Ireland produced the shock result of the Rugby Union World Cup so far by beating Australia 15-6. Jonathan Sexton and Ronan O’Gara scored two penalties each and Sexton also landed a drop-goal to make Ireland favourites to win Pool C.
England and Scotland were level on points at the top of Pool B after recording their second wins of the tournament. Scotland beat Georgia 15-6 in midweek and England saw off the same opponents 41-10 on Sunday.
Wales, who lost their opening match to defending champions South Africa by a point, record their first win, 17-10 against Samoa in Pool D.
Domestically, there were wins for Bath, London Irish, Harlequins, Leicester, Sale and Saracens.
Manchester United moved two points clear at the top of Football’s Premier League as they beat third-placed Chelsea 3-1 and Fulham came from two down to draw 2-2 with Manchester City, who remained second.
Fourth-placed Newcastle drew 1-1 with sixth-placed Aston Villa but fifth-placed Stoke lost 4-0 to Sunderland and Tottenham defeated nine-man Liverpool by the same margin. Everton moved to seventh by beating Wigan 3-1.
The game of the weekend saw previously winless Blackburn defeat Arsenal 4-3. The three promoted teams won, Norwich 2-1 over 10-man Bolton, Swansea 3-0 against West Brom and QPR by the same score versus Wolves.
England completed their games at home to India by winning the one-day series 3-0 thanks to a six-wicket victory at Cardiff. Virat Kohli’s hundred set up an imposing 304 for six but rain left the hosts chasing 241 in 34 overs and they completed the job with 10 balls to spare courtesy of debutant Jonny Bairstow’s cameo.
Lancashire won Cricket’s County Championship Division One. They overtook Warwickshire, who could only draw with relegated Hampshire, on the last day of the competition by beating Somerset. Yorkshire also went down.
Middlesex won Division Two with Surrey, who finished a point ahead of Northamptonshire, also promoted. Surrey won the Pro40 final at Lord’s, beating Somerset by five wickets.
Rugby League’s Super League play-offs began with Warrington and St Helens earning themselves a week off by respectively beating Huddersfield 47-0 and defending champions Wigan 26-18.
Both Hull clubs had their seasons ended with FC losing 42-10 to Leeds and KR 56-6 to Catalan Dragons.
