Julien Pretot

Chess is getting ready to make its foray into Esports with teams recruiting top players ahead of this summer's Esports World Cup, hoping to attract new audiences as the game continues to grow in spectacular fashion.

France's Matthieu Jalibert will start at flyhalf against England in the Six Nations on Saturday in place of the suspended Romain Ntamack, head coach Fabien Galthie said on Thursday as he made two changes from the team that beat Wales in the opening game.

Antoine Dupont lived up to expectations as the mercurial scrumhalf made his Six Nations comeback in style to lead France to a 43-0 crushing of Wales in this year's curtain riser on Friday.

France made their Six Nations opener look like a canter as they destroyed Wales on Friday but lost Romain Ntamack through a red card, which ruled the flyhalf out of next weekend's clash against England.

The Champions League and Europa League reform drew criticism because it added to an already packed calendar, yet the European competitions' league phase finale is set to be a memorable blockbuster next week.

With just over a year to go before the Winter Olympics, the Cortina d'Ampezzo Alpine skiing course got the thumbs up from athletes who competed in the resort last weekend.

The Freestyle Chess Players Club is co-owned by the Norwegian great.

Iron Maiden will not be back on tour before May, yet the heavy metal band frontman Bruce Dickinson was on stage on Sunday, taking part in a veteran fencing competition in northern France.

Didier Deschamps, who will step down as France coach after the 2026 World Cup, will leave as the biggest name in the country's footballing history, with his Midas touch having earned the sport's greatest prize both as a player and a manager.

France suffered heartbreak at last year's World Cup when they were knocked out by South Africa by a single point in the quarter-finals, but Saturday's 30-29 victory against the All Blacks laid the foundations for a potentially bright future.