Maro Itoje restored as England captain for Calcutta Cup trip to Scotland

Maro Itoje has been restored to the England captaincy for Saturday’s Calcutta Cup clash against Scotland while Luke Cowan-Dickie starts at hooker with Steve Borthwick otherwise keeping faith with the side who thrashed Wales last week.Fin Smith replaces namesake Marcus in the No23 jersey but that, Itoje’s expected return to the starting lineup and the decision to utilise Jamie George’s experience from the bench, aside, Borthwick has challenged the majority of his players to repeat the trick at Murrayfield.Ollie Lawrence was on track to be fit for Saturday’s match but Borthwick is determined to persevere with Tommy Freeman at outside centre. Henry Arundell, who scored a hat-trick against Wales, can expect a barrage of high balls coming his way at Murrayfield but Borthwick has resisted the temptation to tinker, again selecting the Bath flyer on the left wing. Tom Roebuck, who was a late call-up to replace the injured Immanuel Feyi-Waboso against Wales, continues on the right

US figure skater Amber Glenn resolves Winter Olympics music dispute with Canadian artist

The US figure skater Amber Glenn said Tuesday that she has resolved copyright concerns with the Canadian recording artist Seb McKinnon after the musician expressed surprise that one of his songs appeared in her Olympic free skate program, closing a brief dispute that underscored the growing complexity of music rights in figure skating.McKinnon, who releases music under the name CLANN, posted on social media after Glenn performed to his track The Return during the Olympic team event, questioning whether the music had been cleared. He later congratulated Glenn on her team gold medal, and both sides have since described the episode as a misunderstanding rather than a conflict.“The issue of music rights can be complex and confusing, and it seems like there was a hiccup somewhere in that process,” Glenn said in a statement. “I’m glad we were able to clear things up and I’m excited about the possibility of collaborating with Seb moving forward

Winter Olympics officials find fix for broken medals and promise repairs

After days of embarrassing stories about Winter Olympic medals cracking, snapping, and even breaking in two after falling in the snow, organisers say they have finally fixed the problem.Officials have also promised to repair any of the medals that were awarded in the opening three days of competition in Milano Cortina, after identifying on Monday that the issue stemmed from the medal’s cord, which is fitted with a breakaway mechanism required by law.The system is designed to release automatically if pulled with force, preventing the wearer from being choked. However it led to problems that began on Saturday when the American downhill skiing champion Breezy Johnson revealed that her gold medal had fallen off her ribbon as she jumped in celebration.Speaking at the daily Milano Cortina briefing, spokesman Luca Cassasa said: “Following reports of issues affecting a small number of medals, the organising committee immediately reviewed the matter, working closely with the State Mint, which produced the medals

Ukrainian accuses IOC of ‘betrayal’ for banning helmet with images of dead athletes

The Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych has accused the International Olympic Committee of “betrayal” after it banned his racing helmet, which showed images of athletes and his friends that were killed following Russia’s invasion, from the Winter Olympics.On Tuesday, Ukraine launched an appeal against the decision, arguing that Heraskevych should be allowed to use his “helmet of memory’, showing the weightlifter Alina Peregudova, boxer Pavlo Ishchenko, ice hockey player Oleksiy Loginov at the Winter Olympics.However the appeal was quickly rejected by the IOC, which said it violated its rules regarding political expression under Rule 50.2 of its Olympic charter. But the IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said that they would make an exception by allowing Heraskevych to wear a black armband in competition

Jos Buttler insists ‘dressing room knows the truth’ about McCullum’s qualities

Brendon McCullum’s shades-on, feet-up, perpetually chilled persona as England coach, which has led to him being criticised for creating an unhealthily relaxed team culture, is carefully cultivated but entirely false, according to the former white-ball captain Jos Buttler. Buttler said that McCullum is actually “as sharp a coach as I’ve ever worked with”, and that “everyone in the dressing room knows the truth”.While McCullum has been sceptical about the overuse of data in cricket he has recently adopted the use of walkie-talkies to relay information from the team’s analysts to their support staff and on to the pitch during matches, and Buttler insisted he has always been more involved in the action than it appears.“That’s obviously the energy he wants to have, to allow guys to feel less pressure in a game that has a lot of pressure,” Buttler said. “So that image is important to him

The Breakdown | Test rugby coaches have a shelf life and Townsend must know he’s near the end

The witty Anglo-American author Ashleigh Brilliant passed away last September at the age of 91, but his best lines are timeless. Beleaguered sports coaches worldwide will all recognise one of his characteristically pithy observations: “I try to take one day at a time – but sometimes several days attack me at once.” To be responsible for an under-pressure national side must induce a similar feeling.So what do you do when coaching life starts serving you lemons? After a while there are only two options: try to ride it out, or accept it might be wiser for someone else to have a go. It can be a delicate judgment, often shaped by non-sporting considerations