England head coach Steve Borthwick hopes for swift disciplinary resolutions after Billy Vunipola joined Owen Farrell as a World Cup doubt following his dismissal in a damaging 29-10 defeat to Ireland.

Captain Farrell watched from the stands in Dublin as England slipped to a meek loss compounded by the second-half red card of Saracens team-mate Vunipola for ploughing into the head of Andrew Porter.

Influential fly-half Farrell was free to feature in the warm-up game but was ultimately left out following World Rugby’s appeal against the decision to overturn the red card he received in last weekend’s win over Wales.

With England’s World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9 fast approaching, Borthwick faces potentially being without two of his key men through suspension for the start of the tournament in France.

He was tight-lipped on Vunipola’s tackle, but is eager for matters to be concluded quickly on the back of the disruption already caused by the ongoing Farrell saga.

“I’m not going to comment upon the incident specifically because it goes into a disciplinary process this coming week,” said Borthwick.

“Probably as every England fan, I feel disappointment in the game today and I said beforehand we want 15 players on the pitch for 80 minutes of every game.

“You’re playing the number one ranked side in the world in their stadium and to go to 14 men it becomes a very difficult task at that point in time

“Hopefully we will find a conclusion on both matters this week and it won’t go into another week. Once I have all the facts, I will deal with them.

“We talked about the way this Test week was disrupted (by the Farrell situation) and I need to adapt throughout the week. It’s another challenge that’s been thrown at us.”

England offered little at the Aviva Stadium, even before falling a man down when Vunipola’s 53rd-minute sin-binning was upgraded to a red on review.

Tries from centres Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose gave Ireland control at the break, before scores from James Lowe, Mack Hansen and Keith Earls sealed a comprehensive victory.

Replacement prop Kyle Sinckler crossed for England, but it was scant consolation on a difficult evening when stuttering World Cup preparations were thrown into further disarray.

“Whilst I’m incredibly disappointed with the result, the players kept fighting,” said Borthwick.

“I thought the players that came off the bench added on the pitch.

“Just before half-time at 7-3, we missed some opportunities and turned over ball in the final third, so we weren’t able to put enough pressure on them.

“When it was 15 against 15 it was a tight battle, unfortunately it didn’t stay 15 on 15.”

Ireland retained their place at the top of the world rankings courtesy of a 12th successive win.

Earls stepped off the bench to mark his 100th cap in style with his 36th international try as the hosts overcame a disjointed opening period.

Head coach Andy Farrell said: “It had a bit of everything: good, bad and ugly.

“I wasn’t too happy at half-time. We had them in a place where we could push a little bit harder and make it a little bit easier for ourselves but we didn’t kick on.

“I was really pleased that we found or rhythm back into the game. I thought we scored some great tries.

“Obviously the story of the day is it’s very fitting that Keith gets his 100th cap and we made sure he does that with a W and also him scoring a try in Keith Earls style in the corner just made the day for everyone really.”

Hooker Dan Sheehan limped off shortly before half-time, with Farrell waiting to discover the extent of that issue.

“Dan’s lost a bit of power in his foot,” he said. “We won’t know until we get it scanned. We’ll probably know more in the morning.”

Gus Poyet has been impressed by the quality on display at this year's Women's World Cup and believes the tournament will inspire the next generation of women's football stars.

The expanded 32-team tournament in Australia and New Zealand has caught the imaginations of many, while a first-time winner is guaranteed ahead of Sunday's final between Spain and England.

Both host nations have posted record attendances for women's games, with Australia playing in front of three 75,784-strong crowds at Sydney's Stadium Australia and 43,217 watching Spain's semi-final victory over Sweden in Auckland.

The global competition has also been characterised by headline-making upsets, with Germany and Brazil suffering surprise group-stage exits as Morocco and Jamaica advanced at their expense. 

Speaking to Stats Perform ahead of the showpiece between Spain and England, former Chelsea and Tottenham midfielder Poyet hailed the tournament as a triumph.

"With respect to the other girls, when you see the best players playing, that's it," Poyet said. "That's football. 

