Cokanasiga on song to help Bath past Bristol in bruising West Country derby

Bath do not lose often these days, never mind on successive league weekends. And with an injury-hit Bristol supposedly cast in the role of punchbags this fixture was widely viewed as a home banker. Sure enough the defending champions eventually pulled away but only at the final whistle could this feisty, incident-packed West Country derby be classed as wholly comfortable.It was fractious and visceral enough at times to make next Saturday’s England game against Australia look like a quiet suburban church fete. The England management will be suitably relieved that Ellis Genge, Ollie Lawrence, Guy Pepper and others walked away largely intact but they will all report back to Bagshot feeling distinctly battered and bruised

Tyrone Green doubles up as rampant Harlequins soar above Newcastle

Beaten to nil last weekend in embarrassing fashion, Harlequins, it should come as no real surprise, ran in tries from all quarters on Saturday. They will be annoyed that they failed to do the nilling here, but two late scores by Newcastle spoiled their afternoon somewhat, even if the Red Bulls, as they now call themselves, were little more than party to an exhibition by that stage.Nothing if not inconsistent, Quins were as deadly this week as they were listless last. They scored eight tries in all, including a brace for Tyrone Green on his 100th appearance. The bonus point was secured within half an hour, the fifth try on the stroke of half-time, and just past the hour the score read 52-0

Ruthless Australia sweep England aside in one-sided Ashes Test at Wembley

The pre-match talk from an England perspective going into this first Ashes series for 22 years focused on how the hosts were not short on motivation. However, you can have all the motivation in the world but in the end, in the pressure cooker that is international rugby league, there is simply no substitute for class.How the hosts were taught that in a brutal lesson to leave Wembley feeling flat, and this series feeling as though it is heading only one way. The suggestion had been that England’s best chance was to catch the Australians cold in game one, with it almost certain they will improve over the next fortnight.England can take heart from the fact that for the opening half-hour, they went toe to toe with the Kangaroos and matched them in most areas, but not the one that really mattered

England 6-26 Australia: rugby league Ashes first Test – as it happened

That’s it from the Wembley. The team move north for the second test at Everton’s stadium next sunday. Thanks for your company.There is a lot of mealy-mouthed talk of small margins among pundits on the BBC, which is nonsense. England were very poor and a long way short of the Kangaroos from 20 minutes onwards, because at this level being ten percent worse is a million miles margin

Australia beat South Africa by seven wickets after King’s seven-for: Women’s Cricket World Cup – as it happened

Tahlia McGrath’s verdictThat was good fun! How good was Kingy? It was pretty awesome – it felt like she’d take a wicket every ball. Super happy for her.It’s awesome to get the job done and walk away with a bit of momentum going into the semi-finals.Laura Wolvaardt’s reactionDefinitely not the way we wanted to end the group stages. Kingy bowled excellently – we spoke a lot about facing her and it didn’t quite go to plan

Rejuvenated Joe Root all revved up to end Ashes century drought in Australia

Joe Root has declared himself ready to thrive in this winter’s Ashes, having changed his approach to focus more on getting himself in the ideal frame of mind rather than fixating on his technique.Root goes into the one-day international series against New Zealand having not played since early September, since when his only batting has come in the indoor nets in Sheffield. “It’s been nice to have a break,” Root said.“With what we’ve got coming up, it’s important to utilise that. I’ve done a little bit of batting, not loads