Australia show flashes of greatness, but costly collapses threaten the idea of a revival. They need to find their rhythm

Is it better to be a consistently good team or an occasionally brilliant one? We’ll find out by the end of Australia’s European tour. But now, after a 26–19 loss to Italy in Udine – their second defeat in as many matches on this crucial trip – the answer seems obvious. Because despite the Wallabies’ flashes of brilliance throughout the Joe Schmidt era, their inability to deliver steadily could yet prove costly.

At present, the Wallabies are ranked seventh on World Rugby’s charts. If that doesn’t change, the hosts of the 2027 World Cup will be drawn alongside one of the top six teams in the group phase. Even if they progress, Australia would likely face another stiff challenge at the first knockout stage. That’s not the kind of jeopardy a rugby nation of this pedigree should be flirting with.

• France 17-32 South Africa

• World champions score four tries in bruising victory

World champions South Africa recovered from 14-6 down and the sending-off of the powerhouse lock Lood de Jager to overpower France 32-17 in a bruising Autumn international on Saturday.

France cracked completely under pressure as their discipline disintegrated, throwing away an early lead despite the Springboks being reduced to 14 men on the stroke of half-time.

Relegation beckons when all it takes to undo 51 minutes of hard graft is a full-back without a goal in 165 games for club and country popping up to break the deadlock. This is the reality for Wolves now. They are in a miserable state, so much so that it is hard to see why Rob Edwards is prepared to leave Middlesbrough to take the vacancy at Molineux, and they looked utterly bereft of fight as Chelsea handed them their ninth defeat of the season.

It turned into a rout once Malo Gusto had set Chelsea on the path to victory by scoring the first senior goal of his career. Further strikes from Pedro Neto and João Pedro added a more realistic look to the scoreline. Chelsea, who are up to second, were dominant. They took a while to get going but sprinted away once Gusto had settled their nerves.

Security operations came as Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in Washington to meet Donald Trump

Syria has carried out nationwide preemptive operations targeting Islamic State cells, a spokesperson for the interior ministry said on Saturday, as the country’s president arrived in the US for talks with Donald Trump.

Syrian security forces carried out 61 raids, with 71 people arrested and explosives and weapons seized, the spokesperson told state-run Al Ekhbariya TV.

⚽ Premier League updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Edwards in talks with Wolves | Mail Barry

Not long now: After that cracking match between Sunderland and Arsenal, Chelsea and Wolves have a hard act to follow to justify their top billing on today’s Premier League bill. The teams are out on the Stamford Bridge pitch and kick-off is just a few minutes away.

Full time: Sunderland 2-2 Arsenal Sunderland continue to put the Black Cats among the Premier League pigeons by taking a thoroughly deserved point from their home match against Arsenal, who now lead the table by seven points from Manchester City and tonight’s hosts. City have a game in hand, host Liverpool tomorrow and will reduce the deficit to four if they can beat the reigning champions.

Police say vehicle was involved in street racing before driver fled from authorities and then crashed into Ybor City bar

A speeding car fleeing police slammed into a crowded bar early on Saturday, killing four people and injuring 11 in a historic district of Tampa, Florida, known for its nightlife and tourists.

An air patrol unit with the Tampa police department spotted the car driving recklessly on a freeway at about 12.40am after police said the silver sedan had been seen street racing in another neighborhood, according to a police department statement.

MP asks for explanation from Southern Water amid concerns the spill could have dire impact on rare sea life

Southern Water is investigating after millions of contaminated plastic beads washed up on Camber Sands beach, risking an “environmental catastrophe”.

The biobeads could have a dire impact on marine life, the local MP has said, with fears rare sea life, including seabirds, porpoises and seals, could ingest them and die.

• Italy 26-19 Australia

• Wallaby legend Michael Lynagh’s son inspires famous win

Italy upset Australia with a come-from-behind 26-19 victory on Saturday with the son of a Wallaby great, Louis Lynagh, scoring one try and Australian-born winger Monty Ioane the other to snatch a famous win for the hosts.

Lynagh, born in Italy when his father, Michael, played for Treviso, and Melbourne-born Ioane proved Italy’s heroes as they won for only the second time in 20 tests against the Wallabies.

• England 38-18 Fiji

• Visitors narrowly denied half-time lead

Another win for England, their ninth in succession, but comfortable was definitely not the word for it. Only in the final quarter did the home side pull away on the scoreboard and, for lengthy periods, they had to work extremely hard for their second victory in as many weeks. They will definitely need to find another gear to see off next Saturday’s opponents New Zealand.

