Connacht had more possession and territory at Scotstoun, but Glasgow were far more effective when the game turned into a contest of power. Four maul tries, a strong gain-line performance and a costly first-half spell for the visitors helped the Warriors claim a 36–19 URC victory on Friday night.
Final score
Glasgow 36–19 Connacht
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Possession
48% – 52%
Glasgow – Connacht
Territory
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39% – 61%
Glasgow – Connacht
Connacht start well, but Glasgow’s maul takes over
Connacht began brightly and Sean Jansen finished a second-phase attack to put the visitors in front. Glasgow answered three minutes later, with Gregor Hiddleston touching down after the Warriors built a maul close to the line.
That became a pattern. Rory Darge scored from another powerful drive, and Hiddleston crossed for his second as Glasgow made Connacht pay for a sequence of penalties and a yellow card to Sam Illo. The Warriors went into the break with a 19–7 lead.
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The damage was not limited to the scoreboard. Glasgow scored four of their five tries from mauls, while Connacht conceded 18 penalties to Glasgow’s 11. The scrum figures also favoured the hosts: Glasgow won two of their three scrums, while Connacht won four of eight.
Ioane gives Connacht hope
Glasgow extended their lead early in the second half when Josh McKay finished a move involving Dan Lancaster and Jamie Dobie. Connacht responded through Josh Ioane, whose first try followed a long attacking spell.
Ioane struck again in the 60th minute to bring Connacht back to 26–19. With the visitors carrying the momentum, the game was briefly back in the balance. But when Josh Murphy was sent to the sin-bin, Glasgow went to the corner and Seb Stephen scored from yet another maul.
Glasgow added a late penalty to close out the scoring. Connacht’s final push for a bonus point ended when Bundee Aki was penalised after continuing to speak to the referee.
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The numbers behind the result
Gain-line carries: Glasgow 69, Connacht 41
Clean breaks: Glasgow 4, Connacht 2
Rucks won: Glasgow 80, Connacht 128
Tackles made: Glasgow 202 at 93% success; Connacht 127 at 88%
Penalties conceded: Glasgow 11, Connacht 18
Lineout success: 86% for both sides
Possession without enough punch
Connacht’s 52% possession and 61% territory show they had plenty of the ball and spent long periods in useful areas. They also beat 15 defenders, matching Glasgow. But the Warriors made more of their carries, recording 69 gain-line carries to Connacht’s 41 and twice as many clean breaks.
Glasgow’s defence absorbed the pressure and their attack repeatedly brought the game back to the same question: could Connacht stop the next drive? Too often, the answer was no. The visitors’ second-half fightback was real, but the gap created before half-time proved too large to close.
Connacht showed enough after the break to keep the contest alive, but Glasgow owned the key moments. The possession belonged to the visitors; the most decisive phases belonged to the Warriors.
Scorers Glasgow: Gregor Hiddleston (2), Rory Darge, Josh McKay, Seb Stephen tries; George Horne 4 conversions, 1 penalty. Connacht: Sean Jansen, Josh Ioane (2) tries; Ciarán Frawley 2 conversions.
Chelsea midfielder Cole Palmer has signed a new long-term contract with the club, extending his stay at Stamford Bridge until June 2034.
The England international has been rewarded with improved salary terms and a 12-month extension to his previous deal, underlining Chelsea’s commitment to keeping one of their most important attacking players.
Palmer joined Chelsea from Manchester City in the summer of 2023 and has developed into a key figure for the Blues through his goals, creativity and ability to influence matches. His new contract reflects his importance to the club’s long-term plans under manager Xabi Alonso.
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Speaking about the agreement, Palmer expressed his happiness at committing his future to Chelsea, saying the club means a lot to him and that he believes the team is moving in the right direction.
The 24-year-old also welcomed the opportunity to work under Alonso, expressing confidence in the manager as Chelsea look to compete for major trophies in the coming seasons.
Palmer’s new deal represents another significant step in Chelsea’s efforts to secure the futures of their key players as they continue building for the future.