"I think we need to be realistic and it is simple when you have a number of people playing football… men play football – I don't know how many – all over the world. 

"You can choose from those quantities, [there are] so many people to make so many clubs and so many competitions all over the world, that is why they keep going. Second division, third division… you go to England and it is National League, local leagues, Sunday League…

"But for the girls, they didn't play football that much in the last 40 years, quantity-wise. Then it is very difficult to find a way to make all these clubs play at the same level we are watching at the World Cup. 

"It is time, I think we need to give them time but the football that we saw, the goals we have seen, the ability of certain players, is nice to see. 

"We don't need to ask too much, too quickly. We need to take time, I think they need time and it is going to be part of life for everyone nowadays. 

"If you have a daughter, they will say that they want to play football and it will be natural. 

"When we were young it was different. There were a few [top players], but not the quantity that women's football needs. But it's nice to see that the quality is there."

Sarina Wiegman's Lionesses are looking to become just the second team – after Germany in 2003 and 2007 – to win the Women's World Cup as reigning European champions.

It will be the first meeting between England and Spain at the Women's World Cup, with the Lionesses losing just two of their previous 13 matches against La Roja across all competitions (W7 D4), including a 2-1 quarter-final win at last year's European Championships.

Katarina Johnson-Thompson refused to get carried away despite remaining in gold medal contention at the World Championships.

The 2019 world heptathlon champion sits second, 93 points adrift of leader Anna Hall, after the first day in Budapest.

She still faces a battle to return to the global podium with the United States’ Chari Hawkins just five points behind and team-mate Taliyah Brooks a further 13 points adrift.

But, after an Achilles rupture in 2020, Johnson-Thompson remains cautiously optimistic.

She said: “I’m just seeing what I can do. Who would have predicted today?

“Sport is so unpredictable and especially heptathlon. That’s why I don’t like trying to think about what’s going to happen in the future. I’m just trying to take each event as it comes.

“It’s really close behind me as well. All I need to do is just keep knocking on the door, stay in the flow and who knows what can happen?

“I just want a medal. I’m definitely in amongst it.”

A storm postponed the action by an hour in the morning and forced Johnson-Thompson to wait.

The 30-year-old ran 13.50 seconds in her 100 metres hurdles heat, before clearing 1.86m in the high jump.

It left her fourth overall with 2104 points – 41 adrift of leader Hall – before the evening session.

A best of 13.64m in the shot put dropped her to joint fifth before victory in her 200m heat in 23.48s boosted her medal hopes heading into the second day.

She added: “Today has been one of the most gruelling days of heptathlon I’ve ever experienced. We are all feeling it and we’re all talking to each other and asking, why are we so tired?

“I think it was the delay, waking up at six, warming up and then being told ‘no, stop.'”

Zharnel Hughes, the fastest man in the world this year, clocked 10 seconds in his 100m heat ahead of Sunday’s semi-finals and final.

Hughes, the British 100m and 200m record holder, won his race while Reece Prescod, who pulled out of the relay squad earlier this week, qualified in third in his heat.

Eugene Amo-Dadzie, an accountant who is due back to work once the Championships finish, was second in his heat on his Great Britain debut.

The 31-year-old has taken annual leave to compete in Budapest and returns to work as a senior management accountant for property developer Berkeley Group on August 29.

“I’m on the world stage. I say to people who don’t really know track and field ‘I’m at the World Cup of athletics’ and they’re like ‘OK’,” he said, after running 10.10s.

“For me, that’s incredible because this is beyond a dream. I didn’t grow up dreaming to do this but, by the grace of God, I found myself doing this.

“I’ve had a lot of support from all the different accountant bodies. They’re like ‘yo, you’re putting accountants on the map’. We’re not just these boring stiff squares sat at the office typing away.”

Great Britain captain Laura Muir, who has endured a disrupted year after splitting from long-term coach Andy Young in March, was second in her 1500m heat in the morning session.

She clocked four minutes 03.50 seconds behind the Netherlands’ Sifan Hassan.

