upset

The last time Ireland visited Allianz Stadium, in 2024, they had just equalled England’s Six Nations record of 11 straight wins and were chasing the rarefied air of back-to-back Grand Slams.

Since that 23-22 defeat, however, Ireland have lost six times in 20 Tests. All six of those losses have come against the other three nations – South Africa, New Zealand and France – currently ranked higher than Andy Farrell’s side.

In the 12 months since beating England in last year’s Six Nations, Ireland have lost to France (twice), the All Blacks and the Springboks by a combined 61 points.

Their miserable return to Paris a fortnight ago ended with their heaviest Six Nations loss in 16 years, giving fuel to the ‘Ireland in decline’ debate.

Indeed, a succession of humbling in-ring experiences with the game’s heavyweights have intensified the scrutiny on a team who have slipped to fifth in the world rankings after entering the 2023 World Cup as number one.

Whether it’s been age profile, a creaking scrum, a sputtering attack, the unsettled fly-half situation or a British and Irish Lions hangover, most of the discussion has been largely negative.

But from an Irish perspective, there is no better way to flip the narrative than a big win over the English, who are wounded from last week’s Calcutta Cup defeat by Scotland.

Of course, having left Stade de France empty-handed before failing to secure a bonus point in the win over Italy, Ireland know another loss would dash their title hopes for another year.

“I think the lads are going to be a bit annoyed at the negative chat that’s surrounding the team for the past while,” legendary Ireland scrum-half Conor Murray said on the Ireland Rugby Social.

“There’s so many quality, world-class players and leaders in that team. I hope they just go there and say ‘let’s go for it here, lads, we’re sick of people talking about us in a negative light, look at the quality we have in the room.”

GORDON Ramsay has insisted that good friend David Beckham WILL end the ongoing feud with son Brooklyn.

The star has been in contact with the aspiring chef, offering messages of support and encouraging the 26-year-old to heal the heartbreaking rift.

Brooklyn, 26, blocked his parents Victoria and David and brothers Romeo and Cruz on Instagram last year. 

He then posted an explosive statement claiming his mum danced “inappropriately” with him at his lavish wedding in 2022. 

Gordon has now said that David is will get his relationship with Brooklyn “back on track” – but said he understood why Victoria was “upset”.

The Michelin starred restauranteur said: “Victoria is upset, and I know 24/7, seven days a week, just how much David loves Brooklyn.

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“Brooklyn and I have messaged a little bit, our relationship is solid. I love him – his heart is incredible.

“But it’s hard, isn’t it, when you’re infatuated. Love is blind. It’s easy to get up on that roller coaster, and get carried away. But it will come back.

“I’ve seen first hand just how good parents they are. David as a dad is just incredible. They have both put so much energy into their kids, and I know just how many times they have got Brooklyn out of the s***.”

Gordon continued: “I think it’s going to be a matter of time before Brooklyn takes a good look at himself and understands just what his parents mean to him.

”He’s desperate to forge his own way, and I respect that from Brooklyn. It’s such a good thing to do. But remember where you came from.

”And honestly, one day you’re not going to have your mum and dad, and you need to understand that. That penny will drop.

”I just want Brooklyn to take a moment to himself. And remember: You’re half mum, half dad. And you’re an amazing young man. But, boy, they’ve done more for you than anyone did in your entire life.

”Time’s going to be the best healer, and David will absolutely get that relationship back on track.”

While Brooklyn has blocked many of his family members on Instagram, he and Gordon still follow one another.

The chef, who has almost 20mn followers, has helped the youngster, and publicly backed his cooking endeavours where others were quick to mock.

Friends for almost two and a half decades, meanwhile, Posh and Becks, and Gordon and Tana have been there, through thick and thin, for one another.

Brooklyn addressed the family feud in his ­statement last month and claimed: “My mum called me ‘evil’.” 

He defended wife Nicola, 31, amid claims she was controlling him and said: “The narrative that my wife controls me is completely backwards. 

“I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life. I grew up with overwhelming anxiety. 

“For the first time in my life, since stepping away from my family, that anxiety has disappeared. 

“I wake up every morning grateful for the life I chose, and have found peace and relief. I don’t want to reconcile with my family.” 