Oct 3, 2026; Starkville, Mississippi, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Kalen DeBoer reacts toward a referee during the fourth quarter against the Mississippi State Bulldogs at Davis Wade Stadium at Scott Field. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
Week six of the college football season is a sneaky very solid slate of games.
There’s only two ranked matchups this week but a ton of ranked teams who will be on upset alert all Saturday long.
Here’s my picks for my three favorite games of the day.
#7 Indiana (-7.5) vs Nebraska Total: 47.5
Indiana looked rough against Northwestern, the only opponent they’ve played thus far with a pulse. However, despite the Wildcats keeping that game close in the box score, I’m not really sure that game was actually all that close. On the other hand, Nebraska is undefeated and unranked for a good reason. They’re just not that good.
That being said, Anthony Colandrea is a guy who could cause an iffy Hoosier pass defense some problems. I still think this is the game where Curt Cignetti gets his guys going with Ohio State on the schedule next week. Josh Hoover continues his phenomenal start to this year, and Indiana rolls into Lincoln and wins by 2-3 scores.
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Pick: Indiana -7.5
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#21 UCLA vs #13 Oregon (-11.5) Total: 59.5
There’s no better measuring stick game than this one. UCLA’s offense has looked tremendous through the first four games of the Bob Chesney era, while Oregon’s been shaky through their difficult schedule, they could really get back into the drivers seat with a big win over their former PAC-12 foes.
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With Dante Moore out for the foreseeable future, I don’t actually think Oregon’s offense will slow down all that much. Former Cornhusker, Dylan Raiola looked great in relief of Moore last week, and I expect another solid performance out of him this week. That being said, Oregon’s defense is still miles behind their offense, and Wayne Knight might run all over them, just like he did with JMU in last year’s playoffs. I’m not sure Chesney gets his revenge just yet, but I think this game stays very close.
Pick: UCLA +11.5 and o59.5
#2 Georgia vs #6 Alabama (-1.5) Total: 51.5
The game of the week, and maybe season will land one of these two teams in the drivers seat for the SEC. Both teams avoid Texas in the regular season, and whomever comes out on top of this one will likely find themselves in the SEC Championship.
I’m incredibly high on Keelon Russell and Bama is looking like a national title contender for the first time under Kalen DeBoer. Georgia’s looked great so far, but they haven’t played anyone so we just don’t know what to expect out of them. Georgia offensive coordinator, Mike Bobo always seems to struggle in big games, and against an opportunistic defense like Alabama, I think he’s going to call the game far too conservatively. I like Bama in a close one.
It was billed as “the most unique stadium in the world,” a key pillar of Saudi Arabia’s World Cup 2034 plans. But now Neom Stadium, part of the kingdom’s ambitious aims to build a 170-kilometer-long (111 miles) city in the desert known as The Line, looks set to be scrapped, with the broader project scaled back significantly.
A recent Reuters report said the stadium, which according to the country’s bid book was going to be “350 meters (1,148 feet) above ground” and have “stunning vistas, and a roof created from the city itself,” would no longer be built for the tournament, where it was to host a quarterfinal and several other games.
Observers of the gulf country saw this coming.
“When I was in Saudi Arabia in December there were already plenty of signals that the whole Neom project was being put on the back burner, if not abandoned altogether,” F. Gregory Gause III, a regional expert from the Middle East Institute think tank in Washington D.C., told DW.
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“I see it as part of a general re-evaluation of their fiscal situation, both in light of the oil market before the current war and in light of the damage that the war is doing. The draw-back from sports commitments is just part of a more general reassessment of priorities in the current, more straitened, situation.”
Sports had formed a key part of Saudi Arabia’s Project 2030, which aimed to diversify the country’s economy away from oil and increase its soft power. But Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the Saudi-government operated Public Investment Fund (PIF), which also owns Premier League football club Newcastle United, said earlier this year that the PIF was “reassessing its priorities” amid war in the region.