Kenya’s defending champion Faith Kipyegon remains the overwhelming favourite and won her heat in 4:02.62.

Great Britain’s Katie Snowden and Melissa Courtney-Bryant also progressed to Sunday’s semi final.

Muir said: “Job done, I wanted to qualify with as little drama as possible.

“I was a little disappointed we weren’t in the rain. I would have been happy to crack on but I know there’s a lot of electrical equipment and technical equipment and the rain doesn’t suit everybody.

“It’s a fast track, I think it’ll be an exciting champs. As soon as I did a couple of strides it felt nice. There’s always a bit of scrapping and spiking but I felt comfortable.

“I saw Sifan go past and I was expecting that but I was scared she would go and everyone would come. I kept looking up and saw there was a gap.”

In the men’s 1500m Josh Kerr, who won Olympic bronze in Tokyo, Neil Gourley and Elliot Giles all reached Sunday’s semis, with last year’s world champion Jake Wightman out with injury.

Jazmin Sawyers, the European indoor champion, finished 22nd in qualifying to miss out on the long jump final with a best of just 6.41m.

Warren Gatland said Wales’ record defeat to South Africa in Cardiff had made his World Cup selection task easier.

Gatland names his 33-man World Cup squad on Monday on the back of a chastening 52-16 thumping to the Springboks.

After two warm-up games against England, in which Wales won once and lost once and generally saw the reputation of their young team enhanced, Gatland’s side were dismantled by opponents boasting 659 Test caps to their 235.

South Africa’s victory – the first time Wales have conceded 50 points under Gatland – comfortably eclipsed their previous biggest win in Cardiff – a 34-12 in 2007.

Asked if the game had answered a lot of questions on his World Cup selection before next month’s tournament in France, head coach Gatland said: “I think so. We’ll go back to the hotel, sit down as coaches and hopefully finalise it.

“If we need to have more discussion hopefully we can do that on Sunday. Possibly some of those questions that we’ve got would have made it a little bit easier for our discussions.

“It was disappointing. I thought we were dominated physically on both sides of the ball.

“We’d spoken to the players about the physicality they’d bring and playing against the world champions. They’d just come out of a Rugby Championship.

“The only positive I can take is hopefully there’s a lot of learning that some of those players will have got from it.”

Experienced trio Alex Cuthbert Dan Biggar and Liam Williams all dropped out of the original team with minor injuries.

Wales have more pressing concerns on the injury front with hookers Dewi Lake and Ryan Elias, second row forward Dafydd Jenkins and back-rower Taine Plumtree all picking up knocks during the August matches.

Gatland also has to make calls on number eight Taulupe Faletau and outside-half Gareth Anscombe, who did not feature in the three games.

On Faletau and Anscombe, Gatland said: “I think they are in contention because of their experience.

“If they were a young player it would be very, very difficult to select them, but given their vast amount of experience they will definitely be part of those discussions.

“Part of the thing we wanted to do was everyone take part in training this week to build confidence.

“When you have a defeat like that, it’s about how do you look at the positives when you are reviewing it as a group.

“There’s some easy fixes in terms of probably four or five of those tries are easy enough to stop and then all of a sudden there’s a different complexion on the game.”

Gatland was critical of the 34th-minute yellow card given to Rio Dyer when Wales trailed 12-9.

Dyer batted a loose ball away from Canan Moodie as he closed in on a try, but replays appeared to show that it had hit the hand of the Springboks wing first. A penalty try was awarded and South Africa scored 12 points with the wing off the field.

“I thought Rio Dyer was really unlucky to have a yellow card and a penalty try because the angles we’ve looked at we are 100 per cent certain it’s touched the green player,” said Gatland.

“For me that’s a pretty tough call and we’ve conceded straight away from the kick-off. It was an important moment in terms of the way the game went.”

South Africa find themselves in arguably the toughest World Cup pool with Ireland, Scotland and Tonga for company.

The Springboks start the defence of the trophy they won in Japan four years ago against Scotland in Marseille on September 10.

