Ben Stokes incident sparks row between Saracens and ECB over 19st rugby player | Wales Online
Need to know
The two governing bodies are reportedly not pleased with each other as all parties have been cleared of any wrongdoing
Totoa Auvaa of Saracens is under investigation, while Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson have been axed by England(Image: Getty Images)
All you need to know as no action is taken following a nightclub incident between a Saracens player and two England cricketers
No action will be taken against Saracens forward Totoa Auvaa after he was involved in a nightclub incident with England cricket captain Ben Stokes and bowler Gus Atkinson. Earlier this month, all three were involved in an incident at Chelsea nightclub Rex Rooms – with the fall-out having been far-reaching.
It is understood a confrontation broke out between the trio and a member of England’s security team hours after England’s first Test victory over New Zealand. An England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) security guard was reportedly left bloodied after an initial punch was aimed at Atkinson by Auvaa, sparking a melee. The security guard reportedly required stitches.
Reportedly, the dispute began over confusion about a reserved VIP seating area in the Rex Rooms nightclub in Chelsea. Auvaa, who is 6ft 5in and weighs more than 19st, reportedly believed the table was reserved for England No. 8 Ben Earl, when it was in fact reserved for Stokes. Earlier in the night, England cricketers had been mixing with Saracens players at the White Horse pub in Parsons Green. Around 20 rugby players were said to be present, with Stokes seen enjoying rum and cokes with England rugby captain Maro Itoje.
Having broken the team’s midnight curfew, Stokes and Atkinson were stood down for England’s second Test against New Zealand – which they would go on to lose. However, a disciplinary hearing by the ECB decided that “no blame should be attached to the players for violent conduct at the nightclub”, with a separate inquiry by the Cricket Regulator deeming there was no case to answer.
Saracens have now concluded their own internal investigation – with Auvaa escaping any further punishment. Their statement said: “Whilst the events that occurred in the early hours of Monday, 8 June 2026 are regrettable for all parties involved, the club remains supportive of the player concerned. Having thoroughly reviewed the matter, the club has concluded that no further action is required and now considers the matter closed.”
The Gallagher Prem club also took aim at the ECB’s own disciplinary process – suggesting that they published their findings without any input from the rugby club. “The ECB contacted the club as part of its review process. Saracens made clear that it wished to complete its own internal investigation before reaching any conclusions. The ECB subsequently concluded its process and issued its statement without any input from Saracens.”
Following the news that Auvaa will escape further action, there have been multiple reports in England that the ECB are frustrated and surprised by Saracens’ lack of action.
The Rugby Football Union have reportedly decided not to launch an investigation despite having scope to do so, with the Guardian reporting that the governing body view it as an employment matter between player and club.
New signage at Lesley Abbeycentre in Newtownabbey has teased the opening of a new Popeyes store as construction of the centre’s expansion gets underway.
Although no dates have been confirmed, the sign suggests that the fast food store is “coming soon”.
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It comes after Bloomfield Shopping Centre in Bangor, owned by The Herbert Group who own Forestside and Abbeycentre, confirmed they also would be opening a Popeyes location next year.
Popeyes has also submitted plans to Belfast City Council to open a store in the heart of the city centre, hoping open its doors in the former GAME store on Castle Place.
Customers can expect chicken sandwiches, chicken tenders, hot wings, wraps and more when they open the doors of their new locations.
Husna Anjum Senior Live News Reporter and Samuel Kalantzis
12:42, 26 Jun 2026
A body has tragically been found after reports a teenage boy entered a lake. The incident happened yesterday (June 25) in Leicestershire when police were called just after 1.30pm to Meynell Lake, in Fosse Way, Syston.
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service and East Midlands Ambulance Service attended the scene. Leicestershire Police confirm specialist dive teams recovered a person from the water today (June 26).
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In a statement posted today police confirm the body was that of the teenager known to have entered the lake. There is no suggestion of any suspicious circumstances and a file will be prepared for a coroner, according to LeicestershireLive.
The statement read: “Specialist police dive teams searching for a teenage boy following reports he entered a lake in Syston yesterday afternoon (Thursday 25 June) have recovered a person from the water. We can confirm it is the teenager known to have entered the lake and his family are being supported specialist officers.
“Police were called just after 1.30pm to Meynell Lake, in Fosse Way. Officers attended along with Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service and East Midlands Ambulance Service.
“Initial searches were carried out and police divers were called in. There is no suggestion of any suspicious circumstances and a file will be prepared for HM Coroner.
Who Dares Cares is back with its wide range of community stalls, Armed Forces and emergency service organisations, historical military displays, children’s activities, inflatables, music and entertainment.
