Champions Cup: Toulon were made to battle hard by Scarlets before starting their Champions Cup defence with a 28-18 victory at Stade Felix Mayol.

Leinster 42 Scarlets 12

Scarlets 32 Ulster 32

Team news for the Second Round of the Capital One Cup.

SHONA Pitman grew up in a rough patch of a $2 trillion dollar island. Reared in Nicholson Park, a neighbourhood in Jersey once so dangerous the school buses took the long way round it, she was acutely aware she did not belong to the island’s elite.

Bournemouth 0 Liverpool 2

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers named a strong side for the fourth round FA Cup meeting with Bournemouth.

Conference side Kidderminster will take on Premier League Sunderland in the FA Cup fourth round after they claimed a 3-2 win over Peterborough in their replay at London Road.

Adam, Ahern, Black, Bolger, Brennan, Breslin — the names read like poetry under the Menin Gate. Molloy, Moran, Morgen, Mulvihill, Murphy, Murray — all buried in unknown graves in Flanders soil.

Bookmakers were celebrating in the Aintree sunshine as Auroras Encore silenced the majority of the packed grandstands with a 66-1 success in the John Smith’s Grand National.

Liam Mackey reflects on the twentieth anniversary of the infamous Grand National that got left at the start.

Some people just can't be bothered to look after their gardens, while others wake up to this.

THE loss of Ireland international Kevin McLaughlin and openside Dominic Ryan to ankle injuries leaves Joe Schmidt without 23 first choice players for Saturday’s trip to The Scarlets in the PRO12 League.

EUROPEAN kings Leinster made a nightmare start to the RaboDirect Pro12 after being blown away by the Ospreys in Swansea last night.

QPR 2 Bristol City 2

Jessica Harrington reports it to be “so far, so good” in the build-up to Moscow Flyer’s tilt at a third Queen Mother Champion Chase crown.

Queen Mother Champion Chase hopeful Dempsey is in great form ahead of his tilt at the two-mile championship next month.

MARK PITMAN believes the abandonment of last Saturday’s Victor Chandler Chase could be a blessing in disguise for Dempsey.

Mark Pitman is aiming Hennessy for a possible tilt at the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival.

Trainer Mark Pitman revealed Queen Mother Champion Chase entry Dempsey is on course for a crack at the Victor Chandler Chase at Cheltenham on January 28.

Carl Llewellyn has announced that he is to become assistant trainer and jockey to Mark Pitman.

Smarty, runner-up in the 2001 Grand National, has been retired, his trainer Mark Pitman announced today.

A decision on whether or not to retire 2001 Grand National runner-up Smarty is likely to be made next week.

CONNECTIONS of Philson Run are looking to Seamus Durack to produce their charge as late as possible in the Gala Casinos Daily Record Scottish Grand National at Ayr tomorrow.

Timmy Murphy’s kid gloves were seen to the best possible effect at Leicester today when Spring Pursuit was delivered on the line to complete a double for the rider.

Richard Johnson came in for a double on Polar Scout and Versus at Folkestone today when fellow jockey Noel Fehily failed to pass the course doctor.

AZERTYUIOP bids to put his first-fence exit in last year’s William Hill Haldon Gold Cup behind him when he lines up for the Grade Two race at Exeter today.

A jury in Trinidad has sentenced two men to death by hanging for killing three people, one of them a former BBC anchorwoman, during a robbery.

Mick Fitzgerald gained sweet revenge over the final fence at Newbury today when Mighty Strong laid the ghost of a horrible fall 12 months ago in the Lane Fox Chase.

THE Racing Channel, which had become hugely popular in Ireland and is owned by US sports broadcaster TRNI, is to close.

Timmy Murphy did not quite make the winner’s enclosure on his return to race-riding at Wetherby today following a spell in prison, but he was delighted to be back and is determined to take his place again among the country’s leading jump jockeys.

Mark Pitman is hoping to uphold the family tradition in Saturday’s Martell Grand National.

Mark Pitman was delighted with the effort of Smarty at Ascot as his preparations for the Martell Grand National gather pace.

Trainer Mark Pitman is likely to take an unorthodox route in preparing Aintree Grand National hopeful Smarty for the big race.