“We have to get better in France,” said South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber after his side’s eight-try show in Cardiff.

“We are on the side of the draw that is knock-out from game one. Just to get out of pool we have to be on form.”

Ange Postecoglou oversaw a thrilling first win as Tottenham manager as Pape Sarr’s strike and a Lisandro Martinez own goal settled a pulsating Premier League clash with Manchester United.

Even by Spurs’ standards this has been a chastening year, with their struggles in the second half of last season compounded by homegrown star Harry Kane’s recent switch to Bayern Munich.

But former Celtic boss Postecoglou has brought new hope to Tottenham and his entertaining, new-look side sealed a fine 2-0 win thanks to Sarr’s effort and a late Martinez own goal.

Erik ten Hag’s men – playing under the cloud of continued talk about Mason Greenwood’s future – began on the front foot in north London and could have gone into the break ahead.

United were aggrieved not to have been awarded a penalty after the VAR reviewed a Cristian Romero handball in a half that saw Marcus Rashford and, in particular, Bruno Fernandes waste good chances.

Those let-offs allowed Spurs to grow into proceedings, with Pedro Porro smashing an effort off the bar before Luke Shaw deflected a Sarr cross onto the post just before the break.

Spurs returned with the bit between their teeth and took a 49th minute lead as Sarr reacted quickest to a deflected Dejan Kulusevski cross to score his first goal for the club.

Antony struck the post as the sides traded blows in a thrill-a-minute start to a second period that eventually calmed down, with Martinez’s late own goal wrapping up a home win.

The atmosphere was fantastic throughout as Spurs beat United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time, with Postecoglou receiving a fantastic reception before and after the match.

The home fans – a number of whom had protested about ticket prices before the match – had to hold on tight during a bright United start.

After some half-hearted chances, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario spread himself to stop Rashford giving United into a 13th minute lead having been slipped in by Antony.

Andre Onana’s stunning diagonal pass to Alejandro Garnacho deserved more than a driven cross being blocked, with an audacious Fernandes rabona cross headed over from close range by offside Rashford.

There was anger that the VAR did not intervene after Garnacho’s shot hit Romero’s arm, with the proximity of the effort understood to be behind the decision not to award a spot-kick for handball.

Another let-off soon followed. Smart play ended with Luke Shaw’s cracking first-time cross putting Fernandes behind, only for the unopposed skipper to head well off target from six yards.

But Spurs had grown into proceedings by this point. Sarr was denied by Onana after being played through by skipper Son Heung-min and went closer still in the 40th minute.

Son laid off for Porro to slam a thunderous shot off the crossbar and Sarr’s low ball back into the box deflected off Shaw and onto the post.

Spurs had clearly settled into a more cohesive attacking unit and needed just four minutes of the second period to take the lead.

Good team play ended with Kulusevski sending in a cross from the right that hit Martinez, with Sarr reacting quickest to slam home at the far post and spark wild celebrations.

The opener added extra spice to an already entertaining encounter.

Antony was allowed onto his favoured left foot just two minutes later and beat Vicario, only for his attempt to come back off the far post.

Spurs immediately swept up the other end. Onana stopped a low Destiny Udogie attempt and penalty appeals for Martinez’s challenge on Romero fell on deaf ears.

Vicario reacted well to tip over a Casemiro header and Fernandes saw a low shot pushed wide before the offside flag was raised.

Yves Bissouma had efforts either side of a blocked Son attempt, before changes took the sting out of the game.

Ivan Perisic and Ben Davies were among Spurs’ introductions, with the latter swinging at the former’s pass and getting the slightest touch before Martinez accidentally turned the ball into his own net in the 83rd minute.

United pushed to reduce the deficit but their play was stilted and frustrated, with an offside Raphael Varane denied by Vicario during nine scoreless minutes of stoppage time.

Ange Postecoglou oversaw a thrilling first win as Tottenham manager as Pape Sarr’s strike and a Lisandro Martinez own goal settled a pulsating Premier League clash with Manchester United.

