The BBC unveiled their six-strong shortlist for this year's Sports Personality of the Year on Monday. The public will vote on December 15 with the winner crowned in Aberdeen that night.

The 56-year-old finished after the Rugby World Cup and was succeeded by his fellow New Zealander Wayne Pivac, who will take charge of Wales for the first time against Gatland's Barbarians.

OLIVER HOLT: Ben Stokes stopped the sporting world last year with two magical moments. There are six credible SPOTY candidates, but Stokes would get my vote.

RORY KEANE AT THE AVIVA STADIUM: It took an entire game to ship 43 points to Leinster last weekend. On Saturday night, the Saints had conceded the same total after 48 minutes

Sportsmail sensationally revealed that Howley had been sent home from Japan on the eve of the World Cup after a bookmaker, Betway, alerted the WRU of a rule breach.

The Wales assistant coach broke his silence on Tuesday after a three-month investigation found he had placed 363 bets over four years, including on his own team.

Louis Rees-Zammit can be the new George North for Wales in the Six Nations, according to his more senior team-mates. The 18-year-old Gloucester winger could make his Test debut on Saturday.

BY WILL KELLEHER AT THE PRINCIPALITY STADIUM: Wales will be ready for a rude awakening in Dublin on Saturday - aware that Ireland will not walk on to their punches as Italy did.

As the second weekend of Six Nations action draws to a close, Sportsmail's Chris Foy digests the best of the offerings around the grounds...

EXCLUSIVE: When it comes to Shaun Edwards and rugby, emotion usually drives everything. But Saturday's Wales clash is strictly business. He does not do teary-eyed returns.

EXCLUSIVE BY WILL KELLEHER: Welsh victories at Twickenham are rare but much-celebrated occasions. Sportsmail spoke to those involved in the most recent triumphs.

Sky are in line to secure a £300million agreement to screen the competition from 2021, leaving terrestrial channels BBC and ITV on the margins with potentially huge implications for the sport.

Wales will give Dan Biggar every chance to make the England Six Nations match this Saturday, with Sam Warburton saying they are 'confident' the fly-half will be fit.

DYLAN HARTLEY: You might remember Alun Wyn Jones getting under Kyle Sinckler's skin last year after Warren Gatland accused the England man of being a timebomb.

Sportsmail runs the rule over every player from the two sides after England survive a late Wales onslaught and win 33-30 at Twickenham to keep their Six Nations title hopes alive.

WILL KELLEHER AT TWICKENHAM: Are Wales now dashing instead of dogged? Under Warren Gatland they were rarely, if ever, easily beaten in a game that mattered. Not in the Six Nations anyway.

Wales are still livid at Joe Marler for his grabbing of Alun Wyn Jones' genitals with Wayne Pivac saying there is 'no place in the game' for the England prop's act.

In a shambolic development on Friday afternoon the final match of the Championship was officially postponed while Scotland were warming up for their captain's run ahead of Saturday's game.

INTERVIEW BY STEFFAN THOMAS: Jamie Roberts is far from your average rugby player and the former Wales centre is more qualified than most in sport to articulate his fears over coronavirus.

The former Wales international Jamie Roberts had been playing for Super Rugby side Stormers in South Africa but flew home to the UK to help after the rugby season was put on hold.

Wales head coach Wayne Pivac has revealed that 'two or three' of his squad have tested positive for coronavirus. The pandemic saw the Six Nations brought to a halt before it could finish.

EXCLUSIVE BY WILL KELLEHER: Wayne Pivac's side were due to play Japan in Shizuoka on June 27 before jetting down to New Zealand for a two-Test series shortly afterwards.

Many investors will be cheered no end by last week's overwhelming Conservative victory. The 'Boris bounce' has already boosted a £100,000 nest-egg invested in the FTSE 100 by some £5,400.

My partner Chris and I live in a first-floor flat, so when our neighbour sent us a message out of the blue insisting we use her front garden to enjoy the sunshine on Sunday, I could have kissed her.

