Inspired Perese try edges Leicester past Sale and into Premiership final

And so it is the two grand old clubs of English rugby. Leicester will face off against Bath in the Premiership final at Twickenham next Saturday – and the rest of us will have to check which century we are in.Leicester, admittedly, have featured far more among the honours this millennium, which is to say at all, than their arch rivals from the West Country, who so dominated the 1980s and 1990s. But neither team, if you asked their hoariest old warriors, could pick a foe they would rather lock horns with on what will no doubt be a sunny afternoon at HQ.This was a darker and more swirling affair

Lambourn storms to Derby triumph with 11th victory for Aidan O’Brien

“Everything in Ballydoyle is about Epsom,” Aidan O’Brien said on Saturday after the Derby, and perhaps a little superfluously, as Lambourn’s 13-2 success in the colts’ Classic had just sealed a clean sweep of the three Group One events at the meeting. Lambourn was not the first string in the trainer’s three-strong team – Delacroix, the 2-1 favourite with Ryan Moore in the saddle was only ninth – but like every other horse at the yard, he had been prepared like an Epsom horse from his first days at the yard.Like Minnie Hauk, Friday’s Oaks winner, he had also been sent to Chester’s May meeting, where the undulations and turns are similar to those at Epsom, to complete his preparation for Saturday’s race, and having been sent straight into the lead by Wayne Lordan, his jockey, he gained another length or two on his field with a slick, assured passage down the hill and around Tattenham Corner.Lazy Griff, who was one and a half lengths behind Lambourn in the Chester Vase, had also been close to the pace from the off and briefly threatened to make inroads into Lambourn’s lead from three out, but Lambourn found more when Lordan asked for a final effort and he was nearly four lengths in front of Lazy Griff (50-1) and Christophe Soumillon at the line. Tennessee Stud, another outsider at 28-1, was third for trainer Joseph O’Brien, the winning jockey aboard Australia, Lambourn’s sire, in 2014

Coco Gauff beats Aryna Sabalenka to win French Open women’s singles final – as it happened

Tumaini Carayol’s report is here, after that epic final. It should go down as a classic. If the play didn’t always hit the heights, the drama certainly did.Dodgy microphone means a tearful Coco does a Norman Collier, and it’s hard to hear her. She thanks her mum who is straining to hear

Coco Gauff claims first French Open title after fightback floors Aryna Sabalenka

In her half-decade competing at the highest level, Coco Gauff has built an impermeable reputation for her toughness in battle. No matter the significance of the occasion or the state of her strokes, she will fight with everything at her disposal and make life incredibly difficult for any opponent. More often than not, she will find a way through.Across the net from the best player in the world in one of the most important occasions of her career, Gauff showed the full magnitude of her grit and durability to topple Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 and win her first French Open title.When Gauff first emerged on the tour as a precocious 15-year-old in 2019, many people had doubts about whether she would be able to live up to the hype and establish herself as a major champion

Hull KR end 45-year wait for Challenge Cup glory as late try denies Warrington

As the rain hammered down on the Wembley turf and Hull KR’s players fell to their knees in disbelief, it was difficult to know where to look first. To Mikey Lewis perhaps, the Rovers half-back, who kicked the goal that secured a first major trophy in 40 years and their first Challenge Cup since 1980. To Willie Peters on the touchline, the coach who has masterminded Hull KR’s rise and has now won the Challenge Cup, something that confirms them as one of Super League’s elite sides.Or to the stands, to the tens of thousands of fans who had made the trip from Hull and finally witnessed history after so many years of heartbreak and near-misses. Among them, their owner, Neil Hudgell, who has saved the club from financial ruin on multiple occasions and now has the piece of silverware his commitment merits

Simone Biles slams ‘sore loser’ Riley Gaines over attacks on trans athlete

Seven-time Olympic gold medallist Simone Biles has publicly condemned former competitive swimmer Riley Gaines for her repeated attacks on transgender athletes, calling Gaines “sick” and a “sore loser” in a strongly worded social media post.The exchange erupted Friday night after Gaines mocked the Minnesota State High School League for turning off comments on a post celebrating Champlin Park High School’s girls’ softball team, which had just won the state championship. One of the team’s players is a transgender girl.“This championship was hijacked,” Gaines wrote on X, referring to the student-athlete as “a boy” and ridiculing the league for disabling comments “lol”.Biles, the most decorated gymnast of all time with 11 Olympic and 30 world championship medals, had seen enough