Even by Spurs’ standards this has been a chastening year, with their struggles in the second half of last season compounded by homegrown star Harry Kane’s recent switch to Bayern Munich.

But former Celtic boss Postecoglou has brought new hope to Tottenham and his entertaining, new-look side sealed a fine 2-0 win thanks to Sarr’s effort and a late Martinez own goal.

Erik ten Hag’s men – playing under the cloud of continued talk about Mason Greenwood’s future – began on the front foot in north London and could have gone into the break ahead.

United were aggrieved not to have been awarded a penalty after the VAR reviewed a Cristian Romero handball in a half that saw Marcus Rashford and, in particular, Bruno Fernandes waste good chances.

Those let-offs allowed Spurs to grow into proceedings, with Pedro Porro smashing an effort off the bar before Luke Shaw deflected a Sarr cross onto the post just before the break.

Spurs returned with the bit between their teeth and took a 49th minute lead as Sarr reacted quickest to a deflected Dejan Kulusevski cross to score his first goal for the club.

Antony struck the post as the sides traded blows in a thrill-a-minute start to a second period that eventually calmed down, with Martinez’s late own goal wrapping up a home win.

The atmosphere was fantastic throughout as Spurs beat United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time, with Postecoglou receiving a fantastic reception before and after the match.

The home fans – a number of whom had protested about ticket prices before the match – had to hold on tight during a bright United start.

After some half-hearted chances, goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario spread himself to stop Rashford giving United into a 13th minute lead having been slipped in by Antony.

Andre Onana’s stunning diagonal pass to Alejandro Garnacho deserved more than a driven cross being blocked, with an audacious Fernandes rabona cross headed over from close range by offside Rashford.

There was anger that the VAR did not intervene after Garnacho’s shot hit Romero’s arm, with the proximity of the effort understood to be behind the decision not to award a spot-kick for handball.

Another let-off soon followed. Smart play ended with Luke Shaw’s cracking first-time cross putting Fernandes behind, only for the unopposed skipper to head well off target from six yards.

But Spurs had grown into proceedings by this point. Sarr was denied by Onana after being played through by skipper Son Heung-min and went closer still in the 40th minute.

Son laid off for Porro to slam a thunderous shot off the crossbar and Sarr’s low ball back into the box deflected off Shaw and onto the post.

Spurs had clearly settled into a more cohesive attacking unit and needed just four minutes of the second period to take the lead.

Good team play ended with Kulusevski sending in a cross from the right that hit Martinez, with Sarr reacting quickest to slam home at the far post and spark wild celebrations.

The opener added extra spice to an already entertaining encounter.

Antony was allowed onto his favoured left foot just two minutes later and beat Vicario, only for his attempt to come back off the far post.

Spurs immediately swept up the other end. Onana stopped a low Destiny Udogie attempt and penalty appeals for Martinez’s challenge on Romero fell on deaf ears.

Vicario reacted well to tip over a Casemiro header and Fernandes saw a low shot pushed wide before the offside flag was raised.

Yves Bissouma had efforts either side of a blocked Son attempt, before changes took the sting out of the game.

Ivan Perisic and Ben Davies were among Spurs’ introductions, with the latter swinging at the former’s pass and getting the slightest touch before Martinez accidentally turned the ball into his own net in the 83rd minute.

United pushed to reduce the deficit but their play was stilted and frustrated, with an offside Raphael Varane denied by Vicario during nine scoreless minutes of stoppage time.

Billy Vunipola was sent off as England’s stuttering World Cup preparations were thrown into further disarray by a costly 29-10 defeat to Ireland amid Owen Farrell’s ongoing disciplinary saga.

The number eight is likely to miss the start of the tournament in France after his 53rd-minute yellow card for making contact with the head of Andrew Porter was upgraded to red.

Steve Borthwick’s men were comfortably dispatched in a disjointed Dublin affair, which influential captain Farrell sat out following the fallout of his dismissal against Wales last weekend.