How the Iran war has ruined Saudi Arabia’s ‘Vision 2030’
“The impact of the war has not only made the economic rationalization more important, but it’s also accelerated the desire to rethink some of these projects in the sense that Neom is now being repurposed as an industrial center on the Red Sea, which has obviously assumed much greater urgency since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively blocked,” Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, author of “Kingdom of Football:Saudi Arabia and the Remaking of World Soccer,” told DW.
Parallels between Qatar 2022 and Saudi Arabia 2034
There are, Coates Ulrichsen continued, clear parallels with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, where plans to build 12 stadiums resulted in only eight being used at the tournament. The Arab Spring uprising arrived shortly after the bid was accepted by FIFA and, though it didn’t impact the country directly, it destabilized the region both politically and economically.
Neither Saudi Arabia’s World Cup organizing authority or Sports Ministry has responded to questions from DW about whether we may again see fewer stadiums than the planned 15 for the 2034 World Cup, which could feature 64 teams.
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“We’re seeing the same obviously with Saudi Arabia now,” said Coates Ulrichsen, who is also a Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University in the US.
“[FIFA President] Gianni Infantino announced Saudi would be the only bidder on the 4th of October 2023. Three days later was October 7th, so within three days, the region was effectively in flames.”
Saudi Arabia will host its first World Cup in 2034 but has been a regular at the tournamentImage: Saudi Arabia Football Association/Handout via REUTERS
Since then, there has been the Israel-US war against Iran, while Houthi attacks continue to hit Saudi Arabia as part of the conflict in Yemen, meaning that: “This whole hosting cycle is taking place against a backdrop of considerable uncertainty and kind of real tension.”
World Cup will still matter to Saudi Arabia
But though the scope and cost of it may be reduced, Saudi Arabia’s softening commitment to sport will not likely apply so firmly to the biggest sporting event in the world, said Gause.
“I think it continues to be a major priority, because of its global importance and because the Saudis will want to do at least as well, if not outshine, Qatar’s hosting earlier.“
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Relations between Saudi Arabia and Qatar have improved since an agreement in 2021 but the pair remain regional rivals, something Coates Ulrichsen agrees will spur the 2034 hosts on.
As such, the 2034 tournament will still likely be a high-end affair, with Saudi Arabia building most stadiums from scratch. But, said Coates Ulrichsen, it may look somewhat different to what was planned.
Gulf Cup hosting a postivie sign before Asian Cup test
“The fact that at least the Saudis were able to host a big event with 60,000 people in the stadiums, full stadiums without any security concerns [the Gulf Cup football final which they won this week] is a good sign,” he said.
The regional expert thinks more matches could end up being hosted in the two biggest Saudi cities, Riyadh and Jeddah. This may be at the expense of some venues nearer the east coast such as Al Khobar or Al Ahsa. These are separated from Iran by the Persian Gulf, which includes the Strait of Hormuz, and could be reconsidered depending on the state of political affairs.
Saudi Arabia host football’s Asian Cup in January, which Coates Ulrichsen thinks will be an “early test of whether that is viable to have a weeks-long major tournament under these conditions.”
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With nearly eight years until the World Cup, the political and economic situation in the country is difficult to predict. While the supposed shelving of Neom Stadium and general Saudi sporting withdrawal poses questions of commitment more broadly, it appears the World Cup show will go on. But probably not quite as billed.
PHILADELPHIA — Eagles running back Saquon Barkley and receiver DeVonta Smith have been ruled out of Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London because of hamstring injuries.
Barkley hurt his right hamstring early in last week’s 24-20 loss to the Los Angeles Rams and didn’t practice all week.
Smith also didn’t practice this week and will miss his second straight game.
The Eagles were scheduled to land in London on Saturday morning for the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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Philadelphia is also dealing with a reshuffled offensive line after this week’s retirement of Lane Johnson followed by the trade of Cam Jurgens to the Baltimore Ravens for second- and fifth-round draft picks.
