Root reveals incoming England coach Fleming was in daily contact during first Test win

Brighton midfielder will join Tielemans and Santos Club’s most expensive summer signing at initial £65m Manchester United have agreed a deal worth an initial £65m for Carlos Baleba and the Brighton midfielder will have his medical this weekend in Manchester. If the 22-year-old is signed he will be the third midfielder added to Michael Carrick’s squad in the window. Baleba, a No 6, will join Youri Tielemans, a No 8, and Andrey Santos, who is also a holding player...

Briton felt ‘tired’ before Lausanne Diamond League 200m Audrey Werro triumphs in 800m in front of home crowd Britain’s Amy Hunt, who won a historic four golds at the recent European Athletics Championships, had to be happy with second behind the American Kayla White in the 200m at the Lausanne Diamond League on Friday. White won in 22.18sec, with Hunt holding off Nigeria’s Favour Ofili in a photo-finish at 22.32. Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson, the two-time former world champion in the event, pulled up with 70m of the race to run. Hunt said she had been “tired before the race and my pre-competition felt pretty stiff”...

South Africa welcome New Zealand for their Greatest Rivalry series with the suspicion that they plan on beating the tourists at their own game The problem with Test weeks is that they can feel long. Cricketers can play for days on end, footballers every few nights, but rugby players step on to the international stage for just 80 minutes per week. The result is a drawn-out vacuum in the buildup and if it’s not a “war of words” unfolding, it tends to be head coaches ramming home their points to the referee. We lap it up, of course we do as we wait for Saturday to come, and though the pre-match sparring between South Africa and New Zealand is tedious to some, it is all part of the fun to others. This week in Johannesburg has been lively without crossing the line into poisonous. Suffice it to say that the referee Matt Carley is in for one hell of an afternoon in Saturday’s series opener at Ellis Park but the very fact that both Rassie Erasmus and Dave Rennie have stepped on to the offensive demonstrates the magnitude of the coming four-Test series. It promises to be a barn-burner...