Brains before brawn in modern rugby | Letters

Rugby is clearly in crisis as it attempts to address the escalation of concussion and its consequences in the modern game (World Rugby’s brain health service finds 25% of ex-players ‘at risk’ of problems, 30 April). Unfortunately the crisis will continue unless the regulatory authorities understand, accept and address the brain’s vulnerability to repetitive brain trauma. The human brain is an extremely fragile organ, having the consistency of soft butter, while it functions as a superb supercomputer. It is resilient to a few injuries but when these occur regularly in the fierce modern game over several years, this may lead to cognitive deterioration and dementia.The maintenance of a healthy brain must become a public health priority at every level, while every player at risk should receive regular cognitive assessment

Raducanu moulds clay to her will in straight-sets victory over Teichmann

It was during her days of ­preparation for the Italian Open that Emma Raducanu decided her approach to clay-court tennis needed to change. Instead of making ­significant ­adjustments to her game to try and suit the surface, she would make the clay adhere to her own vision. She resolved to take the ­initiative and dominate her opponents from the front foot.To her credit, she has effectively backed up those intentions in the heat of battle. Raducanu continued to build confidence and ­momentum in Rome as she produced one of her cleanest performances of the ­season to reach the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over the Swiss lucky loser Jil Teichmann

Competitive Itoje willing to learn from Mount Rushmore of Lions captains

Do you know what really stuck out as Maro Itoje sat chatting in the O2 Arena after the British & Irish Lions squad announcement? His biceps. This year’s Lions jersey is tight enough on the shoulders and sufficiently short on the arms to make their already well-muscled captain look like Popeye on steroids. Say what you like about the Lions squad but they have chosen a strong leader.It has worked for them in the past. Who can forget the pipe‑smoking Willie John McBride and his classic response – “Do you think there will be many of them?” – when an angry hotel manager in South Africa threatened to call the police to arrest a number of 1974 Lions who had been enthusiastically “rearranging” the furniture

Your Guardian Sport weekend: WSL finale, Lions stars on show and El Clásico

Join Rob Smyth setting up all Saturday’s action, with latest news and buildup from around the grounds. Before Everton travel to Fulham, our Merseyside football correspondent Andy Hunter considers the Everton players out of contract at the end of the season. Our WSL expert Suzanne Wrack will be on hand to guide you through all that’s at stake in Saturday’s final round – email her your questions at matchday.live@theguardian.com

The IPL is a good barometer in India: its suspension shows us how serious this is

It’s not often that two sets of people find themselves in the same situation on either side of one of the world’s most fractious borders.When Friday dawned, amid swirling rumours of missiles wrecking neighbourhoods and falsehoods about pilots being captured, cricketers in India and Pakistan sensed that something was about to give.The Pakistan Super League acted first, telling all its players, coaches and officials to stay in their hotel rooms, bags packed at the ready. At some point in the day the call would come, they were told, and they should be ready to head to the airport and fly to the United Arab Emirates where the last eight games of that tournament could be held.In India, the first signs of just how precarious the situation had become emerged the previous evening when a match between the Delhi Capitals and the Punjab Kings was interrupted after 10

Horse racing: East India Dock flies home for Chester Cup glory, plus a Saturday preview

With just 10 runners in total lining up for the two Classic trials at Lingfield on Saturday, the Victoria Cup at Ascot is certainly to attract to the lion’s share of the day’s betting turnover and Gleneagle Bay (2.40) is an interesting runner for Stephen Thorne’s County Dublin stable with Hollie Doyle booked to ride.Gleneagle Bay is lightly raced for a five-year-old, with just six starts in the book thus far, but has already been touched off in two valuable big-field handicaps in Ireland and made a very promising return to action at the Curragh in March. He travelled well until a furlong out before lack of a recent run started to tell, and the drop back to a stiff seven furlongs with Doyle doing the steering could be ideal.Lingfield 1