Manchester United are through to the knockout stages of the Europa League after they beat Partizan Belgrade 3-0 at Old Trafford last night. 18-year-old Mason Greenwood opened the scoring, before two fine goals from Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford steered Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side into the last-32. Earlier in the evening Celtic also booked their place in the knockouts thanks to a 2-1 win over Lazio in Rome - Olivier Ntcham's 95th minute winner giving the Bhoys their first ever win on Italian soil.
Elsewhere in his column this morning Matt Williams has addressed Ireland's latest Rugby World Cup quarter-final exit, and suggested a massive overhaul is needed if they are to break through their glass ceiling in 2023 and properly challenge for the Webb Ellis Cup. He writes: "An independent committee to review the national team's processes must be established, with the aim of creating a new national coaching plan. This plan must detail the leadership, structure and the playing style of how rugby needs to be performed across all professional Irish teams for success to be achieved in France and beyond. This review would obviously include Andy Farrell. However, Ireland must look outside the IRFU for independent experiences to offer guidance for the change that is essential within Irish rugby."
Connacht take on Leinster at The Sportsground tonight in the first interprovincial clash of the 2019-20 Pro14 season, with both sides welcoming back a host of Ireland internationals. Andy Friend has named Jack Carty at outhalf, with Bundee Aki and Kieran Marmion both on the bench. Leo Cullen meanwhile has been able to name Robbie Henshaw in midfield, with Cian Healy and Andrew Porter also returning to his starting XV as the defending champions look to continue their faultless start to the domestic season.
Meanwhile Shane Lowry has work to do in the Turkish Airlines Open, after he carded a level par opening round of 72 in Antalya yesterday. The British Open champion struggled with his putter throughout, with a first hole birdie and a closing bogey bookending his round, with 16 pars in between. Lowry is seven shots off the lead of Austria's Matthias Schwab and England's Tom Lewis, who both opened with 65s. Afterwards, Lowry said: "I literally couldn't get the ball in the hole from three feet." He gets his second round underway at 7.45am (Irish time) with Padraig Harrington - who carded a 75 on Thursday - off an hour later at 8.45am.
And Katie Taylor and her team are taking no chances regarding her next opponent, with whoever tries to dethrone the two-weight world champion needing to undergo rigorous drug testing. A rematch against Delfine Persoon, a match-up with Norway's Cecila Braekhus or Puerto Rico's Amanda Serrano are all options for Taylor, writes Johnny Watterson.