Equally there is no doubting the fact England are finishing games more strongly and have some rare talent lurking in reserve. This time it was their birthday boy, Henry Arundell, who shone brightest off the bench, scoring one scorching try and looking dangerous every time he touched the ball on his first appearance for England for two years.

Maybe it should not have come as such a surprise that the team that was able to slow Arsenal’s title charge would be led by Granit Xhaka, their former captain. The substitute Brian Brobbey scored an injury-time equaliser after second-half goals from Bukayo Saka and Leandro Trossard had put the visitors in the lead following a first-half goal from the Sunderland captain, Dan Ballard.

It was a rocky night for the Premier League leaders, but Arsenal have a seven-point advantage over Manchester City – who are at home to Liverpool on Sunday – and Sunderland, though Chelsea cut the lead to six by beating Wolves in Saturday’s later game.

• Oscar Piastri fourth as teammate Lando Norris excels

• Verstappen’s title hopes hit as he is 16th and out in Q1

Lando Norris is finding his form with almost perfect timing, demonstrating confidence, touch and precision when it really mattered in claiming pole position for the São Paulo Grand Prix. The Briton is looking increasingly like the man who would be king as his championship ambitions were backed with a statement of intent, having already secured victory in the sprint race.

His success was given added impetus as both his title rivals, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen, suffered disappointment in Brazil. Piastri’s championship hopes took yet another blow as he crashed out of the sprint and qualified only in fourth, while Verstappen could manage only 16th on the grid.

From Port Arthur to Hoddle Street, Paul E Mullen has had a front-row seat to the men behind some of the worst public massacres. He says it’s possible to ‘disrupt the script’ for future violence

Dr Paul E Mullen and his family were living near Dunedin, New Zealand when, one evening in November 1990, they heard gunfire. The shots continued into the night, followed by the distant sound of police and ambulances. At 9pm, a hospital colleague told him that a few kilometres away, in Aramoana, someone with a gun had started shooting.

As it turned out, Mullen had heard of the perpetrator before; one of his long-term patients was the man’s nextdoor neighbour, and soon Mullen would learn that many other people he knew had been injured or killed.

Sign up for a weekly email featuring our best reads

Lynne Besant met Paul as a teenager. After 40 years apart, she discovered she still had feelings for him

• Find more stories from the moment I knew series

In the mid-60s, my family followed my father’s work to a caravan park in Gladstone, central Queensland. He worked in construction and the sprawling transient accommodation for the hundreds of families who’d relocated to build an aluminium plant became our home. I was going on 16 and sulking about having to change schools, again. Then I met Paul.

Back in those days people made their own fun. We often had huge parties at the caravan park, and Paul, an apprentice electrician, would volunteer to rig up the lighting.

• Former Wimbledon champion wins 6-3, 7-6 (0)

• Unbeaten Rybakina takes home £3.98m

Elena Rybakina re-established herself as one of the significant players in women’s tennis as she closed out a week of devastating performances against the best in the world by completely overpowering Aryna Sabalenka to capture one of the biggest titles of her career at the WTA Finals in Riyadh with a 6-3, 7-6 (0) win.

Having finished the season-ending tournament unbeaten in her five matches, Rybakina is now $5.235m (£3.98m) richer, earning the greatest prize money haul in the history of women’s sports. The victory marks the 26-year-old’s fourth big title after wins at Wimbledon in 2022, and Indian Wells and the Italian Open a year later. This is her third title of the season and her 11th title on the WTA Tour overall.

• Updates from the 5.40pm GMT start at Twickenham

• Sign up for The Breakdown newsletter | Email Lee

6 mins. Fiji exit with little fuss, but Muntz’s kick to touch simply invites another attack from and English lineout. A nice pattern is run in midfield that nearly puts Freeman into space, and a few phases later Cowan-Dickie powers over from short.

Smith converts.

• Game-by-game updates from the final in Riyadh

• Sign up for The Recap newsletter | Email Taha

Sabalenka 2-3 Rybakina* (* denotes server): At 15-30, Sabalenka has an opening. Rybakina advances to the net and is so very nearly beaten by a backhand pass … but she gets the ball to drop and level up at 30-all. A whippy forehand moves Sabalenka to break point. She can’t convert before Rybakina delivers a second-serve ace, surprising her opponent with the wide hit. Then comes another delicious serve.

*Sabalenka 2-2 Rybakina (* denotes server): Rybakina’s forehand return goes wild as Sabalenka holds to love.

⚽ Premier League updates from the 5.30pm GMT kick-off
⚽ Live scores | Edwards in talks with Wolves | Mail Scott

Sunderland get the ball rolling. What an atmosphere!

… but before kick-off, there’s a moment of silence in honour and respect of the fallen. A wreath of poppies laid by the centre circle. Immaculately observed. Pin-drop perfect. Then the Last Post. And finally a Roker-style roar of gratitude to break the silence. Here we go, then.