Vunipola’s premature departure compounded a meek display and he will now join Saracens team-mate Farrell in facing a disciplinary panel with England’s World Cup opener against Argentina on September 9 fast approaching.

Keith Earls marked his 100th cap by claiming the fifth of Ireland’s tries, adding to scores from Bundee Aki, Garry Ringrose, James Lowe and Mack Hansen, as the hosts retained their place at the top of the world rankings courtesy of a 12th successive win.

Andy Farrell’s dominant side were far from their free-flowing best but still had too much for their depleted rivals, although the first-half departure of hooker Dan Sheehan is a concern.

Replacement prop Kyle Sinckler claimed a late try shortly before Earls stylishly celebrated his milestone appearance but it was little consolation for the visitors.

England crossed the Irish Sea seeking the greatest win of the Borthwick era so far to ignite their World Cup build-up but they were in unconvincing form especially with the situation surrounding skipper Farrell dominating headlines.

Replacement fly-half Ford slotted an early penalty before the away team were swiftly put on the back foot as a superb break from Peter O’Mahony allowed Aki to charge beyond Ben Youngs and touch down under the posts, leaving Ross Byrne with a simple conversion.

While England have endured a tumultuous time since finishing runners-up at the 2019 World Cup in Japan, Six Nations champions Ireland have enjoyed an impressive period of progression masterminded by head coach Farrell.

The Englishman fielded the bulk of his star names for the first time since clinching the Grand Slam against Borthwick’s men in March, which perhaps explained frustrating levels of rustiness in a fragmented opening period littered with stoppages.

Ford missed the chance to reduce England’s deficit with a second penalty before Ireland’s Sheehan hobbled off due to an apparent injury.

There looked like being no further inroads on the scoreboard before the break until Hansen’s clever cross-field kick exposed the opposition’s defence, with Ringrose inadvertently propelled over the try-line by a combination of Elliot Daly and Freddie Steward.

England, who are expected to learn the fate of Farrell in midweek, offered very little from an attacking perspective in a fairly forgettable first half which they ended 12-3 behind.

Their evening quickly took a turn for the worse when Vunipola ploughed into Porter.

Referee Paul Williams initially deemed the sin-bin to be sufficient punishment but the England back-rower, whose trudge from the field coincided with Farrell flashing up the big screen to a chorus of boos, would not return.

Ireland wasted little time in capitalising on their numerical advantage as Lowe was afforded yards of space to catch Byrne’s pass and cross wide on the left, before Hansen added to their misery by diving over on the other flank.

England’s attempts to avoid a drubbing were helped by Sinckler bulldozing over.

But they were powerless to prevent Ireland registering a fourth consecutive win in this fixture, with veteran wing Earls raising the roof thanks to a spectacular diving finish on his landmark outing.

New Orleans Saints veteran tight end Jimmy Graham was arrested Friday night in California following a medical episode that caused him to become disoriented, the team said in a statement on Saturday.

According to reports, police stopped Graham after he was wandering in traffic. He was booked on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance and taken to a hospital, where he was met by Saints team doctor John Amoss.

Graham, 36, spent the night at the hospital for testing, with Amoss believing he likely suffered a seizure. He was discharged Saturday and is back with the Saints as they prepare to visit the Los Angeles Chargers in a preseason game on Sunday.

Graham is in his second stint with New Orleans after signing a one-year contract on July 25.

The Saints selected Graham in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft and he spent his first five seasons with New Orleans, going to the Pro Bowl three times.

He was traded to Seattle in March 2015 and went on to earn two more Pro Bowl selections in three seasons with the Seahawks before playing two years each with the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears.

Graham did not play in the NFL last season, telling his agent “that if I don’t retire as a Saint that I wasn’t going to play again.”

Graham is now happy to be back with New Orleans, and he enters the 2023 season fourth all-time among NFL tight ends in touchdown catches (85), seventh in receptions (713) and eighth in receiving yards (8,506).

“I’m feeling better than ever. I’m still 6-(foot)-7 and I like the red zone,” Graham said. “I definitely came into this with a chip on my shoulder and with something to prove.”