Johnson had been a late scratch for last week’s game against the Rams for personal reasons.
Thursday saw the Court of Arbitration for Sport hold a long-awaited hearing in Lausanne, as sport’s highest court considered Senegal’s appeal over the decision to award Morocco this year’s Africa Cup of Nations title. While Senegal won the match on the pitch in Rabat 10 months ago, the Confederation of African Football later overturned the result because the Lions of Teranga had left the pitch in protest mid-game before coming back on. The three-judge panel is expected to issue a verdict soon.
Club football returns from a three-week break with some Ligue 1 action on Friday night, as high-flying Lyon travel to face a struggling Lens side who have faced backroom upheaval.
A’ja Wilson was crowned MVP of the WNBA regular season for a record-extending fifth time, following a season in which the Las Vegas Aces centre led the league with a points average of 26.2.
In tennis, Mirra Andreeva needed two tie breaks to edge past her compatriot Ekaterina Aleksandrova and into the China Open semi-finals in Beijing. Her next opponent, Nikola Bartůňková, sprung a surprise by breezing past Karolína Muchová in the all-Czech quarter-final tie.
Between five and 10 schools, including multiple College Football Playoff contenders, face scrutiny over third-party arrangements designed to skirt spending limits
Manchester City have been rocked by news of their guilt in the 115 case but there are more concerns for Enzo Maresca and his players
It has been a miserable few weeks for Manchester City and their fans. The club that sits on top of the Premier League table after five games has been thrown into turmoil with publication of a 40-page decision from an independent panel that find City overwhelmingly guilty in the 115 case.
Rivals are so delighted that nobody is even pretending to get angry about that Elliot Anderson handball shout against Sunderland last month because the consequences of the expert verdict will be catastrophic. City are appealing and insist they have irrefutable evidence, but their chances of success cannot be too high given that evidence has already been categorically refuted.
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And in the months it takes for that to happen, City’s guilt will be talked about on a daily basis. Premier League club executives are discussing – under the cover of anonymity, of course – what punishments they would want to see the Blues face and points deductions are being gaily speculated on.
Enzo Maresca and his players have to shut out all of that noise and concentrate on trying to win two football matches a week, starting at Anfield on Sunday. But even as the players try to keep calm and carry on, their rivals are also ploughing ahead.
Premier League champions Arsenal have been publicly silent on the guilty verdicts with the process ongoing, but on Wednesday they announced a new contract for Mikel Arteta. Already the longest serving manager in the division by some distance following the departures of Jurgen Klopp and then Pep Guardiola, the former City assistant is now signed up at the Emirates until 2030.
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In a statement announcing the news, CEO Richard Garlick said: “We want to create a winning era together with Mikel… Mikel has the belief, determination and the understanding of what it takes to build something remarkable and enduring here, and we are excited to continue that journey together.”
As City’s golden era is tainted, the last thing they want to be hearing about is the start of another one in North London. And, despite a 3-0 defeat for the title favourites at Brighton before the international break, it is Arsenal who remain the team to beat for City and any of the chasing pack, with the stability at the club giving them a critical advantage.
The punishments handed out – or not – to City at the end of the appeal process will determine how far the gap to the very top is, but in the meantime they have to keep making progress under Maresca to stay as competitive as they want to be. As difficult as it might seem with so many pitchforks out for City, Arsenal’s commitment to Arteta is a reminder that there are more than just guilty verdicts for City to be concerned about.
Para-shooters have sought an urgent independent inquiry into alleged financial corruption, extortion and manipulation in the selection process for the Para Asian Games, prompting the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) to reject the charges and insist that the team was picked entirely on merit.
In a representation to the Director General of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Wednesday, the shooters alleged “illicit monetary extortion”, “brazen corruption” and violations of Sports Ministry’s guidelines by PCI officials and its Shooting Technical Committee (STC) in selections for the Aichi-Nagoya Para Asian Games, scheduled from October 18 to 24.
