Manu Tuilagi is England's master of destruction on the pitch - and he is building an equally fierce reputation on the chess board.

NIK SIMON: England face Wales in a mouth-watering Six Nations clash seeking revenge after suffering defeat in Cardiff a year ago.

COMMENT: It is a sad fact that the main barrier to rugby's progress lies here; in the home nations and those other centres of the sport's narrow European landscape - France and Italy.

LAWRENCE BOOTH AT OLD TRAFFORD: Joe Root insisted he was still the right man to captain England, despite Australia regaining the Ashes on a tense final day in Manchester.

SPORTS AGENDA BY MIKE KEEGAN: England's footballers may well have been delighted last week when the FA announced a multi-year sponsorship deal with food delivery app Deliveroo.

Brian Mullins' mother and daughter wanted to honor his free-spirited nature after he died of a heart attack in March. So they cremated him and put his ashes in a bottle to send him on one last adventure.

PAUL NEWMAN AT THE OVAL: Root wore the tired, almost haunted, look of many an England captain coming to the end of the road as he tried to summon up one last effort on Wednesday.

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.

Archer took 47 wickets in his first season of international cricket, including 22 at just 20 apiece in the Ashes , leaving new-ball partner Broad to lavish praise on his 'incredible attributes'.

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.

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.

The 37-year-old Lancashire seamer managed just four overs in the Ashes last summer due to a recurring calf injury but has proved his fitness on a pre-tour fitness camp.

An abandoned baby deer (left) has been miraculously pulled from the ashes of the devastating bushfires without injury.    

Mo Bobat says winning is more important than the strength of the teams defeated when England Lions begin their tour of Australia next week.

James Lattimer, 51, was accused of kissing the woman and allegedly 'grabbed her bum cheek' during the England v India test match on 9 August 2018.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT BARLOW: The chairman of Truro City is not easily fazed. He has won the Ashes Down Under and faced the West Indies pacemen at Perth.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: When Marnus Labuschagne walked out to bat through the Lord's pavilion on the final afternoon of the second Ashes Test last August, he attracted strange looks.

England's white-ball opening batsman says he has been going 'stir crazy' during the coronavirus lockdown, hitting a tennis ball against a wall as he attempts to stay in some kind of touch.

Joi, from Manchester, revealed the hilarious mix-up on Twitter. explaining that she had written an 'essay' breaking up with her boyfriend, only for him to reveal her mistake.

Witnesses said the man, thought to be in his 20s, fell onto the Victoria Line at Oxford Circus in Central London amid a chaotic rush hour bustle on the platform at about 5.30pm.

UN Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi said the airstrike 'is tantamount to opening a war against Iran.' It comes as thousands lined the streets for funeral processions in Baghdad this morning.

Mourners chanted 'Death to America' as they thronged in the streets beside the coffins of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on Saturday.

Sydney Whitson, from Oklahoma, shared her anonymous co-worker's excuse online, which showed a dubious looking nail in a tire. Many social media users were left in hysterics over the post.

Abigail Disney has weighed in on Kobe Bryant's controversial past, after actress Evan Rachel Wood and a Washington Post journalist were berated for tweeting about a rape allegation.

More than 16,000 people have signed a UK petition demanding Alastair Stewart, 67, gets his job of more than 40 years back and that his accuser Martin Shapland, 34, makes a public apology.

Antoine Griezmann came off the bench to salvage a draw for Euro 2016 hosts France with a late equaliser in Friday's friendly against Albania in Rennes.

Chelsea duo Branislav Ivanovic and Nemanja Matic were forced off with injuries before Serbia downed bitter rivals Albania 2-0 to give themselves some pride in Euro 2016 qualifying.

Germany, Poland, Romania and Albania successfully reached Euro 2016 as the final round of qualifying matches continued on Sunday. Constantin Budescu struck twice for Romania.

JOE BERNSTEIN: There is no more unlikely qualifier for Euro 2016 than Albania whose footballers have shown there is more to the former Iron Curtain secret state than a fixation for Norman Wisdom.

Some of them have been there, a few of them have done it - but do the managers who are guiding 24 national sides at Euro 2016 really know what their players are going through?

Figures – collated by the Association of Accounting Technicians using player values according to transfermarkt.com – value the German squad at £421.4million with England at £334.5m.

The hosts' group is relatively straightforward and should not pose too many problems to Didier Deschamps. Switzerland are a talented side but Albania and Romania are certainly minnows.

France made it two Euro 2016 wins from two against Albania in Marseille on Wednesday night in Group A after late strikes from Antoine Griezmann and Dimitri Payet.

Dimitri Payet was once again France's most creative and purposeful outlet on Wednesday night, capping a superb display with another goal.

IAN LADYMAN IN MARSEILLE: France made it two Euro wins from two against Albania at the Stade Velodrome on Wednesday night, with late goals from Antoine Griezmann & Dimitri Payet.

Antoine Griezmann has claimed that his late goal for France against Albania enacted some 'revenge' for his disappointing showing in the Euro 2016 opener against Romania.

Ahead of kick-off, Sportsmail 's MARTIN KEOWN offers his assessment of three of the big games from this weekend's Euro 2016 fixtures including the hosts' final group game.

Albania are hoping the return of inspirational captain Lorik Cana will drive the debutants on to a first victory and help them sneak into the last 16.

Romania head into this clash knowing that three points could be enough to take them into the next round but only if Switzerland lose to France.

CRAIG HATHERALL AT STADE DES LUMINIERES: An Armando Sadiku header gave Albania three points, and a fighting chance of making the Last 16 in France.

European football's governing body has opened disciplinary proceedings against Albania and Romania after their fans caused trouble in their Group A game at Euro 2016 on Sunday.

EXCLUSIVE: Both Pogba and Lingard have come under scrutiny for their activity across social media sites like Instagram in the last 12 months but Berbatov believes they must express themselves.

Huddersfield have only played against QPR, Derby, and Lincoln City so far this season, but pressure is already growing on manager Jan Siewert. They crashed out of the Carabao Cup.

Manchester United's former goalkeeper coach Eric Steele has recalled that sickening moment they lost out on the Premier League title to City with one of the last kicks of the season.

Newcastle scouted QPR full-back Ryan Manning during his side's 2-0 defeat by Leeds on Saturday. According to Football Insider, the Magpies are keeping close tabs on the 23-year-old.

MATT HUGHES - AHEAD OF THE GAME: This week, Derby County have earmarked Rooney as a future manager, as he joins up with the Championship side for this weekend's home game.

Smith also enjoyed three spells as manager of Oxford United where he achieved legendary status at the club after guiding them from Division Three to Division One.

Kyle Tomlin scored an outrageous last-minute 40-yard screamer for Mansfield Town's Under 18 side in the FA Youth Cup against Queens Park Rnagers, which the Stags went on to win.

Ian Holloway held final talks with Grimsby Town earlier this week before agreeing a contract on Tuesday morning. Holloway's last managerial job was with QPR in 2018.