Alex Ferguson has backed his Manchester United players to bounce back from the agony of seeing the Barclays Premier League title wrenched from their grasp.

Arsene Wenger joked Manchester City would try to poach more of his Arsenal players after watching his current crop put his former stars to shame.

Meath 0-9 Derry 0-13

Donegal 0-17 Mayo 1-7

Ipswich 3 Peterborough 2

Munster 6 Scarlets 13

Chelsea insisted they had done everything by the book during the Mark Clattenburg affair after lodging a formal complaint with the Football Association over “inappropriate language” they claim the referee used against John Obi Mikel.

Hull 2 Huddersfield 0

Japan 1 Spain 0

Andrew Lloyd Webber has found the man who will play the lead in 'Jesus Christ Superstar'.

The Football Association has branded the incident that left Rio Ferdinand bleeding at Manchester City yesterday as “unacceptable”.

Blackpool 2 Nottingham Forest 2

Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill insists naming only six substitutes for their FA Cup third-round draw at Bolton was not meant as a message to owner Ellis Short.

Australia 18 New Zealand 18

Chris Hughton, the only black manager in the Barclays Premier League, has called for UEFA to be “brave” and order national associations found guilty of racist abuse from supporters to play behind closed doors or be banned.

Serbia Under-21 international Nikola Ninkovic has conceded his post-match conduct in the clash with England was wrong but insists he was provoked by Danny Rose’s “inappropriate gestures” towards the home supporters.

Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in the second half as Real Madrid provisionally moved 13 points clear at the Primera Division summit with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Real Betis.

Racing Metro 24 Edinburgh 27

Newport Gwent Dragons 14 Glasgow Warriors 14

Richard Dunne could hardly be less interested in the cash windfall qualification for Euro 2012 would bring himself and his Republic of Ireland team-mates.