For many of us feeling cut off from loved ones, technology has proved to be a lifeline, but we must beware.

Supermarket deliveries are a lifeline for those who have been told they will be at serious risk if they leave home. Despite this, many precious delivery slots are still snapped up by young, healthy households.

Trevor Bayliss will stand down from the role with England following the end of the Ashes, with the search for a successor among the ECB's high priorities.

MARTIN SAMUEL AT OLD TRAFFORD: Late in the day, England digging in, Australia bowling well but increasingly frustrated, Nathan Lyon decided he might mess with a few minds.

MARTIN SAMUEL - CHIEF SPORTS WRITER: Some time around 2012, an internet movie geek unearthed what was quickly tagged the worst death scene in cinema history.

A spectator reportedly left the ground on the second day on Thursday after hearing a section of supporters sing a racist song about England's Barbados-born bowler Jofra Archer.

EXCLUSIVE BY MIKE KEEGAN: Sportsmail understands that hours of revealing footage has been collected from the last year, which includes Australia's trip to England for World Cup and Ashes.

LAWRENCE BOOTH AT THE OVAL: Buttler, whose previous eight innings in this series had produced a best of 41, deposited Josh Hazlewood for three sixes to reach stumps on 64 not out.

Yvonne Cannings, 60, from Lancashire said her close friend and former employee June Watson was 'worse than heartless', after she was left relying on food parcels following the £225K theft.

NASSER HUSSAIN AT THE OVAL: The duel between Matthew Wade and Jofra Archer at the Oval typified a fantastically watchable series that has been great for cricket.

BUMBLE AT THE TEST: England produced a fine bowling display to draw the Ashes series with a 135-run fifth Test victory at The Oval. Consecutive Joe Root catches signalled the end of an era.

Australia may have retained the urn but couldn't do enough to win the 2019 Ashes series as England clinched a 135-run fifth Test victory to level the scores.

The biggest cricket summer in living memory provided an unforgettable World Cup triumph and one of the greatest Tests of all time at Headingley. 

Aberdeen will host the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2019 in December. The favourite to land the award is Ben Stokes after his remarkable heroics in the Cricket World Cup final.

RICHARD GIBSON: As the ghost writer of a soon-to-be-published memoir of Ben Stokes' summer, I have been given the privilege of re-living these momentous events through his eyes.

Stokes struck an unbeaten 84 in the final against New Zealand on the way to England's maiden World Cup title and then crashed a barely-believable 135 not out to keep the Ashes alive at Headingley.

Candice and David Warner have been enjoying plenty of family time since their return from England following The Ashes series.

The Ashes star was seen with his hand in wife Clare Stokes' face at the Professional Cricketers' Association Awards Anniversary party in London last Wednesday.

England's top cricketer was seen with his hand on Clare Stokes's face at the Professional Cricketers' Association party in London last Wednesday.

Karen Twilley, from Hertfordshire, wishes to be buried alongside her son Ted, when she dies. His ashes were buried in consecrated ground by mistake at Cheshunt Cemetery in 2004.

Stokes has enjoyed an unforgettable year, playing a starring role in the historic World Cup victory at Lord's then producing one of Test cricket's greatest ever innings in the Third Ashes Test.

Ben Stokes has revealed being sledged relentlessly by David Warner was the motivation behind his stunning match-winning century against Australia at Headingley in August.

NASSER HUSSAIN: Sam Curran is something of an anomaly in the England side who will take to the Bay Oval for the first Test against New Zealand.

From the bushfire crisis ravaging New South Wales and Queensland to the final climb of Uluru, Getty Images has reveals its most powerful photos from the past year.

In the first of our series looking back at the greatest moments of the sporting year, we reflect on Ben Stokes's incredible innings in the third Ashes Test at Headingley.

Daily Mail Australia can reveal some of Ivan Milat's ashes were scattered in water during a private family ceremony at a small inlet south of Sydney, with the remainder given to his brother Bill.