After their shock defeat at the 2024 T20 World Cup, Pakistan exact revenge on USA with 32-run win at 2026 edition.

Opener Sahibzada Farhan hit a solid half-century while spinner Usman Tariq grabbed three wickets as Pakistan downed the United States by 32 runs in a T20 World Cup Group A game in Colombo.

The 29-year-old hit five sixes and six fours in his 41-ball 73 and was aided by a brilliant 32-ball 46 by Babar Azam (four fours, one six) to guide Pakistan to a strong 190-9 total on Tuesday at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground.

Their spinners then checked the inexperienced USA batting with Tariq taking 3-27 and Shadab Khan 2-26 to restrict their opponents to 158-8 in 20 overs.

The win avenged Pakistan’s shock defeat at the hands of the USA in the T20 World Cup two years ago and handed them a second win in as many games following their close three-wicket win over the Netherlands on Saturday.

For the USA, Shubham Ranjane top-scored with a valiant 30-ball 51, including three sixes and as many fours, before he fell to pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was playing his 100th T20 international.

Opener Shayan Jahangir muscled his way to an attractive 34-ball 49 studded with two sixes and five fours while Milind Kumar scored 29 before the United States were derailed from 123-3 to lose the match.

Earlier, Farhan and fellow opener Saim Ayub, who scored a 17-ball 19 with two sixes, put on 54 in five overs.

Pakistan then lost two wickets in the sixth over of their innings, bowled by Shadley van Schalkwyk.

Ayub was caught off a slower one while skipper Salman Agha holed out on the deep square-leg boundary for one.

Farhan and Azam took control with an 81-run third-wicket stand as Pakistan cut loose in the middle overs.

Farhan passed 1,000 T20 international runs in his 41st match before he was caught in the covers off spinner Harmeet Singh in the 16th over.

Shadab Khan launched an assault to score 30 off 12 balls before Pakistan lost five wickets for just 13 runs in the last two overs.

Schalkwyk was the best USA bowler with 4-25, following his four-wicket haul against India in the 29-run defeat on Saturday.

India recover from 77-6 as captain Suryakumar Yadav hits an unbeaten 84 in 29-run World Cup win against United States.

India captain Suryakumar Yadav led ‌by example as the tournament co-hosts began their Twenty20 World Cup title defence with a 29-run victory against the United States in a group A contest on Saturday.

India recovered from a dire 77-6 to post a decent 161-9 with Suryakumar hitting a scintillating 84 not out off 49 balls.

The US managed 132-8 in reply, putting up a decent fight but never really coming ⁠close to chasing down the target.

Earlier, the predominantly Indian fans at the Wankhede Stadium probably expected sixes and fours to rain down after US captain Monank Patel elected to field.

Instead, it was a long procession of India’s top-order batters returning to the pavilion after a spectacular meltdown of the world’s top-ranked T20 team.

Opener Abhishek Sharma, currently the world’s number one T20 batter, fell for a first-ball duck in perhaps an inkling of what was in ⁠store for the home side.

The real nightmare unfolded in the final Powerplay over when Shadley van Schalkwyk claimed three wickets in five deliveries to leave India reeling on 46-4.

Ishan Kishan (20) and Tilak Varma (25) could not convert their starts, while Shivam Dube departed with a golden duck against his name in that eventful over from van Schalkwyk.

It could easily have been worse, but bowler Shubham Ranjane could not hold onto a return catch from Suryakumar when the batter was on 15.

Wickets kept tumbling at the other end though.

Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya and ‌Axar Patel perished trying to swing their way out of trouble.

Suryakumar responded to the crisis with a captain’s knock as he raced to a 36-ball fifty before plundering 21 runs from the final over from Saurabh Netravalkar.

India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah missed ‌the match due to illness, and they were also forced into replacing Harshit Rana, who was ruled out of the tournament barely 24 hours before ‌their opening match with a thigh injury.

Mohammed Siraj (3-29) vindicated his last-minute ⁠inclusion as Rana’s replacement with a two-wicket burst, while Arshdeep Singh also tasted success as they reduced the US to 31-3 in the six Powerplay overs.

