With just over 24 hours to go, all eyes are on New Zealand and England and a potential Rugby World Cup semi-final for the ages. The All Blacks are bidding to make it three Rugby World Cup titles in a row while England are looking to stop the juggernaut 2015's embarassment in the most spectacular style. Reporting from Tokyo this morning, Gerry Thornley writes "maybe it's simply the all black, all white nature of it, but there are no grey areas about a New Zealand-England game, all the more so as this one has that rare commodity in elite Test rugby; it has something bordering on novelty value." For Eddie Jones this looks like being the defining match in his tenure as England coach and yesterday he urged his players to go out and "change history" by knocking New Zealand off their perch. Don't forget you can follow all of the action from Yokohama on our liveblog from 8.30am tomorrow and you can keep up to date with all of the Rugby World Cup news on our dedicated website.
On Sunday the second semi-final sees South Africa meet Wales. Warren Gatland has just named his starting 15 for Sunday's showdown with Leigh Halfpenny coming in to replace the injured Liam Williams at fullback. The Springbok coaching ticket of Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber have turned South African rugby around just the 24 matches they've been in charge and, as Gerry Thornley writes, it's a partnership that was forged in the crucible of Munster. "So yes, I think I grew as a coach. I understood what we actually could be if we got our house in order in South Africa, and then the last thing. Overall I just think Irish people are really good people," Erasmus said yesterday.
In soccer, Manchester United finally ended their barren streak away from home last night when an Anthony Martial penalty gave them a 1-0 victory at Partizan Belgrade. It leaves Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side with their fate in their own hands, knowing that if they beat Partizan at home in their next match they will reach the knockout stages. In Group F Arsenal very nearly slipped up to Portuguese side Vitoria de Guimaraes at home after trailing for much of the game before Nicolas Pepe came off the bench to score two free kicks in the last 10 minutes and seal a dramatic 3-2 win. There was also a dramatic turnaround in Glasgow as Christopher Julien scored a late header to give Celtic a 2-1 victory over Lazio.
Moving on and it's three weeks now since Ciara Mageean returned for the World Athletics Championships in Doha and in that time she's been drug tested three times. Mageean heads for Manchester today to begin her slow build-up to next year's Olympics and she says the increase in tests can force you to panic. "You do get that panic. I do understand how you could miss a test but if I was in a situation where I had two missed tests I would have whereabouts tattooed on my arm. You'd be damn well sure that I don't miss another one because it is our responsibility as athletes," she says.
On Sunday the 40th Dublin Marathon will get underway and today Ian O'Riordan looks at the 13 people who have finished every running of the race since its inception.