Special report: Uniserve was paid £1.4bn for Covid contracts that included supply of £178.5m in never-used equipment

When Mrs Justice Cockerill handed down her judgment in the high court against PPE Medpro, the company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone, for supplying unsafe personal protective equipment during the pandemic, her findings were a landmark in a five-year saga that cast the opaque world of government deal making into stark light.

PPE Medpro was ordered to refund the full £122m that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) paid for unusable gowns in the summer of 2020, as Boris Johnson’s government scrambled to refill the UK’s depleted stocks.

Despair and rancour stalks the concrete corridors of the place that still feels nothing like home for West Ham. Though hope is not yet extinguished. A second home win in succession for Nuno Espírito Santo’s team, the key goal scored by old faithful Tomas Soucek. The defeat of a fellow relegation contender in Burnley may prove vital in the fight against the London Stadium staging Championship football next season. When Soucek’s shot was spilled into Kyle Walker-Peters path for the Hammers’ third, home fans were singing lustily for their team.

They already made it known once again, and in no uncertain terms, what they think of the executives running the club. Following a protest against Crystal Palace, boycotting of the Brentford game, a sit-in against Newcastle, unhappy supporters staged a march. A banner declared “15 years of denying West Ham United”. The service road that surrounds the stadium was filled with thousands of protestors, the entrance for club directors’ luxury cars was blocked off. Black balloons floated, a coffin was carried on shoulders as fans sang West Ham had “sold our soul” by moving to the former Olympic stadium.

• Scotland 17-25 New Zealand

• All Blacks squander 17-point lead before late try

A 33rd attempt, a 31st defeat and crucially still no win for Scotland against the All Blacks. And so the search will go on. Let us not resort to that familiar lament, if Scotland could not win it here, will they ever. It is true, they had as gilt-edged a chance as they ever had, New Zealand forced to play a total of half an hour a man down, having been shown three yellow cards. It is true, Scotland showed remarkable spirit to recover from 17-0 down at the break to level on the hour. But the All Blacks remain deadly, deadlier than Scotland.

This Scotland team is deadly too, but it is a question of deadliness when it matters. That is where they continue to come up short. New Zealand wrote the manual – and did that a long time ago.

The onus is not only on Everton’s goal-shy strikers to turn promising play into points, David Moyes had insisted before Fulham’s visit. “I want more goals from my centre-halves and midfielders as well,” the Everton manager said. Idrissa Gueye and Michael Keane duly obliged to deliver a deserved victory over Marco Silva’s toothless side.

Everton’s second win in nine matches was relatively comfortable as Fulham demonstrated why their leading scorer this season is opposition own goals. A brief flurry in the second half aside, the visitors were subdued throughout by Everton’s greater urgency and quality. Moyes’ team had three goals disallowed for offside too, but a poacher’s finish from Gueye in first-half stoppage time and Keane’s late conversion ensured there would be no reprieve for the former Everton manager.

• Trump wants name on Commanders home, per ESPN

• White House source says move ‘will probably happen’

• $3.7bn, 65,000-seat stadium expected to open in 2030

Donald Trump is pressing the NFL’s Washington Commanders to name their planned $3.7bn stadium after him, a bid he is pursuing through back-channel conversations with ownership and by leaning on the government bodies that must approve the project, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

A senior White House official said Trump has conveyed his wishes directly to a member of Josh Harris’s ownership group. “It’s what the president wants, and it will probably happen,” the official told ESPN. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt added in an email: “That would be a beautiful name, as it was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible.”

• Danilho Doekhi puts Union Berlin ahead twice in 2-2 draw

• Juventus held goalless by Turin in Serie A derby

Harry Kane headed in a stoppage-time equaliser to prevent a first defeat of the season for Bayern Munich but their 2-2 draw at Union Berlin ended their record winning start across all competitions.

Union thought they had won it with Danilho Doekhi’s second goal in the 83rd minute but Kane headed in the leveller. Bayern top the Bundesliga on 28 points and in fact extended their lead to six, as RB Leipzig lost 3-1 at Hoffenheim.

This story will be updated

TikTok video shows woman speaking into camera and reacting to a loud thud before she says ‘I just hit somebody’

Authorities are investigating a newly surfaced video that suggests a woman who hit and killed a man while driving in the Chicago suburb of Zion, Illinois, on Monday night was livestreaming on TikTok at the time of the crash.

The video in question was reportedly taken by a user in Zion, and it shows a woman behind the wheel of a car reacting to a loud thud by saying, “Fuck, fuck, fuck … I just hit somebody.”