Get along to Calderglen Country Park this weekend for a family fun day hosted by an Armed Forces charity.
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Who Dares Cares is inviting families, veterans, serving personnel, emergency service workers and the wider community to attend its Armed Forces and Emergency Services Family Fun Day on Sunday, June 28.
The event will take place at Calderglen Country Park, from noon until 4pm, bringing together the Armed Forces community, blue light services, families, local organisations and supporters for an afternoon of entertainment, awareness and community spirit.
Entry is free, with donations welcome on the day to support the ongoing work of Who Dares Cares. Wristbands will also be available for children’s inflatables.
The family fun day will include a wide range of community stalls, Armed Forces and emergency service organisations, historical military displays, children’s activities, inflatables, music, entertainment and opportunities for the public to learn more about the support available to veterans, emergency service personnel and their families.
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Who Dares Cares is a charity which supports the Armed Forces, veterans, blue light services and their families who may be affected by PTSD, trauma, isolation, bereavement or other challenges linked to service life.
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Frozen yoghurt has arrived just in time for the sweltering weather, while a giant new sportswear and trainer store will be opening this weekend too.
The Trafford Centre is welcoming two new stores to its line-up that shoppers can see for the first time this weekend. Sportswear giant Footasylum will finally open its new megastore at the shopping mall on Saturday, following months of work on the prime new site.
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Meanwhile, just in time to give shoppers a cool break amid the heatwave, frozen yoghurt firm Frurt has opened its new store in The Orient. It’s the first time the fro-yo brand will be available at the Trafford Centre, much to the delight of fans.
The huge new Footasylum store marks the latest milestone in the sportwear company’s ambitious UK retail expansion. It follows hot on the heels of a new store recently opening in the Manchester Arndale Centre and also at Trinity in Leeds.
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The new 17,178 sq ft store has created 14 new jobs at the Trafford Centre, with owners saying it is “building on the commercial momentum already demonstrated at Manchester Arndale, and affirming Manchester and the North of England as a strategically important market for the business.”
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The store on Peel Avenue has been hidden behind hoardings since last year. But now, shoppers will get to see inside for the first time what’s inside from Footasylum’s extensive brands, which includes renowned third-party brands like Nike, adidas Originals, ASICS, Saucony and Berghaus, alongside Footasylum-exclusive labels such as Monterrain and Forena.
To celebrate the opening, the first 200 customers through the doors on Saturday, June 27, will receive exclusive goody bags featuring Crep Protect and New Era Caps. Within the bags, customers will also get the chance to win standout prizes including a PS5, festival tickets, a year’s supply of trainers and a full year’s gym membership.
Over the opening weekend there will also be surprise appearances from Footasylum influencers and a live set from a locally renowned DJ with the promise of a “launch to remember”.
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On the opening, Shannon Osman, Retail Director at Footasylum, said: “The launch of our newly upgraded Trafford Centre store is another landmark moment for Footasylum in our UK expansion plan, as we continue to invest in high-impact, high-performing locations.
“As a company defined by setting trends and offering our customers the best experiences, we are thrilled to be offering customers another glimpse into what the future holds for Footasylum.
“This is an innovative retail destination that will allow us to deepen our connection with our already highly engaged Manchester audience, while also welcoming new customers who travel from far and wide to experience everything the Trafford Centre has to offer.”
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Meanwhile over at The Orient, Frurt is making itself at home at its quirky new location inside the former bandstand on the upper floor of the food court area. It’s the first shopping centre location from the Manchester-born brand which also has sites in Manchester city centre, Bramhall, Bolton and Prestwich.
It has brought its self-serve concept to the new site, where you can load up your own toppings on your chosen flavour of the frozen treat. They regularly change their flavours, and you can add toppings like Biscoff, Nutella and sugary treats.
They opened on Thursday evening with a big giveaway, and expect queues of shoppers across the weekend, particularly if this hot weather continunes.
Despite these announcements, we still don’t know much about the game itself. We know it’s set in the open world of Leonida, based on Florida, which will include a new version of Vice City, and that it will centre around two protagonists, Jason and Lucia, but that’s about it.
If you’ve played any prior GTA game, you can probably fill in most of the blanks gameplay-wise (stealing cars, heists, mowing down civilians, etc.), but some Brazilian retailers appear to have outed some new details.
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According to the GTA 6 listing on Amazon Brazil, the sequel will see players ‘switch between Jason and Lucia during the story and participate in missions as a duo’. GTA 5 operates similarly, with its three different characters, so this isn’t too surprising.
