 or better and miss the playoffs, joining the 1970-71 Detroit Pistons and 2001-02 Milwaukee Bucks, according to ESPN Research. In March and April, the Suns lost eight straight games all by double digits, which was the most consecutive losses by 10-plus points in franchise history.
A year after winning 49 games, earning the sixth seed and being the No. 13 defensive team under Frank Vogel in 2023-24, the Suns ranked as the third-worst team in the NBA in defensive efficiency this season -- including the second worst since the All-Star break, according to ESPN Research.
The Suns were 26-15 when Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal played last season with a plus-6.6 net efficiency -- compared to just 19-18 and minus-4.1 net efficiency during this campaign, per ESPN Research.
Over two years into ownership, Ishbia has shown supreme aggressiveness and willingness to spend for players, coaches and resources for the organization. This iteration of the team did not work, however, and the franchise is set to retool around Booker.
The Suns had a 10-18 record since the All-Star break. They went 12-32 against teams with a .500 record or above this season -- compared to 28-25 against such teams in 2023-24.
This marks the first action in a summer of change coming to the Suns. Phoenix is expected to engage in trade conversations involving Durant and will have discussions on the future of Beal, according to sources. Multiple teams will seriously pursue Durant, who finished another stellar season, and the franchise is expected to work with Durant and his business partner and Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman on the next landing spot for the future Hall of Famer.
Beal has two years and $111 million remaining on his contract.
Durant was nearly traded to the Golden State Warriors at the trade deadline in February before making clear in league circles that he did not want to return to his former organization. He will be in the final year of his deal next season.
The Suns went 33-29 when Durant played and 3-17 when he didn't this season.
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