The representation alleged that athletes were being pressured to pay a 20 per cent commission from government cash awards as a precondition for selection, while also accusing officials of manipulating international quota places and qualifying scores to favour certain shooters.
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“Athletes are being coerced under severe duress into paying an illegal kickback of 20 per cent of their sanctioned government cash awards to designated committee office-bearers as a mandatory pre-condition for national team selection,” the representation alleged.
The shooters further claimed that international wild-card slots were allocated on the basis of financial considerations rather than ranking and performance, and alleged that two of the 15 international quota places available to India were surrendered because the next-ranked athletes refused to meet the alleged financial demands.
They also accused the selection committee of discarding prescribed Ministry criteria, manipulating qualifying scores and replacing an earlier selection panel without recorded justification.
According to the shooters, the representation questioned the appointment of an individual as a technical expert and Director of Operations despite having no record of participation in an official competitive shooting event.
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Sandeep Kumar, a P4 50m free pistol SH1 shooter ranked third in Asia, alleged bias in the selection process. He claimed Rudrankksh Khandelwal, ranked 14th in Asia, was selected ahead of Akash, the Asian No. 1, and himself.
Sandeep said he was “deeply aggrieved” by what he described as arbitrary decisions and violations of the selection rules.
PCI president Devendra Jhajharia, however, rejected the allegations, maintaining that the selection process was transparent and based entirely on the prescribed criteria.
“The selection has been done as per the criteria. There has been no discrimination against anyone. The selections are 100 per cent fair and according to the Sports Ministry’s guidelines,” Jhajharia, a two-time Paralympics javelin gold-medallist, told PTI.
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He also denied Sandeep’s allegation that he had been dropped in favour of a shooter with links to the coach.
“Those are all false allegations,” Jhajharia said.
The shooters, meanwhile, have warned that they could seek judicial intervention if the allegations are not addressed, saying they would consider approaching the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution for a writ of mandamus and a court-monitored investigation.
TITLE: Southampton’s Eckert Spared Ban as FA Suspends Six-Week Sentence Over Spygate
KEYWORD: spygate
DESCRIPTION: Southampton boss Tonda Eckert avoids a touchline ban despite three Spygate rule breaches, as the FA hands him a suspended sanction and £28,000 fine.
Southampton manager Tonda Eckert will remain in his job after an independent FA commission suspended a six-week ban handed to him over the club’s Spygate scandal, fining him £28,000 but sparing him the touchline exile that threatened to end his tenure before the season had properly begun.
The ruling, delivered on Wednesday, closes one chapter of a saga that has followed Southampton since last season, when the club was found to have orchestrated covert surveillance of training sessions belonging to three Championship rivals. The Football Association’s independent regulatory commission concluded that Eckert, 33, had committed three breaches of FA Rule E3.1, but opted for leniency after what it described as his “genuine contrition” and the risk that a lengthy ban would cost him his job.
The FA had pushed hard for tougher punishment. Its lawyers initially floated a ban of “at least nine months” — drawing a comparison to the 12-month suspension given to Canada women’s coach Bev Priestman over drone spying at the 2024 Olympics — before scaling that back to three months. The commission instead calculated a starting point of 16 weeks before mitigation, then suspended the resulting six-week ban until the end of next season. It remains to be seen whether the FA will challenge the outcome; the governing body has not yet said whether it intends to appeal.
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How the Spygate affair unfolded
The roots of the Spygate controversy lie in Southampton’s promotion push last season. Eckert admitted arranging for staff to observe an Oxford United training session to establish whether the opposition were lining up with a back four or a back five, and conceded he had accepted video footage filmed at an Ipswich Town session, though the commission accepted he had not personally commissioned that particular act. Most seriously, he sent someone to watch Middlesbrough train ahead of their play-off semi-final to check on the fitness of midfielder Hayden Hackney — an episode that blew up into public view when a Southampton intern was confronted by Middlesbrough staff at the scene.