It also promises ‘NPCs [non-player characters] with their own routines’ and ‘random events’, which suggests the world itself will be even more dynamic than Rockstar’s last game, Red Dead Redemption 2.
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The biggest new nugget of information is the emphasis on ‘integrated social networks’, which will allow you to ‘watch viral videos, follow influencers, and discover world events through your in-game mobile phone’.
Pre-orders opened this week (Rockstar Games)
In prior GTA games, you use a phone to call characters and instigate missions. GTA 5 also had a social media parody called Lifeinvader but it was more window dressing than an integral mechanic. However, this description implies social media will play a bigger role in GTA 6.
This emphasis on in-game networking is also a key focus on another Brazilian listing. According to Kabum (translated via Reddit), your mobile phone in GTA 6 will ‘consume viral videos in real-time, allowing you to follow Vice City influencers and discover secret side missions’.
The same description similarly emphasises the push for ‘organic random events across the map’, and states Jason and Lucia will possess ‘unique abilities that directly influence the criminal ecosystem and the tactical intelligence of the missions’.
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Other details mentioned include ‘advanced lighting, dynamic climate, more natural animations and high level of detail in the environments’, with ‘storms and time changes that change physics and gameplay’.
It’s unclear whether these descriptions are legitimate or not (the Amazon UK listing doesn’t have any of these details), but there is a lot of shared information between them and they are pretty specific – so it certainly sounds like they’re real.
If these descriptions are being sent to retailers though, this raises the question of whether another trailer could be imminent, to confirm the gameplay mechanics. With pre-orders now locked in, a trailer wouldn’t be a bad idea to cap off all the buzz from this week (or distract from the negativity around the lack of physical discs).
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GTA 6 looks set to be the biggest game of the year, but there’s some concern among retailers that there will not be enough PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles to meet the demand when it does launch.
As reported by The Game Business, an anonymous senior games buyer said due to the component crisis, their store wouldn’t be ‘getting the units we want ahead of GTA’, adding: ‘Demand will likely outstrip supply during the year end period.’
A dissident republican group has attacked an historic Victorian-era Royal Mail postbox in West Belfast.
The postbox, which is built into the wall of Clonard Monastery at Waterville Street, was attacked with an angle grinder before its iconic red paint was replaced with green.
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A video of the incident was shared online by the group, where an activist can be seen taking the angle grinder to it, causing significant damage to the postbox.
In a Facebook post accompanying the video, the group said: “The symbols of imperialism and an occupying power litter Irish streets.
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“In a Socialist Republic, all these symbols, street names, monuments, statues and more will be taken down, destroyed or replaced. All state institutions will be repurposed and handed over to the Irish people for the betterment of all.
“We will not share Ireland with imperialists, fascists, capitalists, royalty or the systems that maintain their power.
“There will be no ‘agreed’ or ‘shared’ Ireland – only a Socialist Republic.”
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The PSNI confirmed to Belfast Live that they had not received any reports relating to the incident.
The nursery chain runs more than 200 settings across England, including eight in Cambridgeshire
Ofsted has has told a nursery chain that runs 247 settings across England, including some in Cambridgeshire, that it is not meeting safeguarding and welfare requirements.
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Ofsted served Bright Horizons with a Welfare Requirements Notice (WRN) on Monday, June 22 after checks between October 2025 and June 2026 found “significant weaknesses in organisational safeguarding leadership, governance, oversight and practice”.
The checks happened because of “concerns following a serious safeguarding incident” last September. Ofsted then carried out inspections, site visits and direct engagement with senior leaders at 172 of Bright Horizons nurseries, and identified breaches of requirements in 69 settings. The findings of each were published in individual nursery reports, as is standard practice.
According to the Bright Horizons website, the chain has eight locations across Cambridgeshire including in Cambridge, Ely and Fulbourn:
Eddington Nursery, Cambridge
Wolfson Court Day Nursery and Preschool, Cambridge
Bright Horizons Cambridge Milton Road Day Nursery and Pre-school, Cambridge
Cambridge Science Park Day Nursery and Preschool, Cambridge
Long Road Day Nursery and Preschool, Cambridge
Bunnybrookes Day Nursery and Preschool, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge
Fulbourn Day Nursery and Preschool, Fulbourn
Ely Day Nursery and Preschool, Ely
According to Ofsted, the WRN “is intended to prompt urgent improvement at the highest level of the organisation to ensure higher standards for children across the group”. As the action is against the Bright Horizon group, the outcome has been published on the Ofsted report page of all 247 Bright Horizon nurseries. However, this does not reflect concerns identified at individual nurseries.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, said: “The outcome summary we’ve published today sets out clearly what the Bright Horizons group must do, and by when. We will be monitoring their progress closely. My message to parents is to read your nursery’s latest inspection report or update on the Ofsted website.