Sanjay Krishnamurthi (37) and Milind Kumar (34) defied India for a while with a 58-run stand, but once the partnership ‌ended, India were firmly in charge.

In Colombo, the Netherlands nearly pulled off a major upset before Faheem Ashraf’s breezy cameo secured Pakistan’s nervy three-wicket win with three balls to spare in another group A contest.

In a group C match in Kolkata, West Indies fast bowler Romario Shepherd claimed four wickets in five balls, including a hat-trick, as the twice champions thumped Scotland by 35 runs.

FORT WORTH — Democrat Taylor Rehmet flipped a reliably Republican state Senate district in Texas in Saturday’s special election, continuing a string of surprise victories for Democrats across the U.S. in the year since President Trump returned to the White House.

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick called it “a wake-up call for Republicans across Texas,” where the GOP controls every statewide office.

“Our voters cannot take anything for granted,” Patrick wrote on X, while noting low-turnout special elections are always unpredictable. “I know the energy and strength the Republican grassroots in Texas possess. We will come out fighting with a new resolve, and we will take this seat back in November.”

Rehmet, a labor union leader and veteran, easily defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss, a conservative activist, in the Fort Worth-area district, which Trump had won by 17 points in 2024. With almost all votes counted, Rehmet was leading by more than 14 percentage points — a more than 30-point swing.

“This win goes to everyday working people,” Rehmet told supporters.

Rehmet’s victory added to Democrats’ record of overperforming in special elections so far this cycle, beginning in March — when they prevailed in a Pennsylvania legislative district made up of suburbanites and farmers that Democrats hadn’t held in a century — and continuing through November, when they dominated candidate and ballot contests from Maine to California. Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, was elected mayor of New York City, a Democratic stronghold that saw the highest voter turnout in a mayor’s race in 50 years.

The showings come as Trump’s approval ratings hover around or below 40%. A January AP-NORC poll found that a majority of U.S. adults disapprove of the way he’s handling foreign policy, trade negotiations and immigration, as well as the economy.

Democrats said Saturday’s results in Texas were further evidence that voters under the second Trump administration are motivated to reject GOP candidates and their policies.

Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder said Rehmet won by standing with working people and talking to Texans about the future.

“This win shows what is possible in Texas with strong organizing, great candidates and strategic investments,” he said in a statement. “People are noticing that Democrats have the workers’ backs and are delivering results.”

Democrats’ other recent state victories included wins for governor in Virginia and New Jersey and in special elections in Kentucky and Iowa. And, while Republican Matt Van Epps won a Tennessee special election for a U.S. House seat, the relatively slim margin of victory gave Democrats hope in the district for this fall’s midterms.

With that backdrop in mind, Trump and Vice President JD Vance have pushed states to redraw their political maps to Republicans’ advantage headed into those contests, which will determine partisan control in Washington. Some Democratic states — most notably California — have countered with their own redistricting efforts.

The Texas Senate seat was open because the four-term GOP incumbent, Kelly Hancock, resigned to take a statewide office. Hancock easily won election each time he ran for the office, and Republicans have held the seat for decades.

The district is redder than its home county, Tarrant. Trump won the county by 5 points in 2024, but Democrat Joe Biden carried it in 2020 by about 1,800 votes out of more than 834,000 cast.

Trump posted about the race on his social media platform earlier Saturday, urging voters to get out to support Wambsganss. He called her a successful entrepreneur and “an incredible supporter” of his “Make America Great Again” movement.

Rehmet had support from national organizations including VoteVets, a veterans group that said it spent $500,000 on ads. Rehmet, who served in the Air Force and works as a machinist, campaigned on lowering costs, supporting public education and protecting jobs.

Wambsganss warned her party not to be complacent.

“The Democrats were energized,” she said in a statement. “Too many Republicans stayed home.”

Rehmet’s victory allows him to serve until early January, and he will face Wambganss again in the November general election to try to keep the seat for a full four-year term. The Texas Legislature is not set to reconvene until 2027, and the GOP still will have a comfortable majority.

Hanna and Smyth write for the Associated Press.