Southampton went on to beat Middlesbrough over two legs and reach the final, only for an EFL independent disciplinary commission to rule that the espionage amounted to “a contrived and determined plan from the top down to gain a competitive advantage.” That panel expelled Southampton from the play-offs altogether, denying them a shot at a Premier League return worth an estimated £200m, and imposed a four-point deduction carried into this campaign. An appeal against that punishment was rejected just two days before the final, which Hull ultimately won against Middlesbrough at Wembley.
Against that backdrop, Wednesday’s FA verdict stood out for its markedly different tone. Where the EFL panel branded Eckert’s conduct “deplorable” and said it was “unimpressed” with his evidence — also finding that junior staff had felt pressured into carrying out the surveillance — the FA’s commission reached starkly different conclusions. It called Eckert “a particularly impressive witness,” found no evidence he had pressured subordinates, and rejected any suggestion of a “systemic or organised course of conduct” within the club.
Contrition cited as decisive factor
Central to the lighter sanction was the commission’s acceptance that Eckert did not realise his actions breached EFL rules, and its view that his remorse — including consulting a psychologist to understand how his conduct had affected staff around him — was “as deep and meaningful as could reasonably be expected.” The panel stressed that spying on an opponent remains “a very serious offence,” while noting that observing training outside a defined pre-match window is not itself prohibited.
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Southampton welcomed the ruling, saying in a statement that it hoped the decision would bring “a conclusion to a regrettable period of our history” and that safeguards were now in place to prevent any repeat. Owner Dragan Solak went further, praising the FA process as “a positive experience” while taking a swipe at the EFL, saying the way the league had treated the club “is not something we will forget.”
Solak also offered a strong endorsement of his manager, calling Eckert “one of Europe’s most exciting young coaches” and expressing confidence that, with the Spygate cloud lifted, he can lead Southampton to a successful season. Eckert took interim charge when the club sat 21st in the Championship, guided them to a fourth-placed finish, and was rewarded with the permanent job in December 2025.
Southampton currently sit 13th in the Championship with four wins from eight matches, and face south-coast rivals Portsmouth this weekend. The suspended ban means Eckert can continue in the dugout provided he avoids any further spying-related breach before the end of the 2027-28 season — a condition that leaves the Spygate affair hanging over the club, even as it tries to move on.
Enzo Maresca cut a relaxed figure as he greeted the cameras at Manchester City‘s training ground on Thursday.
The Manchester City boss was photographed grinning and offering a thumbs up as the squad came back together following the extended international break.
Friday will bring the manager’s first press conference since the club was found guilty on multiple charges of breaking Premier League financial rules across a nine-year period.
Manchester City have insisted they are innocent and have submitted an appeal, but speculation has been rife across football about the sanctions they might face.
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A febrile atmosphere is expected at Anfield on Sunday, when City face fierce rivals Liverpool.
Manchester City manager Enzo Maresca gives a thumbs up (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)
Maresca will hope his players can put the furore to one side and pick up where they left off in the Premier League, having won all of their opening five matches to sit top of the table.
Manchester City are currently three points clear of defending champions Arsenal, while they hold a six-point advantage over Liverpool heading into Sunday’s clash.
Manchester City’s fixtures list does not get any easier as they are due to face two-time Champions League winners PSG at the Etihad Stadium next Wednesday.
Former Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who has publicly iterated his support of the club after the verdict was announced, is understood to be attending the Champions League game with PSG next week.
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In a statement released last week, Guardiola wrote on social media: “I want every single Manchester City fan across the world to know I am here; more than ever,” he wrote on Instagram.
The Man City squad is back in training after the international break (PA)
“I am, always have been, always will, be behind my club, my owner, my chairman, Ferran, the players, staff, Enzo and you, our unique supporters.
“Let me be clear: we will get through this together. I love you all.”
Manchester City have responded to the verdict by doubling down on their innocence, saying they were “both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission” in a statement.
The club says they have “a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence” that supports their position and will be “relentless” in their appeal.
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