Manchester City kept up their five-point lead in the Premier League table with a 5-1 thrashing of Norwich City thanks to five different scorers.
Manchester United stayed second courtesy of a 1-0 win at Aston Villa, defender Phil Jones getting the first goal of his senior career. Tottenham remained third via a 3-0 victory over Bolton.
Chelsea moved up to fourth by beating Newcastle, who dropped two places to sixth, 3-0 and Arsenal went fifth with a 4-0 triumph at Wigan, who went bottom. Blackburn moved off the foot of the table as Yakubu scored all four in a 4-2 defeat of Swansea.
Stoke beat Everton 1-0, Wolves defeated Sunderland, who named Martin O’Neill as Steve Bruce’s successor, 2-1 and Queens Park Rangers drew 1-1 with West Brom.
The draw for the third round of the FA Cup was made with Man City versus Man Utd the tie of the round to be played on January 7 and 8.
England Rugby Union hooker Steve Thompson has been forced to retire due to a neck injury. The 2003 World Cup winner did likewise in 2007 but returned to playing and featured in this year’s World Cup.
Shane Williams, as expected, played his last game for Wales and scored a try in the final move but could not prevent a 24-18 defeat to Australia in Cardiff.
In the English Premiership Harlequins kept up their 100% record courtesy of a 22-16 win at Wasps. Second-placed Saracens saw off London Irish 15-11.
Exeter went third with a 15-9 win over Worcester, Sale moved to fourth thanks to a 16-13 victory at Bath, Leicester beat Northampton 30-25 and bottom side Newcastle defeated Gloucester 26-25.
In Golf Rory McIlroy won the Hong Kong Open to keep alive the Race to Dubai contest with Luke Donald. The US Open champion shot a closing round of 65 to finish on 12 under par, two shots ahead of Gregory Havret.
England’s Lee Westwood defended his Nedbank Golf Challenge title at the Sun City resort in South Africa, finishing two shots clear of Robert Karlsson while world number one Donald was 10 shots behind.
