England are one win from their first Six Nations title and Grand Slam since 2003 after a hard-fought 22-16 victory over Scotland in the Calcutta Cup at Twickenham.
Tom Croft’s second-half try looked to have made the game safe but Max Evans’ late solo effort ensured a nervy finish.
Only Wales can pip England now after their 19-13 victory over Ireland in Cardiff and France’s shock 22-21 defeat to Italy in Rome.
All three games of the final round are on Saturday when Scotland host Italy, England take on Ireland in Dublin and France face Wales in Paris.
Manchester City and Manchester United will meet in the FA Cup semi-finals with the winner playing Bolton or Stoke in the final. The semis will be played at Wembley on the weekend of April 16 and 17.
City beat Reading 1-0 thanks to Micah Richards’ header 16 minutes from time and United saw off Arsenal 2-0 with goals from Fabio da Silva and Wayne Rooney. Bolton were 3-2 victors at Birmingham thanks to Lee Chung-Yong’s winner and Stoke beat West Ham 2-1 with Danny Higgingbotham’s free kick decisive.
England need to win their last World Cup group game against West Indies on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals after suffering a surprise two-wicket defeat to co-hosts Bangladesh.
South Africa, who England beat in their previous game, saw off India with a thrilling three-wicket win. In the other group Australia and New Zealand reached the quarters with comfortable wins over Kenya and Canada respectively.
Back to rugby union and Gloucester will play Newcastle in the final of the Anglo-Welsh Cup on Sunday. Charlie Sharples’ four tries gave Gloucester a 45-17 win over Newport Gwent Dragons and Tane Tu’ipulotu’s last-minute try snatched a 21-20 win for the Falcons at Harlequins. In the only Premiership match of the weekend Northampton won 23-13 at Leeds.
In Super League there were wins for Huddersfield, Castleford, Warrington and Harlequins – who all have eight points at the top of the table – plus Leeds, Hull KR and Wigan.