Following back-to-back Australian Open wins, Aryna Sabalenka has now lost two consecutive finals with Elena Rybakina defeat.

Following two ‌years of triumph at the Australian Open, Aryna Sabalenka is now processing another two years of ‍pain – and a series of missed chances in Melbourne that have left her “really upset”.

A year on from ‍losing the final in three sets to American Madison Keys, Sabalenka fell 6-4 4-6 6-4 to Elena Rybakina on Saturday, the Russia-born Kazakh turning the tables on the Belarusian who beat her for the 2023 title.

“I was really upset with myself, I would say, because once again I had opportunities,” Sabalenka said.

“I played great until a certain point, and then I couldn’t resist that aggression that she had on court.”

While the Keys shock left Sabalenka inconsolable and ⁠her racket in pieces, defeat to fifth seed Rybakina had its own unique sting.

The world number one ​held a 3-0 lead in the third set and had all the running before ‍former Wimbledon champion Rybakina broke back in the fifth game and stormed to her second Grand Slam trophy.

“She made some winners. I made a couple of unforced errors,” Sabalenka continued.

“Of course, I have regrets. You know, when ‍you lead 3-0 and ⁠then it felt like in a few seconds it was 3-4 and I was down with a break. So it was very fast.

“Great tennis from her. Maybe not so smart for me but, as I say, today I’m a loser, maybe tomorrow I’m a winner, maybe again a loser. Hopefully not. We’ll see.”

It was Sabalenka’s second significant loss to Rybakina in a few months, having been beaten for the season-ending WTA Finals crown.

More alarmingly, it ​was her third loss in her last four major finals, with Coco Gauff ‌flooring her at last year’s French Open.

Sabalenka did not lose a set coming into the Melbourne final and had won 46 of her 48 previous matches at hardcourt Grand Slams.

Now Rybakina, one of the few players able to match her ‌for power, has dealt Sabalenka’s aura a heavy blow.

Sabalenka laughed ruefully and shrugged through her post-match news conference but was honest enough to admit ‌she had been despondent outside the room.

On court, she draped a ⁠white towel over her head to conceal her anguish before gathering herself to deliver gracious congratulations to Rybakina, her most frequent opponent on tour.

She consoled herself that, barring a few errors in the final set, Rybakina had simply wrested the trophy from ‌her grip with the quality of her tennis.

“Even in this final, I feel like I played great. I was fighting. I did my best, and today she was a better player,” said Sabalenka.

“So I ‍don’t know. We’ll speak with the team. Now they try to avoid and escape me because they see that it’s not really healthy to be around me right now.”

KATIE Price’s new mother-in-law has taken a cryptic swipe at the newlyweds with a social media post.

Former glamour model Katie and businessman Lee Andrews tied the knot in Dubai just days after meeting for the first time.

Lee’s mum Trisha recently broke her silence on the shock wedding, claiming she knew the pair were going to get hitched.

At the time, she told The Mirror that if Katie and Lee are happy then she is too.

But despite putting on a brave face, it now seems Trisha has doubts about the marriage.

The clairvoyant wasn’t present at the wedding and, today, posted a quote to her Facebook page that said: “Do not get upset with people or situations; both are powerless without your reaction.”

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Trisha previously said to The Mirror: “There’s a lot of lies going around about Lee and that’s made me really upset. He’s not been married twice. I just want to defend my son, but I can’t say much more until I know everything.

“He did tell me that the wedding was happening. He spoke to me and if he is happy, I am happy – he’s my son, and that’s all that matters.”

Speaking about Katie, Trisha added: “Of course, I know who Katie is.

“I’ve always been very neutral about her. Everyone deserves a chance, you should never judge anyone in life.”

Last week the reality TV star sent fans wild as she dropped a series of engagement snaps.

In one photo, the podcast host was seen standing beside rose petals that were arranged to read “will you marry me” before she showcased her huge “25 carat” diamond ring.

Model Katie has since arrived back in the UK as two of Lee’s former lovers have hit out and warned that she should “run for the hills.”

Lee, who has also been caught faking his Instagram posts using AI, has revealed he is inbound for Britain as he wraps up “business” in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Katie’s family are said to have been blindsided and are planning an intervention.