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“The majority of Bright Horizons nurseries are meeting requirements. We have already published reports and updates on all of the nurseries that we visited – today’s action is about identifying improvements that need to happen at a management level within the Bright Horizons group.
“The Department for Education has announced additional funding to support our work in early years – including thousands more no-notice inspections. This is great news and will strengthen our work to check that children are getting the safe, high-quality care they deserve.”
Bright Horizens, one of the UK’s largest nursery chains, has until August 1 to improve. A spokesperson for the chain said whilst it is “disappointed” with the notice against it, ” particularly as the Chief Inspector recognises that the majority of our nurseries are meeting requirements” it is “taking the matter extremely seriously”.
By August 1, Ofsted requires Bright Horizons to ensure:
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All senior leaders are fully familiar with, and are able to effectively apply safeguarding policies, procedures and arrangements within their oversight role.
Safeguarding policies, procedures and arrangements are consistently and effectively implemented across all settings.
Senior leaders maintain accurate and timely oversight of safeguarding concerns and risks across the organisation, so that appropriate and timely action is taken to protect children.
Safeguarding concerns are consistently identified, recorded, escalated and responded to appropriately across all settings, including consideration of emerging patterns and cumulative risk, in line with statutory safeguarding guidance.
Procedures to manage allegations against staff are consistently followed across the settings.
Review and strengthen current arrangements for monitoring safeguarding training, supervision and support to ensure these are effective in securing consistent staff understanding and application of safeguarding responsibilities across all settings, including recognition of child protection concerns, escalation routes and whistleblowing procedures.
Any weaknesses in staff knowledge or practise of safeguarding responsibilities are addressed, and that robust and effective systems are in place to monitor and evaluate the impact of training and supervision on safeguarding practice.
In a statement, Bright Horizons said: “ The safety and wellbeing of the children in our care is always our first priority. Whilst we are disappointed that Ofsted have chosen to issue a Welfare Requirements Notice against us, particularly as Sir Martyn Oliver recognises that the majority of our nurseries are meeting requirements, we are taking the matter extremely seriously.
“On those occasions when our practice falls short of the standards we and our families rightly expect, we recognise that this is not acceptable. We are taking swift and robust action at the highest level and are working in partnership with Ofsted to fully address the concerns identified, which we are confident we will be able to do successfully.
“We continue to focus on consistently embedding our strong safeguarding culture across all our nurseries.”
The landmark may now also be able to open for a longer period, generating more income. It currently opens its State Rooms to visitors each summer and on selected dates throughout the rest of the year, the proceeds of which go to the Royal Collection Trust, a charity responsible for the care and conservation of royal art.
The King will continue to host a range of events at the palace, from state banquets and garden parties to receptions and audiences with the prime minister and new ambassadors.
“His Majesty retains huge affection for Buckingham Palace and a deep respect for its role in royal and public life,” said a palace spokesperson. “It will be a buzzing hive of royal activity in every other way.”
Norman Baker, former Lib Dem Home Office minister and a critic of royal funding, told the BBC that Buckingham Palace visitor ticket sales should instead go to the Treasury.
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“They bring in millions every year, so what should happen is if they’re not living in Buckingham Palace, [they] should open it to the public and all the money from visitors 12 months of the year should go to the Treasury to help pay for refurbishment,” he said.
Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, which campaigns for an elected head of state, said: “The government agreed to spend £369m on refurbishing Buckingham Palace and now Charles doesn’t want to use it.
“But he’ll keep it under lock and key for when he does. Clearly, the palace needs to be fully open to the public all year round.”
The collision happened in the early hours of this morning
Two people have been taken to hospital following a serious crash in Co Fermanagh.
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Emergency services have been at the scene of a serious road traffic collision on the Belfast Road in Maguiresbridge this morning, Friday, June 26.
Police earlier said the road was closed in both directions while officers dealt with the incident.
A PSNI spokesperson said: “Road users are advised the Belfast Road, Maguiresbridge is closed in both directions this morning, Friday June 26, due to a serious road traffic collision.
“PSNI officers are diverting traffic flow via the Boyhill Road. Please seek an alternative route for your journey at this time.”
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In a statement, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service said it received a 999 call at 01:29 on Friday, June 26, following reports of a road traffic collision on the Belfast Road area, Maguiresbridge.
“NIAS tasked two emergency ambulances to the scene. Following assessment and initial treatment at the scene, two people were taken to the South West Acute Hospital by ambulance,” a spokesperson added.
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